Exhortation, Part 1

All right. Good morning. It's good to see everybody. I'm glad you're here. I want to welcome you, invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Oh, Lord, we thank you for the day. Thank you for another opportunity to be here, Lord. Lord, we give you praise for just who you are, for how good you are, how kind and gracious you are, Lord. In spite of all of our shortcomings, Lord, you are still good. Lord, we give you praise this morning. We ask that you'd help us to focus our hearts on you this morning.

Help us to lift a joyful noise, prepare our hearts to receive from you this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. We lift praise to you. Amen. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like.

You're lost around. There's nothing to fear now, for I am saved with you.

So when things can stand against the power of an almighty fortress, you go before me. Yes, Lord God, we give you praise, Lord, because, Lord, you are victorious. Lord, you are victorious over sin and death, Lord God. And we know that you're coming back again soon, Lord, in victory. In victory. Amen.

Because I know who you are. The cross of salvation was only the stone. Now I am chosen, free and forgiven. I have a future, and it's worth the living.

I wasn't made to be sending a grave. I was called by name, born and raised back to life again. And in my shame went a fountain of grace. Stunning my way, tending a grave.

I was an cross of salvation.

It was only the stone. Now I am. Oh, Lord God, I just give you praise. Lord, that in you, Lord, you don't hold anything against us, Lord. Lord, in you, we are new. We are new creations. Our past is gone. It's dead. And in you, we have new life. We have a future. Lord, and it is worth the living, Lord. Lord, we give you praise this morning, God. Lord, we give you praise for how great you are.

Lord, you're the one who fills our lungs with breath. Lord, you're the one who gives us our next heartbeat. You're the one who gets us up in the morning. So, Lord, let us glorify you and praise you and return praise to you, Father. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. He's been my fourth man in the fire time after time.

Washed in his blood and what he did for me on Calvary is more than enough. Amen. Trust in God, my Savior, my Savior. I know the author of who my Savior all the days.

Trust in my ever-failing.

Would you guys go ahead and stand with me for this last one?

You give life.

You give hope.

Shout our praise this morning. All the earth will shout your praise. We'll cry. These bones will sing. Pray.

These souls will sing. Oh, God, again, we just give you praise.

Lord, it's you that gets us up every morning. That fills our lungs with breath. One that created everything around us. Lord, we just want to glorify you this morning. And use that breath to return praise to you. It's your breath.

Lord, God, again, we just come to you this morning. And as we come to you this time where we open up your word, Lord, I just pray that you would soften our hearts, Lord. Lord, give us hearts to receive that word that you've prepared for us, Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Lord, but do mighty works in our lives. Speak mightily through Ryan, Lord. Give him the words to speak and overflow him with your Holy Spirit, Lord. Let your Holy Spirit move in a big way this morning. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

Good morning.

If you could begin to find your seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A few things to take note of in your bulletin. As always, on the left-hand side of the things going on throughout the week, studies to get plugged into, areas to be involved. So find yourself one of those if you haven't already. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, just a reminder about our Bible reading plan

if you want to continue to keep up with us on that. Also, next Sunday morning before first service and in between the services, I think, they are doing a little breakfast fundraiser again for the Agape Fruits Ministry. And then next week I'll be having a little presentation again about just kind of an update on what's going on with Agape Fruits if you're not familiar with that. That is our meal ministry that serves meals to whoever needs one the second and fourth Sundays of the month.

And so a little fundraiser for them to be able to continue to buy the food that they need for that. Also, okay, good. I thought I'd seen you this morning, but I wasn't totally sure. We have a ministry spotlight today. It's Family Life Services. And there's some info about Family Life Services down there. But with this being Sanctity of Life Month, I invited Krista to come up and share with us

about the Ministry of Family Life Services. And so Krista Wood is going to come share with us about that.

My name is Krista Wood, and I'm the director at Family Life Services. I have a little slideshow also, to share with you. But this week, this month, as he said, is Sanctity of Life Month. And I put on here, human life is a precious gift. And that begins the moment of conception. At conception, your DNA is formed, your gender is chosen. And there is life there from that very moment.

And that is what Family Life Services stands for. In the United States, there are approximately 2,500 abortions that happen every single day. And in Kansas alone, because Texas and Oklahoma, have banned abortions, 78% of the abortions that happen in our state come from out-of-state residents. This is actually a 50% increase from the prior year. So, excuse me.

In 2023, Kansas reported almost 20,000 abortions. We do not have 2024 numbers yet. In fact, 2023 numbers were just released to us at the end of this last year. And like I said, that was a significant increase. I'm going to read this verse to you real quick. And pardon me, I'm going to read it from my phone because I don't have glasses on. For you formed my inward parts.

You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance. And in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me.

When as yet, there was not one of them. At Family Life Services, we believe there's no unplanned pregnancy. It may be unplanned to the person experiencing it, but there is hope and there is no mistake in that life. Those people are not alone, and they need to know that they are not alone, and that's our job. We come alongside them to help them find hope with life-affirming support.

We empower them no matter what their challenging circumstances may be. We show them that there is redemption and forgiveness for their circumstances, and just help empower them by embracing them with love and encouragement. I know myself how challenging an unplanned pregnancy can be, and I had the support of a church and a family that loved me, and I still felt shame through that pregnancy. So I can't imagine what somebody in challenging circumstances might feel.

My unplanned pregnancy is graduating high school this year, so who's that to? But the church has a responsibility as well. At Family Life Services, we give them education, support, material goods, all of that, but we feel the church also needs to be called to action. These people need to know there is hope and that the church accepts them, even when they've done something that may not be truly acceptable in the church's eyes.

But that's really what Christ is all about, is forgiveness and redemption. And so we just want to call the church to remember that there should be acceptance for these women, and to embrace them and show them God's love. Your words can make a lasting impact on anybody's life. If you are curious about how you can support us or get involved, obviously financial contributions are always helpful, but God always provides for us.

You can pray for us in everything that we're doing. You can volunteer if you're interested. Everybody has gifts, and volunteering might mean helping run a study or showing up to teach a class with us. Or being there to mentor, right now we could really use a good solid male volunteer, or several male volunteers. We have several fathers that actively come into our program

with the moms, and we would love to have some people just to mentor them or even lead a study for them. You can send pregnant moms our way. Even planned pregnancies, we can support them with education and material goods too. We have an upcoming Embrace Your Life program, Embrace Grace Bible Study, that is being hosted by Savannah Donaldson, if you're familiar with her, and Melinda, who works at Family Life Services too.

It's a Bible study that's specifically geared towards single unplanned pregnancies and supporting those mothers. If you do choose to do a financial contribution, there is, in the state of Kansas, a 70% tax credit. So if you're interested, just get with me and I'll talk to you more about that. But other than that, we're just going to talk about prayer and just being familiar and aware of what we have to offer, and we're happy to help any way we can.

Thank you, Krista. All right, so, great ways for us to get involved. It's one thing, and this is a big thing for me, it's one thing to say that we support life, but it's a whole other thing to actually put that into action in the way that we live our lives. And I think that we, as the church, have to make sure that we put that into action in the way that we live.

So find one of those spots that you can maybe help out and get involved. So, all right. Four-hour reunion. We're responsive reading this morning. We are going to be in Psalm 56. Psalm 56. As always, looking at the New American Standard for this part so that we sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 56, if you are able,

please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Jared and the even verses. Psalm 56, for the choir director, according to Janot, says, Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me. Fighting all day long, he oppresses me. My foes have trampled upon me all day long, for there are many who fight proudly against me.

When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust. I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do? Do to me. All day long, they distort my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. They attack, they lurk, they watch my steps as they have waited to take my life. Because of wickedness, cast them forth.

In anger, put down the peoples, O God. You have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise. In the Lord, whose word I praise. In God, I have put my trust. I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Your vows are binding upon me, O God. I will render thank offerings to you. Read verse 13 with me. For you have delivered my soul from death, indeed my feet from stumbling, so that I may walk before God in light of the living. Father, we praise you that you are God. That there is really nothing that man can do to us apart from you. And so Lord, give us that confidence, give us that strength, give us that grace that

we need to walk on in you. And Father, we just praise you for who you are in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. Well, as we begin this last chapter, quick recap. Paul. In chapter 1, encouraged the Thessalonian believers. Encouraged them because of their affliction.

Encouraged them because of their persecution. Encouraged them because of the things that they were going to. That God was with them, that God sees, that God hears, that God will act on their behalf and that they should continue on in the work that God has begun in them. And then in chapter 2, he instructed them. He instructed them about last time's events. About the man of lawlessness, the signs of the end times, and what it looks like to stand

firm in light. And then in chapter 3, he's going to exhort us. He's going to tell us what we need to do and tell these Thessalonian believers what they need to do. And so, as he comes to chapter 3, there's three things in the entire chapter that he's going to tell them or exhort them to do. Number 1, he's going to say, pray hard. Number 2, he's going to say, work hard.

And then number 3, he's going to say, don't grow weary. Now, we will cover the first one of those today. So if you didn't get all three, don't worry about it. We'll get to those. The first one we'll cover today is pray hard. And so we pick up in chapter 3, verse 1, and this is what it says. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified,

just as it did also with you, and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men, for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. And he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord concerning you that you are doing and will continue to do what we command you. May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.

And so underneath of this exhortation of pray hard, the first thing he does is he makes a personal request. He says, pray for us. I think it's kind of interesting. I followed some chain references through this particular one, but I found it interesting all of the different times that Paul, the apostle, said pray for us. In the book of Romans, when he was writing that book, he told the Roman believers, he

said pray for us. When he was writing the book of Ephesians, one of those prison epistles, he told the church in Ephesus, he said pray for us. When he was writing the book of Colossians, he told the church in Colossae, he said pray for us. When he was writing his first letter to the Thessalonian church, he said pray for us. Now I think that that's a really good indication to us of the importance of prayer.

It was a frequent request that Paul made for himself, and it should be a frequent request that we make for ourselves. And the reason why Paul made that request so frequently is because he saw the necessity of the request. He saw the necessity of that request that was to be made, because one of the things that you learn in ministry, one of the things that you learn the longer that you walk with Jesus, especially as a minister of the gospel, is that you can put all of the work into a message. You can put all of the work into people.

You can give all of the best counsel, all of the best advice, all of the best teaching that you want to, that all of your power will provide, and it can still be fruitless if it is not empowered by the Holy Spirit. Because the thing that empowers the word of God, the thing that empowers godly counsel, the thing that empowers godly advice, the thing that empowers godly mentorship is the work of the Holy Spirit through prayer. And God has seen fit that his work would take place through the prayers of his people. I watched this happen back in the fall.

I was telling someone this the other day with what I do with FCA, and I go and talk to people now. They say, what can I do for you? How can I help you? And I say, well, the first biggest thing you can do for me is that you can pray for this ministry. And I tell them this story. I said, in the fall, we had a great event that took place out at the high school.

Fantastic. I've shared it with you guys, 750 kids there, 600 kids probably came forward to pray to either receive Christ or just to be prayed for. And it was truly one of the most monumental events I've ever seen in my life that I've actually physically, personally been a part of. But you know why that event was so important, and I'm not even going to name this person, but one of my FCA officers said, we should be praying at that football field every single day, as often as we possibly can.

And truthfully, as a pastor, it was really convicting to me because it wasn't my idea. I wasn't the one that came up with it. And I can just be honest with you guys and say, that was probably something I should have come up with. But this young lady said, we should be doing this all the time. And so she went out there more than any of the rest of us did because her schedule allowed

it to just go out and pray over the field. And she went lots of different places throughout the stadium and prayed. And when we went there, we did the same thing. The times that I was able to go, we went there, and we sat in different seats throughout the entire stadium. We went down on the field, and we prayed down on the field. We walked the track, and we prayed on the track, and we just prayed over that thing.

And as I watched what took place that evening, I knew that it had nothing to do with the presentation. It had nothing to do with the preacher. It had nothing to do with the things that we did there. It had everything to do with the power of prayer because that's what prayer is able to do is it moves the heart of God. I know that prayer lines our hearts up with God's will.

But there is also an aspect throughout Scripture where we see that prayer moves the heart of God, that prayer moves him to action because he sees the prayers of his people. And so when Paul says, I want you to pray for me, it's not just some blanket statement that he's making because he knows it's the right thing to say. He sees the necessity of it in his life because of the difficulties that he faces, because of the challenges of the work, and because of what he has watched take place. But it's not just because it's a necessity.

It's because Jesus is there. He's there. He's there. He's there. He's there. He's there. He's there. He's there. He's there. And just like I shared, he had seen the results of prayer. If anybody had seen the results of prayer, it was Paul because he had watched the Word of God run swiftly. He had watched the Word of God begin to affect people in such a way that their lives were

drastically changed by God, that their lives were drastically changed from being those who at one point in time had given into idolatry to those who were now followers of Jesus Christ, to those who were bound in legalistic tradition and rituals. He had set free in Christ to be who God had called for them to be. He had watched the results of what the power of prayer was able to do in the lives of people. And I'm here to tell you right now, that's what God wants to do in this church.

That's what God wants to do in this community. That's what God wants to do in the world, is he wants to see his Word go out with power. But listen, it will always start with the prayers of the people. It will always start with people who will pray. I don't mean to harp on this. It's the exact same subject. But because of the things that I follow on Instagram, it comes up a lot.

You know, this last Monday, Ohio State won the national championship, and I don't really care one way or the other. I didn't have a dog in the fight, other than I really appreciated what had happened with this football team. And it had all started with the prayers of two or three of the players on that team. And you know what the conclusion was? It wasn't just that they won a national championship.

It was that on national TV in front of everybody. The running back, Travion Henderson, says, you just need to know, you can put your faith in Jesus. He doesn't care what you've done. He doesn't care where you've been. His cross will cover everything. The blood of Jesus Christ. He makes that declaration on national TV with everybody watching him. And then after the game, Scott Van Pelt and there was one other guy on ESPN who were having

coverage after the game. And all they could say was, faith has changed this team. It's a fantastic interview. Faith has changed this team. It took this team from being selfish to selfless. And we have watched what faith in God and faith in each other has done. That's a direct quote from Scott Van Pelt, who is an announcer for ESPN. That's what happens when people pray.

And so Paul says, could you pray for us? And so my brothers and sisters, Christa stood right here and she said, would you pray for us? That's not just filler words. She means that the only thing that will reach the moms in this community, the only thing that will reach these moms. These moms who feel like they have nowhere else to go, who feel like they have no one

on their side, who feel like their only option is to end the life of the baby that they are carrying. The only thing that can change them is the power of prayer through the working of the Holy Spirit. Brethren, pray for us. And then he has three requests that he wants them to pray. Number one, he says, pray that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly. That the word of the Lord would spread rapidly.

The idea behind the word spread rapidly, or that phrase, is that it will run. That it will run swiftly. That's another way that that's translated. In other words, he wants the word of God to run as fast as it possibly can. And that's kind of what God's word does, amen? Like when God's word begins to spread, that's what it does, it runs. And it just takes down everything in its path.

When I was studying this, unfortunately I did think about the California wildfires, but I didn't think about them in a negative context, I thought about them in a positive context. Because that aspect of that spread of the fire, that's what God's word wants to do. God's word wants to spread just like that. And the thing that will cause it to spread is the Santa Ana winds of prayer.

Is it will cause God's word to spread rapidly. To spread to all of the people. Listen, we need to understand something. Revival doesn't come through worship. There's a huge movement of worship right now, and that's a wonderful thing. I love that God's music is being played everywhere. But listen. It doesn't say that God's music will not return void. I love that there's a revival of like people wanting to wear Christian t-shirts and things

like that. Like I love what these young Christians are doing with their creativity, but it doesn't say that Christian t-shirts won't return void. What it says is God's word does not return void. And so what we need to spread is God's word. What we need is for this to get out into the people that are around us, and if that takes place. Then we will begin to see God do his work, not only in our lives, but in the lives of

the people around us. And the verb tense that's used here is the idea of keep on running. Paul says, I have been watching God's word run. I have been watching God's word spread. I have been watching God's word work. Pray that God's word continues to spread rapidly. And with what I'm seeing going on in our nation right now. Sure. A lot of bad things. We could spend an entire service talking about all the bad things, but instead let's

talk about the good things. We are watching revival take place in our country. We are watching pockets of revival all over the place. And you need to start praying that God's word will keep running rapidly. That it will keep doing the work that it's been doing because that's exactly what God wants for it to do. Because that word is powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged sword, which is why we give so much time to it here, and

why you need to be in it for yourself. Because let that sharp two-edged sword that's running rapidly in the world right now, run rapidly through your life. Paul says, pray for us. Number one, that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly. Number two, that the word of the Lord will be glorified. That the word of the Lord will be glorified. That word means to be magnified or to be honored or to be praised.

In other words, that God's word would have the honor and the praise and the glory. The glory that it deserves. But there's another aspect of that word, glorified or honored, that I think is important for us to pay attention to. Expositor's Bible commentary said this, the word honored or the word glorified here carries with it the idea of being triumphant. That not only will God's word spread rapidly, but that it will spread rapidly in a victorious

triumphant sort of way. In other words, that God's word will win. That God's word will continue to conquer lives. Listen, I know everybody got real excited this last week. Well, all the conservatives did. All the liberals aren't very happy right now. All the conservatives got, I know I'm not allowed to say that, but I'm just going to say it anyway, right? Who cares?

Who cares? So, all the conservatives got real happy this week. All the liberals got real sad this week, and we're in danger of something right now. We're in danger of wanting to spread conservatism, right? Listen, I need us to understand something. Our job as believers in Jesus Christ is not to spread conservatism, because he doesn't say. He says that conservatism will run rapidly.

Pray that conservatism will be glorified and triumphant. No, he says God's word, because listen, sometimes God's word is every bit as angry with conservatives as it is liberals. We just need to understand that. He says, I want to see God's word be triumphant. So yes, it's great that we've seen some political victories that are on our side, and we should keep praying that way.

We should keep praying that godliness would rule and reign, that righteousness would be what's in charge of the nation. But what I really want to see is God's word become victorious. What I really want to see is God's word become victorious. Because at that point in time, it won't just be policies that are good for my checkbook, it will be policies that are good for our nation.

Because that means God's word is being triumphant. And it's not just triumphant in the public square, listen, I wanted to see it be triumphant in the private square. I want to see it be triumphant in your life, because if it is, then it will be triumphant everywhere else in the world. Which is why what we are called to do as believers in Jesus Christ is to reach the world with the gospel.

And so he says, pray for us. Pray that God's word will spread rapidly. Pray that God's word will be triumphant and glorified and honored. Number three, he says, pray that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men, for not all have faith. Pray that we will be rescued. And I appreciate this about Paul, because sometimes it just seems like he is Super Saint

Captain 9000, right? Like he doesn't care about anything. I don't care what happens to my body. I don't care what happens. And every now and then he kind of lets all that guard down and he's just like, and pray that we'd be delivered, okay? Now Paul's writing this from Corinth, and when he's writing it from Corinth, he's dealing with some difficulties. Matter of fact, difficulty is so strong that an angel of the Lord had to show up and say,

hey, listen, I know what's going on with you right now. I know what's going on in this town. I need you to know I got a lot of folks here. Keep doing what you're doing. That's, that's how much Paul was under, under attack. And you know, I got to thinking about this. I asked something this week. I got to thinking, I wonder at what point in time that message of don't give up in Corinth

showed up to Paul. Was it before or after he asked the Thessalonian people to pray for him? I don't know the answer to that question, but it's a question that I had in my mind, right? Like, like was that afterwards? Like they prayed for him and God's like, I heard that. Listen, keep doing what you're doing. Stay strong. Stay strong because I have a lot of people in this town.

So keep, keep up the work. Keep up the message. Paul says, pray that we would be delivered. Delivered. Pray that, pray that we would be delivered and what does he want to be delivered from? Two things, perverse and evil men. Those are very powerful words in the Greek language. The word perverse there means evil or wicked and capable of harm. Evil or wicked and capable of harm.

We need to understand that when Paul is praying for this, he's not just praying that he'll be delivered from somebody who might cancel him on social media. He's praying to be delivered from somebody that's actually going to physically do him harm. And so he says, pray that, pray that we'll be delivered. Pray that, pray that we'll be delivered from that so that the word can keep running rapidly so that the word can keep being triumphant.

He says, pray that we would be delivered from perverse and evil men. And that word evil there is an interesting word as well because that word evil means corrupt and intent on corrupting others. Corrupt and intent on corrupting others. He says, I need to be delivered from the dangers of those that might harm me and delivered from those who would want to corrupt me.

And brothers and sisters, I would say if there's things that we should be praying for in our own lives and for everybody that you know around you, is that they would first of all be delivered from the danger, but second of all that they would be delivered from anything that would want to corrupt them. Because there are corrupting influences around us all the time. Sometimes the things that the enemy wants to do to bring us down is to bring us physical harm. But sometimes the thing that the enemy wants to do to bring us down is to bring us physical harm.

to try to corrupt us, to try to corrupt our understanding of God's word, to try to corrupt our morality, you name it. He just wants to corrupt us. Because if he can do that, if he can corrupt us, he can corrupt the message. And if he can harm the message, then all of a sudden now, the gospel is slowed down. And so he says, pray for us that the word would spread rapidly,

that the word would be glorified, and that we would be rescued from perverse and evil men. Why? Because not all have faith. Not all have faith. This little phrase stuck out to me this week. I think because of some of the things that we saw take place, one particular message right after the inauguration that took place, I was reminded that not all have faith.

Now, when it says not all have faith, there could almost be a direct article in front of that, not all have the faith, because the idea of faith there is the Christian system of belief. In other words, not everyone believes the way that we do. Not everyone has the faith. And I think that that's an important one for us to pay attention to, again, as believers, is that not everyone has faith.

Of course, first of all, it applies to the people of the world. You know, the people of the world don't have our belief system. And so they're always gonna not quite be lined up with us. Even if they can be lined up with us on like 85% of the things, there's always gonna be some things they are not lined up with us about because they don't have the faith, right?

They don't have that Christian belief system. But the people that Paul dealt with the most, the people that he needed delivered from the most, were rarely outside of the church. They were rarely outside of faith, right? They were usually religious in some sort of way. They were usually religious people that he needed to be delivered from. And brothers and sisters, we have to remember something.

Not everyone has faith. And you need to pay attention to the things that are being said. And you need to pay attention to the things that are being done. Inside the church. Because there are pastors just like that lady, just like the Episcopalian pastor, they're everywhere. That is not a lone wolf situation. She is not outside of the realm of the liberal church today.

That's exactly what's going on in the liberal church today. And it's trying to creep into even the conservative church today. That's the sort of thing we need to realize. Not all have faith. And we have to pay attention to the things that are going on around us. We have to pay attention to the things that are being said. Listen, even if it's your favorite preacher,

you should test everything I say against what God's word has to say to make sure that it's right. Because not everyone has faith. And people can fall away. So he says, pray for us. Pray that the word would run rapidly. Pray that the word would be glorified. And pray that we would be delivered from evil and perverse men because not everyone has faith. He then goes on to talk about our confidence.

Our confidence. In the Lord. Our confidence in the Lord. Notice what he says in verse three. But the Lord is faithful. And he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. But the Lord is faithful. Again, every now and then, God just sort of captures my heart with a little phrase. And this little phrase captured my heart. And that word faithful means dependable

or trustworthy, right? Someone you can really count on. Someone. Someone who's never going to violate their word or go against what they have to say. And so I started looking up some verses on this. And I don't necessarily want you to turn to all these verses. I'm not gonna turn to all these verses. But I wanna talk to you about a handful of verses here that talk about the different ways

that God is described as faithful throughout Scripture. This is just in the New Testament. The first one is 1 Corinthians 1, verse nine. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse nine, we are told that he is faithful to call us into fellowship. That he is faithful to call us into fellowship. Do you realize that if you're here this morning and you're a believer in Jesus Christ,

that is a sign of God's faithfulness? It's a sign of God's faithfulness because he called you into his family. And he is faithful to the work of the gospel. He is faithful to bring sinners to salvation. He was faithful to call you into fellowship. And so if you're here this morning, just know that that is a sign of God's faithfulness. That God showed himself faithful to his word

by calling you into fellowship. The second one that I wanna, point out to you is 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 24. God is faithful to do what he says. God is faithful to do what he says. That verse actually says, he who called you is faithful who also will do it. I think I've shared this story with you before, but I'll share it again. This verse is really important to me

because when I left home at 19 years old and went out to California, the only kid, not just from, my region, not just from my city, not just from my state, but from my region of the country. And I went out to California and it's amazing how homesick I got. Now I lived most of my senior year away from my mom and dad because my dad had gotten a job in Kansas City. And my sister and I lived with my aunt and uncle.

And so I lived a good portion of my senior year apart from my mom and dad. And I lived at camp for the rest of the summer. And yet I got to Bible college and I was so homesick. And I just wanted to go home. And I just wanted to quit. Matter of fact, I called my mom and said, I think I want to come home. I don't think I can do this. This is too much for me. And now as a parent,

I look back and I go, that had to have been Jesus that made her say, no, God has you there and you need to stay. So that's what she told me. And matter of fact, a few months ago I said, how did you do that? She goes, it was Jesus. I wanted to say, I've got a plane ticket for you now, come on home, right? Because I don't know if it was my daughters. I'd be like, that's so far away, right?

So I was like, okay, I got to stick it out. But I just, it was hard and I was just lonely. And God used this verse. And I remember I read that verse in my devotions. First Thessalonians 5 24. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. And I was like, that's a good reminder. And then I got in a buddy of mine's car for us to go to In-N-Out one day. And the pastor was talking about this verse.

First Thessalonians chapter five, verse 24. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. I had a buddy that worked security. We had a guard shack that you had to go through to get onto the campus. And I had a buddy that worked security. And I ran down to talk to him real quick. And I look and the screen saver on the computer said, First Thessalonians 5 24.

He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. I think it was at that point in time that I was like, all right, I get it. I'll stay, right? So that's an important one to me because he's faithful to do what he says. And if he's called you, he's gonna be faithful to do it. Second Timothy. Chapter two, verse 13. Tells us that he is faithful in spite of our faithlessness.

That even when you are faithless, he remains faithful. That means that God's faithfulness to you does not depend on you always doing everything right. When you screw up worse than you can imagine, God's like, I did not change. I'm still faithful. There may be some consequences to deal with, but I haven't changed. And I'm still your God and you're still my child.

He is faithful. In spite of our faithlessness. Hebrews chapter two, verse 17. Says, Hebrews chapter two, verse 17, says that he is a faithful high priest. It says he was tempted in every way as we are yet without sin because he is a faithful high priest. Because listen, he's been through everything that you've been through. Maybe not the exact same scenarios

because his were probably worse. Because he actually got tempted by Satan himself. He's been through everything you have yet without sin. Therefore, he is a merciful and a faithful high priest because when you go to him and you say, I'm having a really hard time, he says, I understand. I understand what it's like to live in the body that you're living in and not given to sin.

So let me tell you everything that you need. I understand what it's like to be hated by everybody around me. I understand what it's like to be rejected by everybody around me. I know what it's like to have somebody say, you can't sit at my table. I know what that's like to have somebody say, you can't sit I know what that's like, so you can come to me because I'm a faithful high priest.

Hebrews chapter 10 verse 23 tells us that he is faithful to keep his promise. Actually, I think it says he who promises is faithful. He's always faithful to keep all of his promises. And then the last one, Revelation chapter 19 verse 11 says, and I saw a white horse and its rider, and the rider had a name, faithful and true. That's God's name. That's the name of

Jesus when he comes riding down on the horse because that's who he is. His name is his character. His name is his nature. He is faithful and he is true. So when Paul writes this, which by the way, most of those other things that I talked to you about, those other verses that I talked to you about, about the faithfulness of God, Paul wrote those too. So when Paul writes,

the Lord is faithful, he's telling you something that he's learned by experience. He's telling you something because of the faithful God that he knows. The Lord is faithful. Why can we pray hard? Why can we pray and trust that God's going to move? Because the Lord is faithful. And what's he faithful to do? Notice what it says, but the Lord is faithful and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

The word strengthen means to stabilize, to make firm, or to set you on a firm foundation. In his name we pray. I'm reminded of Psalm 40, which for me personally is a really important psalm in my life. God has used it in in some really hard times where I've dealt with grief. And Psalm 40 says, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and he heard my cry. He brought me up out of a mirey pit out of the mirey clay.

And he set my feet upon a rock and he put a new song in my mouth. Praise to our God! I thought about that when I thought about this, when it says that the Lord is faithful, he's going to watch you. The Lord is faithful, and he's faithful to strengthen you. What does it mean to strengthen? It means to place on a firm foundation. It means he's faithful to pull you out of the mire of your worry, out of the mire of your anxiety,

out of the mire of your self-pity, out of the mire of the temptation that you're dealing with, and he is able to set you on the firm foundation of his word, his word that tells the truth about who you are, not what your anxiety is telling you, his word that tells you the truth about him being in control, not what your worry tells you, his word about what it looks like to walk strong in Christ and be sanctified, not what your temptation tells you. He is faithful to place you firm on a foundation, to be everything that you need to be, because he is faithful to strengthen you. But not only is he faithful to strengthen you, he is faithful to protect you. He's faithful to protect you.

That word protect means to guard. It literally means a military protection against violent assault. A military. A military protection against violent assault. Now listen, we need to understand something. God's protection against the evil one does not always look like what we think protection against the evil one should look like. And if you don't believe me, just ask the guy that's writing this.

Because by the time he's writing this, he has already faced massive persecution. And he is writing it to a church who has faced and will face massive persecution. Because God's protection looks different than what we think. When we think of God's protection, we think that means God will put us inside of a bubble and nothing bad will ever happen to me. And I will always have world peace in my own apartment and life will be perfect.

That's not the protection he's talking about here. He's talking about the protection from the evil one that doesn't just want to harm your body, but wants to steal your soul. And he is able to give you protection against that. He is able to give you the protection that will allow you to stand in the hardest things that you can imagine. That will allow you to withstand the most difficult things that you can imagine.

Right? That's what his protection is able to do. The other day I was at the gym. I'm working out. And can I just go ahead and say I may always do this when I work out now. Rocky was on. I was like, thank you, Jesus. Right? It was Rocky 3. Of course, Clubber Lang takes it. Spoiler alert, he wins in the end. There's only two Rockys where he doesn't win. But Rocky 3 was not one of them.

Clubber Lang takes him out. And he's got to build, because that's when Mick dies. Sorry, again, spoiler alert, Mick dies. And so he's got to come back. And he's got to take Clubber. He's got to face Clubber Lang again. Right? And he's got to build himself back up. And it's like, whoa, Rocky lost. That's not what's supposed to happen. That's not the storyline of the show.

What are we supposed to do? And as I'm running on the treadmill there, watching this, all I could think of was that quote from the movie Balboa, which is a fantastic movie. I know it's like, wow, Rocky 37. What's he fight this time, osteoporosis? No, it's a great movie. In my opinion, probably the best one. But he's talking to his son. And he says, life is not about how hard you can hit.

Life is about how hard you can get hit and still get back up. And that's the protection that God gives us, is he gives us the protection that no matter how hard we get hit, he gives us everything that we need to get back up. So that we don't lose our soul. So that we don't give up and give in to the evil one. That's the protection that he gives to us. That's what he does for us.

When he says the Lord is faithful, that's what he means. He's faithful to get you back up again. And so he says, the Lord is faithful. And he will strengthen you. And he will protect you. And then in verse four he says, and we have confidence in the Lord concerning you. That you are doing and will continue to do what we command. He says, and we have confidence in the Lord.

That word confidence means he had come to a settled conclusion about the Lord. The idea is that you've put something to the test and you've come to a settled conclusion about what the outcome is. And so he says, I have this confidence in the Lord. And it made me think of another. It's the letter of Paul's letters. And we've already gone through it once. It's the letter of Philippians.

And in Philippians chapter one, did I have you put this up there? I'll say it really slow. In Philippians chapter one, verse six. That was Philippians one, verse six. It says, and being confident of this very thing. That he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. Because that's who God is. And that's the confidence that Paul had in him.

Paul says, and we are, we have our, confidence in the Lord concerning you. That you are doing and will continue to do what we command. What does he mean by that? He says, we know that you have been doing the things that we commanded you. And we know that you will continue to do the things that we command you. Why? Because I am so confident in the Thessalonian believers.

That's not what he said. One commentary I read tried to say that. They're like, yes, he has a great deal of confidence in the Thessalonian believers. I'm like, that's not what it says. It says, we have confidence in, the Lord concerning you. Why does he have confidence in the Lord concerning them? Because God is faithful who will strengthen you and who will protect you.

Therefore, I have confidence in the Lord concerning you. I know that God is gonna do, God is gonna finish what he started in you. He started a work of obedience in you. He's gonna finish the work of obedience in you. And if you're here this morning and you're going, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to finish this thing. I don't know if I can keep walking the way

that God wants me to right now. I want you to know something. I have confidence in the Lord concerning you. Because God is greater than all of your biggest doubts. God is greater than all of your biggest temptations. God is greater than all of those things. And I have confidence in the Lord concerning you that you will do, or that you have been and will continue to do what God has called you to do.

And now in verse five, he closes with a prayer for the Thessalonians, a short prayer. It says, May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ. May the Lord direct your hearts. The word direct is again kind of an interesting word. The word direct speaks of clearing out obstacles. So what he really says is this. Now may the Lord clear out any obstacles

that are in your heart so that you can know the love of God and that you can have the steadfastness of Christ. May God clear out all of the obstacles in your heart so that you can know the love of God. Why do you need to know the love of God? Well first of all, because you need to be confident in it yourself. You need to be confident in that love that God has for you.

That love of God that surpasses all knowledge. That love of God that surpasses all understanding. That love of God that will take all of eternity for him to reveal to us. For him to show to us. us that love of god that was best displayed for us when he stretched out his arms on a cross and he said i love you with three nails and a spear that's the love of god but you know sometimes we

have a hard time knowing that love of god why because there's obstacles in our hearts what obstacles in our hearts maybe some of your past hurts that you've been through in life maybe the way other people have shamed you in your life maybe the way other people have treated you in your life maybe the way people are treating you now you feel like i don't know if i can really believe that god loves me and what paul's saying is i want to pray that god would clear out all of the obstacles so that you can truly know the love of god for yourself and my prayer for you is that in this world that has told you that all of your worth is based on how you look and what you can do

i pray that god would clear out the obstacles and as he clears out those obstacles that you would know the love of god for yourself but the idea of knowing the love of god is not just so that you can know it for yourself but that god's love can be shed abroad in your life and in your heart to be given out to the people that are around you he prays i pray that god would clear out all of the obstacles that keep you from loving other people what are all of the obstacles that keep you from loving other people i can put them into one word and one word only self you're the reason why sometimes you can't love other people but it's not because you haven't learned to love yourself it's because you haven't accepted god's love for yourself

see most of us love ourselves too much but we don't really understand god's love for us he says i pray that god would clear out all the obstacles so that you can know the love of god for yourself so that then you can share that love of god with the people that are around you not only that he says i also pray that the lord would direct your heart or remove all the obstacles so that you can move into the steadfastness of christ the steadfastness of christ the word steadfastness speaks of patient endurance patient endurance this definition was given it says the idea of steadfastness is the person who is not swerved from their loyalty to the faith by even the greatest trials and sufferings they are not swerved

even by coughing they are not swerved from the faith by even the greatest trials and sufferings he says i pray that all of the obstacles will be cleared out of your life so that you can know the steadfastness of christ amen let's all stand and if you pray with me

father we come to you now and lord i just thank you for your word i want to thank you for what your word has to say to us thank you for how your word blesses us and lord i thank you that your word is running swiftly and so father may your word continue to do its work in our hearts and lives may it run swiftly through our world through our church and each individual that's here this morning and lord may it be triumphant in our lives father would you deliver us from the things that would want to corrupt us would you deliver us from the things that would want to harm us the things that would want to pull us away from the faith and lord may we know the faithfulness of christ

father would our confidence in you continue to build as we know and understand the strength that you give to us and lord may we know and understand the strength that you give to us and the love that you have shed abroad in our hearts. Keep us close to you. Keep us strong in you. And as we go out from here, may we glorify you in everything that we do. In Jesus' name, amen.

Be blessed. Oh, the mercy never fails me And all my days I've been filled in your hands From the start I wake up Until I lay my head Of the goodness of your faithful Slow, slow, free breath, oh God The sting of your goodness, oh God Oh, Lord God, we just thank you for how good you are to us and how kind and gracious. And as we leave here today, Lord, I just pray that your Holy Spirit just go with us and continue to minister to our hearts, Lord. Continue.

Continue to work in our lives. I want to work everything out for our good and your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.