1 Thessalonians 3:1-5 (Part A)

They will get strong delusion because they did not receive and have the love of the truth that is at best. God knows how to turn them over to it. You want to believe that rock is a lizard.

Therefore, there is life there. What did the lizard eat is just there. I'm into something they go on and on with these things.

What we all know this. We are aware of that they mock us. We mock them only differences where right. This is cross reference radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville.

Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of first Thessalonians. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching, but for now let's join Pastor Rick in first Thessalonians chapter 3 for today's edition of cross reference radio well. If you have your Bibles. Let's open to Paul's first letter to the church in Thessalonica.

Chapter 3 first Thessalonians chapter 3 now where I facing some fearsome foe I would want the righteous to encourage me to be strong in the Lord and I really wouldn't want anything less. When the Christians were sent to the lions singing hymns as they were being devoured. We have an example of the alternative illustrated for us in the book of Esther.

Most of you know the story.

Haman was a wicked man.

He hated the Jews and Haman had devised this plan to wipe the Jews out. Unfortunately for Haman, he was on Satan side not God's side and God had allowed Mordechai to find favor with the king at the time and they rewarded Mordechai late in the game for saving the king's life sometime earlier Haman who had the support of his family and is in the destruction of the Jews comes home to them and tells them how his enemy, Mordechai was rewarded by the king when he thought it was going to be himself. We have it, the section picked up in Esther chapter 6, verse 13, when Haman told his wife Sarah – and all his friends everything that had happened to him. His wisemen and his wife Sarah said to him Mordechai before him whom you have begun to fall is of Jewish descent. You will not prevail against him.

You will surely fall before him just a while ago they were say you go Haman you G a little like him either. You can fail. This is a great plan. Then he comes back with you latest things gone wrong and they turn on him. You done now, I will. I don't want people to encourage me to be weak.

I can do that on my own no matter what it is we are facing as believers we must face it in Christ. What does that have to do with this third chapter in Thessalonians, everything because you see Paul in chapter 2, he had been talking about how he was worrying about Paul being chased out of Thessalonica ran to Berea, chased out of Berea headed down towards Athens from Athens. He dispatches Silas and Timothy to go check on the churches they started in Philippi in Thessalonica and Berea.

While Paul heads on to Carmen where he wrote this letter and it was very anxious over what was going on there is encouragement for them was not OB week capitulate do anything to get the pressure off of you did in the corner huddle and shiver. That was not his approach.

This is not being macho, just realizing what our role is bad news comes our way. We pick it up in verse one of chapter 3. There Paul writing to this church says. Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone what he is saying is that we fear that you would renounce your faith under the scourge of persecution couldn't take it anymore. So when I arrived in Athens I dispatched Silas and Timothy to check on the churches. As we sinners were briefly go over the timeline that were looking at here in these events all goes to Athens while leaving Silas and Timothy to head out to check on the churches. Then Paul goes down to the church in Corinth, but before he does. He preaches in Athens would not much success.

He tries to fight them on their terms.

He tries to appeal to the intellectuals of Athens, the pseudo-intellectuals who were really educated morons. We have them today and they can take one of our Christian youth that go to college, they can squish them into an apostate and a matter of time. Not much time. And if you are dumb enough to throw Christ away for an educated moron, you have it. There are others who have not there other Christians of gone to the universities and gone to the workplaces and they have not left their faith in the face of cultural persecution. Cultural persecution is persecution that is not physical yet whatever reasons not developed to that state where they can outright come against us with rocks and scourges and imprisonment in the banks and all the other things that they have in their supposed possession to come against the church, will the church was born under the circumstances wrong was the authority in the world. There were no political rallies for Paul to be interested in going to was rallying people to the cross of Christ. His room at the cross for you.

That was his message and it is across incidentally this place of death and shame and bloodshed persecution for now has a glorious ending opposite the world world is that carrot on a stick before the horse, chasing after it never getting it in the end I'm like for the horse. It's worse to town its eternal condemnation. So the things were talking about in the Scripture. They're not about religion there about a person's eternal state where you going to be when you finally start pushing up daisies.

Where you going to be.

That's what it's all about when you leave this life.

Jesus said those who believe in him shall never die. I believe Jesus is right about everything else and that is what the letter is all about encouraging the saints in verse two he continues and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and encourage you in your faith while he was concerned about them doctrinally. Of course then the physical safety came second but their relationship with Christ was paramount. It is the objective of the pastor as Jesus taught us in John chapter 21 to feed the lambs new believers. They need to be fed. Scripture, they need to be fed. Scripture not only on their own, but also in a formal setting. We are told that we are to attend the sheep were to know the state of the flock. That's what we are compared to we are the flock of God. Then Jesus said to Peter, feed my sheep. So he wants the pastors to feed his lambs to tend his sheep to feed his sheep. This is the role of the pastor. It is also the role of the flock to subject themselves to this voluntarily by consent an act of the will based upon the revelation of Jesus Christ. The objective of Satan, however, is to destroy and when he cannot destroy the tries to obstruct with the intention of destroying whatever sheep or Shepherd he can get his talons into that is what he is looking to do this and what we read in Matthew chapter 13 verse 19 when anyone hears the word of the kingdom does not understand, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. While Paul was worried for the Thessalonians. There is the word of God that was sown in their hearts, like seed and some of the seed fell by the wayside, where all the traffic on all the activity was with the seed could not get into the heart because it was too much traffic for the ground to be ready to receive some of some of you may be like that or you know someone like this all of us a been there one point in our life were to this too much activity for anything of God to get into us and he always presents.

This is something that is to be avoided. Some Christians they just like shallowness.

They never pull the ship out into the deep waters. Therefore they end up shipwrecked on the shoals on the on the rocks navigation is wrong. Luke's gospel we read Luke in the writing of his gospel said to write to you or Theophilus that's who is writing to an orderly account.

A lot of Christians believe water does not belong in the church that somehow disorders something from the Holy Spirit. It is never, ever from the Holy Spirit is the cure to disorder, not the cause of it anyway. He writes trip to an orderly account that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed will.

That's what Paul wanted for the church in Thessalonica and all the other churches. In fact, once he gets word from Timothy how the Thessalonians were doing it is going to stoke him in Corinth will get to that little while so if we don't hear it from a man of the word, we will hear it from the man of the world those of the terms. That's how it is. It's either you're for the Lord your against the Lord is either going to be set in Christ or set in the world that is there's nothing else to do.

And in this little looking for Mazda look at that rocket must be a lizard and other such things that they do you know they want an excuse.

They're looking there hoping science is going to give them the evidence to prove that they do not have the come under the authority of God and his word ain't going to happen at best they will get strong delusion because they did not receive and have the love of the truth that is at best.

God knows how to turn them over to it. You want to believe that rock looks is a lizard. Therefore, there is life there what to do lizard easy just there.

I'm into something and then they go on and on with these things, but we all know this. We are aware of that they mock us. We mock them only differences were right and are we glad we have the evidence they think we don't because they close their mind to it while insisting that their open-minded you say you are you picking on the world. Why not ice to be get it done as a stump and thought I knew it all on enough to get by some as a lie gotten this far without Jesus Christ, we go along, we will all the way in this life without Jesus Christ that's as far as you can go because at death. Whatever it is that got you all the way here will get you nowhere. There well. The Greek word that Paul uses here in verse two to establish them to occur encourage them.

The word encourage their is still red. So, in the Greek, not that you need to even remember that what it means to support and to establish to the very thing that he is trying to say but I want to illustrated from the Old Testament in the old, the Old Testament was essentially or primarily written in the Hebrew language, but when the Jews were pushed out of Israel and to begin to find themselves in other communities. They picked up the Greek language and so they put together a Bible for Jews who did not speak Hebrew, but read Greek and spoke Greek. Also that's called the Septuagint, and so in this translation the rabbis and the scholars use the same Greek word in this section of Exodus chapter 17 and hopefully will catch the connection and come away with it. Understanding a little bit more about what it means to encourage another person.

Exodus 17 verse 12 Moses hands became heavy so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it and Erin and her remanding her very unfortunate passage in the English language supported his hands, one on one side, one on the other side and his hands were steady until the going down of the sons of Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sort we have a picture this in the lobby was a photo photographer there that day course of the painting but not the lobby in the hallway in the prayer room conference room but and I want us to say something about a man named her U young man you don't look like men. You don't look like women you don't know what you look like. I don't know if you hear but I know you in the malls and you know the targets, the more Watson line where rightly blatantly look some hair on your face where some closes show your biceps. This is one and the girls love it love if you let women pick you close you be wearing a tutu, a pink one and flip it around, flopping around, get to know who you are.

Men stole that society who am I okay then I do it all over, you know, one of the brother sent me a text that the did I see that the Marine Corps was thinking about having a unisex hat which we would not of been the Marine Corps anymore but anyway I couldn't even answer the next to my phone in the water so disgusted with the idea of it all. Well, look, this is an about being much of this about Satan trying to get rid of the box. He did it in Eden.

He neutralized Adams authority Adam was given it was given dominion over everything in one swoop of his wife to that of his baby and he wants it down and here we are so this man named her was that he was just make sure we understand that come up missing her wasn't her.

He was not anyway back to this point in the Greek this is Moses hands became heavy so they took a stone and put it under him. There is the same Greek word steer it so that is in the this text here in Thessalonians 32, the same Greek word to encourage, so it means more than just say that you'll be all right.

Have a good day it means to support them so they can make it through whatever it is they're facing and whatever comes contribution to Moses for him. It was the battle against Amalek if they lost this fight. The chances of them surviving in the wilderness would've been gone.

This was a turning point in their trek across the desert. They had not faced such an enemy as this before. Up to this point God had been bumping off their enemies, but now they had to engage in hand-to-hand sword to sword combat and here Moses was growing weary in prayer because prayer is weary to the flesh, our carnal nature does not respond well to praying. It has all source of restless responses to prayer and faithlessness and doubt. Christian must train themselves to pray. But what allows us to progress with our prayer life is communion, not not the breaking of bread and the cup. That's the symbolism of the communion, the real McCoy is in a relationship with Christ and too often Christians go into Christian service with zeal, not from God.

They have no deeper relationship with Christ, if there's a weakness that they have they going to look for a way to make a biblical instead of saying you know this is a problem and I've got a deal with this. I met the deal with this forever, but I'm going to face this and I'm not going to try to spin it and make it sound like something that's acceptable to the Lord. So if you have a problem with your prayer life, though that's understandable. It's just not acceptable.

Shouldn't be, not to others.

Do you, no one else is going to come along and say hello miss your prayer card.

How many times you check the box that day that that is absurd, but individually we take stock of ourselves. So learning to talk to the Lord is something that is born out of learning to love the Lord back and you know there are a lot of Christians I think they say they love the Lord, but really what they're saying they love to be loved and that's it doesn't loved below. We all do puppies like everyone it's good thing but if that's all there is, then it is a very stunted love. It is not developing and it should be developing the Christian faith is loaded with superlatives and ideals and high standards that we can't get but we are commanded to go at them like we can get each and every one of them. So when our kids go up to 13 They get flooded with the word of God with times of devotion and prayer and song in some fun time in between. We know that this does not guarantee anything in and of itself still going to have to fight for this still going to have to walk away saying I got to do this now.

I've had that taken this course on flying. Now I have to fly and anything short of that, they're just going to become disappointment.

The world is is very alluring.

You know the the Amish, they have that Roman spring. Okay you want. If we can make your decision. You going to stay in your any out. You get two years to figure it out. We don't really have such a thing will we run, we do things a little differently but we's we do share the recognition that if you're raised in the house of God. Satan is going to come along with a bucket of something to tempt you to lure you over and it will always have these three letters on the outside of his little pocket fun. Moses said it's fun for a while is pleasurable for season you know the mouse. I wonder if he ever gets a bite of the cheese. Either way, he won't digested when that trap hits the mess the end of it well. Verse three that no one should be shaken by these afflictions for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this not as an encouragement. You guys are getting persecuted up there word about you, but is now it is so when your pastor says trust God. What's he supposed to say, trust, Smith & Wesson was attempting to say that most cases it's illegal, so got a bully in school, you know you can hear all you can even bring those two up together they wish they could come and cuffed me for that, within the jurisdiction here anyway, trying to be cocky or anything, just disgusted with the stupidity that's on the throne in the hearts of so many people who have more power than they should ever have. Again, you know, not enough brains debate official. But that doesn't stop them from running for office and getting elected.

I made up this is bad.

You have to watch it as Christian we used to get off go somewhere and you look at someone on Wednesday, say, the not say now is like would you vote for. And it can't allow that stuff in so anyway that no one should soon be shaken by these afflictions. Now the Greek word here for shaken is to wag the tail if the if of the Greek were writing about my dog is kind of cowardly and he wags his tail and fawned over me whenever I show up because of broken his. That's the Greek word he would use. So Paul is saying to them. No one should be wagging their tail in these afflictions going up to people.

I'm sorry I'm a Christian, you tell me how I should live. I'm sorry you don't agree with my views on homosexuality and Islam. You tell me how I should think and that would be certainly spineless and faithless, and it would it would break the heart of God for people who claim his salvation to live in this way and Paul was on top of this and so he said, look, it's not going to be easy being a Christian was going to be harder living in hell would you like to just sometimes take wings and fly away from all this political stuff and all things going on the world can't why because Jesus commands us to go to the world I'm in.

When we sailor that firemen run into the far all we happy for them.

Same thing with us were running into the fire for the same reasons though I was a spiritual more than physical to save souls and I don't think there's anything attractive about the church sneaking around apologizing for what it claims it should be leave, but to be strong in the Lord again. This is not bravado as an alternative to this, when Paul came to this church.

They they knew this back was bruised from upholding Christ. So they knew what they were getting into when they converted, and this is why we admire the testimonies of martyrs.

We ask yourselves, we view this way to temptation to abandon Christianity purchase exemption by renouncing our faith from Satan and not the Lord. Thanks for tuning in to cross reference radio for this study in the book of first Thessalonians cross reference radio is the teaching ministry of pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia to learn more information about this ministry. Visit our website cross reference radio.com once you're there you will find additional teachings from pastorate.

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