Scripture 1 Thessalonians 5:18
1 Thessalonians 5
Now, brothers, about times and dates
we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord
will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "Peace and
safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a
pregnant woman, and they will not escape. #blindside
– people will be stunned at what is happening!
But you, brothers, are
not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5
You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the
night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who
are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep
at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the
day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and
the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath
but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10
He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together
with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in
fact you are doing.
12 Now we ask you, brothers,
to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who
admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love
because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you,
brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be
patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for
wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
16 Be joyful always; 17
pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will
for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not put out the
Spirit's fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21
Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil.
23 May God himself, the God
of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and
body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24
The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
25 Brothers, pray for us. 26
Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you before the
Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
28 The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you.
Are you dying toward the return
of Christ or are you living toward the return of Christ?
Praise and Thanksgiving are not the
same – 1st cousins
Psalm 100:4
Enter his gates
with thanksgiving
and his courts
with praise;
give thanks to him
and praise his name.
Psalm 100:4 shows the
distinction:
Thanksgiving – Thank God for
things (Thank
parents for a car – Praise parents for their generosity)
Praise – Praise for who God is
Every day this week write down
four things: I thank God for (something I have) I thank God for (someone in my
life) I thank God for (something He has done/is doing/will do) I praise God for
(aspect of who He is). Bring that list to church next week
5 slides here:
1) I thank
God for SOMETHING I HAVE
2) I thank God for SOMEONE IN MY LIFE
3) I
thank God for SOMETHING HE HAS DONE/IS DOING/WILL DO
4) I praise God for A QUALITY OF GOD
5) (list
all four above on one slide)
Here is an example of a man who knew the secret of
thanking God even through trials. When he was 7 years of age, his family was
forced out of their home, and he went to work. When he was 9, his mother died.
He lost his job as a store clerk when he was 20. He wanted to go to law school,
but he didn't have the education. At age 23 he went into debt to be a partner
in a small store. Three years later the business partner died, and the
resulting debt took years to repay.
When he was 28, after courting a girl for four years, he
asked her to marry him, and she turned him down. On his third try he was
elected to Congress, at age 37, but then failed to be re-elected. His son died
at 4 years of age. When this man was 45, he ran for the Senate and lost. At age
47 he ran for the vice-presidency and lost. But at age 51 he was elected
president of the United States.
The man was Abraham Lincoln, a man who learned to face
discouragement and move beyond it. Did you know that it was Abraham Lincoln
who, in the midst of the Civil War, in 1863, established the annual celebration
of Thanksgiving? Lincoln had learned how important it is to stop and thank God
in the midst of great difficulties.
CONCLUSION
When you are
going through trials you don’t need to be all spiritual and say, well I know
this is good for me – in fact this is where people so often misinterpret Romans
8:28 And we know that in all things God
works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his
purpose.
Romans 8:31-39
What, then, shall we say in response to
this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own
Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him,
graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God
has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who
died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and
is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or
sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered
as sheep to be slaughtered."
Romans
8:37 No, in all these things we are more
than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death
nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor
any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will
be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Example of
praise and thanksgiving while in struggle but not related to the struggle.
Acts 16:22-32
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul
and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After
they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer
was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them
in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and
Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were
listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations
of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and
everybody's chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison
doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought
the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are
all here!"
The jailer called for
lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought
them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
They
replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your
household."
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