Be Ready: I Thessalonians 4:13-18

What this episode covers

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Blank Outline Completed Outline All right, you’ll remain standing. We’re going to read some Scripture. This is 1st Thessalonians 4, verses 13 through 18, and you can follow along on the screen as I read. This is Paul’s encouragement to the church at Thessalonica. He writes, “‘Brethren, sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. According to the words of the Lord, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will ever be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. We have been going through the book of 1st Thessalonians on Sunday morning, and the theme of the book that we’ve chosen is Be Ready. That’s actually the title of Dr. Warren Wearsby’s commentary on 1st Thessalonians. The title of the book is Be Ready. Dr. Wiersbe, who went home to be with the Lord a number of years ago, wrote a commentary on every book of the Bible. It’s called the Be Series, and every title is Be Something. The book of Joshua, it’s Be Courageous. 1st Thessalonians, it’s Be Ready. And so, we’ve been looking at 1st Thessalonians, and so the question is, ready for what? I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to be unprepared. I don’t like surprises in life. I like to know the plan. I know what’s happening for the next day, what’s happening for the next week. I flat out told my wife, no surprise birthday parties, please. I don’t like surprises. Well, when Paul says be ready, he’s telling us to be ready for the return of Christ. And when you look at the book of 1st Thessalonians, every chapter, those are obviously man-made divisions, but every chapter ends with a reference to the fact that Christ is coming again. So, I think Paul wanted to communicate that to the Thessalonian believers, and he wants to remind us of that this morning, that Jesus is coming again. Let me just illustrate, at the end of chapter 1, Paul says that we’re to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who rescues us from His coming wrath. The end of chapter 2, Paul writes in verse 19, for what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we glory in the presence of the Lord Jesus when He comes. The end of chapter 3, may He strengthen your heart so you will be blameless and holy in the presence of God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones. The end of chapter 4, we just read that passage that talks about the second coming of Christ. And then the last part of chapter 5, verse 23, may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, the message is that we need to be ready, and the readiness is for the fact that Jesus is coming again. And Paul established this church on one of his missionary journeys, but if you remember and you’ve been with us, he had to leave very suddenly. There was like a flash mob that broke out, and they were going after Paul and Silas, so they made a nighttime escape. In fact, when he writes earlier in chapter 2, he says, I left you as orphans. I had to leave suddenly. And no doubt when Paul was there, he talked about and taught the second coming of Christ. But now they’re separated, and, excuse me, some of these folks in the church at Thessalonica, their loved ones have died. And they’re wondering, what’s going to happen to them? Are they going to

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