The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet #5144 KC1Thes8-2

Not everyone who calls himself a Christian is going to make it except for the "doers" of HIS WILL!

Be vigilant and sober.

Peter explains how it is we remain spiritually "sober" by "Girding up the loins of our minds" with His Word.

Otherwise we will be deceived, which is to become drunken with the "wine of fornication" (Rev. 17:2) which is spiritual adultery, i.e. idolatry.

1 Peter 1:13
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
"Gird up" with His Word right until "the end"!

Paul likens it to putting on a protective suit of armor.

1 Thes. 5:8
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
Paul will later expound on this Gospel Armor in the 6th chapter of his letter to the Ephesians.

The Gospel Armor is not something you can buy or get or put on and off.

It grows on you as a "result" of exercising the faith and love and hope that comes from being a "doer" of His Word because you "believe" in Him.

[9] For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
This is so important for us to understand and it should give all of His children great comfort.

Our Father God is not angry at His children who love and serve Him, who strive to put on the gospel armor.

And when the Day of His Wrath comes we will not be subject to that wrath.

Think of it this way: If you came home from a long trip and found that some of your children were woefully disobedient while others held to your instructions and even tried to encourage their loved ones to be obedient, would you take out your wrath on the ones that loved and obeyed you?

Of course not!

Here is yet another very comforting thought:

[10] Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
This verse should cause one to wonder "What is the Big Deal with the pre-trib Rapture theory anyway?"

Don't Christians understand this verse?

Christ died for us and paid the price for our sins and if we believe in Him, whether we suffer tribulation or not, or whether we live in the flesh long enough to see the return of Christ or whether we die before He returns, it doesn't really matter!

Because as Paul says, either way "We will live together with Him" and "So shall we ever be with the Lord!"

1 Thes. 5:11
Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
You bet we should comfort one another with these words, because they are true.

And we should edify on another too!

What does that mean?

That means we should help one another build our houses upon the Rock, upon the Word of God.

Here is Strong's definition of "edify":

edify = oikodomeo, oy-kod-om-eh'-o, Greek 3618; from the same as Greek 3619 (oikodome); to be a house-builder, i.e. construct or (figurative) confirm :- (be in) build (-er, -ing, up), edify, embolden.
Hear the Words of the Lord Jesus Christ to gain wisdom:
Matthew 7:21
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Not everyone who calls himself a Christian is going to make it except for the "doers" of HIS WILL!

The others are disobedient.

You see, you can be really busy doing other things in the name of the Lord while at the same time ignoring that which He has instructed you to do!

If your children just did what pleased them and totally ignored your instructions, would you be happy and reward them for it?

[22] Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
These church goers and supporters of many charities claim to be Christians, virgins ready to wed the Bridegroom.

But here is what the Bridegroom says to them when they finally WAKE UP:

[23] And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Why didn't Christ know them?

Because they never knew Him!

They never did HIS WILL, His Word, because they were busy doing other things thinking all along they were doing His will.

Be careful.

Here again is wisdom from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself:

[24] Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

[25] And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

If you want to endure until the end then you best be doing some building upon the Rock!

Or you can continue to follow the traditions of men.

You not only have that choice, you are ALREADY doing one or the other!

[26] And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
The sand is the "traditions of men", Churchianity, which makes void the Word of God.
[27] And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Remember how God told Noah to build an ark and then gave him explicit detailed instructions on how to do it, which Noah did?

God did not build the ark for him, did He?

No, Noah worked his buns off!

Imagine if Noah had decided to ignore God's will, His plans, and build his own little dinghy and christen it "The Ark"?

Christianity is not an entitlement program for the lazy whereby one just sleeps and drinks and shows up for a paycheck.

We are to build our houses upon the Rock in the same manner Noah built the ark, according to the explicit directions of His Word.

Have you studied the "Blueprints"?

So how we do as Paul says in 1 Thes. 5:11 and edify one another?

We lovingly and charitably encourage one another and help each other build upon the Word of God, not the words of men.

To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them {the ancient Israelites} for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

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