14 Commands to Thessalonica, Part 2

Last week we were here, and we talked about the book of 1st Thessalonians. We kind of went into the history of 1st Thessalonians, of the way we have a little background on it, where it's located, how it got started, how it's tied to named after Alexander the Great's half-sister. So I won't go back into that today just to look at it, and that it is an eschatological epistle, which means end-time epistle. And we talked about how the end-time, or Jesus Christ's return, was mentioned in every single chapter. So that was one of the foremost things on the people in that church's mind. I also gave you a little description about the church, how it was an infant church. It was one that had just started, and they grew, and they grew, and it was an exciting time for the work of God in the first century. And that Paul was very close to these people. He thought a great deal of them, as most of them were Gentiles, and came out of a very pagan and idolatrous world. So with that, we also touched on his admonition to them, his letter that he wrote to them after spending some bit of time with them. And then he was, of course, run out of town, as you can read about in Acts 17. But it is interesting because they are a very spiritual church, even though they're a young church. And so he writes them this incredible, passionate letter. And we see today that it is very much for us also, because some of the same things that they dealt with, we even deal with now almost 2,000 years later. So one of the key things they had, they had some questions for Paul. He had spent somewhere between six weeks on the short end to possibly six months with this church. And he had covered a lot of ground. But if any of you know, when you first came into new knowledge, it's like you could sometimes get too much, and you don't remember everything and how it all comes together. And so they had some questions that he sent Timothy there to try to answer and to help them along the way. But they had questions about Christ's return. They had had various people come through and saying that some have even said that Christ had already returned. Others were bringing different kind of stories in from all over about Jesus Christ, not returning. So they were kind of tossed, not with doctrine, but about this in time that they felt like they were living in. And so they had a question, and they had really five or six questions that they brought back to Paul. Has Christ already returned? And he said, how will we know that he's returned? Will it be in our lifetime? I know people even ask that today. I occasionally get a phone call, at least probably every other month, on somebody saying, are we living in the last days? What if we die before he comes back? That was one of their questions. And what about our families who have died in the faith? And will we see them again? And also, can we count on the day? Is it really going to be the day?

And so Paul tries to answer all these questions in his letter back to 1 Thessalonians. It's a very short book. It only takes 15 minutes to read, but if you really studied, it's a little more deeper than that. It really teaches us a lot of things. So what I'd like to do, as we came to a point last week where we actually talked about the 14, as it's called, 14 new commandments of Paul to the Thessalonians, or the 14 new commandments of Thessalonica. And we covered last week these very short verses from chapter 5, verse 14 through 22. And we only got through this first seven. And so I want to cover the other seven today, because the first seven, you might say, was a little light. It was mostly about the physical stuff of this life, but it's important for all of us to cover those bases. But then he goes into, in those final verses, he goes into seven spiritual aspects that we who follow God need to have, and how important this is, because he knew.

These were people who were fairly new to God's truth, to God's way, and he knew they needed some help. But I'd like to, before we jump into the final seven we have today, I'd like you to go with me to 1 Thessalonians 4. I ask everybody if you would read that this week, just because it makes it interesting if you know what's going on. But I want to go to 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 13, because he's answering some of those questions that were brought back to him.

And I'll read from the New King James. And verse 13 said, Brother, I do not want you to be ignorant. I want you to understand, he's saying, I do not want you to be ignorant, brother, concerning those who have fallen asleep or died. Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

You had to remember he was talking to a Gentile civilization, a very Greek civilization at that time, with all their Greek gods and the Elysian fields and all these things that they believed in. Hades and burning and all this kind of stuff for someone who didn't worship the right gods. So there were many people in there at times, I'm sure many family members, that wanted to know what's going to happen, because all this stuff is floating around, because they had multiple gods. And the Greeks were really bad, as the Romans were later. You might have even seen it if you saw the movie from, I don't know, 10-15 years ago, called Gladiator, from Ridley Scott, that is a very historical piece, because Ridley Scott usually does do his history, even though he changed some names and a few events. But you'll notice that many of these men had little gods that they carried in, had it in their little pouches they would carry around, and that was the gods to protect them, and very common back then. And unless you had that god with you, what was going to happen to you? They really did know, because they had all these beliefs and all these multiple deities. So he was trying to tell them, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope, because unless you had the right god or believed, then there was no hope for you. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with him Jesus Christ God, will bring with him those who sleep or who died in Christ, those who were believers. They will come with Christ, he says. For we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep or already dead. So he's just laying out their questions that they had and telling them, this is what's going to happen. And then, as we use typically in every funeral that I have had to preach, verse 16, we describe, he said, For the Lord himself will be sinned from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God. And as we know from the truth, it will be the seventh trumpet that is sounded. And then the dead in Christ will rise. It says, and the dead in Christ will rise first before those who are alive are changed. I've had a lot of questions over that. Why first? I don't know. It doesn't really say. Other than that's their reward, I would think those who are raised from the grave first have the opportunity to look down upon earth and see those, possibly loved ones, or those who are about to experience the quickening, the change from being a human body to a spirit body. That would be something I would love to see. And hopefully my father will be able to see that when he is raised if I survive till that time. And he said, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them.

Going to come up to the heaven in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, it says in verse 18, comfort one another with these words. So these are words he was telling the church, you know, comfort each other with these. You know, it's very comforting to know that those who die in the faith, we will see them again. And they will be with Christ. And if we hold on, we will also see Christ coming in all His power and glory. So comfort one another with these words. And then he comes down to chapter 5. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. So he's trying to tell, you know those guys that came through and said, oh, Christ is already come? Or you don't even know, he's like, well, come over the other part of the world and you won't even know when he comes. And then there's also the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. It's going to come very quickly. It's going to come when no one is expecting. They were expecting it 1900-something years ago in this book. Why did God allow that? Even the disciples, you can read their writings. All of them thought it was coming in their time. And, you know, ever since I was a young kid, I was like, first taught my parents taught, you know, Jesus Christ is coming back. Well, when? Soon. Well, when you're a kid, soon is like the next day. So I'm out there trying to find what prayer was, go out in the woods and try to tell God I was a good kid.

That's just the way, you know, and you sometimes wonder, why did God, you know, like, kind of, did He lead everybody on? Well, what if He gave you the exact date? What if He gave the exact date to say, okay, Jesus Christ is returning 2019. As a matter of fact, September the 2nd, 2019. Oh, let me go and do this. I've got time. Do you think He would study and pray like He would if you did not know?

The passion would be there, even the disciples. I'm sure John thought when He turned 95, 96 years old, wow, Christ has got to be returning soon. He does. He does no human nature, and He knows that we kind of need to be on our toes. He also has to be a waste of Scripture in Matthew 24, where He says, watch. He expects His people to be watching. Watch for these things. Put these things together. That's why in a couple of weeks, the Bible said, I'd like to go through the man of sin, son of perdition. That's predicted, because we will. If you're attuned to Scripture, you're doing yourself, we're going to know He's not just going to be, well, I wonder if that's such and such. It's amazing. Amazing. I was reading a book written about four or five years ago this past week before I went to bed, and so it was actually written some secular talking about end-time events. And four or five years ago, this one of them brought up the questions that people had brought to them, and one was, was it Ahmadinejad from Iran? Is he the man of sin? And then the other one, he says, no, there's a group of people that are convinced it's Donald Trump.

I don't think he's going to take anybody by surprise, especially after this week. Ah, so it's just something that I wanted to cover because I think we will recognize him if you are, because it says he will deceive many. And that's why. What's he got to teach to deceive many? And even those who are faithful, it says, can fall to that deception. So we need to talk about that so that you know when you see someone that is coming on the scene, that everybody is amazed by. You know what time it is. So, and he says, he tells him, for when they say, who's they? The world around you. When they say, peace and safety, peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor comes upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. So I don't see a lot of peace and safety right now in the world. Don't see that being crying out, peace and safety, oh everybody's safe, and it was so peaceful. There will be a time that will allow a lot of Christians to sleep going, wow, it's pretty good.

Boy, I don't, I don't, I think we've worried about nothing for a long time. But you, brethren, are not in darkness so that this day, the day of the Lord, should overtake you as a thief. That means we need to be watching, so we're not ignorant of these things that are going to happen to us. Therefore, we are not of the night and not of darkness. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. It's interesting. I've actually had a few people that actually believe in God, His commandments, His holy days of Sabbath. They believe in all this stuff, but they have this perception that we're of the day and that true Sabbath is only during the light hours of this 24-hour period of time. Because we're not. They actually make a whole doctrine out of these verses here and say, no, the Sabbath is not really at night. It's only during the day. And they have these... it's a convoluted, very long explanation of this.

Paul is teaching something here. He isn't teaching the doctrine of the Sabbath. He's, metaphorically, using the day and the night to teach us that we're not like the rest of the world. Our eyes are going to be open. It isn't like we're going to be like a drunk at night, someone who dreads the day but likes the night. He's metaphorically using that. I think most people can get that, but I've actually had discussions with people who just cannot get that because he says we are not of the night nor of darkness. So these people actually think that the Sabbath, the night part of the Sabbath that began at sunset, is totally wrong. And they believe that the Sabbath actually begins at daylight today when that's not scripturally correct. But I didn't want to waste my time with that. Verse 6, therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. An actual word there, sober, means not intoxicated because an intoxicated person, a drunk, what does he want to do after he's drunk? Sleep.

And when you're drunk or you're like that, you're not very watchful. You're not very alert.

And so he's saying, we're not like that. We're going to be watchful. We're going to make sure. It also means self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night. It's typically what happens, just like my parents used to tell me, nothing good happens after midnight. When do you pick up more DUIs or when trouble goes on in this world? A lot of times it's late at night. We have to be aware of that. It says, but let us, who are of the day, be sober. It means those who are enlightened, those who have their eyes open, those who know what's going on in this world that actually read Scripture and doesn't say, well, don't bother me with that. All I care about is what Kim Kardashian or Caitlin's doing this week. We're not that way. Putting on the breastplate of faith and love, because we are ruled by our faith in God and showing that agape. As a helmet, the hope of salvation. They knew what he was talking about, because the breastplate, they knew the Roman soldiers were all over that area. The Roman soldiers you saw, they had a breastplate. That protected them from somebody coming up and stabbing them, but they also wore a helmet, and it was a protection, too. He's just, metaphorically speaking, again. We wear this helmet to protect us. That helmet is a helmet of salvation, because we know how to get salvation. We know what it takes for salvation. That's our protection. We're safe.

And that the breastplate, this thing that people see, that protects us that we wear on the outside, that's something every one of us has to be wearing every day. People see us, and the first thing they may see, of course, when they first saw the soldier, they would see this breastplate. It was usually very shiny, so even the sun would shine off this. He's telling the brethren there that this breastplate that you have is of faith and love. Those are the two things that we should really have at the forefront of our lives. We have faith. We're not worried about it. We have faith that God's in control of our lives. We're not running around all worried about everything all the time. We have our faith in Him. And then something that shows forth when someone first meets us is not, who are you? What's your problem? What do you want?

We don't do that. Hopefully we are outgoing. We show agape, or agape, love, that we show love for people. And it's apparent we're not just looking around like there's a chip on our shoulder, not walking around like a soldier in the Roman army who is out there looking for trouble, looking for problems. We're not like that. But we have a breastplate and a helmet, metaphorically. Every one of us. And people see it. And they should see it. And we should enjoy making sure that we polish as the Romans were really just like when they actually killed Christ and they were gambling for His clothes. Because at that time, Roman soldiers loved to keep their armor shiny. And so they would actually take stuff and you'd see them shining up their armament, kind of like one of these young guys when you're 20-something years old and you get your first really nice car. You know, you got to keep that thing shiny. Because that's what you want people to see. You end this. And this is what Paul is trying to tell them. You've got something you need to shine. And that's that faith that people see. As you can imagine, here it is, this new church. Nobody knew anything about it before six months ago. And they were all pagans, all Gentiles. And now this new church pops up out of a city of 200,000 people. And it's growing. People are excited. So you can imagine, people are like, wow, there's one.

Yeah, yeah, they were explaining that to me the other day. Hey, can you explain this to him?

That there's not all these multiple gods. So it was a very interesting time for them. In verse 9, it says, For God did not appoint us to wrath. Why are you here? Why did he call you? It isn't to wrath. It isn't so that he can watch you burn in the lake of fire. That isn't it. He's telling them. He didn't call you for that. But to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, he desired that all will come to the understanding. Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Therefore, comfort one another and edify one another.

Encourage each other. As I talked about last week of this church, the small little group we have here, they're very encouraging to people. We hopefully make all guests feel welcome. We're there when something happens to each other. We pray about things. This is what we do. And this is all part of it. Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another just as you also are doing. So he said, you're doing it already. Just continue to do that.

And so, I wanted to read those verses because now I want to finish up with the seven. Last week, we actually went into how he is so concise and precise on these few verses in chapter 5 verses 14-22. And now they're so good for us. And we talked about, the very first one was, Warn the Lazy.

Because Paul worked. He worked for the church. He also worked when he needed to make money, making tents. And so, he was saying, if you don't work, you don't eat. You need to get a job.

As I talked about last week, some of the Greeks were, they didn't believe in working with their hands. That was beneath them. So he showed them, yes, I'm going to do both. So he said, Warn the Lazy. Encourage the timid. You know, you had people that were very timid about this way of life. And you walk at that time. Care for the weak. Outgoing concern.

And then, I want to go there just a second, as he actually says, practice patience with everyone. Which is very hard to do, as we talked about last week. And then we talked about no paybacks. We leave paybacks to God, even at our work. We do our part. And if you truly believe God is sovereign, He'll handle things for you. Right, Olivia? She found out this week that God's still sovereign, sitting on top of His throne. And we must remember that. And to do good to all people! I mean, He's just like, Oh, well, I got to take care of this person or look after them because they're in the church. Well, yeah, it says the household of faith first, but it doesn't. Everything else is, we have to look after people. That's how they're able to see God living in us, Christ in us. And then said, and that's the last one, last week was, Be joyful. Boy, that can be a tough one. But I said, Be joyful.

I pulled these from the New Living Translation. This is put in the New King James. It says, Rejoice always. That should be a goal for each and every one of us. Because there's times when we just can't rejoice. We've got issues and problems in our lives. We've got problems with mates, children, relatives, bosses, the government, everything. There are just those times that it's hard to be joyful. But can we do it anyway?

Because our future does not depend on this world. It depends on Jesus Christ and the world He's bringing. This is just training ground. Just like the Miami Dolphins now. They're going through practice. They're practice. They go out. They go every day. They sweat. They work hard. It's just really tough. And there's heat. And they do this because that's just practice. The real games are coming in September. They're going to play practice games. That's kind of like us today. The kingdom is coming. And He has a place for us and a position for us. Right now, this world is practice. God gets to see how we practice being what He wants us to be.

Being full of the Spirit. And He's gifted us with the Spirit. Just a down payment to see what we do with it and how we can represent Him on this earth every day. We have that opportunity. And He gets to watch us.

And He asks us then to go a little deeper than just be a good person.

Because I have people in our condo complex that are very nice people. They're very nice. I don't know anything about God. I don't even care about God. But they're pretty nice people. They'll treat people well. They'll do this and that. I kind of look at myself and go, I've got to make sure that people think about me.

So that's why He gave the second seven. It's to go just a little deeper than skin deep. And it's for us. It's for you and it's for me. I had to go through this this week and check off a couple that I wasn't real pleased with my evaluation of what I saw. And so that's what helps us. So we're going to go through the second today, as with what little time? In about 15 minutes that we have left from 1 Thessalonians 5. Number eight is pray always.

Now we're going in spiritual. Pray always. Well, wait a minute. It says, pray constantly in the New King James. Well, how do I pray constantly? Wait a minute. I've got to go to work. Well, wait a minute. I pray constantly and I have a prayer life that is mine as a minister that I really have to spend time in prayer over so many things. Well, wait a minute. I don't have time to study the Bible. I've got to just pray. No, that's not what He is telling him because He knew what He'd tell him in the very first one. Warn the lazy. That means get a job. Well, you got a job, but guess what? You got to work and He expects you to work.

And so there is this balance that everyone must come to in your own lives. And pray always. I like to explain. I tried to get an article from Victor Kubik this week, but I guess I'm not that important. He never returned my email that he had written that I really liked. But he brought it out. But just think about the times that you pray during the day because not all of us have the same schedule. Not all of us have that same relationship because prayer is about a relationship. You're talking to God. And so each and every one of us, how I pray, wouldn't necessarily be right for you. It may not work for you. You may have a different relationship with God. Some people find it strange that I like to go at least once or twice a week to the ocean and walk on the ocean and do my prayer. Because I feel closer to God sometimes. And I do that. Well, other people, I don't want to really do that. I don't feel right. Others have a special place or room. I have my second bedroom that we have. That's all we have. And that's where Mary knows. Like when Stefano's called yesterday, 9 o'clock, I was in there. So I don't answer the phone because I got somebody a little more important, sorry, Stefano's, than you when I'm talking to. So I don't want to break up that conversation. Go, wait a minute. God, put it on hold. Stefano's wants to talk to me about something. I haven't come to that point yet.

But there are things, just like our day. I try to start my day out with prayer. As I've said before, even before I get up, when I first wake up, because I'm ready to get up, my wife could she's groggy in bed. Some people are. She just takes her a little while to get up. She has to have a cup of coffee. And she's like, really? I don't bother her. I want peace during the day, so I know not to go, hey, Mary, get off! It's the end of the day! I did that when we first got married. That didn't go too well. So you learn. But I usually, first thing I do when I wake up is I start thinking about and talking to God in my own mind for five minutes about what I need to accomplish that day and what He wants me to accomplish. Then later on in the morning, I have my study that I do my Bible. And then I go in and I have my prayer time. And so that takes anywhere between an hour to an hour and a half for me, because there's a lot of stuff to cover. Some people can do that in 30 minutes. We can do it in 15 minutes. It's not my job to be fair and say about your prayer life. The most important thing I can tell you is, have one. Have one.

Then I have breakfast and I usually pray over my food. Then I usually, on the phone, I've got emails to cover and somebody will send me something that they need a prayer. So I may have to go in my room and just pray for that situation. Then at lunch, I pray over my food because I can't find a time that Jesus Christ did not ask the blessing on whatever food He ate. So I do that. And then I usually pray for the dinner meal. And a lot of times I go in before I go to bed. I go in and just pray about some of the things that I have. But that's my life. But as you can see, even if you pray for 30 minutes a day and you pray over the food that God asked you to, and then during the day some things are going to pop up, and I usually have to say, God, I need you to handle this or give me the wisdom to handle this. It may be a 30-second prayer. It may happen four or five times during the day. It could happen a dozen times a day. That is praying constantly. That is praying always. You're keeping Him at the forefront in your lives. Very important. And this is what Paul knew that they needed to pray always. He says, Be thankful for all or be thankful for everything. He says, actually, in the New King James, And everything give thanks, for this is the will of God. It's the will of God. Yeah, it's one thing for God to tell you something. It's another to understand His will. My father used to tell me, Don't do this, don't do that. But when I understood the will of God or understood the will of my Father, physical Father, I knew what He wanted me to do. He didn't even have to tell me because I understood His will. So, this is the will of the Father.

He says, For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, that you what in everything give thanks. You think it ties to the last one? I've had a policeman pull me over a long ago. I've had twice, I think twice since I've been here in Florida. And that's never, even if you feel like you didn't do anything, it's still this, hmm, you know, because, you know, okay, is He going to write me a ticket? Or is He going to be one of these cops that has such an edge that He's looking to, you know, do these things? It happens? And so, when I got pulled over, I just, sorry God, if I did something wrong, you know, I just think, well, be with me. Put the right words in my mouth. I have to say that quite a bit because somebody will get on the phone. I have to make sure God puts the right words. So, it's part of this praying constantly. Just keep them in your mind. I mean, it's just like, can you imagine if you were involved in a company and your boss, you've never called him about anything?

And he's beginning to wonder, wonder how that company's doing? He never calls me about anything. It's kind of like God. We're working for Him and we never, we don't ever need His help. We should want His help. We should desire His help and not feel bad about asking.

I used to love it when my father, because my father helped me so much back in Tennessee before he died out on the farm, he would just come over and do things for me all the time. I loved it when he calls it, would you mind helping me do this? And I, great! I get to help him. It's a communication between family members and Jesus Christ as your elder brother. God is your father. It's what we can do. It's what we should do. If you have a career like a nurse, you have a career where people's lives are in your hands, boy, you better be praying. You know, you should have, and I will feel really good. I've had a few doctors that actually said, well, you know, before your surgery or before I did this, I actually prayed. Whoa, that makes me feel good. At least he knows he is not God, but there is someone else beside him. Okay? But he says, be thankful for all things. That's part of the prayer. Are you thankful for, you know, even when you get somewhere on time? I've been thankful and thanked him for parking spaces because I've been like, running around, I'm going to be late for an appointment. I go, God, help me get a parking place. That may be a small thing. And everybody goes, oh, that's just so, you know, that's stupid.

No, it's not because I think he's involved in every step I make, and I want him involved.

But he said, be thankful for all things, for all everything that you have, everything that, man, I was looking to open up my, our cabinet the other day and realized, boy, we've got quite a bit of food stuck in there. And yet, I just came from Jamaica and realized there were some people there in our church that there wasn't anything. All they got for their food was what they went out and got that day. Thankful. Thankful. Number 10, don't quench the spirit. Don't quench the spirit. Spirit is our communication between God. How do you worship God? He says that in John 4, when he's talking about the Samaritan woman. You will worship him in spirit and truth. It's that communication. He says, don't quench it. And I love the word that's used in the Greek. It's actually, sobeniumi. Sobeniumi no mi. And it actually means to put out, means to extinguish, like a fire. That's what it's related to. It's like a fire. Don't put out, quench, don't put out the spirit. Because when we do not communicate with God, when we do not read his word, when we don't talk to him any of this, we're quenching the spirit. That's our connection to him. That he really wants us. That connection. And you know, people in here, I don't care who you are, you've had a time where you knew you were close to God. And you knew he was working right with you, and you knew he delivered you from something. He brought something into your life, and you knew it. And there's just that feeling. But you know, there's also a feeling when you know that you're not where you need to be. Ah, God's so busy, I forgot to pray. Too busy, I forgot to study. Or I read, but I didn't study God's word. And it's interesting. Of quenching it or putting it out, the opposite is true. If he says, don't quench it, don't put it out, the spirit. Because it's the very essence of God. It's the power, the energy of God. He says, don't quench that. You know, when we live a different way of life, we quench that. When we are in a negative attitude, and we stay there, we quench that spirit. Because God's not negative. Everything about Him, His way, His truth, and His future is positive. Notice how much better you feel when you're positive than when you're negative. It's part of feeding the spirit. So don't quench it, but feed it. John 6. Go over there just a second. John 6.

Memory. Verse 4, many. John 6. And verse 63. Christ is speaking here. It is the Spirit which gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I say, God in the flesh, speak to you, our spirit, and they are life. That's why it's so important that we know His words, that He speaks to us, so we can use those words. That's how you feed the spirit. Go to His word. Live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

11. Don't scoff prophecy. Don't scoff prophecy. Now, He's having to tell them this after He'd already gone through the other words in the letter to them because there were people coming around telling all these prophecies. And don't we have that today? Wait, wait, wait! Blood moons. We're in the middle of blood moons, and everything's going to happen, and the world's life will come to an end.

Jesus Christ is returning. They're out there. All you got to do is jump on the internet. You find all these things. Oh, wait a minute. This happens. Then the whole world's going to go under. I had a discussion with a man yesterday. It has nothing to do with our church, but he had questions because I'd had a business dealing with him, and I was a pastor, and he goes, really wondering, I get all this because he exchanges gold, silver, and is in that type of world, precious metals and stuff. And that's what he does for a living.

And he's like, what's going to happen? Wait a minute. I'm hearing September the 13th. Something big's going to happen. And I'm hearing that September the 23rd, something else is going to happen. And then October the 20th, the whole economy is going to just collapse. He said, and Jesus Christ is going to return. And I said, I can guarantee you he ain't returning this year. I can read the scripture, and you can do. A lot of things have got to happen. But he's so worried because all this stuff is out there. As it was in their time, it's even worse now because you have the internet.

Okay, what are we supposed to do? They're going to change the gold standard. They're going to do this kind of stuff. I told him, do you know how much stuff I've heard since 1999, or how the world was going to come apart? What was it? K1? Y2K? Yeah, I couldn't remember. It was big at the time. And I had some stuff in my house.

I had my lamps and extra food and stuff. I didn't think it was. I was like, wow! Because everybody was predicting it. And it was going to be on a Sabbath. It was on a Sabbath, so we're going to get up.

And there's not going to be anything there. It's going to be January. My wife said, and it's in Tennessee, and it's going to be 20 degrees, and I'll be cold. So I knew that would be my biggest problem because Mary doesn't like to be cold. So that's why she loves this area. Okay. But you remember how that happened? You remember 9-11?

I had people calling at the time. Wow, is this the end? You know, this is the beginning, and all this kind of stuff of the Great Tribulation and all this kind of stuff. So you hear it. And now that he asked me about this Jonathan Cahn who had written this book, and I said, yeah, I know. I've read his books and so on. And going through all this stuff, and I said, what does the Scriptures tell you, John?

He says, don't worry. Shouldn't we keep an eye? Yes, but you're letting this. Oh, I know. I've lost sleep over it. You know, I'm wondering. Because all of a sudden I've got these people that never called me before wanting to exchange paper money into gold and silver. And now the silver, I can't sell you any silver. There is no silver. I can't get any for 30 days.

That tells me something's going to happen. You know? But don't scoff prophecy. Go to the real word. And that's why it's important we study his word. We know what's going to happen. Not every little detail, but enough. And we won't be worrying about it. It's interesting there that there's actually two words. Whenever you see prophecy and profit, there are two actual different words. This actual Greek word here for prophecy means predictions. The other word for prophecy that they sometimes get it mixed up means inspired preaching. They're two different Greek words. But not to scoff predictions, but go to the source instead of somebody on the internet. Because, boy, a lot of people become millionaires.

Off of books and stuff where they got people. Yes, I forget one guy. I can't remember his name. My father actually introduced me to him on the radio before the year 2000.

He made millions of selling these little packets to a year's supply of this food and everything. He made millions. Basically, the world, he said the tribulation would start at that time. So, he packaged all this stuff in soap. He never heard from them again. Didn't need to. He made all his money. He says, test everything. Test everything. I mean, wait a minute. I need to test. Put it in the context of what he's talking about. Test everything by the Scripture. Test men by their fruits. Test women by their fruits. Well, is that a righteous person? Look at their fruits. Are they in it like Balaam? Are they in it for money? Because that's what Balaam did. He wasn't going to give up his money. He got his money. He got justice in the end. But he wanted to try to obey God and still make money. And you have preachers out there every day doing the same thing. They're profiting off of God. So, test. Test everything. Is it of God or is it a man? But test through the Scriptures, by the Scriptures. Probably 13. Hold what is good, or hold fast. Hold fast what is good. It's interesting, the NIV says, hold on to what is good. What's he talking about here? What he talked about earlier. If you have something that is good, you know it's good. You've looked at it. And I have people, even today, that will actually call me and say, you know, I kind of was reading this new book, and I've been keeping the Sabbath for all these years, decades, but you know, I'm beginning to wonder because of this Jewish calendar, and then maybe we aren't doing this here, and we're changing. And so, next thing you know, it's even got him questioning the Sabbath. And yet, that's what he's proved. It was good. So, we need to, as he was telling them, hold fast that which is good. As a matter of fact, there was a friend of mine who had a radio show. It was a religious show on Sunday mornings, and he taught the truth. But that was his ending words, and I'll never forget it. Hold fast that which is good, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. He ended every show with that. And are you truly wanting to hold fast? I mean, hold on to what is good, and not have to go back and examine it, and examine it, and examine it, and examine it because somebody has new truth. That's what he's telling them, because you're going to have all these guys, these Greeks, who were very smart, who was taught, you know, my teacher's teacher's teacher was taught by Aristotle himself.

So he must understand things. Oh, this guy on the radio?

Wow, I just on the right over here, I would just heard something, and a question came to this biblical guy on the radio, and this guy brought these scriptures, named him, pop, pop, pop, about once saved, always saved, and how it couldn't be true because of these scriptures. And this radio preacher said, you really don't understand scripture then. And he gave him scripture.

He said, I'm going to take a break, and I'll come back, and I'll answer your question, so I'll take them. You can go ahead and drop off the air. Okay? He made sense. The guy did. But there's always somebody listening to somebody who may have something. They want to give you... Now we have a national inquirer of churches of God who just like, this is bad, this is bad. So hold fast what is good. And then finally, stay away from evil. Number 14, stay away from evil. If you see it, discernment is something we all need more of, and that's why it's something to pray for. I pray for godly wisdom, as James tells me to. Okay? He'll give it liberally. Okay? But discernment is something we need. We need to discern between good and evil in each of our lives. It's going to come up every single day. We have to make decisions. Am I going to do this? Can I discern what is good and what is evil? And he said to stay away from evil. Look at the things in this world and ask yourself, is it evil? I don't want you to become fair and say, go, wait a minute, I see what you brought in, Chuck. Ooh, it's got white flour in it. It's got sugar. That's evil. What are you doing? You know, I'm not talking about that kind of discernment. You know, everyone has to make up their own decisions in that, but it is good to try to be healthy if you can, which my wife probably wouldn't allow me to bring that if she was here because she's healthier than I am. That's why she's sick. I did. I left quickly this morning.

But stay away from evil. What is evil in your world today? What's evil in my world is not same as Lewis's. Okay? Because I don't work where he works. I don't live where he lives. I may not watch what he watches. I may not listen to what he listens to. Every one of us has the opportunity this week to stay away from evil. Just discern and ask God to help you discern between good and evil.

And one of the things that I strive to do, I strive to stay away from negative people because they can affect me. So we must be positive. So, the 14 new commandments of Thessalonica. There's a lot we can learn just in a few verses. This is the Word of God. I believe it. I hope you do too. And I hope you'll take this week and live by every word that proceeds from this Book.