1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 Verses 1 – 2

•This is awesome! So practical and so very uncomplicated! That Paul urges them and exhorts them, in other words he’s asking them to do something here! Paul instructs them to abound more and more! Break that down in the Greek and that literally means to excel, increase, flourish, thrive more and more! To be increasing all the time! I actually love this thought that God gave me as I dove into this word, “abound.” Paul is urging us, the Holy Spirit is exhorting us to…SWARM!

•I love this thought! When I think of a swarm I think of a cadre of bees. All together in one group going one direction and making one sound and as I am a bee enemy from birth…I RUN! Man Paul urges us to swarm in our faith! That not only we as the church should do this but we as the CHURCH! Individually! That we should not be divided, double-minded, but rather be fully given to the things of God!

•In fact, that’s how we abound. That’s how we grow. That’s how we increase more and more and begin to swarm! The Bible asks this of us as Christians. The reality of the cross of Jesus Christ commands it…and yet, it remains our choice, our action, “Just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God!” This is actually reversed in the English translation for some reason…when you look at the Hebrew it’s actually written that we are to walk in such a way as to please God and in that we will abound, we will swarm, more and more!

•The basic desire in the heart of a Christian is to please God. To love on Him and to honor Him. The person apart from Jesus lives to please himself. Here’s the revelation. The first person is rarely ever The second is rarely ever unsatisfied. Again, Paul is urging them because your satisfaction, your abundance of heart, your increase, your swarm…is entirely up to how you choose to live your life…to please God or to please you…

1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 Verse 3a

•I hope you know that you don’t have to wonder what the will of God is for your life. The Bible is actually quite clear on the subject. We tend to tie God’s will to outward The color car or the location of my house. The state I live in or the career I choose. Is he Mr. Right? Is she Mrs. Right? But we’re thinking too narrowly. Yes the Bible says in Philippians 4 to, “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus,” but where in there was God’s will discussed?

•We are to pray about everything for sure but God’s will is not the color of your sweater or any other outward circumstance. God’s will is a matter of the heart. Paul is clear and I appreciate that so much. Ecclesiastes 5:3 says that, “A fool’s voice is known by his many words,” and Proverbs 14:23 says, “Idle chatter leads only to poverty.” That’s not Paul!

•In terms of God’s will, he gets right to the point in 9 words. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification…” What does that mean in simple terms? For you to be His! Not the world’s! The word is Hagiasmos and it means to be purified in your heart and in your life (because that is the correct order). This word used 10 times in the Bible points to the purity and perfection of the 10 Commandments. The number of And it is a clarity of scripture that God’s will for you and for me, is to be with Him! To press into the things of God and to grow towards him, just like a healthy tree grows towards the sun…(John 17:24).

•How do we do that? Be reading and studying the Bible? Finding out what God actually has said and in that learning His heart? Watching the words of scripture unfold each day in our own story as faith and trust builds? Absolutely! Jesus told us exactly that in John 17:17! But shine the light professor on Romans 10:17 and collide it all with James 2:17! That the word is the igniter to it all and sanctifies our hearts as we submit to it and faith sprouts but yet faith without works, without installation…is dead!

•So as you read and as you learn and as your faith builds I have yet more help for you and so does Paul! Have you ever been sitting at a light or walking into a place of business and you spot a vehicle and it’s the exact same as yours? Only there’s something different about theirs? Theirs is awesome!

•They got the aftermarket grille or the blacked out windows or the 24” chrome and man it’s the same but it is leveled way up from yours? Ok maybe that’s just me…but this is a great resource in growing in the things of God…rims! HA! Just kidding! Be discipled. An excellent key to sanctification is surrounding yourself with the people of God. The folks that have the fruitful upgrades of love, power and a sound mind and allowing yourself to be led. It’s God’s will for you, your sanctification. The purifying and completing of your heart and life…you’d be a fool to go it alone…Paul continues…

1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 Verses 3 – 5

•Paul gets right to the point doesn’t he? What does sanctification look like in a world filled with lust? It looks different and he begins with the charge to abstain, cease and distance yourself from sexual immorality. The word in the Greek is pornea and it means any type of sexual impurity. Paul says leave it alone. Why? Because it will destroy your soul…your personality, your drive for what you should be driven for…to know God…and what’s cool is that in that you will know how to possess your own vessel, your body in sanctification and honor…that’s what we should be driven for…

•Many times we are called vessels in the Bible and there is so much we could talk about here but I’ll just point your attention to 2 Timothy 2:20-26…do you want to be toilet or a centerpiece? A trash can or a doorbell announcing for the Lord? It really is your choice..and look at this warning to agents that rip off God’s kids…

1 Thessalonians 6 – 8

•If you reject this scripture set, you reject the things of God. Isn’t that sobering? You say, “Well this is major man. I can’t give up the sin. The smoke, the blow, the girl, the immorality…” That’s actually not You just are choosing not to…God’s commandments are God’s enablements. Look at that last line. He has given us His Holy Spirit! Where God guides and commands, He provides and enables. He calls us into a higher standard of living and when we respond He constantly and “more and more” delivers His Spirit so that we are able to succeed!

•If you say you can’t what you’re really saying is that you won’t try and more importantly, you won’t trust God! Might as well call a spade a spade and say outright that you don’t believe God! You are lazy in heart and lacking in faith because those two things go together. Laziness is incompatible with faith.

•Proverbs 10:4 says, “Poor is he who works with a laziness of hand, But the hand of the diligent makes rich." Proverbs 13:4 says, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made fat.” Folks, we cannot be lazy in life and expect sustenance and we cannot be lazy in faith and expect spiritual success. 1 Corinthians 3:8-9, “Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God!”

•I love what Spurgeon says on this topic…, “In the ordinary affairs of life, my dear brethren, do not go and put your feet on the fender, and sit still, and say, "The Lord will provide," because if you act so foolishly, very likely he will provide you with a place in the [poor house]. If you go up and down the town with no profession, with your hands in your empty pockets, and say that you are trusting in God, God will give you the wages that you earn, namely poverty; he will clothe you with rags if you clothe yourself with idleness. If you will not serve him, you shall find the reward that comes to the man who wastes his Master's talents by wrapping them in a napkin.

1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 Verses 9 – 12

•Evidently there were some there living off of others when they themselves were able to provide for themselves, yet simply not willing. Paul actually goes after these folks hard in his next letter in 2 Thessalonians 3:10. And I love that!

•I also love what he says here about aspiring to lead a quiet life…that doesn’t mean in volume (or I’d be in trouble and so would my poor goat friends! HA) What that means is this. A simple life is a quiet life…not bouncing from issue to issue, problem to problem, crisis to crisis but working hard, keeping your own house in order and walking with the Lord…then the world will look on you with awe because you are different, sanctified….and no matter what you have, you will lack nothing!