Wow. So thankful to see all of you here this morning. And just to let you know, a little update, our Mexican Mexico mission team is literally over Oklahoma City right now in the air. So they're on their way to San Diego. Should be there sometime around lunch hour time.

But be praying for Crosby and the team. My son is with them, and they stopped in Nashville and I think they ate them out of food. If you've ever worked with high school and middle school boys, you know that they will destroy your refrigerator. Does that change when you get to college? No, it doesn't, not really.

So be praying for them as they're getting ready to land. I'm gonna mix things up a little bit from the last service, but I want you to go to first Thessalonians and look at verse number five. I'm gonna back up and tell you a little bit of a story from the Book of Acts, starting a new series today called Resolute. It's called Resolute. Why Resolute?

What we're about to study in this book. This most likely was Paul's second letter that he wrote probably within a year of his stop in Thessalonica while he was in the city of Corinth. And I believe that he's going to give us a secret nugget that should be deposited in our hearts and in our minds that drives us to gospel living. We're going to spend the next seven weeks unpacking how we can be resolute in his word, in his calling, in his clarity, all different aspects of what God is calling us to do, to remain resolute, especially in our faith. And that one little nugget today, I hope will just kind of.

I hope it rocks your world. You know, I'll write in my notes, like, what do I expect people to walk away from? Well, I'm writing that in my notes. I want this to rock your world. I want it to change your perspective of your walk with Jesus Christ.

So I want you to stand with me today. I just want to read one verse, then we're going to go back and dig into this whole chapter. You're going, oh, man. Well, this is the second service. I'll have one o'.

Clock. I want you to listen to what he says. He says, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you. For your sake, Father, as we dig into this today, call us to yourself.

Open our Mind and our heart, that we may serve you, that we might please you in Jesus name. Amen. Now in your notes, I want you. You see at the top it says Acts 17, 1, 9. At the end of chapter 15, Paul, after the Jerusalem council, decides that he wants to go back and visit the churches that he visited in his first journey to Pisidian, Antioch, to Lystra, to Iconium.

And so he goes to Barnabas. And they're getting ready to leave, but Barnabas wants to take somebody with them that was on that first trip, but kind of left early. His name's John Mark. And so Paul's like, no, I don't want him to go. And Barnabas is like, no, I want him to go.

And it's contentious. In fact, it gets to the point where they have to decide, we're going to go two different directions. Paul takes two other men along with him. Well, one he picks up later, but he takes a man named Silas. Say Silas, and he goes kind of like north and goes to those cities where Barnabas takes John, Mark and they go to the island of Cyprus.

And honestly, at that point, we never hear about Barnabas again. That's the end of his narrative in the book of Acts. And so Paul leaves. And as he, of course, as he visits these cities, you get through chapter to chapter. At the end of that, in a vision, he's called over to Macedonia.

And in chapter 16, he goes and he lands in a city called Philippi. Philippians. So if you're familiar with the book of Philippians, this is where that comes from. He lands and there's a lady there that comes to know Christ. And then they start preaching and there's this demon possessed girl taunting them.

They land in prison. Paul and Silas at midnight begin to sing. Do you know this story? It's very cool. Kids, if you've Never read Acts 16, go read this story.

Because at midnight they begin to sing and praise God and their shackles fall off, the doors open and the jailer comes in and goes, oh gosh, they're gone. And he's going to take his own life, but they stop him and this man becomes a Christian. So you've got people converted in the city of Philippi and a church planted. Well, then they leave there and they go south through two cities and they come to this city called Thessalonica. Thessalonica most likely was the largest city that Macedonia area, second probably only to Athens itself.

It's near a big road called the Via Egnatia, which is this road that Runs west to east, not east to west, but east to west. Some of y' all got that spongebob reference. And that's how they traveled. And so this was a very strategic city.

And as his custom, as the Bible says, he went into the synagogue in Thessalonica and began to teach them about how Christ Jesus was the Christ. And he did so for three Sabbaths, say three, because that's very important. If you look at Acts 17:3, he says this quote, this Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ, he is the King, he's the anointed one. And it says in verse four that a large number of them were persuaded, especially from God fearing Greeks. Now this is a city in Macedonia, close to Athens, that was full of idolatry.

I mean, they were following a man, the Caesar, who believed himself to be a God. So all of these different gods and they decide, hey, you know what, we kind of like this idea of one God. But they had not converted to Judaism. And so how many weeks did I say? 3.

I'm going to make a point out of that because the Jews in the synagogue were getting upset with him. One, because they were bringing people into this new movement. But listen, they begin to attack them and they actually run them out of the city and they attack a man named Jason and bring him out and says these men who have upset the world with this news have come here also. And so more than likely they make a deal with Jason and they ban and bar Paul and Silas from ever coming back. How many weeks did I say?

Folks, listen, look at me for a moment.

In America today, there are church plants and church plant movements that sometimes take decades for them to ever become standalone. And Paul did it in at least three weeks.

Maybe he stayed in the outskirts of Thessalonica and was winning converts that way. But it blows my mind that in only three Sabbaths he was able to see a church plant. There had to have been something about the substance of the gospel that he was preaching. There had to been some different nuance. Because you're sitting here today and some of you started your relationship with Jesus on a strong foot, but you fell away.

Some of you, you started your walk with Christ and you sat down. Some of you started that relationship with the Lord, but you let it fall away. And I think it's because there's this one piece of information that we're going to glean from this book that I hope changes your life.

Jesus is coming again.

And I want to ask you a question that I want you to ponder. I could tell you this really cool story about Yellowstone and a fire 38 years ago and how those trees replenished themselves because certain pine cones there, when they get heated up, it melts and the seeds come out. It was a devastation of a forest fire, almost a million acres burned. And it would look like based on Thessalonica, that everybody should have just went on their own way. Like this church should have never stayed in existence.

What we're about to read is not only did they stay existence, they were following Jesus. And not only were they following Jesus, they were making an impact. So much so that it was being proclaimed in the known world just a year after they started and it only took three weeks. Why? Because they truly believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, the King.

Jesus who was going to come again. Every chapter in this book, in this letter references what's called the parousia, the coming, the presence, that Jesus is going to come again. It's why parents, when our children start coming to faith, we need to explain to them what we mean when they say, I want to ask Jesus to come into my heart. That Jesus can't come into their heart. Y' all realize that, right?

Because forever Jesus Christ put on humanity.

He doesn't become a little shrunk man and divide himself up among millions of people. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us. We need to preach where Jesus is. Where is Jesus right now? He's on the throne in heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting as we're waiting for the signal.

It's time. The day of the Lord will come. And for many of us, that's a bad thing. We don't want to think about the day of the Lord because with the day of the Lord, guess what? Comes Judgment.

When you and I leave this world, we will stand before God, Christian, non Christian, and we will be judged. For the Christian, we will sit before what's called the Bema seat of Christ, where he will mete out to us our rewards in glory. But for the lost person, it's a different story. They will stand before the Lord and the Lord will look at them. And as he said in Matthew 7, I don't know who you are.

Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. They will be cast into a place called hell, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I heard a, a very well known preacher talk about that recently where he talked about there'll be those that are there just uncontrollably weeping because they don't Feel like that this should be happening. But there'll be those there gnashing their teeth, still cursing God for putting them there, weeping and gnashing of teeth. A place of separation because there is coming a day of judgment.

And because of that, here's the question that I have for you today. You would expect me to say, if you knew Jesus Christ was going to come back today, how would that change the way you live today? That's not what I want to ask you. I want to ask you, do you want him to come back?

I really want. I know that maybe you're thinking, well, that's an emotion. I'm not talking about emotion. I'm asking you like the Thessalonians, what we study. In a few minutes they're going to talk about how they were with joy, anticipating the return of Jesus Christ the King to come and rescue them for the wrath that was to come because of the sin of the world.

Do you want him to come back? I don't know where I am in my notes.

I'll just flip a few pages, see. Listen to what F.F. bruce, famed theologian and commentary writer. Writer, he said the Thessalonian letters, these two letters together present the first literary evidence for the use of this word parousia. The return of Jesus in the sense of the future advent of Christ.

The first advent was his birth. The next Advent, he's coming as the ruling king, King of kings and Lord of, of Lords. He says it occurs this word occurs in this sense six times in the two letters. And every chapter of this book that we're studying this summer references the soon coming Christ. Every letter.

Why is that important? Because if we're going to study this letter, we need to know why a letter is written. They were taking hope and security and finding themselves in the fact that Jesus was coming again. Does that describe the church in America today?

Does that describe your walk with Christ? Like it's not one of these things where you walk out there every day and just go staring at the ceiling and the sky, gone. Is he coming back because he told us to be about our work. And see, there's only one reason today that I could tell you why I don't want Jesus to come back right at this moment. There's only one reason that would ever compel me to beg God, God, would you tear your coming.

Megan and I are thinking the same thing, right? Because there's somebody next to me in my life that does not know Jesus Christ.

And the moment that he comes back, it's over, folks. Does that bother you? Does it bother you that there are people lost, dying and going to hell? You may be abhorred over their sin, so much so that you don't want to be around them, but does it bother you that they will face the full wrath of God? And you want me to give you the picture of the wrath of God?

It was seen on the cross when Jesus died. That was the wrath of God poured out upon his son for the sins of humanity. Do you want to receive the wrath of God? This text says that he is the true and he's the living God. Now you may think, man, you're scaring me to death.

I'm not trying to scare you to death. I'm trying to compel you to ask this question. Do you know him at the point that you long for him to come and take you home? Do you want to go and be with Him? Or do you want him just to make the world you have now just a little bit better place?

Because there's coming a day when this world will be under the weight of the wrath of God. So J. Vernon McGee says there's three reasons why Paul wrote this letter. To confirm young converts in the elementary truth of the gospel, which I'm going to argue with you for the next seven weeks, includes the truth that Jesus is coming again to judge the quick and the dead.

Aren't you glad you came to church today? Oh, you're going to love it because this is going to change the way you see your Christian life in a good way. Secondly, he said to condition them to go on to holy living. See, to me, I would argue that's the very reason why we look at our landscape in church today, that no one's living for the anticipation of Jesus to return because they're not living holy lives. How do you live a holy life?

Well, you can't live a holy life without the Holy Spirit living inside of you. And his purpose. We'll find out in chapter four. It says, this is the will of God for you, your sanctification. And we have churches arguing today on how much sin they not only can get by with, but how much they can drag into the church.

That's contrary to what the word of God reveals. Like, I'm promised that if I follow the word of God, I can know God.

Do you want to know Him? Do you want to know him at that level where you yearn for him to return, but at the same time leaving that tension where I want you to come back? But I want time to be able to Witness to my lost friend and see them saved. Like, does that define your spirituality? Because if it doesn't, by the end of this message, I hope I've got you fired up enough that you won't go storm hell with a water pistol, a really small one, about yay big.

Because you love your brother enough that you don't want to see them face the wrath of God. In fact, I love how Chuck Swindoll paints this picture. He's just got such a beautiful way of simplifying things. Half of this book talks about how Jesus has moved us from our past to our present because we're saved and we're longing for him to return. And in the second half of the book is how I live in the present for the future.

Just draw a line right down the middle between chapter three and four, the past to the present, and then the present to the future. And that's his call to us. So pick up with me in verse number one. I've got about 45 more minutes.

Y' all are laughing. But I do have the goal that I want us to hear every word in this book. So look at verse one of chapter one of first Thessalonians. Paul and Silvanus. Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians.

In God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace. Grace to you and peace. Now, let me break that down for just a moment because that's important. Number one, how many are writing this letter?

There's three. So Paul's not going to use single first person. He's going to use plural first person. Well, who is Silvanus or Silvanus? Well, that's Silas, more than likely.

Silvanus is his Latin pronunciation. Like, I got a friend who calls me Jaime all the time, I guess my Spanish form of my name. And here he's speaking to Greeks, who probably were all at this time speaking Latin. And then you have, of course, Timothy. Who's Timothy?

We kind of talked about Silas. Who's Timothy. Timothy is who they pick up on the way through their journey in the city of Lystra. Probably can, maybe even converted. When Paul came through there the first time, they pick him up and they take him on the journey.

His dad is a Greek and his mom is a Jew. And he's uncircumcised, as we find out. I mean, they just had the council that said, you're not saved if you're circumcised. And so Paul did not push him to become circumcised to prove that God had included the Greeks. In salvation, that's going to be important when we look at verse number four.

And so as we look at this, Paul makes this very, very personal. He doesn't say to the church in Thessalonica, he says, the church of the Thessalonians. Each individual made up this collective group that he knew personally, that he met on that first journey. How many Sabbaths was it? 3.

You know, back in the, in our Wednesday nights, we took eight weeks to study reach, didn't we, Kevin? And in three weeks they become a soul. They became a soul winning church. You know why? Because they really believed Jesus was coming back.

Whatever your view about evangelism can be, if you, if you take the view that, well, we've got evangelists, let them do the work, we got pastors. No, all of us, all of us have a story. All of us have something to share about how Jesus has changed our life. And I don't know that I could tell somebody I'm saved unless I can tell them what Jesus did for me. If I can simply tell somebody what Jesus did for me, I'm telling the gospel.

Sometimes the simplest expression of that has the biggest impact because you'd expect somebody like a pastor or a college professor to be able to convince somebody to be saved. But what we're going to read in just a minute is I can say all the words I want, but without the power, the Holy Spirit and full conviction, I can't do anything. Because it's a work that God brings about within us. You see, Paul's smart, as William Barclay observed, like a good psychiatrist. He's building them up.

He's going to brag on them for about 10 verses and then he's going to get onto them. If you've ever been to counseling, they're like, oh, I'm so proud you're doing so good. But let me point this out in you like that's what he's about to do. And so when we burrow through this, let me just go ahead and forewarn you, we're going to skip down to verse four and then go back to verse two, because like a painting, there's something in verse four we need to see. It's like the focal point on a piece of art.

In fact, if you'll read with me, let's skip down to verse number four. It says, knowing brethren, beloved by God, his choice of you for our gospel did not come to you only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Paul likes threes. In this Chapter. Just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake.

What's he saying there? What he's saying is, look at our lives. We came to you, and for three weeks we contended in the synagogue. We poured into you. We.

We preached the gospel, even though the Jews probably were already bearing weight down on them. And under that persecution, they pleaded with them to be saved. And he says, and you saw that in our character, not necessarily our behavior, but in our character. Say character. God wants to change your character, but your character cannot change until you come to know this man named Jesus.

See, the first point says this. We need to be resolute in the power of the gospel to save supernaturally. The power of the gospel to save supernaturally. If you think you're here today because you did something to be saved, you missed the thrust of the Gospel. You are not saved by your works.

You are not saved because you joined a church. You. You are not saved because you were baptized. You are not saved because maybe your great great grandmother drove a nail in the foundation of the first building of this church. You're not a Christian just because you can quote verses.

Satan can quote verses. You were saved because of a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in your life. He says, knowing. Knowing this. Knowing is Paul and Silas and Timothy knowing and observing them that they called their brothers.

There's an intimacy there. But then I love this part. Beloved by God. If you mark in your Bible, I want you to circle the word beloved because. Let me explain.

It's a participle. It's a participle and it's in perfect tense. What does that mean? That means you are fully and completely loved by God. This is not where.

Where he's put a down payment on his love and he's going to give you more love later. You either have no love or all the love. And what he's saying is, you are loved by God. Somebody in here today, you need to hear that God loves you. Yeah, you've messed up.

Yeah. You've had bad thoughts. Yeah, you've slipped up. But you know what? God didn't turn his love off like a switch.

He didn't pull some of it back. He didn't dim it like. Like we dim the lights in this room. He loves you with an everlasting love. Do you know that?

Do you know that God loves you? How do I know God loves me?

Because he sent his own son to die in my place, to take my sin away. And the Bible says in Romans 8 that nothing can separate me from. From the love of Christ. He says, beloved, and they're observing this and they're knowing that they're loved and that they were God's choice, called by God. Why is that important?

Remember, he says Silvanus. And more than likely he's focusing on the Greeks. Well, these Greeks have been told by the Jews, you are not God's people, you are not acceptable, you are impure. And now he's saying, you, just like a Jew, have been called by God unto salvation. Isn't that amazing?

It's kind of like when you try to get into some club and they won't let you in. Kind of like Caddyshack, if you remember that movie. Yeah, don't go watch Caddyshack. I didn't say that. But it's the same kind of concept.

It's like they let the riffraff in the country club and the country club members got mad because they let the riff raff in. And God is saying the riffraff is as called by God as my Jews are. You have been called by God. He has extended this invitation to you and to me. But have you responded to it?

Have you stepped into that full and complete and whole love that he has for you? Because if you have, then this is what begins to happen. For our gospel did not come to you in word alone. In other words, the whole saying is preach the gospel and sometimes use words is stupid. I know kids aren't supposed to say stupid, but it's a word used in English because that's not true.

He just said in word only. At some point, somebody needs to hear the story of Jesus. And it's supported by listen, the power and the Holy Spirit and full conviction. Let's start with power to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond what we could ask or imagine. Just like some of you need to be reminded that God loves you, some of you need to be reminded we serve a supernatural God.

Do you believe that? Do you expect that some of you, as you got older, you stopped expecting the supernatural, you gave up. Your faith is cynical. You actually expect God to not answer your prayer. God always answers prayer.

Sometimes his answer is no, but he always answers your prayer. And he works in ways that we can't fathom or imagine because of his power. But then he works in us by the Holy Spirit. We know that Jesus said that when the Spirit comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Gosh.

We need the Spirit because without the Spirit, we stand in ignorance. He is the one who illuminates His Scripture and illuminates our life and shows us we can't measure up to the righteousness of God. So Jesus became sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. A work of the Holy Spirit. And in full conviction, a great sense of certainty, deep confidence.

And so they worked among them with these three things evident in their life. The power of God. Did he not tell them before he ascended that, wait here in Jerusalem and power will come upon you to be my witnesses? Guys, listen. We have a supernatural source at work in us because he supernaturally saved us.

What would it look like in your life today if you began to live in expectation of the supernatural? I've been witnessing that guy for 20 years. Well, let's go 21 years because God's going to do a supernatural work. Supernatural means above natural. You may be sitting there going, well, you know, I'm just.

God's let me down so many times. He's not let you down. He's not let you down. He's calling you into this place of utter dependence on Him. What if you took your eyes.

If you took your eyes off the problem and started to fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and look differently at the situation? I was thinking there in that last song we sang, when it says, I stand with arms high, when I raise my hands, where are my eyes going? It sure isn't going down to my problem. It's going up. It's going up.

We got to learn to train our eyes to look at things differently. Number two, be resolute in the commitment to serve sacrificially. Now you know why I went to verse four. First, back up to verse two. Paul's going to say, we give thanks.

And then there are three part. I know I'm doing English a lot today. It's okay. Your brain will recover, I promise. There's three participles in this paragraph, and each one of them are important.

He says, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Paul, how many weeks was he there? At least three. He's praying for them constantly. Did you catch that?

You know what bogs us down with our spiritual life is because 90% of our praying is about us. Do you pray for other people?

Do you pray for other people? What if this week you thought about one person? Maybe they're struggling with something, or maybe they've stepped out into an area of ministry. Maybe they're off doing a camp. Grant Ware.

Grant Ware is serving at a camp this summer. If you need somebody to pray, pray for Grant Ware this week. What if you pray for them every day? I can tell you, not only does worship take your eyes off your problem, but praying for other people takes your eyes off your problems. Pray for other people.

Third verse, constantly bearing in mind. Now watch this. This is beautiful. Let's see if you catch this. Ready?

Your work of faith and labor, of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence. Where is he? The presence? Remember I told you this is always pointing up into the future in the presence of our God and Father. Did you catch three key words?

Let me point them out to you. Faith, love, hope. Maybe you heard it like this. Faith, hope and love. Where else have you heard that before?

First Corinthians, 13:13. Now, these three things remain, faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is some of y' all got married with that, didn't you? Or some of y' all are going to get married with that.

We've got a wedding this weekend and these two people are going to come together and say, I love you. I love you too. Hope never fails. And this is what he's calling to. Look at the way this is structured.

He's calling them to this sacrificial service. And it starts with a work of faith, a work of faith. James 2:17 says, Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself. You see, if you think you could say, I, hey, I believe. What's better is when somebody sees your faith exhibited through what you do because of your faith.

Now, doing those things doesn't produce faith. You believe and then do. There is a sequence, but it's a working faith. That means there's intentionality. That means there's decisions that I must make.

That means I must focus on some priorities. That means sometimes I have to ignore what's saved. Satan is saying what my friends are saying and trust in what God is saying. That's why we have to be resolute in the Word. And then he talks about this labor of love.

Now, I don't know about you, but work is hard. Did any of you work the last two or three days? I did a wedding on Thursday at 4:30. The congregation set in the full sun and it was 91 degrees. The bride and groom comes down, they're standing before me, and I swear I think he sweat 2 gallons of water off his face.

That's a labor. That's a labor. Of love. But then some of you know, loved one's birthday's coming up, and you decide you're gonna fix them a big old meal. It costs money to buy that food, and it takes time for you to cook it.

A labor of love. But what about when you choose to love? When those around you are persecuting you to not love? The labor of love, the commitment to do. Second Corinthians 5:14 says, for the love of Christ, it controls us.

And then you have this steadfastness of hope, Hope, the evidence of things not seen. That the writer of Hebrews would say, let us hold fast that the confession of our hope without laboring. So what he says was the evidence of their character was this. That they had a working faith and a working faith, a laboring love and hope that endured. Those aren't works, folks.

Those are characteristics. Their lives changed. And what it caused him to do is to want to serve sacrificially. You and I can't serve in and of ourselves. We won't choose to do that.

I mean, Jesus said for us to love our enemy, right? And pray for them. How do I love my enemy and pray for him? Unless God's working first supernaturally in my life, but he's calling me to serve sacrificially, folks. If serving is easy, it may not have cost anything.

Therefore it's cheap. I want you to begin to look at your faith life not from a quantity standpoint, from a quality standpoint. That's why we talk about how relationships matter at Ebenezer. Because it takes work, that owning our faith takes responsibility, that worship takes initiation, and that reaching others takes sacrifice. Are we serving sacrificially?

Number three, be resolute in the call to share sincerely. Pick up with me. In verse six, he says, you have become imitators of us and of the Lord. Having received the Word in much tribulation and with the joy of the Holy Spirit. A lot of us think that, well, if bad things are happening, I can't have joy.

Well, number one, this shows us where the source of joy comes from. Joy of what? The Holy Spirit. Something that's produced in me that I'm not producing myself. All of the right thinking is not going to turn my negativity around.

But when I cry out to the Lord, say, God, by your Holy Spirit, will you remind me of the joy of my salvation? Then he says, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia. Evidence for the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth so that we don't have to say anything. What's he saying there? Well, that sounded forth.

I tried to do this earlier but you know, when you go into battle in history, they use trumpets and horns to announce, let's go, let's charge. Their faith was going forth. But why would I use the word to share sincerely? This is not about hanging out with people, this is about sharing with the gospel.

Their faith had been sounded forth. The transformation in their life had gone forth. He says, for they themselves, these people coming back, report to us what kind of reception we had from you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a true and a living God. The evidence of repentance. That's why the invitation to accept Christ is to believe and repent of your sins, not believe and keep going on in your sins.

They gave up that former lifestyle. They put away those old things.

As for today, if we're going to share sincerely, then we need to ask ourselves, well, what am I sharing? I'm sharing the word of the gospel, my life and with my words. You see, I don't know if you remember this or not, but our vision this year was to reach that. We were going to pray and then prepare. Well, prepare for what?

To participate. And that wasn't just to come to an event. That was that we wanted to see in you the confidence to go and share your faith. Where are you in that process? Are you asking the Lord, help me see my opportunities and how to do this?

How many weeks did it take them to become self sustaining? At least three. And Kevin took us through eight weeks and still some of us are like, well, I just don't know that I can do it. I'm telling you you can. Not because I believe in you, but because I believe in the one who works through you.

Finally, last point. Be resolute in the hope to stand secured. I just want to read the last verse and we're going to wrap this up. And to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead. That is Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come.

He's coming again. I'm telling you I believe this book is about calling our attention to the fact that Jesus ascended to the Father is waiting for his return and all of us in anticipation are waiting as well. But for some of us, we will face that wrath that is to come. Some of us will not because some of us have trusted in this Jesus, the one from heaven who was raised from the dead, who will now rescue us from the wrath to come out of. He came out of death.

He wants to rescue us out of wrath. But let me remind you of a few verses. Hebrews 9:27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes the judgment. 2nd Corinthians 5:10 for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14:12 so then each one of us will give an account of God to himself, of himself to God.

Matthew 12:36 But I tell you, every careless word that people speak, they will give an account for it in the day of judgment, 1st Peter 4:5. But they will give account to him who is ready to judge the quick, the living and the dead. That's just five verses.

If we're going to major on the majors, this is a major. There's no gray area here. Jesus is going to come again. The gospel word has the power to save us supernaturally. The commitment to that Word will cause us to serve sacrificially.

The call of the Word will help us to share sincerely that gospel. And the hope in the Word will give us confidence even when people persecute us and ridicule us and reject us.

Where do you stand today? I'm calling us today to be resolute in the word of God so that it will result in life changing power. So I ask you this question a little bit differently.

Not what would you do if Jesus was going to come back today? But my question is, do you want him to?

I shouldn't fear him coming back because I know. I know because of the promise of Christ. And I believe that promise that when he returns to judge, I won't face wrath because I believe in him. But do you. Do you believe in Jesus Christ today?

Have you repented of your sins and trusted him, asking him to save you from your sin and in doing so rescues you from the wrath to come? And if so, if I really want him to come back, then are you living in that same tension that, you know, I really. I don't want. I don't want someone to go to hell. I don't want someone to face the wrath of God.

Well, what am I doing about it? So I ask you to stand with me as Josiah comes to lead us in the last psalm. But this altar is open. Fred's down here. Kevin's down here.

Randy's down here. I'm down here. If you're lost today and you don't know Jesus Christ, you're not sure of your relationship with him. Come talk to us, say, you know what? I'm just not sure I'm right now.

I'm questioning whether or not I've really been saved. Come down here, take one of us and let's talk. Today maybe you would be willing to admit I've been kind of living this Christian life, that he's just making this life here just a little bit better. But I'm not thinking about the life to come. How would it change your life today if you were living in anticipation?

Lord, I do want you to come. Maranatha. As Fred reminded us this morning in our prayer time, Maranatha, come quickly. Lord Jesus, do you live in that anticipation of night? Come ask the Lord to help birth in you the joy of the Holy Spirit that you would want to say.

You know, what is it today? I just heard a noise outside and you run out there to see like you're like ready. I want to meet him. I want to meet him. Does that describe.

Are you resolute in his word today? Father, speak to our hearts now and show us what you want us to do and are calling us to do. In Jesus name, amen.