Exhortation, Part 1

Lord, we just want to glorify you this morning. Lord, we praise you. Amen. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like.

Yes, Lord God, the battle does belong to you, Lord God. We know that you're coming again soon, and you're coming again in victory.

We know that you're coming again soon, and you're coming again in victory. Oh, Lord God, we just give you praise this morning, God. Lord, we thank you, Lord, that we don't have to be the person that we were, Lord. We thank you that you don't hold our old person against us, Lord, God, our old life. Lord, in you there is new life. Our past is gone. It's dead.

And in you there is new life, Lord. We give you praise.

Fire, time after time, washed in his blood. I trust in God, my Savior. That's why I... Would you guys go ahead and stand with me for this last one?

Lord God, we just give you praise this morning.

We fill our lungs with praise. Lord, you give us our next heartbeat, Lord God. And we give you praise, and we give you thanks, because it's all due to you. Lord, it's not because of us. It's because of you. So we want to use... We give you thanks, and we give you praise. Lord, we thank you for the ability to lift a joyful noise to you. And now as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, I just pray that you would give us soft hearts, Lord,

to receive that word that you prepared for us this morning. May your word go out in power. Lord, may it accomplish the mighty purpose in our lives that you've sent it for. And Lord, we also lift up the kids and the teachers at the other end of the hall, Lord God. We ask that you bless them. May your word go out with power there, Lord. And just touch the lives.

Those precious little ones down there, Lord God. And the nursery, Lord, and the twos and threes, and all of the Sunday school classes, Lord God. We just ask that you're blessing upon them. Father, now give us ears to hear and hearts to receive. In Jesus' name.

Good morning.

If you could begin to locate your seats. 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 handful of things to take note of. As always, on the left-hand side are different... Bible studies and small groups to get plugged into throughout the week. So locate one of those spots and get plugged in so that you can grow not only deeper in your walk with the Lord, but hopefully be encouraged by each other.

Over in the middle section of your bulletin, just a reminder that if you've been reading through with us, that plan is in the bulletin. It also goes on Instagram and Facebook. So if you want to keep up with us reading through the Bible this year. Next Sunday morning, we're going to be doing... We have a little breakfast fundraiser for the Agape Fruits ministry.

Is that just between the services or is it before both services? Okay. So they'll have some pastries and things available for a donation. So eat tasty things, donate some money, see the ministry keep working. Also, the Agape Fruits, if you don't know what that is, that's our meal ministry here. We serve meals two nights a month, the second and fourth Sundays to whoever needs a meal here in the community.

So that takes four. It takes place the second and fourth Sundays. And then our ministry spotlight for this week is Family Life Services. Family Life Services is our local crisis pregnancy center. And with this being Sanctity of Life Month, I've invited the ladies from... I've got Melinda here this morning to come up and share with us a little bit about the ministry of Family Life Services.

So Melinda, you want to come on up?

My name is Melinda Evans. And we just wanted to share or just remind... You have known what we do at FLS, and maybe there's some that haven't. But we just want to thank you guys. Thank you, Ryan, for letting us come and just remind of the importance of the sanctity of life to celebrate God's gift of life. Also, it's just a month to remember the many lives that were lost to abortion.

And with Krista and I, we have committed ourselves to... We have committed ourselves to protecting human life at every stage. So not just in the womb, because that's where we want to protect them, but also those that are living that need a healthy environment to continue to grow. So a human life is a precious gift, and that gift begins at the moment of conception.

How very important each of you are. And I think there's... I don't think. There's always been an enemy going after the newborn. And even as I was reading in Genesis today about Moses, where the Pharaoh was after all the newborns and wanted to kill all the boys. So there's nothing new under the sun, but I want to encourage you that one person is just as important as millions of them.

And if you can make a difference in one, you've just been a part of that one person's life. And that's... That's something that Krista and I get to enjoy doing. So next slide. Approximately 2,500 abortions occur every year. Less than 0.4% are based on issues like rape or incest. In 2023, Kansas reported almost 20,000 abortions. This is nearly a 50% increase from the prior year.

78% of abortions performed in Kansas are from out-of-state residents. That's huge. That's huge. That's huge. We don't even know the number for last year. And I'm sure it's even greater than that. Next slide.

So Psalm 139, 13 to 16 is, 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. Next slide. He doesn't make mistakes, even with an unplanned pregnancy. And Krista shared in first service that she had an unplanned pregnancy, and she's going to be graduating this year. But she had the love and support from her family and her church body,

which is Calvary Chapel. But not everybody does. Not everybody has. We take for granted that not everybody grows up in a stable home. Many girls that walk in the doors now that I've been there don't have an auntie they can call, a relationship with mom that is healthy. And so we become that person in their life. They're texting, hey, I don't know what to do.

Hey, I need help. Or, you know, hey, can I just come in a little bit earlier today? Many times our classes that are 40 minutes with one individual end up being an hour and a half because we're just talking about life. And so there's no mistakes. None. I don't care who you see on the streets of Arc City or Winfield. They are not a mistake. God allowed them to be born.

And if you can make a difference in one person, oh, my goodness, just wait and see. What that one person can do in somebody else's life. So this is a shirt that I love, pro-love. We're here to love. And we're not just pro-life. We're pro-love. And so next slide. So what we do, we save one life and change another through the gospel of Jesus Christ. So there's many areas at Family Life Services

where we do the pregnancy test. We want to come alongside those that are questioning whether they should keep or not keep. But then if they decide to keep, which we're wanting to be there, we're going to want to walk alongside them to just offer what they're struggling with. When somebody is facing that abortion choice, they're facing it because they don't know what their future looks like.

They're questioning, wait a minute, I was supposed to go to college. Wait a minute, I have to now be responsible for somebody else. So when they're not, they're not going to be able to do it. So when they've made that decision, they're facing all those things. And it's a very lonely place to be in. So once, through prayer, we can get through that, then the next step is changing another.

So we come alongside them. We empower young men and women. We challenge the men to be, the dads to come in. We want to encourage them to be a part of the journey of being in the pregnancy. And we want to be there. And we want to be a part of it. to speak into their lives as well and we provide ongoing support from the beginning up until two years we've just been offered a grant that has just

expanded our opportunity to come alongside moms not just up into six months but now up into two years and we provide many different things we've got a lot of new things we've been able to give we've got a lot of used things that we've been able to give so there's nothing that we don't consider that will bless the moms and the dads so we listen we encourage and we share hope and love and that's our goal is there another slide sorry so as a church we have a big responsibility share Jesus love even when the situation is less than ideal there's hope there's acceptance there's redemption and our words and actions make a lasting impact I'll make this really brief and quickly but when you see a lot of the kids that

walk in those doors and they're facing these situations I'm always stressing look we're a Christian non-organization place but we'll pray and we're here to pray for you and I have a group of women that I've asked to be my prayer warriors because we need prayer I've asked are you a part of a church and most I would say 75% of them respond to Jesus I was that one of them say well I'm sorry I'm not a Christian but I'm a Christian so I'm going to pray for you and I promise you that's just gonna help you you that's really interesting what keeps us praying so I do a lot and that's of them do not want to go to church here in arc city they have been told they're they're just

talked down to and we're here to love them if they walk in those doors i have a young man who wants to come into church he walks in those doors i want him to know that he's loved in spite of what he looks like in spite of how old he is in spite of the decision he made that unplanned pregnancy that they don't know how to do life so i'm going to challenge you and just like krista love on those people that walk in those doors because you don't know who they are you don't know what they have been what has happened in their lives and we get the opportunity of family life services to be in the midst of the miry clay of the miry pit i think that's what you said in first service so we just want to be alongside them and give them a hand up so i think you

that's it um job 33 4 the spirit of god has made me and the breath of the almighty gives me life that's the god we serve he cares about each and every one of you as much as each and every one that has been a part of sin we can all call it sin unprotected sex merit sex outside of marriage it's sin but god has breath life into that child that's in that womb no matter how he was conceived she was conceived or he was conceived so we get the blessing we get the privilege to come alongside each and every one so we just need prayer uh next slide yep well that one's it all that other stuff is great but we can't do without prayer and i'm so thankful for the women that have just stepped in

to pray for every single one of these ladies that walk in those doors so thank you thank you all right yes we want to make sure that uh we are involved with that as much as we can as a church so all right for our responsive reading the scripture i'm going to go ahead and read it out morning we are going to be in psalm 56 psalm 56 look at the new american standard for this part so hopefully 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 jonath alem rehokim a mictum of david when he

see when the philistine seized him in gath 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 they 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 to me all day long they distort my word 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. 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. And 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 the light of the living. And Father, we do pray that you would be gracious to us. We spend time in your word this morning, Lord. Graciously speak to us by the power of your Holy

Spirit. Open up our eyes to see and our hearts to perceive exactly what it is you have for us this morning. 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. We come upon the last section of 2 Thessalonians this morning. In chapter 1, Paul sought to encourage the

Thessalonians. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. And he did. Because of the hardships that they'd been through. Because of the persecutions that they had endured. And so he encouraged them in their walk. Encouraged them because of what God had done. And

what God would continue to do in their walks with him. And then in chapter 2, he instructed them. Instructed them specifically about the end times. The man of lawlessness and exactly what that looks like. And last week, about what it looks like to stand firm in light of that coming man of lawlessness. And now as we come to chapter 3, he is going to exhort the Thessalonian believers.

And so the title of this morning's message is Exhortation Part 1. And as we break down chapter 3, we'll only get to the first part today, but as we break down chapter 3, there's three exhortations he's going to give them. He's going to tell them to pray hard. He's going to tell them to work hard. And he's going to tell them to not grow weary. This morning, we'll look at the first one, to pray hard.

So we start in verse 1 of chapter 3, and this is what it says.

So the first thing he does under this exhortation of pray hard is he makes a personal request. He says, pray for us. Finally, brethren, pray for us. Now it's interesting because this request that Paul makes is a request that he frequently makes throughout his writings. As a matter of fact, I did just a little. A little bit of a search for all the times that he said pray for us.

And, you know, in the book of Romans, when Paul was writing that great treatise on faith, that great treatise on salvation, he asked the Roman believers, he said, pray for us because of the difficulties that they were facing. When he wrote to the church in Ephesus, as he wrote from prison there, he asked the Ephesian believers, he said, pray for us because of all of the things that I'm going through in this prison. When he wrote to the church in Colossae in that end of Colossians, he asked, he asked the Colossian believers, he said, pray for us. Pray that God would move through the word that we're speaking.

And, of course, in 1 Thessalonians, he asked the believers. He said, pray for us, my brethren, because of the difficulties that they were facing. He wanted to see God's word go out with power. And now as we come to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, he starts off this exhortation by saying, hey, pray for us. I think it's important to pay attention to that because I think it's a good reminder for us

that we never outgrow the need for prayer. There's a great necessity that we have for prayer in our lives. If Paul, who will go on to write most of the New Testament, at least by letters, thought it was so necessary to have the believers constantly be praying for him, then we need to realize and understand the power of prayer in our lives and the power of prayer in the lives of other people. There was a great necessity in his request because he saw the necessity for prayer.

It's interesting, back in October, we had a great event that the Fellowship of Christian Athletes here in Arc City put on. And we had all of the kids from Cali County show up. And we had about 750 kids show up at the football field. And it was a beautiful time. One of the most overwhelming things I've ever been a part of because as the stands are full of kids and about 600 of them came down to be prayed for,

it was one of the most overwhelming experiences I've ever personally been involved with as far as the gospel of Jesus Christ was concerned. But do you know where the work for that event took place? Do you know where the work for that event took place? Do you know where the work for that event took place? The work for that event took place weeks ahead of time

because there was a young lady who's one of my FCA officers. And she one day said, hey guys, I think we need to be going out to the football field and praying every day or at least as much as we can. And I got to tell you, to be completely transparent with you as a pastor, I kind of thought, you know, that probably should have been my idea. But praise God that he put it on her heart.

Praise God that he put it on the heart of this 17-year-old kid, maybe 16, to say we should be going out there and praying. And her idea was we need to get into as many of the seats as we can. And we need to be praying. We need to get on the field. We need to get on the track. We need to be anywhere that people are going to be. And we need to pray. And so we did that several times as a group.

But she went out there even without us. She went out there every free hour that she had to go out and pray over that football field. And so all of the work that actually went into that revival, all of the work that actually went into that event to bring all those kids forward. And if you're here this morning and you're one of the kids that received Jesus because of that, this is why.

It's because of the work of prayer. Because that young lady said, if this is going to happen, it's going to take prayer. If this is going to happen, it's going to take the work of God. And so it didn't matter who the speaker was. It didn't matter what the presentation was like. It didn't matter that Chick-fil-A was there, that we had things that we gave away,

or that the worship was amazing. What mattered is that the Holy Spirit was at work because of prayer. And that's what took place. Revival happens when prayer begins. And I'm here to tell you, my friends, that's why Paul looked at the, or when he was writing to these Thessalonian believers, he said, pray for us. Because he knew that the only power that he had,

he knew that the only ability that he had, he knew that the only thing that was making things work was prayer. One of the things I'm learning as a pastor is that it doesn't matter how much I study, it does. It doesn't matter how much I study. It doesn't matter how well I present. It doesn't matter how much advice I give. It doesn't matter how much counsel I give.

None of those things are as important as the prayer that takes place ahead of time. Because prayer moves the heart of God. Don't misunderstand me. Prayer gets our heart in line with the will of God. But I do believe that what I see in scripture is that there's an aspect of the fact that God's heart is moved through prayer. Because as God's people get on their knees

and intercede for other people, as God's people get on their knees and begin to cry out to the Lord and cry out for God to move, then it moves the heart of God. I think it moves him to action. And as he's moved to action, he begins to pour out his spirit. And as he begins to pour out his spirit, revival begins to take place. But it will not happen if you don't pray for us.

What Melinda just stood up here and said about the ministry that's taking place at Family Life Services, she wasn't just using filler lines when she said, we need you to pray for us. She meant it. She meant that the only thing that can minister to a young woman who just found herself in a place because she was either taken advantage of, well, always because she was taken advantage of, or because now she's got a hard decision that she has to make when she walks through their doors, they know that the only thing that will impact the life of that young lady is the truth. The gospel of Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit that takes place through prayer.

So Paul says, finally, brethren, pray for us. And what does he ask them to pray for? Well, he asks for three things. Pray for us, number one, that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly. That the word of the Lord will spread rapidly. That word rapidly means swiftly. The idea behind it is that it will keep on running. Now, bear with me here. I thought about something as I was studying this.

Studying out kind of the meaning of this word. And I thought about what took place in California a couple of weeks ago when those wildfires began. A painful illustration of what I think he actually is getting to here. Because what happened was all of California was kind of ready for a fire. And those fires were lit, or whatever happened. And they ran. And they ran fast.

And the thing that spread them were those Santa Ana winds. And I feel like God kind of gave me a vision of what he intended to say here when he says, pray that the word of God will run rapidly. Because the word of God is like a consuming fire. And he said, I want it to spread. And I'm gonna use the Santa Ana winds of prayer to spread the fire of God's word throughout the land.

And that's what God wants to do. And that's the idea of what Paul is asking here. He says, pray that God's word that's been at work in you and is at work everywhere, right now, pray that it continues to run swiftly. I love that he said, pray that God's word does this. Because that's exactly what we need. Listen, I love the worship movement that's taking place right now.

But worship, doesn't bring revival, okay? I love the new Christian t-shirt movements that are, I mean, listen, I love the cheesy ones we came up with in the 90s, don't get me wrong. But we actually have really creative people creating Christian t-shirts right now and they're awesome. And people are displaying their faith like that. But listen, Christian t-shirts don't start revivals.

What starts revivals? The word of God. Every revival that's ever been started from the beginning of revivals all happened because God's word spreads rapidly. And it spreads rapidly through the power of prayer. So he says, first of all, pray. Pray that God's word will spread rapidly. Pray that it will keep running in the way that it's been running. Just like it's been in your life,

pray that it runs everywhere. And then he prays the second thing. He says, not only pray that it will spread rapidly, but pray that God's word will be honored. Or excuse me, the translation here says glorified. Pray that God's word will be glorified. The idea behind the word glorified is that it will be honored or magnified or praised. In other words, that God's word

will take the precedence that God's word deserves in the life of God. In the lives of people. Pray that God's word would be honored. But you know, there's another aspect to this word glorified here just besides the idea of honoring it, meaning to put it in its proper place. Expositor's Bible commentary had this interesting statement. It said, when you think of the word honored,

think of the word triumphant. Because that's the idea behind that word. And I thought, that's a really cool word. Right, to think that God's word would be triumphant. Because that's what God's word is. God's word triumphs over everything else. Because think about how many times God's word, people seek to put it down or to destroy it or Satan seeks to question it.

And yet God's word continues to be the standard by which we hold everything else to. Because God's word will be triumphant. And that's what we need to pray. Lord, that your word would be triumphant. And we're watching it happen. I don't know if we always realize just how much is happening in our culture right now. Well, you only hear about the bad things, right?

Like we hear about all the terrible things that are happening in our culture. And we fail to see the revival that's happening in our culture right now. And it's continuing to take place because God's word is running swiftly and it's being triumphant. I hate to keep beating this dead horse, but I keep seeing interviews because of the pages that I follow on Instagram with these Ohio State players.

It was wonderful. When they won the national championship, Travion Henderson, one of their star running backs, stands up on national television and he says, I want you to understand, anybody can come to Jesus. This is after he wins a national championship. Anybody can come to Jesus. It doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter who you are because his love is so great

and he's taking care of all of your sins on the cross. You can just imagine people going, but how was the game? He doesn't care because he was put there for a purpose. He was put there for a reason and he knows that. After the game, there's this great interview and it's Scott Van Pelt talking to somebody else. I can't remember who it was. Scott Van Pelt on ESPN.

He does all the post game stuff. And they're like, we've got to talk about what is this Ohio State team? And we cannot leave out their faith in each other and their faith in God because it is undeniable that their faith in God has changed them as a team and it has taken them from being selfish to selfless and it changes every part of who they are. That's Scott Van Pelt saying that.

That's not me editorializing. That's what he said. Why? Because God's word is running swiftly and God's word is being triumphant and you need to, pray. Pray that God's word will keep running swiftly and pray that God's word will keep being triumphant because that's what he wants to do. You know why? Because the man of lawlessness is coming. And we want to take as many people with us as we can.

We want to take as many people with us so that people are not here for the garbage that's going to take place at that point in time. He says, pray for us. Pray that the word of God will keep running swiftly and that the word of God will keep being triumphant. And he says, pray one more thing. And pray that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men for not all have faith.

I love this moment of humanity on the part of Paul. Because sometimes we look at Paul and we go, super saint, right? Like, like just, you know, out of this world. All he cares about is spreading God's word. But there is still a human aspect to this guy. And he says, could you just pray that we be delivered from perverse and evil men? You know where Paul was when he wrote this book?

Paul was in Corinth. He was ministering in Corinth at that point in time. Now, if you were to go back and read the book of Acts, you would know that when Paul was in Corinth, he faced some real opposition while he was there. As a matter of fact, there was a point in time that Paul was ready to quit in Corinth and an angel of the Lord showed up to him in a dream and he said, hey, don't give up.

Keep doing what you're doing. Because I have a lot of people in this city. Now, I don't know this for sure, but wouldn't it be fascinating to think that after Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers and said, pray for us that God would deliver us from perverse and evil men, that perhaps they got down on their knees and they started praying for Paul? And maybe at that point in time, just maybe, an angel of the Lord showed up to him and said, keep doing what you're doing.

Keep doing what you're doing because I got a lot of people in this city. Keep spreading the word. All because the Thessalonian people prayed. I don't know if that's the case, but wouldn't it be fascinating if that was the case? Because that's what the prayers of the people of God do to move the heart of God. Paul prays, pray that God will deliver us from perversions,

perverse and evil men. Those are two very powerful words in the Greek there. The word perverse means wicked and capable of harm. These are not just average people that are coming after and they're wicked and they're capable of harm. The word evil means corrupt and intent on corrupting others. And I love these two things that he says. Pray that God will deliver us from evil men

that would want to harm us and evil men that would want to corrupt us. Because if Satan can't get you through physical or spiritual harm, he will corrupt your morality. And he will seek to do one or the other to you. If he can't damage you on the outside, he will seek to corrupt you from the inside. And Paul says, pray that God would deliver us from those who would want to harm us on the outside

or corrupt us from the inside. Because that's the way Satan works. He says, pray that God would deliver us from those things. Pray that God would rescue us from those things. Why? Because not all have faith. Not all have faith. That little statement really stuck out to me. Every now and then, God just sort of catches my attention with one. And that was one that sort of stuck out to me.

And I got to thinking about that quite a bit. Because not all have faith. And when it says not all have faith, it should say not all have the faith. A direct article in front of that might actually be helpful. Because the idea is a Christian system of belief. It's not that people don't have faith in anything. It's that they don't have faith in God. They don't have true Christian saving faith in their life.

And I think that this is true for two reasons. One, because people outside of the church obviously don't have faith. But I don't think that's where he's trying to get to. Because that's pretty clear that the people outside of the church don't have faith. I think what he's saying is because not all in the church have faith. You see, Paul's greatest detractors

were not people outside of religious realms. The people who were the most opposed to Paul and his message were not people outside of religion at that point in time. They were people inside of religion who claimed to know God. But denied him by their lives. Who claimed to know God but didn't live according to the power. And I need us to realize something today.

Not all have faith. I think we learned that this week by a speech that took place earlier this week by an Episcopalian pastor. Can we agree with that? That not all have faith. And we know that to be true. And so we have to test everything that's said against the word of God. We have to test everything that's said against the truth. Because we have to realize

that there are some sneaking into the church who don't have the truth. Who don't have the truth. Who don't have the truth. Who don't have the truth. They have a Christian faith who don't have true faith in what God's word has to say. And they're still willing to spout their ideas. Because that's what was happening to Paul. People were coming along behind him

and they were tainting everything that he had to say. Corrupting things he had to say and trying to harm him physically. He said, pray that God would deliver us from that. Because just because they look like they believe doesn't mean they do. Not all have faith. And so he says, brethren, pray for us. But the second thing that he says under this heading of pray hard

is he talks about confidence in the Lord. Notice what it 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, another one of those moments that sort of caught my eye and made me camp out for just a little bit on it. Matter of fact, I pulled out my Thompson Chain reference on this one

and just started looking at some of these ideas of faithfulness. And it's kind of fascinating to track through scripture, particularly just some sections of the New Testament that talk about the faithfulness of God. And so I'm gonna give you a list of scriptures. I don't really want you to turn there. I'm not even gonna turn there. I've kind of put a little reference

and then what it says right next to it. But I think that these are really cool. So the first one that I wanna tell you about about the faithfulness of God comes from 1 Corinthians chapter one, verse 19. He is faithful to call you, and to fellowship. He's faithful to call you into fellowship. You know what that means? That means if you're here this morning and you're a believer in Jesus Christ,

do you realize you are a testimony to the faithfulness of God? Because God says he seeks and saves the lost. And the fact that you're here shows that God is faithful to his word. That he faithfully sought after you and he faithfully saved you and now you're no longer one of the lost. Now you've been called into fellowship and he was faithful to do that in your life.

And so if you're here this morning, I want you to know your life is a testimony to the faithfulness of God. He is faithful to call you into fellowship. The second one is 1 Thessalonians chapter five, verse 24. It says that he is faithful to do what he says. The verse itself actually says faithful is he who called you who also will do it. And I shared this with first service as well

so I'll share it with you guys. I know I've told the story before but I only have so many. This is a really important verse to me. Because when I, when I left home at 19 years old and moved out to Bible college, it was a really hard transition for me. And I left everything that was familiar and I moved to a completely different part of the country. I was not only the only person from my town,

from my state, but as far as I knew, I was the only person from my region of the country. And so it was really hard to adjust to that, right? We're not in Kansas anymore was said a lot, not just by me, but everybody else around me. And so, and then I got overwhelmed by all the work I had to do. And I was like, I think I just want, I think I made a mistake. I think I just need to go back home.

And so I called home and I said, I think it, I think I just need to come home. I think I made a mistake by coming out here. And I've talked to my mom about this recently because now that I have kids that are getting close to that age, I'm like, how on earth were you able to say that? She said, no, that's the enemy. You need to stay. You need to be there. God's called you there and you need to stay there.

And I said, how on earth were you able to do that? And she goes, it had to have been Jesus because everything inside of me, I wanted to say, I'm ordering your plane ticket now, right? Because now that I got a kid close to that age, I'm like, oh my gosh, that'd be so hard. But, but as I made that decision to stay, something started happening. First thing that happened is somebody that I was listening to taught on this.

First Thessalonians 5 24, he who called you as faithful, who also will do it. And I was like, whoa, okay, that's a, that's a really cool verse. And then I read it in my devotions. He who calls you as faithful, who also will do it. And then I got in my buddy's car. We, I think we're going to in and out and, um, and there was a guy teaching on the radio and no,

it was a verse in between a radio when teaching on his verse in between radio shows. And it was first Thessalonians 5 24. He who promises is faithful, who also will do it. And then 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 went down to talk to my buddy and you know what the screensaver was?

Be weird if it wasn't first Thessalonians 5 24, huh? First Thessalonians 5 24, he who calls you as faithful, who also will do it. And I was like, I get it. You're going to be faithful. That's what he's good at. He was actually faithful to show me that verse over and over again to prove to me that he's faithful. He's faithful to do what he says. Number three,

second Timothy chapter two verse 13. It says he's faithful in spite of our faithlessness. And that great that even if you're faithless, he remains faithful because that's who he is. Because you know, we are a lot faithless. That means that no matter how much I screw up, that means no matter how hard it is for me, to still believe how faithless I end up being,

it doesn't change who God is. He remains faithful. Hebrews chapter two verse 17 says that he is a merciful and a faithful high priest because he's been through everything that you've been through everything that you're going through. He's been through it. Situations may look a little bit different, but the philosophies are the same and he knows what that's like and he can be a faithful high priest because of it.

You know what that means? It means Jesus. Jesus knows what it's like to get sick. Jesus knows what it's like to face rejection. Jesus knows what it's like to have somebody say you can't sit at my table. He knows what all those things are like. He's some merciful and a faithful high priest because he's been through it already before. So when you come to him and say this is what I'm going through,

he doesn't say I can't really understand. I've never been there. He says I know exactly what you're talking about. Tell me more because he's a merciful and a faithful high priest. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 23 says he is faithful to keep his promises. He's faithful to keep all of his promises. I'll give you a second to write that one down because I'm going to move faster on this next one.

And then Revelation chapter 11 verse or excuse me, chapter 19 verse 11 says I saw a rider on a white horse and his name is faithful and true. See names in the Bible meant something because names in the Bible, we're not just something that somebody pulled out of a hat. Names in the Bible bore their character and their nature. So when you see Jesus, his very character, his very nature, the very core of his being is that he is faithful and he is true.

And so when Paul, who actually wrote most of those, when Paul says, but the Lord is faithful in opposition to all the men who don't have faith, but the Lord is faithful, he meant it and he knew it. Because it was something that he lived, it was something he experienced. He said, but the Lord is faithful. And what is the Lord faithful to do? Notice what it says, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

What's he faithful to do? Well, first of all, he's faithful to strengthen us. That word strengthen means to stabilize, to make firm, or to set on a firm foundation. Now, my brain immediately went to the Psalms when I read that it meant, to set on a firm foundation, because it reminds me of what has become an incredibly precious Psalm to me, Psalm 40. You might just write Psalm 40, I didn't put it up there.

But it says this. It says, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and he heard my cry. He brought me up out of the miry pit, and he set my feet upon a rock, and he put a brand new song in my mouth, praise unto our God. You may feel sometimes like you're wallowing in the mire, like your feet are sinking in the mire, but God is faithful who will establish you, who will strengthen you, who will stabilize you, who will put your feet firm upon the rock.

You know what the rock is that he puts your feet firmly upon? The Word of God. That's what he puts your feet firmly upon, because as you start to sink in the mire of anxiety, as you start to sink in the mire of worry, as you start to sink in the mire of temptation. And he reminds you that you don't have to be anxious about anything, but you can pray about everything.

He reminds you that worry is a lie that you're told from the enemy and that his word will never fail you. And he reminds you that there is no temptation that has overtaken you except such as is common to man. And with the temptation, he is able to provide a way of escape. You see, that's how he puts your feet firmly upon the rock when it feels like you're sinking into the mire.

And he is faithful to do it every time. To strengthen you. But not only that, number two, he is faithful to protect you. The word protect here means to guard, and the idea behind it is a military protection against a violent assault. A military protection against a violent assault. Now sometimes when we think about God protecting us, we have the wrong view of it.

We think that if God's going to protect us, nothing bad will ever happen to me, right? We get the idea that that means nothing is ever going to come into my life that's going to be hard or dangerous for me. That's not going to happen to me. It's going to be dangerous for me to face. Only we have to remember who's writing this. Paul is writing this. And at the time that he's writing it, he's facing great danger in Corinth.

Not to mention the fact that he'd already gone on a missionary journey that nearly cost him his life. So when Paul says protect you, he doesn't mean that nothing bad will ever happen to you. He means that your soul will be secure no matter what takes place around you from the assaults of the enemy. He is able to help you to keep standing in the face of all of your greatest enemies.

He is able to help you to keep standing in the face of all of your greatest enemies. And he is able to help you to keep standing in the face of all of your greatest enemies. Paul is a very clear example of that. He is a very clear example of that. And I want to give you a little illustration. The other day, I was at the gym. And why this movie isn't on at the gym every time I'm there, I don't know.

It was Rocky. It wasn't my favorite Rocky, but it was Rocky 3, Clubber Lang, right? Kids, if you're under the age of 35 and you've never seen Rocky before, I'm going to recommend you watch it. Rocky 1 through 3 are great. Rocky 4 has the best training sequence. Rocky 5? want my money back. And then the new Rocky that came out was great, right? I'll deal with that

in just a second. But in Rocky 3, he, you know, Mick dies. Sorry, spoiler alert. Mick dies, and he gets beat by Clubber Lang in the very beginning. And he's like, hey, you want to make him done with fighting now? And everybody's like, no, you can't do this. Hey, I ain't got no training no more. And so he finally gets back, and he fights again, and he stands up, and oh, he finally defeats

Clubber Lang. But what I really thought about when I started watching that movie as I was on the treadmill, first of all, I was just like, this is the greatest thing ever to run to this. But I thought about that line from just the movie Rocky, right? When the newest Rocky came out, I was like, what's he going to fight this time? Osteoporosis, right? Because he was like elderly

at that point in time. Dude, it was an amazing movie. Like, you've got to watch that one. But he's talking to his son, and he says, listen, life is not about how hard you can hit. Life's about how hard you can get hit and get back up. And that's what he means when he says that he is able to protect you from the evil one, is that he's able to protect you from the evil one.

Even though you get hit, he's going to help you get back up, because he's going to protect you and your soul from giving into the undying urge to give up. Because that's what we face more than anything, is the undying urge to say, this is too hard. I just want to go live without all of this faith stuff, because following Jesus means crucifying my flesh. Following Jesus means facing all new enemies. And if I just don't follow Jesus, I won't have any of those problems,

which is a lie from the end of the day. Listen to me, by the way. But sometimes that's what we think. And in that moment, the Lord is faithful, who will protect you, and he will get you back up, and he will set your feet on a solid rock and help you to stand, because the Lord is faithful. Amen? He goes on to say, and we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do

what we command. Confidence. Confidence. The word confidence means he had come to a settled conclusion. The idea behind the word is having put to the test, coming to the settled conclusion that it will pass the test. I am confident. And what really stuck out to me, and I think I had him put it up here, actually I did not, but he saved my rear end, is Philippians chapter one, verse six. Philippians chapter one,

verse six says, and being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. That's what he does. And Paul says, I'm confident in God on your behalf. And what's he confident in God to do? He says, we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will do what we have commanded you to do. One of the,

one commentary that I read that I absolutely disagreed with, and I don't do that very often, but I absolutely disagreed with it. He said, Paul was confident in the Thessalonian believer. And I thought, that's not actually what that says. Paul did not say, I am confident in you. What does it say? I am confident in, go ahead, shout it out, in the Lord on your behalf. He doesn't have any

confidence in the Thessalonian believer. He's just like, I don't have any confidence in me. Don't take this wrong. I don't have any confidence in you, but I'm confident in God on your behalf. That God is going to give you everything you need to not only obey him now, but to continue to obey in the future. Because brothers and sisters, I ain't got a lot when I look at this. I don't have

to look at me to go, hey, yeah, he seems to always make the right decision. That's not true at all, right? I will always make the wrong decision the first time. And God's like, I mean, you could do that, but it's a bad idea. And I'm like, okay, so what should I do? Right? Because I got to talk to God. He's like, well, we'll do what I told you the first time. That sounds good. He says, we have

confidence in the Lord on your behalf, concerning you. And my confidence in the Lord, concerning you, is that you will be obedient. And he goes on to say, now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ. Paul almost just kind of offers a little prayer for the Thessalonian believers here. And he says, now may the Lord

direct your hearts. It's a great word, direct, because the idea behind this word direct means to clear out the obstacles. To clear out any of the obstacles that might be in the way. And I love that, because of the two things that he's going to tell us that he wants God to clear out the obstacles for. Number one, now may the Lord clear out the obstacles in your hearts so that you can move into the love of God.

So that you can move into the love of God. You know why sometimes it's so hard for us to take in God's love for ourselves? Because of all of the obstacles that are there in our hearts. Sometimes those obstacles are shame. Sometimes those obstacles are fear. Sometimes those obstacles are the opinions of other people. Sometimes those obstacles are the opinions of

ourselves. Sometimes those obstacles are past guilt, past sins. Sometimes those obstacles are a poor view of God, perhaps because of the poor view that your parents have given to you of what God is supposed to look like. Because maybe you grew up in an abusive relationship. Or maybe you've been in an abusive relationship, and you don't think anyone can ever love you, and that obstacle

is there. And so what Paul says is, I'm praying that God will clear out the obstacles so that the love of God can take its hold in your heart. And if that's you this morning, if you're having a hard time, I don't think it's an accident that this is the second week in a row we've talked about the love of God. Usually to me that means that somebody really needs to hear this. If that's you this

morning, and you're really struggling to take in the love of God into your own life, I want you to start praying that God would remove the obstacles, that God would clear the path for his love to come into your heart. Because the idea behind this, now may the Lord direct you into the love of God, is not just God's love for you, but God's love that he wants you to show to the people around you. I hear this said sometimes, and I don't mean to step on any psychological toes right now, but people say, you can't love others because you can't love yourself. I say that doesn't go far enough.

You can't love others because you don't know the love of God. That's what keeps us from loving other people. Because the only love we have inside of us is what's been shed abroad to our hearts through God. And God wants to remove the obstacles that keep us from sharing that love with other people. You know what obstacle? I can put all of the obstacles that keep us from sharing God's love with other people into one word and one word only.

Are you ready for it? Self. You are the reason you can't love the people around you. Because we put ourselves in a place that we're not supposed to be. And God says, I want you to clear out, I want to clear out those obstacles of your life so that you can love the people that are around you. As you take it into your own heart, and then as you shed that broad, that love abroad

into the hearts of other people. He says, now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God. The second thing he wants to direct their hearts into is the steadfastness of Christ. The steadfastness of Christ. That word steadfast means patience and endurance. Patience and endurance. One commentary I read defined it like this. It said, the idea of steadfastness is the person who is not swerved

from their loyalty by even the greatest trials and sufferings. The person who is not swerved from their loyalty in spite of the greatest trials and sufferings. That's being steadfast. That means that no matter what happens, I'm still here. No matter what happens, I continue to move. No matter what happens, I keep pushing towards Jesus. And he says, God, would you clear out

any obstacle in their path that prevents steadfastness in their lives? Clear out any obstacle in their path. Clear out anything that's in the way that would keep them from a heart that is completely steadfast towards you.

He says, pray hard. He says, pray for us. Pray for us that the gospel will spread. Pray for us that the word of God would triumph. And pray for us that we would be delivered from evil men. Because no matter how faithless the world is, God is faithful. And we are confident of good things for you because of who God is. I'm praying that God takes out any obstacle between you and him.

Amen. Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I thank you for what you've done for us in your word. Lord, I thank you that your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path and continues to illuminate for us not only the character of God, but Lord, our character that needs God. And so, Lord, I want to pray for each one of us in this room this morning, everybody

watching online this morning. And Lord, I, like Paul, want to pray that you would direct our hearts into the love of God. Father, that you would clear out any obstacles that keep us from knowing your love. And I do sense in my heart, I do sense in my spirit that somebody here is having a really hard time understanding the love of God because there are things in the way. Whatever it

is, I don't know what it is. Only you and Jesus know that. But there's some walls that need torn down. There's some barriers that need cast out. There's some stuff that needs dealt with so that they can take in the love of God. And then, Lord, I also sense very heavily that there's somebody who will not show the love of Jesus Christ to the people around them because self has come to them.

And I want to pray for each one of us in this room this morning. And Lord, I want to pray that you would guide them in the way. And Lord, they've gotten so selfish. They put themselves in the place where only you belong. Lord, you're telling them it's time to crucify the flesh. It's time to get rid of the obstacles and be the man that God's called them to be. So, Lord, do your work in our hearts,

we pray. And Lord, may steadfastness be what defines each one of us. May our hearts be steadfast towards you. May we continue to patiently endure as we pursue you with all of our lives. And Lord, be with us as we go out from here. And may that love and that steadfastness be what identifies us as believers in Jesus Christ. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Lord God, we thank you, Lord, for the day. And we thank you for how faithful you are to us, Lord God. Even when we are not, even when we fail, Lord, you are still faithful. And you are still good. So, Lord, let us pray that as we have that in our hearts this morning, as we leave here today, that you continue to minister to us, Lord. And remind us of your faithfulness and your goodness. Amen. Amen. You guys have a wonderful

week. God bless you.