Encourage each other with these words...
Posted by WBFJ | | Posted on 6:56 AM
"For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and 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 be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18
Ahhh. What better words are there than this? To know that in a moments notice at sometime in the future the Lord, Jesus Christ, will return to gather His church and we will be with Him forever.
I don't care what your escatology (end-times theology) is...that's awesome news!
In fact, this passage is a mega-encourager if we can wrap our minds around it. So let's pull them out of our heads and see if we can do that. When I teach the kids at my church I try to help them put things in an eternal perspective...so lets hop back and take a look at something.
<_______________._______________________________>
Yes, it's a line.
But this line represents eternity...and that little speck close to the beginning is the entire history of our planet from creation until the new heaven. Yup, it's that tiny.
In light of eternity...our world (and our lives) are tiny. You're probably saying, "thanks Deke I feel so good about myself." Well wait. Here is the mind blowing thing. Even though you and I are specks on that speck on the timeline we are loved by God so much that He stepped out of His eternal throne room where He was worshipped and served and onto that speck. Not only that but He died for our sins on that speck so that we could live with Him for the rest of eternity. WOW!
So, what does this all have to do with the verse from Thessalonians? Well, I believe we are quickly coming to the end of our "speck" and Christ will soon take His church from this earth and we will be with Him forever. If you are a Christian here is some encouragement for you from 1 Thessalonians:
Are you struggling finacially? - Jesus is coming back and you will be with Him FOREVER
Are you having family problems? - Jesus is coming back and you will be with Him FOREVER
Are you sick? - Jesus is coming back and you will be with HIM FOREVER
Lost a loved one? - Jesus is coming back and you will be with Him FOREVER
No matter the situation you find yourself in we can find joy in the fact that it will not last forever. Once we escape this world of sin, death and suffering we will find a world where none of those things exist and we are in the presence of God ALL THE TIME.
So this morning be encouraged Christian. If you have repented and trusted Christ as savior this is as close to hell as you will ever get. If you are not a Christian please call out to Him for salvation or this is as close to heaven as you will get.
Secondly, Christian if we know that we're going to spend eternity in heaven...let us not hold too tightly to this world. The Bible is clear that the things of this world will pass away but God's word will remain forever. Let's set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2-3) and tell others of this amazing news before it is too late.
-Deke
Ahhh. What better words are there than this? To know that in a moments notice at sometime in the future the Lord, Jesus Christ, will return to gather His church and we will be with Him forever.
I don't care what your escatology (end-times theology) is...that's awesome news!
In fact, this passage is a mega-encourager if we can wrap our minds around it. So let's pull them out of our heads and see if we can do that. When I teach the kids at my church I try to help them put things in an eternal perspective...so lets hop back and take a look at something.
<_______________._______________________________>
Yes, it's a line.
But this line represents eternity...and that little speck close to the beginning is the entire history of our planet from creation until the new heaven. Yup, it's that tiny.
In light of eternity...our world (and our lives) are tiny. You're probably saying, "thanks Deke I feel so good about myself." Well wait. Here is the mind blowing thing. Even though you and I are specks on that speck on the timeline we are loved by God so much that He stepped out of His eternal throne room where He was worshipped and served and onto that speck. Not only that but He died for our sins on that speck so that we could live with Him for the rest of eternity. WOW!
So, what does this all have to do with the verse from Thessalonians? Well, I believe we are quickly coming to the end of our "speck" and Christ will soon take His church from this earth and we will be with Him forever. If you are a Christian here is some encouragement for you from 1 Thessalonians:
Are you struggling finacially? - Jesus is coming back and you will be with Him FOREVER
Are you having family problems? - Jesus is coming back and you will be with Him FOREVER
Are you sick? - Jesus is coming back and you will be with HIM FOREVER
Lost a loved one? - Jesus is coming back and you will be with Him FOREVER
No matter the situation you find yourself in we can find joy in the fact that it will not last forever. Once we escape this world of sin, death and suffering we will find a world where none of those things exist and we are in the presence of God ALL THE TIME.
So this morning be encouraged Christian. If you have repented and trusted Christ as savior this is as close to hell as you will ever get. If you are not a Christian please call out to Him for salvation or this is as close to heaven as you will get.
Secondly, Christian if we know that we're going to spend eternity in heaven...let us not hold too tightly to this world. The Bible is clear that the things of this world will pass away but God's word will remain forever. Let's set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2-3) and tell others of this amazing news before it is too late.
-Deke
Maranatha!!! Thanks for the Word.