Community Baptist Church
Sunday June 7

      • Romans 3:23–24HCSB

  • Lord I Lift Your Name On High

      • Matthew 26:26–30HCSB

  • All Hail The Power Of Jesus' Name (Coronation)

      • Deuteronomy 11:18–21HCSB

      • Deuteronomy 11:26–28HCSB

  • He Keeps Me Singing

      • Matthew 7:15–29HCSB

  • ‘Prophecy’ conferences attract much attention. People are hungry to know as much as possible about the future as they can..
    Prosperity conferences are as attractive as prophecy conferences. People are anxious about how they might better be prepared for their financial futurre
    Finally, conferences and resources focusing on helping people acheive their potential are booming. There aren’t many days I don’t see an ad for a personal coach, or lifestyle coach that promises to make my life better!
    Paul’s day wasn’t all that different. Teachers/philosphers traveled to Roman cities teaching various ‘life-skills’ or ways of thinking that might lure individuals into financially supporting such teachers.
    Paul offers a much simpler and permanent solution:

    We are those who know God’s Ultimate Purpose

    1 Thessalonians 5:1–4 HCSB
    About the times and the seasons: Brothers, you do not need anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains come on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in the dark, for this day to overtake you like a thief.
    I remember being told by several of my mentors/professors that when confronted with something you’ve never seen or experienced, a good strategy was to
    Fake it till You Make it
    In other words keep you composure until you find a way in or through the circumstance.
    Paul is actually saying just the opposite here: (listen to how The Message translates Paul’s words):
    “I don’t think, friends, that I need to deal with the question of when all this is going to happen. You know as well as I that the day of the Master’s coming can’t be posted on our calendars. He won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar would.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1–2, MSG)
    Paul reminds those in Thessalonica that they know, they have a certainty, regarding the future.
    Certainly there are some unkowns - specifically the date when all this will occur.
    The Day of the Lord
    But there is a confidence and certainty in knowing that the Day of the Lord is certain.
    Paul draws on his extensive knowledge to point to a phrase occuring in the OT ‘The Day of the Lord’
    A study of the OT texts indicates a couple of important themes that Paul had communicated to these believers:
    The Day of the Lord is both a day of judgment and restoration
    The promise of the Day provides a foundation for hope in the lives of believers and a foundation of God’s right to judge non-believers.
    The Day of the Lord is near
    In many of the OT passages where the phrase occurs there is a sense of both an imminent Day and the understanding that there is a future day in which God will fully unveil His promise and purpose for His creation.
    Knowing the utlimate purpose of God is meant as a foundation for encouragement (see 1 Thess 4:18 and 5:11) and hope in the midst of confusing and uncertain times.

    We are those who know we are children of the light

    1 Thessalonians 5:4–8 HCSB
    But you, brothers, are not in the dark, for this day to overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. So then, we must not sleep, like the rest, but we must stay awake and be serious. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, we must be serious and put the armor of faith and love on our chests, and put on a helmet of the hope of salvation.
    ASSURANCE
    As children of the light we live with assurance - knowing that the Day of the Lord is a day of restoration for us - 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.”
    Armed with faith and love
    As believers we receive the indwelling Spirit according to the promise of Jesus in
    John 14:26 “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit —the Father will send Him in My name—will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.”
    Faith is sustained by and strenghtened as the Holy Spirit grows us, sanctifying us.
    In other letters Paul elaborates:
    Ephesians 1:13 “When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”
    Love,
    The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Love (NT and Early Jewish Literature)

    agapē

    is fueled by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Shortly after Jesus’ resurrection He was walking on the road to Emmaus with two discouraged and dejected followers. They recognized Jesus and immediately returned the 7 or so miles to Jerusalem to share their excitement with those gathered in the upper room. Remember what they said of their experience:
    Luke 24:32 HCSB
    So they said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts ablaze within us while He was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?”
    This feeling of being ablaze is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence bringing life to the words these two were hearing.
    armed with the helmet of salvation
    Children of the light live distinctly from those trapped in darkness.
    Children of the light choose to protect their minds by the renewing presence and power of God’s Word as the Holy Spirir lights it on fire within us.

    We know we are living in Him and He in us

    1 Thessalonians 5:9–10 HCSB
    For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.
    God did not create us to be apart from Him. From the very moment God breathed the breath of life into Adam, and then created Eve God’s intention has been to have a relationship with us in the same was He as Father relates to the Son and the Spirit and the Son relates to the Father and the Spirit and the Spirit related to the Father and the Son.
    When Jesus promised His followers abundant life this is exactly what He meant - life as God intended it to be lived from creation.
    Sin entered the world and changed the essential nature of Adam and Eve. Through them every generation is impacted by their sin.
    Only in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, His resurrection from the dead and ascension to the right hand of the Father can we discover this ‘life’ to which God has ‘appointed’ us.

    REFLECT AND RESPOND

    In 2023, CDC Centers for Disease Control) found that:
    students (ages 6-18) had persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.4 in 10 (40%) 
    students seriously considered attempting suicide anda ttempted suicide.2 in 10 (20%)  nearly 1 in 10 (9%) attempted suicide
    Nearly 20% of adults living in Oregon report experiencing some sort of mental or emotional distress lasting 14 days or more.
    The largest percent increase in suicide rates between 2001and 2021 occurred among men ages 55–64 and among women ages 65–74.
    These numbers should be alarming.
    However, there is hope for change:
    His Name is Jesus
    Paul explains in this passage that we have an assurance and confidence that God is at work, God is revealing His purposes and power, that God as not appointed us for death, destruction, and an eternal absence from Him…
    Today choose to receive Jesus
    Maybe for the first time…
    Follow Jesus
    Maybe you’ve drifted off course, maybe you’ve allowed bitterness or hopelessness to consume your mind and heart - let me promise you the Holy Spirit is present to change hopelessness into assurance, and bitterness into confidence.

      • 1 Thessalonians 5:1–4HCSB

      • 1 Thessalonians 5:4–8HCSB

      • Luke 24:32HCSB

      • Luke 24:32HCSB

      • 1 Thessalonians 5:9–10HCSB

      • Isaiah 40:31HCSB

Community Baptist Church
sschenewerk@gmail.com
5416799569
http://www.winstoncommunitybaptist.com
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