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Amen. We're in 1 Thessalonians, chapter number 4. The passage, if you were reading along there, is one of the most famous of all the rapture passages in the Bible. And so we're going to cover a little bit about the rapture tonight, but this whole book, again, is there's a focus on the second coming. And so every week I've kind of just tried to give you a little bit of picture of each mention that it has, but it really has a pretty, a little bit of a lengthy passage on it. So the second, third points of the sermon will be covering this. But before we get into that, let's look at verse number 1. And so I have three points tonight. And the first point is that we need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. And talk is cheap. And look at 1 Thessalonians 4, when it says, Furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us, how ye ought to walk and to please God. So, I mean, we're really big in this movement about how we, you know, how salvation is by its free grace and, you know, it doesn't take any works. But sometimes I think people will hear us saying that and then think, they think that we don't believe that we're supposed to live a holy life. But that's the thing, that we believe that salvation is super easy and it's not hard to get saved. But we also should be keeping, you know, the commandments of Jesus and the apostles. And that we should be walking, as it says right here, how ye ought to walk and to please God. So we're not just here, for our own enjoyment. We're here to please God. And it says, So ye would abound more and more. So, obviously, you can live a sinful life as a Christian and you're still going to go to heaven. You know, you're going to get docked some rewards that you could have earned. But the eternal rewards, of course, you can't lose eternal rewards. That would be weird. But it says so that ye would abound more and more. So abound means to get bigger, or to get better. And so when we please God, it's going to let us have a better life on this earth. And that's the whole, you know, obviously the main purpose is to please God, right? That's what it says. So you have to walk and please God. So what does it mean by walk? Well, as we walk through this life, as we journey through this life, we're walking and we're getting to the goal, the finish line. We're supposed to finish the Christian race. We're supposed to finish the path that God has before us and to stay in that path, or stay in the way of righteousness. And so we ought to walk and please God. And it says so that we would abound more and more also. So there's a benefit to living a righteous and holy life and to pleasing God is that we're going to have a better life because of that. Now, obviously, you have things like John the Baptist getting his head cut off. He was living a pretty holy life and a pretty righteous life, right? But, you know, the consolation of John getting his head cut off and dying early is that he was called the greatest man born of women. And he has great rewards in heaven because of the sacrifice that he made. So it's like even if we have our life cut short, if it's for something that's a holy purpose like that, then obviously God is going to give us greater rewards. So you get a better resurrection for that. You know, it might be like, because we only see this world as it is. We don't see the spirit world so much. We don't see the spirit world. We don't see what's going on around us. Like when Elisha showed all the different armies that God had that were, you know, we got more than they got. They just don't realize that, right? But we don't see those spiritual things necessarily. We walk by faith, not by sight. And so, you know, we don't understand what it's really going to be like in heaven. We can think about it. The Bible alludes to it. But there's not a lot in Scripture about how it'll actually be, what we'll be doing necessarily. Obviously, we'll be serving the Lord. We'll be living forever. And so we're not going to be dying forever. We'll be living forever. And the more holy we live in this life, the more work we do for the Lord, the better our afterlife is going to be. I mean, just getting eternal life is pretty cool in itself. But, you know, God wants us to walk holy among him. The Bible says, be holy for I am holy. Look at verse 2. It says, for you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. So are there still commandments that we're supposed to follow? Yeah, but not to be saved. You know, keeping the commandments was never to be saved in the beginning. But we're supposed to keep the commandments of the Lord Jesus. Isn't that what it says? We gave you commandments by the Lord Jesus. Now, I'm not going to have you turn there. I'll just read this for you. But John chapter 14 verse 15 says, if you love me, keep my commandments. This is Jesus talking, right? He didn't say, if you love me, keep my suggestions. He said, keep my commandments. And so we're supposed to follow the commandments of the Lord Jesus. And, you know, obviously, we're not under the law anymore. But we do, we should keep the commandments because that's going to help us have a better life on this earth. You know, if you're always, you know, I always kind of use this analogy because, especially with people with big families, I'm sure that there's one of your kids that you have to spank more than all the other ones. And so God has, it's the same way for God. You know, there's some of his children that he has to spank a lot. You know, and when you get spanked a lot, it's not fun, is it? Is it, kids? It's not fun. But, you know, but if you learn this lesson now while you're young, that the less things that you do wrong, the less disobeying you do of your parents, the less you're going to get spanked. You know, and obviously you're going to have your siblings thrown under the bus every once in a while and lie about you and, you know, treat you like Joseph or something. But, you know, for the most part, you pretty much deserve when you get a spanking. And, you know, but God's even, you know, God knows when you actually deserve to be punished. So my point is we just, we want to live the best life we can. We want to please our father. And, you know, children, you should want to please your parents also and do what they say. You know, you're going to have a lot better life inside your home while you're under your parents' roof because you've got eight, you know, pretty much 18 years, you know, sometimes longer to live under their rules. You know, and your parents can be, you know, your police officer, your parole officer, or your judge, or, you know, they can be your friend and your guide in this life. And it should be both, but you don't want to be where you're always constantly in prison while you're at home. You know, and then you act like it's their fault because you're always so bad. It's not their fault. They're just enforcing the rules that you should be following. And, you know, there's people in prison all over this country because they just didn't like to follow the rules. And, you know, sometimes you can do something that you'll get a really long punishment for and you might even pay for it for the rest of your life. So we've got to think about these things when it comes to just doing what we want because that's not what the Bible teaches us to do. We're free in Christ, yes, but we're not free to just live however we want unless we want to suffer the consequences for those things. Now God will punish you on this earth for what you do. He chastens every son whom he receiveth. So every person gets punished that's saved, but, you know, some just get punished more than others. And so what the Bible is saying, we ought to walk and please God and so that we would abound more and more. Our life would be more blessed, you know, and all that. So we're going to live a better life ultimately when we keep the commandments of God. Look at verse 3. It says, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification. So what's the will of God? Your sanctification. What does that mean? It means to set apart as holy. That's what it means. So he saved you and he sanctified you when he saved you. So, you know, the more we live in this life, the more sanctified we should get. We shouldn't get less sanctified. We shouldn't get less holy. We should get more holy as the the years go by. And it says that you should abstain from fornication. So now it's just going to, he's just going to start seeing certain things that, you know, we need to avoid as Christians. And, you know, fornication will get you kicked out of this church. If you don't repent, if you don't do what's right, you know, say two new believers come to our church and they're fornicating, they're living together, you know, should we allow them to stay in church? Absolutely not. But should we give them a chance to make it right? Yes, we should. And so we do give people those opportunities, but if someone just wants to continue to live in sin, then they're not welcome here. And that's a big sin that we get you kicked out. So our sanctification is not to be joined into harlots. Our sanctification isn't for us men to be whoremongers. And so God doesn't want us, you know, one of those, one of the things that's going to get you in deep trouble with God is fornication. So, and what it says that you should abstain from fornication, what does abstain mean? It means refrain yourself, or refrain oneself, or restrain oneself from doing or enjoying something. You abstain. You just say, you know what, I'm going to abstain. It might be enjoyable to you, it might feel good to you, but doing it is not something that God wants you to do, so you should abstain from fornication. It doesn't matter how enjoyable it might be and how much you feel, you know, you can't go by what you feel, you got to go by what God says, not what you feel. Because if everybody did what they felt like, it'd be like the days of the judges. You know, every man did what was right in their own eyes. And that didn't turn out very well for them, did it? Now look, so in fornication, obviously, if you, if you are wanting the definition, most people know what it is, but it's lying together, as that's the term that the Bible would use, lying together with people and you're not married to each other. So it's called fornication. So adultery is when you are married and then you go outside the bounds of your marriage to lie with somebody else that's not your spouse. That's adultery. They're in the same family of sin, obviously, it's a sexual sin, but fornication, you know, is as when people aren't married. So now look at verse 4, it says that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. And how are you going to know that? Well, the Bible's telling you. The Bible tells you how to possess your vessel. What is that talking about? Well, your vessel is your body, right? Your vessel is where your spirit and your soul are housed. That's your body. How to possess your vessel in sanctification, that means setting yourself apart, setting yourself aside to be holy for the Lord, not for your own sake, not so that you're some special anointed one or whatever, but it's for sanctification and honor. And so what happens when you commit fornication? You're dishonoring the Lord. You're dishonoring your body. You're committing a sin that's actually, that can affect your body in a permanent way. And so this is something that Christians should avoid. And if you can't avoid it, then get married. Find somebody to get married to and marry them. And I like what Pastor Jimenez says. He says, marry somebody that's on the same spiritual level that you are. Don't just marry, you know, the person that comes to church once a month. If you're three to thrive and you come to church and you go soul-winding and all that stuff, you should be finding someone that's your equal spiritually. Because you know what's going to happen if you don't? If they already weren't doing that, it might be a tough road to hoe to get them, you know, no pun intended, it might be a tough road to hoe to get that person to stay faithful in church, right? So you don't want to marry, you know, and this is what people always do. This is what women do. This is what men do. Well, I can change them. I can change them. And men, well, you're the leaders. You should be able to lead them. But if you're already not, if they're already not doing that which is right, then you're going to have a hard time leading them because somebody's leading them before they met you. So, you know, and this is the hard part. You know, you should marry someone that's of the same faith. You know, we're not supposed to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. That means in marriage. That means in business. That means, you know, no matter what it is, that's not something you should be, you know, in yoke it's not talking about an egg yolk, folks. It's talking about a yoke where you work together with somebody else. And when you get married to someone, you become one flesh. And so do you want your one flesh to be less spiritual or the same spiritually? Or maybe even help you improve to be even better? That's what we should be striving for. If you're going to get married, marry somebody that's your equal spiritually. And it's not just enough, I don't think, to just marry someone that's just Christian. Because there's a lot of Christians out there that don't go to church. There's a lot of Christians out there that don't go soul winning. There's a lot of Christians out there that don't read their Bible. There's a lot of Christians out there that don't pray. There's a lot of Christians out there that don't really care too much about the about the things of God. They might be saved. That's great. Whoopee. But do you want to be saved to someone that's just like a basically below sea level Christian? I mean, someone that's below the level that actually, you know, because the baseline, the zero point of a Christian is that, yeah, you are doing those things. So you can either do more than what God expects. But a lot of people do a lot less than what God expects. And that's what we want to avoid. We don't want to end up with somebody that's not spiritually or equal. It obviously doesn't have to be exactly equal, right? But I mean, hopefully that makes sense to you because it should make sense to you because I've watched people get married and then one person was less spiritual than the other and they always tend to go the way of the one that was less spiritual. I don't know why that is, but it's the same way in friendships. It's the same way in anything that we do. It's just like your parents tell you not to hang around the bad kids or whatever and then you hang out with the bad kids. Well, why do they tell you not to do that? So that you don't end up like those kids because for some reason they rub off on us. We don't rub off on them. It's sad, but it's true. So it says in, go ahead and turn to Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4. Keep your place here in 1 Thessalonians. Because in 1 Thessalonians 4 it says, possess your vessel and sanctification and honor. Look at what it says in Hebrews 13, it says marriage is honorable in all things. See, it's okay when you're married to have those relationships, but when you're not married, it's not honorable, is it? Marriage is honorable in all. In the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. And you know what? It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It should scare you to death to even think or consider committing this sin because there is going to be a punishment. It's not if, it's you will be punished. And if you're a Christian and you're committing fornication, then you're going to get punished. And it's going to be a severe one. It's not going to be something that you can just walk away from unscathed. There's going to be consequences. And you know, especially the sins that we know we're not supposed to be committing. Obviously, we commit sins of omission and things that we might not really fully grasp what we're doing and God's going to have mercy on you on that. But if you know that you're not supposed to be committing fornication and you do that anyway, then the hammer is coming. It might not be today. It might not be tomorrow. It might not be next month, but it's coming. You're going to get the hammer and the best thing you can do is fall on your knees for mercy and ask God to forgive you and not do it again. And keep yourself, keep your vessel sanctified and in honor. Get married if you want it to be honorable. Isn't that what it says? Marriage is honorable and all. So let's look back at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 5. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 5. The Bible says, Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles, which know not God. So he's putting a difference between the Gentiles and some of these Gentiles are people that are saved. I mean, he's writing to Thessalonians. He's writing to the people of Thessalonica and their Gentiles. So what is he doing? He's making a difference between the unsaved Gentiles and the ones that are saved. It says, Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles, because most Gentiles, you know, fornication isn't a big deal. It's normal. You know what? And guess what? We live in a pretty strong Gentile nation here and it's not a big deal. You know, it's just not a big deal. It's normal to people. People think we're weird when we think that this is wrong. But they're actually wrong and they're the ones that are doing something that's weird and they're doing something. I mean, it's not weird. It's just, it's wrong. It's sinful. And what is concupiscence? Well, it's a strong desire to lay with somebody, unlawful, but it's more than that. It's like just a driving force in your life that's, you know, the concupiscence, the lust of concupiscence. It's not just lust. It's concupiscence, which is to have a more strong desire than what is normally there. And I'm not saying it's reprobate or something, but it is abnormal. Some people sin and they dabble in sin and they stop for a while and they get back into it, but some people it's a driving force in their life. And if you're not saved and this is something you're already committing, it's going to consume you. And some people, that's all they think about. We live in a hookup culture in this country and it's really wicked. It's very vile. It's very wicked. It's something that we should avoid. So again, as Christians, if Paul is saying, hey, this is not right, this is really bad, and the Gentiles are the ones that are doing this, then why would we want to be like the Gentiles? And what it's talking about, again, is unsaved people. Why do you want to do things that people that are unsaved do? Aren't you supposed to be sanctified? Yes. Aren't you supposed to be honorable? Yes. Aren't you supposed to abstain from fornication? Yes. Aren't you supposed to walk and please God? Yes. So look at verse 6. It says that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any manner. So now it's kind of changing the subject a little bit, but it's still sticking with it. And that's what I love about this book is that it'll take us through some great wisdom from the Apostle Paul. And then obviously he's going to jump back into the end times prophecy here in a minute, but it says that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any manner. So what does defraud mean? It means to cheat. And that could be money, wages, things you borrow, taking things that don't belong to you, something that's entitled to somebody else and you're getting in on that. That's defrauding. And it's used a lot when it deals with money. That seems to be a category, but it also talks about marriage. You know, defraud, not each other. The things that you're supposed to give to someone, the things that you owe to that person, you're not supposed to defraud. So it says because that the Lord is the avenger of all such. So he's not really cutting any more slack here, is he? You know, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And when the Bible says that when you're defrauding your brother, that the Lord is the avenger of all such, that means he's coming after you. In this Sunday night sermon, I'm going to talk about that because the Bible actually says that if you do these types of things to like widows or the fatherless, he says, I will kill you. And then your children will have no father. And you're going to be in a world of hurt. You're going to die. And your wives are going to be widows. I mean, that's scary. You know, God can be pretty scary. And you know, he's loving. He's merciful. He's long suffering. But when the avenger, he's the avenger, you know, you want to talk about avengers, he's the avenger. He's the one that's going to right the wrongs. And if you're wronging your brother in this way and defrauding them, then he's the avenger of such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. So forewarn, we told you in advance. And so now anybody in this room, you know, it's not right to rip off your brothers in Christ. It's not right to break their tools and not give up, not pay them back for it or whatever it is that you did to defraud them, you know. And you know, sometimes people forget about stuff or people, you know, don't. But listen, if you borrow something from somebody and you break it as my sermon last Sunday night, you should pay for it. You should just pay for it. But some people just get this idea, well, they're just another Christian. They should just be okay with losing their stuff. It's like, that's just a weird attitude to have. But at the same time, we're also supposed to suffer ourselves to be defrauded. You know, sometimes we have to take the loss. Sometimes we have to take the hurt. Sometimes that's better than just having some big blowout with somebody in church. And if it's something that you can get over without having hard feelings and bitterness about, then you should just do that. Forgive them and move on and maybe just don't let them borrow stuff anymore. Don't lend them money anymore. I mean, it's real simple, but if you keep just giving money to the same people, it's like, oh yeah, I'll pay you back. It's like, are you gonna pay me back? Oh man, I really can't. Can I borrow some more money? Like, no. It's called get a job. Anyway, so let's look at 1 Thessalonians 4-7. It says, For God hath not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given us his Holy Spirit. I mean, we've been given such a great gift from God, the Holy Spirit, and so we're supposed to be holy because we have the Holy Spirit, right? And just remember this, that everywhere you go, He's going with you. And when you look at it like that, when you think about it like that, whatever you're looking at, whatever you're listening to, the Holy Spirit's watching it too. The Holy Spirit's hearing it too. The Holy Spirit's listening to what you're saying. He knows your thoughts and how you feel about things. And so, we've got to get this stuff under control because it says that if you're despising, you're not really despising man. When you're defrauding people and you're like, oh, it's no big deal, it says you're despising God. It says, Not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. But as touching brotherly love ye, you need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. So, that is a teaching in the Bible. We're supposed to love one another as Christians. And yeah, maybe we annoy each other sometimes, but you know what? You're not supposed to hate your brother in your heart. That's a command from God. You know, so if you hate your brother in your heart, you really have a huge problem on your hands. You're not right with God, number one. And you're like, well, you don't realize how annoying they are. It doesn't matter how annoying they are. You know, people are annoying sometimes. You're probably annoying. I mean, I'm sure I'm annoying. I know I am. My wife tells me sometimes, you're annoying. And then I say, you're annoying too. No. But everybody can be annoying. Everybody can be obnoxious. Everybody can be in a bad mood. We have to learn to get past this kind of stuff. And, you know, God commands us, we're taught of God, to love one another. And brotherly love, he says, I don't even really have a need to write to you. You know yourselves. Everybody knows that. You know, even though people that are unsaved will kind of take this and say, you know, you don't love your brother. It's like, it's Billy Graham. He's not my brother. He's a child of hell, you know. And they'll apply this to anybody, like everybody that's our brother. And they're really not. Everybody is not our brother. But obviously the unsaved, we should treat well also. You want them to get saved? Well, you know, maybe you should be nice to them instead of just being rude to people all the time. I'm not saying anybody in here does that, but I mean, we should show forth our, you know, let our light shine before men that they may, you know, see our good works. And that, you know, they'd see our good works and that they'd glorify our Father, which is in heaven, right? So it says in verse 10, and indeed, you do it toward all the brethren, which are in Macedonia, but we beseech you, brethren, that you increase more and more. So what is this talking about? Well, he's saying you guys are already doing it right. That's what he's saying, right? He's saying you guys are already, you got this down. You're doing pretty well. But it's kind of like, you know, the boss that gives you, they might give you a review every year at your work, right? This is how you're doing. Here's all the things, here's what you did well this year. And then at the end, they say, well, here's your things you need to improve on. And, you know, it's always good to have room to improve. That's why companies do that. Because if you get this thing where you're just the best worker ever, you've never done anything wrong, you're always on time, you're always nice, you're the hardest worker, you're the best producer here, and then you never give them anything else to work on, what's that going to do to them? It's going to go on the best. And, you know, as human beings, we just can't help but kind of get that attitude when we think we've arrived. And so we should, as Christians, we should never just feel like we've arrived. There's always going to be something that we need to work on also, isn't there? And so what's Paul saying? He's saying, but we beseech you, brethren, that you increase more and more. You can do more. You can get better. You can love your brethren more. And in context, this is what it's talking about. So they're doing well, but you can increase more. And it's kind of like, you know, when I used to work at the Walmart distribution center, they used to treat people in a way, and so every year they would have production levels that everybody has to meet. Anybody that's worked in warehouse work understands this. You know, it's always going to go up. And so it would get to the point where people are having to do something that's just like, it's not sustainable to a normal person. Your joints and your body are going to wear out. But they had this thing that you have to meet new goals every year. So at first, everybody's meeting the safety goals, and Walmart's paying out all the safety money and giving out all these prizes. But then after years of it being an operation, everybody has to increase and do more, and their bodies wear out. But that's, you know, so it's kind of the same concept here, is that we should be getting better and better as Christians, and always striving to do more, and kind of get ourselves well-rounded. Maybe you are excellent at one thing, but you could get more excellent at another. And so every year we should probably just take stock in how are you doing as a Christian. Did you do better this year, or did you do worse? Have you lacked in some areas? Have you slid back into some stuff that you shouldn't be into, or whatever it is. But we should take a self-inventory every single year, and maybe more often than a year, especially if you see yourself. Sometimes you just don't see it. You know, sometimes it takes somebody else to point out something that you don't see, and that's why people give you the reviews and you don't review yourself. But I have had to do self-reviews before, and that's just really weird. Who's had to do a self-review at work before? Was it at Walmart that I had to do that? I can't remember if it was. I can't remember where it was that I had to do that, but I just thought that was bizarre. It's like five stars all the way. But then it does make you look at yourself and say, how am I really doing in this area? But we always think we're doing better than when we really are. And that's why it takes your supervisor or another boss to come by and say, hey, you're doing really good, but maybe you could do this a little bit better. And I think that that's what Paul is doing here. I think he's just saying, hey, you're doing great, but you haven't arrived. So you can increase more and more. So you already have the reputation for brotherly love, but you can get better. So look at John chapter 13, verse 34. John 13, verse 34. The Bible says, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. So what did Jesus say that you would know that you're his disciples? That if you love one another, right? Isn't that what it says? So our loving one another as brothers and sisters in Christ shows people that we're Jesus's disciples if we have love. And even as other Christians, when it's really obvious that you're loving to your brothers and sisters in Christ, it's really obvious that you're a true disciple. I think that's what it's saying, right? That's what Jesus is saying. So, and here's the thing, however much you measure, it shall be returned unto you. You know, you're going to get, however much love you're showing, that love is going to show back to you. And that's what the Bible teaches. So if you love greatly, you will receive much love in return. And so in the context to your brethren in Christ, when you walk the walk, it shows people that you're Jesus's disciples. Not fake love, not feigned love, but real true love. Because, I mean, everybody's been to a church where there's fake nice people there, but really when you get to know them, they're really like the nastiest people in the church. I mean, I don't know, I went to Baptist churches for a long time before I was new IFP or whatever. And there were some people that were super nice to your face, but get them in choir practice and they're just talking trash on the whole church. You know, I probably told this story before, but my wife caught somebody gossiping about her when she was in the lady's restroom one time, and then later on confronted her about it. But, you know, that person was just nice to her face all the time, but when my wife confronted her, she had a really hard time. You know, my wife was just like, you know, why would you do that? Basically, I can't remember the whole story. I'm not going to tell it right anyway. But, you know, basically this person was talking smack about her that she thought she was really close to. And, you know, it's just kind of, you know, it's a fake friendship. It's a fake love. It's feigned means fake, right? Turn to 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 22. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 22. It's kind of like Texas nice, you know, I guess is what I'm trying to say. You know, oh bless your heart. You know, it's a way of calling you stupid, right? Oh, you're just special. You're just a special child. Bless your heart. And we don't want to be fake phony Christians like that. You can say, I mean, you can say hi to people and be nice without being fake about it, right? Look at 1 Peter 1 22. It says, Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, that ye, excuse me, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. So, you know, that's a passionate love that you have for other brothers and sisters in Christ. And, you know, maybe it's time to take inventory and stock on is that how you are with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Because we're a church here. We're a body of Christ. We're the body of Christ. We're here fitly joined together. And, you know, we don't have time for fake people. You know, if you're a fake, stop being a fake and just get right and be nice. Be real nice. Be true nice, not fake nice. I can't stand fake nice. It's annoying. But, you know, there's a lot of people and you say, well, that church is really nice. But, you know, again, there's some phony people out there. And, you know, sometimes they're just not nice at all, which is even worse. But, I don't know, I guess I'd take not nice and real then fake nice and stab you in the back type of thing. Let's go back to our text in First Thessalonians 4-11. The Bible says, And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. And this is something that Paul is going to bring up later. And he's saying study to be quiet. You know, don't be such a loud mouth. You know, don't be running your mouth all the time. Do your own business. You know, and obviously we're supposed to mind the affairs of other people when it comes to helping them and caring about them. But when it's their business, you mind your own. Isn't that what it says? Do your own business. Quit worrying about what everybody else is doing and won't you worry about what you're doing because you're probably not perfect yourself. You've probably got some things to work on in your own backyard. So, it says, And to work with your own hands as we commanded you. So, if you're doing your own work, you're doing your own business, you're just minding your own business and being quiet, you're going to do really well. And you're not going to get into other people's business. You're not going to be asking for handouts and things like that all the time. And you're, you know, when you're quiet, it's hard to get yourself in trouble with your mouth when you're not talking as much, right? So, we're supposed to be slow to speak and quick to hear, right? So, sometimes we just need to shut up. And I'm guilty of this sometimes. I have to admit it. I'll cut people off. My wife's like, you just cut people off all the time. Like, I don't know. But, you know, she sees it. She knows. I don't mean to, but I do it. And so, you know, I'm up here confessing my faults to you here. So, I'm not saying it's a sin, but... Well, I mean, it can be a character flaw, you know? I mean, if you just ramble on about nothing, then it is a character flaw. Because the Bible is saying that you should study to be quiet. What does that mean? Learn to be quiet, right? Isn't that what study means? To learn stuff. So, study to be quiet. Study and do your own business. So, it says that you may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing. So, and how would you have lack of nothing? Well, if you're working hard with your own hands, you're not going to lack. God's not going to let you lack. You're going to, you know, if you're doing what the, how God, working how God wants you to work, talking how God wants you to talk, staying in your own realm, in your own business, in your own sphere of authority, then you're going to have a lot less problems than the busy body, tail-bearing, gossiping type people. The people that just love the scuttlebutt. The people that love to just be idle and not really work that hard. You know, you're going to find yourself in idle time that's going to cause you to mind other people's businesses when you shouldn't be doing that. So, that's, I mean, that's what the Bible says here, right? So, it's not that you should just only treat our brethren well. Also, because it's talking about being, walking honestly toward them that are without also. So, but it says that you may have lack of nothing. So, but those that are without, you know, we should have some sort of a good rapport. Obviously, what we believe people are going to hate us for. We can't help that. But, you know, it's funny, I got a call from a co-worker, an old co-worker of mine that moved away. And he saw some TikTok video of me, you know, preaching against the, you know, who's the homos, right? And he's like, am I not agree with you? He said, but I spent lots of time with you. Like we, I mean, we worked together and we drove around together and we're like, you know, I trained him on how to do things. And he kind of brought up this, like I did, this is going to sound really bad, but we did the utility worker special. I called it the utility worker special Olympics. And basically I took all these guys that were kind of new and stuff like that. I was joking around. Okay. I'm sorry. It's not funny. And so I took my guy, which is the guy that called me. And I was like, I'll put my guy against any of you guys. And like these, it was like east side versus west side type of beef or whatever. And the guy that I trained just cleaned their clocks. I mean, he crushed them in the digs. Like it was like, you know, digging with the post hole diggers, who could get the anchor put in the fastest and get the signs zipped in and all that. Or drilling a dome for the stop signs or whatever. But anyway, my guy won. I gave him the medal. It was like a medal I found like a homeless camp or something. So he didn't really want to put it on. But like, you know, we were just kind of talking about that stuff. I mean, we had fun. Like it's okay to have fun at work. And it was, it was good, clean fun. I mean, obviously I was probably being a little, you know, I wasn't being, what do you call that? Politically correct, I guess. But anyway, I was joking around with the guys. But he's just like, well, the guy, the Aaron I know, I know you because I spent a lot of time with you. And so my point is, I'm not trying to make myself the hero of the story. I'm just saying that we should, you know, have a good rapport with those that are without. You know, the guy's not saved. I did try to give him the gospel before, but he just didn't want to get saved. But you know, by the time the phone conversation was done, he's like, well, you gave me a lot of things to think about. And that's what I want to have a good effect on people like that. And when we're out working outside in the world, you know, people are going to watch your life. They're going to watch how you act. They're going to watch the things you do. And we should be able to have a good effect on those people that are without. And I've quoted this quote before, and I really like this quote. And I don't know anything about the guys. I got a video made about me because I said a Dwight Moody quote one time. Like, he's quoting Dwight Moody. He's repent of your sins. And it's just like, so now I'm not saved. Now I'm not qualified to be the pastor or whatever. So I don't know, you know, anything about this guy. And I didn't look it up, but I just like the quote, okay? I'm not like subscribing to this person's doctrine. But it says your talk talks and your walk talks, but your talk talks and your walk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks. So basically the things that people see of you, they're going to put more, you know, that's what they think of you is by how you act, not about the things that you say and the things that you say you believe. You can say you believe things all you want, but when they see that you're the opposite of what you say you believe, then it's going to have not a good effect. Then you might not, just don't give them the gospel. You know, wait for somebody else to do it, because if you blow your testimony with them, you're going to have a rough time. So let's move on to point number two, and point number two is the comfort of the second coming. So what I want to talk about here is just verse 13 through verse 15, and very famous scriptures here, and I've preached them at funerals before, and they're very comforting scriptures, but one of the things that we can comfort one another with is the second coming of Christ. It's a comfort. It's something that we hope in. It's something that we're waiting for, and when we've lost loved ones that are saved, then we know we're going to see them again. Look at verse 13. The Bible says, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep. So it's talking about not being ignorant. It's not saying don't be stupid. It's like you just don't know. I don't want you to not know. This is, I'm going to tell you this for your comfort. It says, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not. And when the Bible uses that term asleep, it's talking about people that are saved that died. And Jesus, I don't have time to get the scriptures there, but Lazarus, Jesus told them plainly Lazarus is dead, but he kept saying he's asleep, he's asleep, and what he meant is that Lazarus is asleep in Christ. He's dead in Christ. The dead in Christ are people that are saved and they're going to be resurrected. So it says them that are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. Because you know what? The unsaved world, they have no hope. They have nothing like this to look forward to because their resurrection is going to be a resurrection of damnation, a resurrection of eternal fire. I mean, I don't even know if they get a reprieve while they're being judged, but when they're judged, they're cast in the lake of fire, there's no hope for them. They're eternally damned, they're eternally dead. But we have a hope that we can look forward to and it says, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them which also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. So he's bringing all the people that have died in Christ back with him when he comes in the rapture at the second coming and he's going to bring the saints with him. I talked about this last week, how all the saints are going to come with him. Well, I read this scripture, it says them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. So the Bible says to be absent in the body is to be what? Huh? Present with the Lord. Yeah, good night. I just like totally lost it. Biden moment. All right. Yeah, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So, you know, we when we die as Christians, we don't go and soul sleep like the Jehovah's Witnesses teach. The body is sleeping in whatever state it's in, whether it's chopped up, burnt up, buried, however many years old it is, you know that God's going to make all that new. He's going to bring those particles back together and form a new body that can't die. And the comfort is, is that we're going to see our loved ones again. God's going to bring them with him. And, you know, the people that are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord are going to see this happen. They're going to see the people coming up out of their graves. And, you know, if you have saved family members or saved loved ones, you know, and hopefully by the time our lives end, we're going to have some saved loved ones. We're going to have some saved friends. We're going to have some people that we got saved and we're going to see them rise. You know, if we're not one of the ones that are rising, other people are going to see us, right? But it says for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent or come before them which are asleep. So the people that are alive and remaining, they get to see this special blessing where all the dead in Christ rise and the people that are alive and remain won't go first. And, you know, I think that this is just kind of something that's honorable that God does. Like they live their life. They were saved. You know, you're still alive and it's just kind of probably maybe like a seniority thing. I don't know. But for some reason, God chooses not to just make everybody change at the same time, but the people that are dead in Christ are kind of given an honor to go before the people that are alive and remain. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 12. So what are we talking about here? We're talking about the comfort of the second coming. There's a comfort involved in the second coming of Christ and, you know, we are going to be resurrected and to be with the Lord forevermore. Look at what 1 Corinthians 15 verse 12 says. It says, Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? So this is what we preach, that Christ is going to, He rose from the dead and then, of course, they had some people telling them that, you know, there is no resurrection. You know, I don't know if this is a Sadducee influence that's trying to creep in and Judaize them or what's going on here, but what a sad world it would be if we only just had Christ in this life and that's it. It says, But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching in vain and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. So He's saying if that didn't happen and there's no resurrection, then we're liars, we're false prophets, is what He's saying. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain, your yet and your sins. He's saying without the resurrection, there is no salvation. Without belief in the resurrection, there is no salvation. And it's a bodily resurrection, Jehovah's Witnesses. And it's like the Jehovah's Witnesses just want to teach and just ensure that all their people go to hell, that they won't believe the physical bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came in a spirit form, is what they say. He was Michael the Archangel or something. But they're just ensuring that by teaching that, that they're not going to go to heaven because you have to believe in the resurrection, right? It says in verse 18, Then they which are asleep in Christ are perished. And that's not the truth. It says if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. It's like what's the point? But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. So it's going to give us the order of the resurrection. So who's the first one to have a resurrected body? Jesus Christ. He's the first fruits of them that slept. And not only is he right now the first fruits, but he's the only person that has a resurrected body right now. Nobody else has a resurrected body except for the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says, For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. And so the comfort of the second coming is that yes Jesus did die and rise from the dead and he's going to come back and he's going to change us in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. It's going to happen. And so we saw the comfort of the second coming. What's the comfort of the second coming? Is that the people that died before us and our loved ones, they're going to be resurrected again someday and we're going to see them and be able to be with them for all eternity. You know, and there might be some people that you don't want to see for a while, but eventually you're going to run into them up there because it's an eternity, right? But I always say this, there might be someone you want, you don't want to see for 10,000 years, but eventually you'll get over it. No, I'm just kidding. Anyway, so number three. This is the last point. It's the clear process of the second coming. The clear process of the second coming. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4 16. In 1 Thessalonians 4 16 it says, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. So, you know, he told us the order of the second coming and the comfort of the second coming, but now he's showing us the process of how it takes place. So it says, because in 1 Corinthians where we were just at, it says by man also came the resurrection of the dead. Now you have verse 16 where it says, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. So who is the Lord? Jesus Christ. And he's a man and he's also God manifest in the flesh. So it says for the Lord himself shall descend from where? From heaven. So and with a shout. So a shout is like a loud noise. It's a loud proclamation or whatever. And it says with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God. So it sounds like it's something that's going to be really loud, right? It's going to be something that we see and it's going to be something that's really loud. It's not something that we're just going to be able to skip by and keep on sleeping. You know, like when your alarm, you set your alarm. I used to have this like alarm that it was like the rumble pillow one and it like had a thing where it went underneath your pillow like that and it was like the loudest, it was supposed to be the loudest alarm clock on the planet. And I would sleep through it sometimes. I'm not even joking. It would be like rumbling and then going and I could sleep right through it when I was younger, but now I couldn't even sleep through that at all. But we're not going to be able to sleep through this. This is going to be something that's going to be loud. It says a shout, a trump, you know, and the trump of God is going to be a loud sound, right? It says in the dead in Christ shall rise first. So the process is that the dead in Christ rise first. Now let's go back. So keep your finger there and then go back to first. I should have had to keep your finger in 1 Corinthians. I've just failed this Pastor Menes part right here where he's just really masterful at this. But anyway, go back to 1 Corinthians 15. It's not very far away. And look at verse 23. Because there is an order of how the resurrection happens, right? There's a hope that we're going to see our loved ones. It's a promise that he's going to come back and resurrect everybody. But there's an order of how it happens, what's the order? Well, Christ the firstfruits, and then it says in verse 23, it says, but every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ at his coming. So you have two scriptures here where it's clearly saying, you know, how the order is going to happen. And Christ is the firstfruits, they that are Christ at his coming, you know. And when it says coming, it's talking about the second coming. And this is where the pre-trippers and the Zionists and the dispensationalists will try to trip you up and say, well, no, you know, Matthew chapter 24 is written to the Jews. And, you know, but it's funny because in Mark it says, what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. So it wasn't just for the Jews, it was for all. But anyway, so turn to Matthew chapter 24, verse 3. Matthew chapter 24, verse 3. And I think that this is some rock-solid evidence that this is talking about the second coming. And the Zionists will say, yeah, it is the second coming. It's when Christ comes and puts his feet down on, you know, the Mount of Olives or whatever. That's after the seven years or whatever. But the context of Matthew 24 is that the disciples go and show him all these buildings, right? They show him the temple, they show him all the stuff. And then he just basically says, there shall be not one stone left upon another. And then it says, and as he said upon, verse 3, as he said upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? So there's three things he asked. What's the, or, yeah, when shall these things be? What shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus isn't just going to mislead them and say, you know, you're going to have to read 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians to find out that there's a secret rapture that nobody knew about and I'm not going to tell you about it right now even though you're my disciples. Even though you're the apostles that are supposed to go and teach everybody what's going to happen. So it said, and Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you. So and it's funny in 2 Thessalonians that's exactly what it says, let no man deceive you. So why is he saying that? Because man will try to deceive you on this. There's going to be pastors, there's going to be preachers, there's going to be teachers that are going to try to deceive you about this. Don't believe them. And then Jesus tells us what, you know, because one of the questions is, what shall be the sign of thy coming? And do you think that they were saying, not the secret rapture, but the other one? I mean that doesn't make sense. It doesn't make grammatical sense. It doesn't make common sense. It doesn't make sense at all. What does Jesus say in Matthew 24 29? It says, immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. What's it say? After the tribulation. And obviously I don't have time to go to Revelation chapter 6, but it tells us then that that's when the sun and moon are darkened. Revelation chapter 6 is officially after the tribulation. So it says all this, all these things are going to happen. It says in verse 30, and then shall appear the sign of the son of man. Where at? In heaven. What did 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 say? The Lord himself shall descend from where? Heaven. Okay. Is it talking about the same thing? It says, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man. What does it say? Coming. So what does it talk about in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4? The coming of the Lord. And here it's talking about the coming of the Lord. Like is this supposed to be a confusing term to us or is this supposed to tell us exactly, you know when we're in 1 Thessalonians, we should be able to reference back to the gospels and know exactly what the coming of Christ means, right? And so it says coming in the clouds of heaven. Where do we meet Jesus in the rapture? In the clouds, right? We shall be caught up together to meet him in the clouds. That's what Matthew chapter 24 says, right? In the clouds with power and great glory. That means he's, you know, glory is something that's, you know, really bright and shining. And remember that there's trumpets that are be blowing, you know, it sounds like there's gonna be all kinds of other stuff going on. I mean there's gonna be sites that people are seeing, the sun and moon being darkened and all this other stuff and the stars falling from heaven. It's not gonna be something you can miss. It's not gonna be something you can sleep in on. It's gonna be something that everybody in the world is gonna see. And that's the opposite of what the pre-trib Zionists are gonna tell you. Oh, it happens in secret. Nobody knows about it. It's the pile of clothes, you know. People are gonna be driving the UPS truck and all your packages are destroyed. You know, I mean, just stupidity, folks. That's just not what the Bible teaches. You know, the Bible is uniform when it comes to this concept and this topic. It's called the coming of the Lord. And he already came once, so what would it be if he comes again? The second coming. And they're like, you know, that's the second coming. Yeah, I know. That's what it is. But they don't look at it that way. They're like, there's a coming there that's not the first coming. It's not the second coming. It's the in-betweensies. It's the in-betweensies coming. I mean, it's somewhere in between the first and second. I didn't know that that was possible. I mean, yeah, I mean, math, you can split that up or whatever, but that's, you know, it's not coming 1.5. There's no verse in the Bible that says that. So it says, and, you know, we'll see him in the clouds. We're gonna go to the clouds with him and power and great glory. It says, and he shall send his angels with what? A great sound of what? A trumpet. Oh, isn't that what it says? That the Lord shall descend and then there'll be a trumpet? The voice of the archangel. And they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. So that means everybody in the world is what it's talking about. So what does the Bible teach? What did the disciples ask him? I think this is a crucial point, and I don't know that I've heard a lot of people make this point, but when they say, what shall be the sign of thy coming? He tells them exactly what the signs of his coming are, and you know what they do? They match with 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4. They match with 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. They match with all the other comings in the Bible. Let's look at another one. Revelation, chapter 1, verse number 7. And yes, I am almost done. It'll be soon. Don't worry. Don't worry, true believers. Revelation, chapter 1, verse 7. Let's see if this kind of matches up with what we've already been seeing. It says, verse 7. Behold, he cometh with clouds. Does that match? Matthew, chapter 24, and 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4? Yes. And every eye shall see him. Does it sound like a secret? I thought nobody saw it. Isn't it funny how it's the exact opposite, how God explains it in the Bible? And that's why Jesus said, let no man deceive you. That's why it says in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, let no man deceive you. You know why they said that? Because they don't want people to be deceived about this. But you know what? Almost the whole world of Christianity is deceived by this doctrine of the pre-trib rapture. It's garbage. It's not true. Jesus said, I mean, if you want to just say, well, where's a clear scripture when Jesus said he was coming back again? Matthew 24, 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days. I mean, that's pretty clear. So, Revelation 1, 7, where you're at right now. Every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. So you notice that every time the heathen are upset, the heathen are scared. They didn't want to hide in the clefts of the rocks because they're going to see the face of the lamb. And for us, it's going to be a great day. We're going to be like, whoo, we're saved. Yeah, we got the glorified bodies. No more BO. Yeah. No more haircuts, hopefully. No more shaving. You know, hopefully just everything just stays like it should be. And you know, we're all young and whatever age we want to be or whatever. That'd be cool. I mean, you know, obviously we don't have those options yet. You know, maybe we can get the options at some point, but whatever. I'm sure we're gonna be happy with whatever state we're in, right? So, but it says, verse 8, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, sayeth the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. And when Jehovah's Witness says, see how it says, you know, it says the mighty God in this verse? Well, take him to this one, say, how about this one? How about the Almighty? Jesus is called, you know, being called the Almighty. So Jesus Christ is God. He's the Son of Man. He is God. Now let's go back to our text. We'll read the last two verses here. The last two verses, 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 17 says, Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Amen. Right? That's a great promise. That's a great blessing. It's a great comfort to us. And the process of which it takes place is clear. And yeah, I went to other scriptures, but just to bolster these ones, because this is clear enough, isn't it? You know, obviously, we might not get the exact timing of when it takes place in time, but we have to go to 2 Thessalonians to find that. See, the Book of Thessalonians is our guide to everything that the rapture holds in place and a lot of the end times events that have to happen before it comes back. And they love to translate where it says the day of Christ into the day of the Lord, so that they can push their Zionism and say that that's the second coming. You know, and it is the second coming. It's just not how they teach it. So verse 18, Wherefore comfort one another with these words. So the intention of Paul to teach this, you know, obviously, he's teaching great doctrine here. He's teaching what Christ taught. But the other part of it is that he wants us to be comforted with these words, not just comfort of lost loved ones, but how about comfort of where you're going to go? That's a great comfort to know that Jesus is coming back for us and he's not slack concerning his promise. He's waiting for the latter, the former and the latter reign. He's waiting for, you know, the harvest to become complete. He's waiting for the last people to be saved. And we got to, you know, have the mindset that we love the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and we're going to work till Jesus comes. And that should be our attitude. It's not like, oh, it's so bad. I just want to go home. You know, and Paul felt that way. But he says it's better for him to be here. And it's better for us to be here right now, because if it wasn't, then God would just take us away. You know, but he's got work for us to do. And so everything has got to be put in perspective. You know, he's waiting. He's waiting for that precious fruit and he's long suffering and merciful. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He wants people to be saved. And we should be in a position and living in holiness like the first part of it. You know, talk is cheap. That point, number one, back up your talk by walking the walk. You're going to be more effective as a Christian. You're going to abound more and more the more holy your life is. And you're probably going to get more people saved if you're in that mindset. And then, you know, the comfort of the of the second coming, number two, was that, you know, Jesus is going to come back for us. And he loves us and he's not going to leave us nor forsake us. He's going to come right when he needs to, right at the right time, at the turning of the tide, right? So and then number three, the clear process of the second coming. The Bible is very clear that Jesus comes back after the tribulation. Yes, we're going to have to go through tribulation if we're still here during that time. But, you know, the end is going to be we're going to come out as gold. And if we get martyred, then we have a better resurrection. There's really no, you know, it's almost better to live at that time. You know, if this is the end, if we're if we're getting closer to the end, then we're living in a great time. We should be excited about it and not just be all, oh, no, the end times. You know, yeah, it's going to be bad. I'm sure it's going to be bad. But, you know, the rewards are going to be great. The payoff in heaven is going to be great. And, you know, God loves us and he's not going to give us more than we can handle. And he's going to make sure that we have a way to escape the temptations that fall in our lives. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for First Thessalonians chapter four. Great, great passage in the Bible. One of the most famous passages in all scripture. Lord, I pray that you just help us to keep things in perspective. And, Lord, that we we live right here in the now that we need to be working for you, Lord, and that we need to be honoring you and living a holy life. Pray you'd help us to do that. Help us to see our flaws that we have. Help us to overcome those things. Help us to be people that are not beaten all the time. But obviously we want to live the best life we can. Lord, I pray that you just help us with that and that you bless our church. And thank you so much for everybody coming out tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.