Today, the nation recognizes a holiday called Halloween. I had Ma sermon all planned out. I was going to present the case of why Christians participate in Halloween and whether that was biblical or not. However, God changed it to first Thessalonians chapter 5.
I read chapter 4 and I read chapter 5 this week. I studied it meditated on it, but I determined I still didn’t wanna preach. So, would question the Lord and if you need a little bit more every time. So, if you wanna ask me about my other lesson can talk to me after church today or you can watch the video on YouTube.
How many of you could raise your hand that you believe that the Bible id God’s authoritative word?
Raise your hand or say amen if you found that there is an answer to everything in life in scripture.
OK! Wonderful! I’m in the right place this morning. The Bible is gods living word. It has an explanation on every topic under the sun. From earths origin and earths conclusion. The Bible contains statutes and commands for Christians. We often forget to read the Bible; therefore, we don’t even know or comprehend what the Bible expects of those who called themselves children of God.
Today’s Bible lesson is concentrated on first Thessalonians 5:12-14. But I would be doing you a disservice if I did not tell you that first Thessalonians chapter 4 is all about sanctification. Therefore, sanctification is the umbrella that we are operating under and this message. Being sanctified, as an Nazarene, has its upmost importance. Being sanctified, is getting off of the milk and moving onto the meat per se. Being sanctified, is setting your self and your works apart for the Lord. It’s choosing daily to die out to sand. The spirit, wants me to ask you: “have you been sanctified?”
Let me see if this definition resonates with your heart.
Sanctification is increasingly eliminating anything that would hinder your relationship with Jesus Christ. What can hinder your relationship with Jesus Christ? Sin, of course. Chapter 5 verse Thessalonians informs us of the rapture. However we must first be ready for the rapture. We must be sanctified and doing the wheel of God. We are to watch and to pray always, because his appearing is soon and very soon.
We should be obeying the will of God and spending much time getting to know Jesus. Yes prepares us to be able to proclaim and witness the gospel to others. Why? Because he is coming soon and very soon.
This morning I want to speak to you about how to behave in the body of Christ. I come to you with all humility. Know that I am one of you and I must also observe the commands. Paul does not sugarcoat the commands of scripture. He just comes right at you with them. Call in today’s passage the scripture and I want you to understand that God commands us all to respect our pastor, to be peacemakers, and minister to their church family.
One of the sins Paul addresses in this book is sexual immorality. I would say that I see sexual immorality probably more than any other singer. If you partake in sexual immorality it we’ll compare your relationship with Jesus Christ. This sin will devastate you. Before you know it one son leads to the next sin and then you’re away from Christ. Once you are away from Christ you are doing all sorts of ungodly activities. Take heed to this warning this morning church.
Let’s be diligent and wait upon the Lord. Each day of your life, choose to eliminate send. Choose to illuminate sexual immorality from your being. I’m asking you this morning to put God first. I’m asking you to submit to his wheel and to his way. For the good of everyone sitting around you, for the good of your family, and for the good of your church I’m asking you to be moral not immoral. Dabbling and playing with San Tan and will bring a reproach upon the name of the Lord, upon the name of your church, and upon the name of your family. When temptation comes your way try to use the pause button. Stop! Then, think about consequences. Give praise to God and your focus will change. You’re want to will change.
The reason the Holy Ghost is wanting me to impress upon you the process of sanctification, it’s because you cannot continue with chapter 5 without being under the umbrella of sanctification. As we began to dive into this lesson just remember sanctification. In order to understand why God gives us the command in chapter 5 we must remember the purpose of sanctification.
So when we read this together, remember that we are under the umbrella of sanctification. Please turn with me to first Thessalonians chapter 5: 12-14. “12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.”
So, verse 12 tells you or tells us to recognize those that labor among you. Recognize that they are in the Lord. Recognize that he put them there to build you up. Then, verse 13 tells you to esteem them Very highly. In fact put them in first place, because of the work that they do. Next, Paul calls us to be at peace with one another.
Finally in verse 14, Paul wants us to give a warning to those who are not peacemakers. We are to help the feeble minded and the week. Meaning we are to have patience with the immaturity. We are to teach them and help them grow in the spirit.
I told a couple people this week, that this was not a message that I wanted to preach, because I have to stand before you this morning and tell you that the Scripture says for you to put me in first place above all measure. And to remind you that we all are supposed to obey scripture. However, it has brought more weight on my shoulders, because my job is more important then teachers, doctors, or government officials. No, before you get mad, I’m talking internally speaking. You see people listen to what I say and they watch what I do. My influence could harm them or help them in their spiritual walk. A pastoral ship is a weight upon your shoulders.
Now, I’m not the only one in here that you have to put first place to, we are blessed to have other pastors, teachers, and preachers. This lesson presents a challenge to me, but my job is to preach and teach you the word. This is an important role, but it is even more important because we are message carriers. We carry and deliver the message of salvation to all that God puts in our prayer. For this calls, Paul says to uphold your pastors.
And this letter to the Thessalonians Paul says that a pastor is a steward of God‘s church. A pastor is the manager of someone else’s goods. I do not own this church and I am not your master. We are subject to God; which is the master. I am just one of his managers.
We are not to do this because we like the leadership team, but because of the work. The work is to seek and save those who are lost. We are to build one another up. There is a number of ways that we can do this. We can be there for each other in the good times and in the bad times. Yes, we can give each other tangible things, but we can share together and lifting each other up is commanded here.
So, just after a few months of being your pastor, I realize, just how hard Pastor Bonnie worked. On the outside, being a pastor may look like an easy job, but I’m here to tell you it is not. We get our feelings hurt we feel like you do.
I remember, telling my mom, that I have excepted my call to preach. And she said “to me you’re not going to be a pastor are you?” I said wait a minute. I have to do with the Lord calls me to do. Aren’t you supposed to be supportive? Well, it wasn’t a matter of her being supportive, but she was concerned about me. She knows all about me and she knows all about my health history. Therefore she had a lot of concerns. But perhaps above all, she was worried about the toll it would take on my family. She had seen so many preachers and their families come under fire by the local church. -Because she had seen reputation ruined and lives battered.
So, it’s a well-known fact that I love to research. One of the first things that I’ve researched is the burn out rate of a pastor. And all the research pointed to about 70% burn out right in the first three years. My next question was well why? One of the reasons is that the pastor say that they have not one close friend among the congregation. Then, some of those among the 70% that dropped out said they were suffering from depression because they worked so hard and it didn’t make a difference.
The third reason for the drop out rate was the fact that it calls division and strife among their families.
After my research, I love to talk to people about it. Therefore I began to ask preachers how satisfied they were at being the pastor of the church. Oh The results were upsetting and sad. 80% of the pastors said that they much rather go back to being church members. And of that 80% 50% of those men and women told me they can replace the income they quit tomorrow. So, we need to take this scripture seriously. We need to take this command of God about upholding our church leaders seriously.
So of course, I questioned why? And their response again, was that they were discouraged. They were discouraged at their lessons didn’t reach the people. They were discouraged that the people didn’t recognize them or show them their love.
I can’t convince you of how hard the pastors job is, but I can convince you of the need for encouragement, because scripture does that for me. We need to encourage each other today. We do not look at this passage from a need, because let’s face it you just might not like your pastor. Or you might not totally agree with them. But we need to look at the scripture from the standpoint that it is a commandment from God to do this. It’s not that the pastors need or solicit it, but we do this, because we’re commanded to do so by scripture.
Another way that you can honor your pastors and teachers is to be a peacemaker. For example there was a big rumor going around the church end it turned into gossip not participating would bring honor to the church leader ship team. Then, if everyone would get together, confess, and forgive that would the Be fantastic. It would greatly encourage the pastor because someone actually listened to the preaching and then they responded. It would encourage the pastors and teachers to do more and to do more. Oh I would say, that this type of action would validate my calling. Because it proves that something I said or did affected your life. See how wonderful and perfect it is when we obey the Scriptures.
To add to this, the Holy Ghost told me that we need peace in our marriages, in our families, and peace in our church. It can be very destructive in the church call me when husbands and wives are not pursuing peace with each other. We need to pursue peace in all aspects both intentionally and regularly. I’m not saying it’s going to be perfect. In fact, it just might be rocky, but we must do this for the sake of the gospel. To effectively be able to proclaim and spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
Let me just mention, right here, to theYouth in our church and to the youth watching by the way the Internet listen to the following scripture:
Ephesians 6:1
1Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
Pursue peace with your mom and your dad. Nothing would be discouraging,to me as your pastor, to watch you rebel against your parents. When you do this, I see the devastation that it brings to your life. Also, when you do this, I see how ineffective your parents feel at church. Rebellion, deeply hurt yourself, your family, and your church. When you pursue peace with your parents and your family; you are trusting their counsel, you are doing what they advise you to do, and you are honoring them. Advise you two seek God first but, take the council of your parents before you take the council of anyone else and earth. God and your parents have unconditional love for you and want the very best for you. Finally, when you trust their leader ship, I promise you, you will be an amazing blessing to the church and to God. This will also prove that you love your church, your pastor and your family.
We know and we realize that unity in the church creates a Healthy Church. We need to be unified, as the body of Christ, to pursue love and peace. This is why it is important to be sanctified, to be filled with the spirit, to walk by the spirit, and to be set apart for the work of God. I’m not saying that we’re never going to have a conflict or a problem, because we do, but the people in this church are sanctified and full of the Holy Ghost. We realize that conflict must be handled in love. Therefore, I believe that this church is full of peacemakers. As your pastor I am encouraged to see such love. We need to pray for the pastors that are watching in the churchesThat are called to be peacemakers that are struggling today.
These things that the Holy Spirit brought to our attention today our needs, but they are also commands. What should you do today?
I want to end today reassuring you that there’s no pastor or teacher in this church that does not feel the call of the Lord. Each one of us enjoy and love walking in our callings with you. I want you to know that I love you. I want to encourage everyone to continue encouraging others. We truly are blessed in this place today.
We are not in this position, because it is a goal of ours, because we get perks, or because we get a certain paycheck. That were Here to serve God and to serve you. May God bless each and everyone of you this morning.
