1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

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Be prepared even when Satan is distracting you

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5 About the times and the seasons: Brothers and sisters, you do not need anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. 6 So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be 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 and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who 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 as you are already doing.

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This week we are going to continue our journey through the book of 1 Thessalonians, 2 weeks ago we finished chapter 4, The Bible is divided into 2 parts the old testament and the new testament. The book of Thessalonians is actually a letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica. It is believed that it was very likely the first of the letters Paul wrote to the churches that he helped start. He wrote these letters to provide direction and when necessary correction to these church bodies. If you will take a minute and take out your bible or open your Bible app on your phone to the book of 1 Thessalonians lets stand as we read from God’s word.

Main Idea: Always be ready for Jesus’ return.

Main Idea: Always be ready for Jesus’ return.

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5 About the times and the seasons: Brothers and sisters, you do not need anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

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Even just in the beginning passages we are reading today there is a ton of information that we need to understand to realize the meaning of the information we are given. The church in Thessalonica was expecting Jesus return just as we do. It is believed by some that the many members of the church had grown weary as they wondered when Jesus would come back, this really had become a distraction to them as they had grown older and some of them had begun to pass away. Paul wanted to provide reassurance and direction to those who were there. Paul wanted to remind the church that we aren’t to focus on when Jesus was going to return but rather focus on the work that Jesus has called each one of us to. A thief will not tell you his going to come steal from your home on Friday at 8pm and neither is Jesus, Jesus isn’t going to schedule a time with us ahead of time. When we focus on Jesus’ return we get distracted from the mission we are all called to. Paul reminded them of what Jesus had told the disciples, we can find the accounting of that in the book of Acts ch.1 v6-8
Paul wanted to provide reassurance and direction to those who were there. He reminded them of what Jesus had told the disciples, we can find the accounting of that in the book of Acts ch.1 v6-8
Acts 1:6 CSB
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”

5 About the times and the seasons: Brothers and sisters, you do not need anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

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6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”

7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

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Point One: While we live in anticipation of Jesus return we are to live constantly on mission for him.
Most of us in this room are parents we can see this type of anticipation we are warned about in the way our kids handle different situations. I remember the first time we left all four of our kids alone, we told them that we would be back in 2 hours, well we actually came home early and they told us Mom and Dad we didn’t think you would be home yet so we didn’t clean up. Had they been ready for us to return and not been complacent, there would not have been empty pizza boxes on the counter and Legos all over the living room floor. They were not behaving in a way that was expectant of our eminent return. We can look at this the same way we have come home a little later than they had expected, you get the response of mom and dad we cleaned up early.

3 When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4

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Point Two: We need to remain focused on Jesus even when we feel secure and at peace.
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4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. 6 So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

When we except Jesus as the lord of our lives, we have a freedom, a freedom that is like no other. We are born again, set free from all of the things of the world. We are truly living in the light, the light of a new hope, a hope that is far greater that anything we can ever imagine, a hope that is found because we worship a risen king, there is true power in that. The light in its most simple form is those of us that live knowing that we have freedom and HOPE found in and through our relationship with Jesus. When we don’t have that relationship we live in the darkness, hidden from the HOPE of Jesus. In these versus we are warned about what happens when we live a life that is out of control, we tend do do things that don’t honor God, like drinking in excess and being distracted and living focused on the world.

8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

We find that this isnt the only place in Paul’s letters to his church plants that he warns them to be prepared to be attacked since they are believers. Lets look at

17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God

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Paul does provide us a warning that when we do live in the light that does not mean that we won’t be attacked by Satan. We can see that elsewhere in 1 Peter 5:8
8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 1 Peter 5:8
8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour
Point Three: We are called to live a life that is self-controlled
We are called out to put on the armor of faith and love, you will see some translations call this a breast plate of faith and love we are instructed to put on a helmet of the hope of salvation.
Why might those be important for us to have, many times a wound to the chest are a wound to the head are mortal wounds, they can take your life.
Satan wants to tear you down, he wants to get our love for Jesus and our love for one another. He wants to play tricks on our mind. When we put the helmet on we stand steady with the hope of his salvation. God can do more than we could ever imagine.
We are called to live boldly in the light knowing that the darkness of the world is all around.
Sanctified- continual cleansing by the lord, glorification, it didn’t matter who we are, he has done or is doing, and will bring to completion.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 CSB
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.
Sanctified- continual cleansing by the lord, glorification, it didn’t matter who we are, he has done or is doing, and will bring to completion.
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We are to live our lives in relationships with one another whether the others are believers or not, that isn’t important, we have to live lives filled with love for one another. We have to live that life constantly on mission, loving people know matter where they are or what their life looks like. We are to spend our time anticipating Jesus return loving and lifting each other up.
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6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus

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6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus

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When others are hurting we are to come along side them, we are to be in relationship with each other.
(CSB)
When others are hurting we are to come along side them, we are to be in relationship with each other.
We are to build each other up, we are to reinforce each other to life each other up while we wait for Jesus return
My question for you is are you ready to have those genuine relationships with each other?
Our belief in the risen lord distinguishes us from the others around us.
What influence do you have with those around you? Lets take a minute and reflect on the influence we have .
Every minute that we have on earth waiting for Jesus return is another we have that we can be using to share God’s love.
Are you living every day with the boldness that worshiping a risen king deserves? Are you going out of your way to love people where they are. It can sometimes be uncomfortable, Jesus didn’t just come to save those of us who live in the light, he came to show us that above all else we are called to love one another no matter what.
Have you ever thought about that? No matter where someone else is in life, no matter what their life style is. That can be tough.
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What things is satan using to keep you distracted in this time that we are to be anticipating Jesus’ return? Maybe satan isn’r distracting you but you aren’t living with the boldness that we are given with our trust and faith in Jesus? Lets ask Jesus to take the distractions, right now. Lets ask Jesus to solidify the boldness in our faith, our faith in him, our trust in him so that we can live on mission for him.
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