1 Thessalonians 05 Round Two: God Is Faithful

Waiting can mess with your head even when your theology is solid. You can truly believe God is faithful and still wonder if you have what it takes to keep going when answers feel slow, life feels loud, and the future feels uncertain. Today we sit with 1 Thessalonians 5 and let Paul reset our expectations: Jesus is coming again, but we don’t know when, so we stop chasing predictions and start practicing readiness.

We talk about the day of the Lord arriving unexpectedly “like a thief in the night,” and why the real danger isn’t only when things look chaotic, but also when the world feels falsely peaceful and secure. From there, we dig into what it means to live as children of light, staying alert and clear-headed, protected by faith and love, and wearing the confidence of salvation. We also touch a sensitive but freeing truth from the text: God chooses to save us through Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us, because Christ died for us and secures our forever hope.

Then we get practical. Paul’s rapid-fire commands become a simple discipleship map for everyday life: honor leaders, live peacefully, warn the lazy, encourage the timid, care for the weak, and be patient with everyone. We unpack “always be joyful,” “never stop praying,” and “be thankful in all circumstances” as habits that shape a steady heart. Finally, we look at spiritual gifts and prophecy with balance: don’t scoff, but test everything, hold on to what is good, and stay away from evil.

If you need one line to carry into your week, it’s this: God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s in a waiting season, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And The Daily Mission

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Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the BibleBreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's word together.

God Is Faithful When Waiting Is Hard

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Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And today's title is just simply God is Faithful. God is faithful. I don't know about you, but there's been seasons in my life where it wasn't that I necessarily doubted if God was faithful. I did doubt my ability to wait on his faithfulness. But as we always, we're going to get into that in a moment. But first, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Leave us a five-star review. It really does help. And be sure to go to the Bible breakdown discussion group on Facebook. Man, the more we dig, the more we find. And I would love to know in the comments on the YouTube video and in the comments on the Bible breakdown discussion, I want you to let me know a time when God was faithful in your life because it's so important for us to encourage one another. Not only do the more we dig, the more we find in God's word, but it's important to encourage each other because Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming soon, and he is going to fulfill his word. And I can only imagine that as you're opening your Bibles with me to 1 Thessalonians, I'm imagining that, but I can only imagine that as we are ending this letter, you know, this was originally written to the church at Thessalonica, and it was written in a way for it to be read out loud. And so as Paul is finishing up his letter that's supposed to be read out loud, he's encouraged the people and he said, you know what? Jesus is coming.

Jesus Is Coming So What Now

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You can almost imagine them going, man, that's exciting. I can't wait. All right, Paul, what do we do between now and then? We don't know when Jesus is gonna come. We just know that he is. And we've already covered that in chapters before. We have we have no idea when Jesus is gonna come. Everyone's got an idea. You know, as we said before, I've got what they call pan theology, which means it's all gonna pan out in the end. I don't care when he comes, as long as he does, and I trust that he will, I trust the Lord. So then what do we do? And one side of it is we've got to be faithful. But then the amazing other side is that God is gonna be faithful to us. So if you have your Bibles, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, I want you to, as we read this, think of this as when they first got this letter, man, they were trusting the Lord, but man, they were just, they have been so worried. What happens for people who die before Jesus returns? What about us who are still here? Like what they just all these questions. And Paul has now answered these questions. So I just almost see there's an excitement where Paul has been saying over and over again, be encouraged. Jesus is coming, be encouraged, Jesus is coming. And so now they're like, okay, what do we do between now and then? It may or may not happen in our lifetime, but what do we do and what do we tell the next generation? So they'll be ready. And so let's read it with that mentality of now what do we do, and how do we occupy until he comes. You ready? First Thessalonians chapter five, verse one says this.

The Day Of The Lord Arrives Suddenly

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Now, concerning how and when all this will happen, dear brothers and sisters, I don't really need to write to you. For you know quite well that the day of the Lord's return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. When people are saying everything is peaceful and secure, then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman's labor pains begin, and there will be no escape. Now, pause. That is one of the things I always think is so funny. And I I fell into this a lot too. But every time that there's something happening, you know, especially as an American citizen, I know we have people who listen to this from all over the world. So you may not see this in your part of the world, but in the United States of America, especially every four years, because there's an election cycle that happens every four years, and things look bad and all this stuff. And it's because things look bad that a lot of times a lot of these prophecy preachers will say, You better get ready. It's looking bad. Jesus is getting ready to come. Well, Paul actually just said, we don't know, but one of the ways you can tell is when everybody is saying, hey, it's pretty peaceful, it's pretty, pretty secure. Then is when things are gonna happen, then is when disaster is gonna fall. He said, actually, it's gonna be a whole lot like a pregnant woman when she goes into labor. So just because it looks bad doesn't necessarily mean that's a sign. It could be, but also it could be when people are going, I don't really need Jesus, everything's looking good. So you really don't

Stay Alert With Faith Love Hope

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ever know. That's why you got to do what comes next. Verse 4 says this, but you aren't in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won't be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. Other words, coming unexpectedly. For you are all children of the light and of the day. We don't belong to the darkness and night, so be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clear-headed. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let those who live in the light be clear headed, protected by the armor of faith and love, wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation. Now, if you remember, Paul also talks about this in his letter to the church at Ephesus when he was talking about the armor of God, and he also says the helmet of salvation is the confidence of our salvation that comes from the Lord. Verse 9 says this for God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. Christ died for us so that whether we are dead or alive, when he returns, we can live with him forever. So encourage each other and build each other up just as you were already

God Saves Us Not To Punish

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doing. Now, a couple things with that. I've had some pushback before, because at the end of a lot of our church services, I will say, God's not mad at you. And people are like, absolutely, God's mad at you. The wrath of God is on you until you get, I'm not saying that sin isn't on you. You don't need to get rid of it, but from this verse, verse nine says that he came to save us, not pour out his anger on us. The wrath of God was poured out on Jesus on the cross. So when we receive Christ, he takes that curse of sin off of us. But what I also love is that he says, when Christ returns, no matter what state you find yourself in, you're gonna be okay. And so if we have Christ as the Lord of our lives, it doesn't matter what happens to us in this life, as far as it concerns our hope in Christ. That doesn't mean we're not gonna have bad days. It doesn't mean we're not gonna have the worst things happen to us. But the worst thing is only a little bit compared to the eternity that we have with Jesus. Now let's finish this up, verse 12.

How To Treat Leaders And Each Other

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Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord's work, for they work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholeheartedly love, wholehearted love because of their work, and live peacefully with each other. Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy, encourage those who are timid, take tender care of those who are weak, and be patient with everyone. In other words, that's Paul's way of saying, hey, let's help each other out. If whatever they need, if you can help them, help them. Right? Verse 15. See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. Always be joyful, never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. Do not stifle the Holy Spirit, do not scoff at prophecies,

Joy Prayer Gratitude And Holiness

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but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good, stay away from every kind of evil. Now pause again. Now Paul is just kind of just quickly just rattling off these things that we need to do. But a couple of them that sticks out is he says, Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. What's God's will for my life? Among other things, to always be thankful. But I also love where he says, don't stifle the Holy Spirit. In other words, if God, if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, most of the time, the way the Holy Spirit speaks to us is he convicts us of sin, he leads us to take next steps. Many of us look at this as in, I don't want to stifle the Holy Spirit because I don't want to stop him from using me to do

Don’t Stifle The Spirit Keep Growing

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other things. And that sometimes is the way it is. But primarily, the things the Holy Spirit does in our lives is that he leads us closer and closer to Jesus. So he's saying, never stop growing. And when the Holy Spirit convicts you about something, let him convict you. Because what he's trying to do is remove any weakness, any uh wound in your life so that you can be closer to God. So he's saying, don't stop growing and don't stop allowing the Holy Spirit to convict you of sin because he's always trying to help you. And then he says, don't scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said and hold to what is

Test Prophecy Hold Tight To Good

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good. Now, the reason why that's important is because, you know, if you are in an environment where people claim to have spiritual gifts, well, what Paul is saying is let them have their spiritual gifts, but also let them understand that they don't get a free blank check with that. We're gonna hold you accountable. And if you talk in some kind of random vagary, we're not gonna pay attention to you. And if you're very specific, well, we're gonna pay attention and we're gonna hold you to account. Test everything that is said and hold to what is good. And I think that if more people knew that, about God actually saying, hey, I want you to use spiritual gifts in in that one-on-one fashion, but understand that we're gonna hold you to account. I think a lot of people that are nervous and timid about the use of spiritual gifts wouldn't be as nervous and timid because they realize that God's gonna hold this person accountable. That's why a lot of times, you know, in my life, I have no problem with someone who's willing to engage and feel like God's using a spiritual gift, but I am gonna hold them accountable. If you talk in just some vagaries, God might somewhere, perhaps, I'm not gonna pay attention because God is specific. God knows exactly what he's doing. But then if he does, then man, I want to hear everything that God has. So I want to encourage you that if you ever have someone who they say they have a word from God for you, it's okay to step back and to test it according to God's word. And then if it be from the Lord, embrace it and enjoy it and allow God to speak to you. And if it's not, then you mark that person as someone who's not to be trusted. And when we use that, then we understand how God wants to move in and through us according to his word. All right, let's finish it up.

He Who Calls You Is Faithful

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Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful. Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us. Greet all the brothers and sisters with a sacred kiss, and I command you in the name of our Lord to read this letter to all the brothers and sisters. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. I love how he finishes this letter. Because if you remember, over the past five chapters, he's been talking about a lot of things, staying faithful to God, about the second coming of Christ and all this. But then he ends the letter with, God will make this happen. Your job is to allow him to be faithful, to not give up. And I want to encourage you with that as we finish our time together. I don't know when you are going to be listening to this. It's going to come out in 2024, but because of the wonderful gift of technology, this is going to be around Lord willing for a really long time. So I don't know what's going to happen between the time I'm first recording this and when you're listening to this. But can I tell you one thing that's never going to change? God is going to be faithful. He's never going to run out of faithfulness. He's always going to be faithful. And so Paul's answer to how is all this going to happen? God. God is the one who is going to hold you up. God is the one who's going to help you take these next steps. And God is going to be faithful. So as we end our time, I want to encourage you with something. Jesus is coming again. We don't know how, we don't know when. We just know that he is. And when he comes, it's going to be an amazing moment. Well, Pastor, I don't know what to do. I can tell you exactly what to do. Allow God to be faithful. Allow him to take care of this. Don't try to predict it. Don't try to make it happen any faster than it's going to. But rather, while you're still here, share that good news with other people that Jesus loves them. Jesus wants to save them. And Jesus is coming again. What an amazing testimony for us to carry with us into the rest of our lives.

Share The Good News And Pray

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Let's pray together. God, thank you so much for your word. Thank you that you are with us and you are for us. God, as we finish up 1 Thessalonians, what a powerful message for us today to realize, God, there's so many things that's going on. And Lord, your word is so full of promises. And sometimes we wonder how are these things going to happen? Well, your word tells us they're going to happen because you're going to make them happen. Lord, the pressure is on you. And it's no pressure for you to fulfill every one of your promises. Lord, we thank you that you are faithful. We love you and we celebrate your goodness today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And amen. Well, don't forget, God's Word says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, always be joyful. We just read this, never stop praying, and be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for 2nd Chronicles chapter one.