SPEAKER_00: So to check that video out, you can go ahead and click on the link below and you can watch that video in the description.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, stay tuned for the sermon part of the message.
SPEAKER_00: And and to see the kids, you know, on the spiritual side grow and also how God took care of us in so many physical and immediate ways.
SPEAKER_00: One day we the van air conditioning quit working altogether.
SPEAKER_00: And so the back of the van, there was no airflow, and the windows don't open, and we were gonna have to drive home that way.
SPEAKER_00: So really not looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_00: So we were brainstorming how are we gonna get this fixed?
SPEAKER_00: How we and we don't have an extra day to sty it and wait for a mechanic to do it.
SPEAKER_00: Um we ended up just talking to one of the other guys that was on the trip.
SPEAKER_00: Um he had some diagnostic tools with him, happened to have them.
SPEAKER_00: So we were able to pull the AC out and fix the blower that night in about an hour for 90 bucks.
SPEAKER_00: Um and so to see God just in a very practical way move and do things like that was really a cool thing.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you guys all.
SPEAKER_00: It was an amazing trip for all that.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you guys for all your support.
SPEAKER_00: It's an amazing thing to get to see God move in teenager's life, and especially, I mean, how many of us would have liked to have that opportunity when we're young and building that foundation?
SPEAKER_00: And so it's really cool to be a part of that, and then for you guys to support them in that changes not just six lives, but all the lives that they will impact after that.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for that.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we are gonna do a short sermon tonight just because we got to see this update, but the passage that we are looking at in 2 Thessalonians is very apt to why we always need to be digging in the word.
SPEAKER_00: All right, and so as we're going through our series, the church in Thessalonica had so many questions about Paul, or for Paul, about the end times and about Jesus' return.
SPEAKER_00: And so as he's talking to them, um he writes back to them in first chapter of 2 Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: Malcolm spoke about last week, talking to how God will repay and bring justice in the end times.
SPEAKER_00: And then in chapter 2, Paul continues to look at it and he says, In the end times, there will be this man he refers to as a man of lawlessness, a person of lawlessness.
SPEAKER_00: This person will one be a person that opposes God and exalts himself, and he deceives those who are perishing, is what Paul says.
SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, we should not be surprised by his words, should we?
SPEAKER_00: Because even Jesus warned us that people will fall away.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew 13, in Luke 8, um, and in Mark also, he tells us about the parable of the sower.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: The parable of the sower is a the sower spreads the word of God, and he says he spreads it on several different types of soil, which is representative of different people's hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And he says the sower put out the word of God, and the birds come and snatch some of it away immediately.
SPEAKER_00: Or some falls on rocky soil where it's people grow up excited, but they have no roots, and so they wither.
SPEAKER_00: Or it gets choked out by weeds, which he lists as the worries of this world.
SPEAKER_00: And so we learn in Scripture, and this is repeated over and over, that many will fall away.
SPEAKER_00: There are going to be many people that fall away from Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Even in John chapter 6, as Jesus begins to kind of teach the people, the disciples, about communion at the very early stages, many people stop following him.
SPEAKER_00: They walk away.
SPEAKER_00: They said the teaching is too hard, and so they leave.
SPEAKER_00: Um Paul even saw his own co-workers desert him, and he writes to Timothy about it.
SPEAKER_00: And so we shouldn't be surprised about this, but Paul didn't want the Thessalonians or us to end up this way.
SPEAKER_00: And so he instructs them in chapter 2, verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: He says this to them.
SPEAKER_00: And we also thank God continually, because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which indeed is at work in all you who believe.
SPEAKER_00: For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God churches in Judea.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: I'm a reading 1 Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, that doesn't look right at all.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm sorry about that, guys.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna go to 2 Thessalonians, and we're gonna start there in 13.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, wait a minute, this is not working.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: All right, but we ought always thank God for you, brothers.
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're on target.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through the belief and the truth.
SPEAKER_00: He called you through uh you to uh to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm, hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
SPEAKER_00: May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope.
SPEAKER_00: Encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
SPEAKER_00: And so he instructs them, you know, there will be many who fall away as this man, this great deceiver, comes, but you must stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: You must stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: And he instructs them this.
SPEAKER_00: He calls them, he refers to them, you are the first fruits, right, of saved through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And so he knows that they are saved, that they belong to Christ, and yet he still tells them, you need to stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason he does this is because standing is a verb.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Standing is a verb.
SPEAKER_00: If you break down words and different things like that, adjectives, you know, words that describe something, and uh a noun, of course, is a person, place, or thing.
SPEAKER_00: A verb is an action word.
SPEAKER_00: It's something that we actually have to do.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we stand in our faith, it's something we must be actively standing in our faith.
SPEAKER_00: We could translate this word, keep standing firm, continue to do this, because we don't want to end up like the seed that Jesus told us about.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to fall away or end up.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul, in verse 15 of chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians, says this.
SPEAKER_00: He gives them the command.
SPEAKER_00: He says, so then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings.
SPEAKER_00: Hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
SPEAKER_00: Now he gives this command several times throughout Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Corinthians 16, 13, he says to stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: In Galatians 5.1, stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: In Philippians 1.27 and 4.1, stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: Hold on to the teachings of the gospel that the apostles have passed on to them.
SPEAKER_00: See, he tells us that we need to hold on because when the storm hits, the thing that will anchor us in our faith is God's word.
SPEAKER_00: When life becomes overwhelming, the thing that will help us get through it is the word of God, the teachings of the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: And so it is so important, and that is why Paul tells us that we need to stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: Paul then goes on in verse 16 May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
SPEAKER_00: See, God says, he says, May God encourage and strengthen you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a great encouragement, but it's also a warning in one way.
SPEAKER_00: Because if God needs to encourage and strengthen you, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means that you are gonna need encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be times where you're gonna be tried, where you're gonna be down, where you're gonna want to not go on.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, Paul says, God will encourage you and strengthen you.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be times where you cannot carry on, where it's gonna be too much, almost overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, if you hold on to God's teachings, God will strengthen your heart.
SPEAKER_00: So we are to hold fast to his teaching.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we're gonna take just a moment and just in a minute, we're gonna come forward, I'm gonna ask the worship band to come and pray.
SPEAKER_00: Because this is a moment for God as we worship him to encourage our hearts and to strengthen us in his faith.
SPEAKER_00: So let's worship together.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have a decision to make for Christ, or if you've met maybe you're at a point right now where it has been a tough week and you need encouragement, and you just need somebody to pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll be hanging out here.
SPEAKER_00: I'd love to pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: But let's go ahead and worship together right now.