WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.960 Okay, we're going to go back to 2 Thessalonians, that section that we read from the middle 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:15.720 of chapter 2 through to chapter 3. 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:21.080 It'd be quite good at some points to have the text up, actually, since most people don't 00:00:21.080 --> 00:00:22.080 have their Bibles with them. 00:00:22.080 --> 00:00:23.839 Or either that or look it up on your phone. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:27.800 It's quite handy to have it there. 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:35.960 But I just want, I know you all know this, but I just want to remind ourselves that when 00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:41.719 we come to God's Word, whether in church or when you read the Bible on your phone or 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:47.079 you read it at home, whatever it might be, that we're coming to a living Word. 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:50.159 So it was good to remember that. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:56.960 So when I preach, I believe the living Word of God can speak into every heart here this 00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:57.960 evening. 00:00:57.960 --> 00:00:58.960 I don't know you. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:00:59.960 Oh, well, I know a lot of you. 00:00:59.960 --> 00:01:04.079 But I don't know your hearts and you don't know mine. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:09.040 But the great thing is, and always kind of the most encouraging thing that a preacher 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.040 ever hears, is not when someone says, oh, that was a great sermon. 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:18.560 Because that usually just is either flattery or it may be we're listening for the wrong 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:22.480 reasons sometimes, or maybe it's just a compliment. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:27.960 But when someone says, I think I've said this again before, but that God spoke powerfully 00:01:27.960 --> 00:01:31.800 from that message into a situation that I'm dealing with or something like that, that's 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:34.680 always an amazing thing. 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:41.640 Because I think for us, the challenge so often is honesty, both between ourselves, but more 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:46.640 importantly, honesty with God, which is a strange thing, isn't it? 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:51.400 Because God is eternal and God is infinite and God sees into our hearts. 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:54.920 And it's the strangest thing to try and hide things from God. 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:57.840 Maybe not so strange to hide things from each other, but to hide things from God. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:01.280 What a strange thing to do because he sees into our hearts. 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:07.780 So honesty is something that should be critical in our relationship with God. 00:02:07.780 --> 00:02:11.520 But also honesty with one another, because I think sometimes we give the impression as 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:17.560 Christians that we don't struggle, that we don't have battles, or that it is wrong to 00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:19.200 do that and we shouldn't have. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:26.319 And everyone should find joy and faith and obedience really easy in the Christian life. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:28.679 And when you don't, you struggle. 00:02:28.679 --> 00:02:32.199 When you see other people who seem to always have it together as Christians, maybe in church 00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:39.879 or at city group or just in your Christian friendships, you find that very hard. 00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:45.239 And you feel that your Christian life might be driven by guilt or driven by duty and not 00:02:45.239 --> 00:02:47.639 by grace and by love. 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:49.239 When you feel like that, you... 00:02:49.239 --> 00:02:50.399 And others are doing well, you... 00:02:50.399 --> 00:02:52.599 Or you think they're doing well, you kind of withdraw, don't you? 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:54.239 And that's an easy thing to do. 00:02:54.239 --> 00:02:56.759 We withdraw, we isolate from one another. 00:02:56.759 --> 00:03:02.319 And then we drift because we haven't been and we aren't being honest with one another 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:04.479 and possibly with God as well. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:09.439 And when we drift from the gospel and from grace and from God, then we become very vulnerable 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:12.119 in our lives. 00:03:12.119 --> 00:03:16.279 So in that spirit of honesty, I'm going to say that I struggled this week. 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:22.000 It was a difficult week spiritually for no particular reason, maybe a spiritual attack 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:23.120 of some kind. 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:25.120 Not sure what happens with these things. 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:28.520 But the entireness comes into that and exacerbates it. 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:33.599 So there's very little brain space, very little time to sit back and reflect and think about 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:34.599 things. 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:39.960 And the sense of relentlessness sometimes of ministry, of fresh ideas, of fresh thinking 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:47.719 and preaching and delivery and pastoral work and everything that happens makes life difficult. 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:54.640 And that added with the uncertainties of the world that we're in just now, the COVID world 00:03:54.640 --> 00:04:04.000 and this new strain, the Omicron strain, the cost of living, the social anxieties, fragility 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:07.640 of democracy. 00:04:07.639 --> 00:04:11.719 The difficulty you feel there's going to be for Christians, what will it mean for our 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:18.479 Christians standing, the impossibility sometimes of faith and of evangelism and the worry that 00:04:18.479 --> 00:04:25.079 we have, and I have for people and loved ones who don't know Jesus and who aren't saved. 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:28.399 And all of these things lead to battle, don't they? 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:35.759 And I suspect that you will have had battles this week, maybe many similar ones or maybe 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:38.120 many different ones. 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:45.079 And this New Testament church in Thessalonica, they also had battles to face and we've looked 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:47.159 at that over the last number of weeks. 00:04:47.159 --> 00:04:52.439 And especially over the last couple of weeks, we've looked at the second letter and they 00:04:52.439 --> 00:04:55.920 were questioning the word of God that had come through the apostles. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:59.959 They were struggling with it and other people were coming in with other thoughts and they 00:04:59.959 --> 00:05:02.319 were being persecuted and that was difficult. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:08.079 And they even wondered if Jesus had returned and maybe had abandoned them and they'd missed 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:09.560 out on something. 00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:14.319 And the world in which they lived was so lawless, what was the point of Jesus coming if the 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:18.319 world stayed still so lawless and loveless? 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:20.399 And so they also had battles and struggles. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:23.360 And I think if we're honest, every Christian has battles and struggles, they have great 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:24.959 times as well. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:29.240 And we can have great times in the battles and struggles, and that's a very important 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:31.519 truth. 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:36.439 So I think it's important for us to see how God through Paul answers these struggles and 00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:37.959 battles that they had. 00:05:37.959 --> 00:05:44.719 And I believe God then in His living words speaks into our lives with the same truth. 00:05:44.719 --> 00:05:49.039 The situations are different, but the message is the same and the gospel is the same and 00:05:49.039 --> 00:05:52.759 God's truth is the same for us as well. 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:56.240 So what are we going to learn from God's word this evening? 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:00.919 Well, I think what we learn, there's two kind of really important things. 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:09.160 I think that we learn both His truth and how we respond to His truth. 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:17.000 So the reality is for us that God holds us in the grip, and I'm speaking here to Christians, 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:25.920 God holds us in the grip of His solid rock truth, or even His rock solid truth either 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:26.920 way. 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:28.240 God holds us in His grip. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:34.000 In verse 15 He says, So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm, hold on to the traditions 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:38.720 that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:44.720 This word, tradition here, is an important word because it's really speaking about the 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:47.800 truth that's been passed down to them. 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:55.160 And at this stage, it was a pretty new tradition because it was the apostolic teaching on the 00:06:55.160 --> 00:06:58.360 back of the Old Testament word of God. 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:04.120 And here, He's speaking very much about the apostolic teaching, which He knows is from 00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:09.200 God, which He knows is authoritative because He's been given it as one of the apostles 00:07:09.200 --> 00:07:12.400 of God, whether it was orally or by letter. 00:07:12.400 --> 00:07:15.400 And that was what they were to hold on to. 00:07:15.400 --> 00:07:20.480 And we know that Jesus, John 1 tells us, we've said this before, in the beginning was the 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:23.000 word and the word was with God and the word was God. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:28.120 So we have Jesus described as this communication, this word that was given to people, this, 00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:32.120 and He becomes the tradition that they were to hold on to. 00:07:32.120 --> 00:07:35.240 And that's what Paul is really going to emphasize here. 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:39.480 He's going to tell the people, keep on believing what you've been told. 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:43.639 Hold on to it, stand on it, be strong on this tradition. 00:07:43.639 --> 00:07:44.839 What are some of the things? 00:07:44.839 --> 00:07:51.959 There's four things here, four things here that is the solid rock truth, the Thessalonian 00:07:51.959 --> 00:07:55.799 church and the St. Columbia church today needs to hold on to. 00:07:55.799 --> 00:08:00.199 And you as an individual Christian needs to hold on to when things are difficult and we're 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:01.599 battling and struggling. 00:08:01.599 --> 00:08:06.680 The first is that you have been chosen as a Christian from the very beginning, verse 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:08.179 13. 00:08:08.179 --> 00:08:12.359 God chose you from the very beginning or His first fruits, two different translations, 00:08:12.359 --> 00:08:16.479 to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:22.200 So this evening, you are part of God's plan as a Christian and you've always been part 00:08:22.200 --> 00:08:23.200 of God's plan. 00:08:23.200 --> 00:08:27.200 There's never been a moment when you haven't been in God's mind and haven't been part 00:08:27.200 --> 00:08:29.720 of God's plan. 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:34.920 Right there at the very core of the universe as a believer, right through the Old Testament, 00:08:34.920 --> 00:08:38.519 through creation, through the Old Testament, through the life of Jesus Christ, His death 00:08:38.519 --> 00:08:42.440 and resurrection and ascension, you've been at the core of that. 00:08:42.440 --> 00:08:46.000 You've always been in His mind because you've been chosen. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.960 You've been chosen before you were born, when you were born, as you were living. 00:08:49.960 --> 00:08:52.919 Now as you're getting older, some of you are getting older, some of you are still very 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:54.679 young. 00:08:54.679 --> 00:09:01.799 Right through to the day of your death and on into eternity, you've been chosen by God. 00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:03.799 That's the first thing. 00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:10.200 The second thing is that the triune God is committed to your salvation. 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:14.879 I love this section because it speaks about God, the Father God, the Son and God, the 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:20.200 Holy Spirit in relation to God's people and their work for God's people. 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:25.439 So in verse 13, it says you were saved through sanctification by the Spirit. 00:09:25.439 --> 00:09:30.039 And then in verse 16, it says, now may the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who we know is 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:35.720 God the Son, and God the Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:36.879 through grace. 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:43.960 So you've got this great triumvirate of divine persons who are committed to your salvation 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:50.759 and committed to your being part of His family. 00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:56.320 The three most significant persons, the one God in the universe, all that power, all that 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:03.759 creativity, all that knowledge, all that justice, all that love, all that we attribute to the 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:13.200 Trinitarian purpose and will and activity of God is centered around His people and is 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:15.440 centered around you this evening. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:17.480 He is utterly committed to you. 00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:23.040 Now, there's some trainee preachers here, and people always say to trainee preachers, 00:10:23.040 --> 00:10:26.160 you must have good illustrations. 00:10:26.160 --> 00:10:29.440 So I came to this point this morning and I thought, but really good to have a good illustration 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:31.440 about this. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:34.280 I couldn't think of any. 00:10:34.280 --> 00:10:36.680 I couldn't think of any illustrations. 00:10:36.679 --> 00:10:45.000 How can you describe the commitment of the triune God from all eternity to save you and 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:46.000 me? 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:47.000 It's incomparable. 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:52.319 It's exceedingly above and beyond what we could ask or even imagine. 00:10:52.319 --> 00:10:56.000 I can't think of anything to illustrate it with. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:59.000 I'll maybe try and have an illustration a bit later on. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:04.599 But sometimes the truth is, they say truth is stranger in fiction, but certainly truth 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:11.440 is greater than illustration, and sometimes it's impossible to make better or make clearer 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:12.840 this great truth. 00:11:12.840 --> 00:11:16.200 So we're chosen from the beginning. 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:20.000 The triune God is committed to your salvation and to mine. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:22.040 It's not just in our hands. 00:11:22.040 --> 00:11:23.240 It's not just in our hands. 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:26.840 It's not just we battle and struggle on alone. 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:27.840 We have this commitment. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:34.120 The third thing is we share in His glory. 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:36.679 We share in the glory of the crucified and risen Savior. 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:42.919 Verse 14, to this He called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of 00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:45.320 our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:46.560 That's an amazing truth. 00:11:46.560 --> 00:11:49.279 We share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:50.840 Okay, I hear I'll try an illustration. 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:53.919 It's a really poor one, but it might help you. 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:58.080 You're saying, Bol, he's the fastest man who ever lived. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:05.560 And you can imagine when he got the very best of his gold medals, when he broke all the 00:12:05.560 --> 00:12:11.960 records and he comes onto the podium having broken all the records, he's become super 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:15.680 famous and he gets the gold medal. 00:12:15.680 --> 00:12:16.800 And what does he do? 00:12:16.800 --> 00:12:22.320 He takes the little girl that holds his tracksuit at the beginning of the race onto the podium 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:24.840 with him. 00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:32.800 He's the greatest glory and he gives her the gold medal and he gives her half of his winnings. 00:12:32.800 --> 00:12:36.680 Okay, it's not a great example, is it? 00:12:36.680 --> 00:12:40.960 But you times it by a million and that's what we have as believers. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:44.840 We share the glory of the risen Savior. 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:52.320 That is that you and I, and this is what we're asked to hold on to, you remember, by faith. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:55.480 We share his victory over death. 00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:58.600 We share the eternal life that is in him. 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:02.280 We share the honor he has in the heavenly places. 00:13:02.280 --> 00:13:06.879 We share the privileges that will be his and that are his. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:10.879 We share association with him, the risen and glorified Savior. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:15.680 God, the Father treats us as like sons and daughters of the King. 00:13:15.680 --> 00:13:17.240 And it's not a faded glory. 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:19.880 It's not a memorial glory. 00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:28.080 It's a glory we have now and it's a glory we will share, an ever-present glory in eternity. 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:30.240 Great partnership of unequals. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:36.000 So you and I this evening, when we battle and when we struggle, we sometimes want things 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:39.000 that maybe we think are more tangible. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:46.159 But God wants us to keep going back to these things that by faith he tells us that we have. 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:47.559 He holds on. 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:50.159 We are chosen from the beginning. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:54.599 The triune God is committed to taking us home, committed to our salvation. 00:13:54.599 --> 00:13:57.879 We share the glory of the crucified and risen Savior. 00:13:57.879 --> 00:14:03.799 And the last thing is in terms of this rock on which we stand here, the truth is much 00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:10.359 more obviously, is that we are loved eternally by the Father. 00:14:10.359 --> 00:14:16.439 Verse 16, now, may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father who loved us and gave us 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:19.800 eternal comfort and good hope through grace. 00:14:19.800 --> 00:14:24.720 And also then 3, verse 5, the last verse we read, may the Lord direct your hearts to 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:31.240 the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:37.720 You know it's like when you walk into a room where you know there's people there who don't 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:47.200 like you or who you've fallen out with, might even be family members, there's a grievance 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:52.879 between you, maybe you've done something wrong, but you've never dealt with it before them. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:57.759 And so there's a real unease if you know you're coming into their company. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:04.040 Or maybe you're coming somewhere else where you sense that you're not welcome, there's 00:15:04.039 --> 00:15:10.599 a resentment and maybe even, God forbid, maybe even hatred, isn't that a terrible thing? 00:15:10.599 --> 00:15:13.319 To come into a room with that pretty, you really feel uncomfortable. 00:15:13.319 --> 00:15:14.799 You don't want to be there. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:16.759 You don't want to sit down. 00:15:16.759 --> 00:15:21.159 You're not going to relax in that company. 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:28.719 That's everything that being a Christian is not in God's presence. 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:35.080 That we are loved eternally by the Father, and that should change the way we come into 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:37.120 His presence entirely. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:43.080 We don't come into the presence of a grumpy old bearded God who grumbles and complains 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:44.080 at our failure. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:49.879 We don't come into the presence of someone who's judging and nagging and who's resentful 00:15:49.879 --> 00:15:50.879 of us. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:55.480 We don't come into the presence of one with whom we have unresolved division that's been 00:15:55.480 --> 00:15:58.560 dealt with by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:02.279 That's a great place to come into because we're loved eternally. 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:09.479 We're safe, it's positive, we're forgiven, we're recipients of grace. 00:16:09.479 --> 00:16:12.559 We need to let that soak into our hearts. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:16.839 And it then changes our view of ourselves and also changes our view of our faith and 00:16:16.839 --> 00:16:20.399 changes our view of the world in which we live. 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:29.159 It gives us strength and perseverance that the Father loves us and will always love us. 00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:34.959 And that really is the core of our Christian lives because if we don't grasp the love of 00:16:34.959 --> 00:16:41.799 God for us, what we find is that we continue to live with disordered loves because that's 00:16:41.799 --> 00:16:47.319 the problem really, that's the idolatry we have, it's the core of the sin we have. 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:56.040 It's not usually for us, it's not wild, terrible, evil, brutal things we do to one another or 00:16:56.040 --> 00:16:57.040 by one another. 00:16:57.040 --> 00:17:01.480 It's usually that our loves are in the wrong place. 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:02.480 Disordered loves. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:09.960 We put our loves for ourselves and loves for whatever it might be before our love for 00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:17.559 God because we don't understand so often and grasp the commitment of His love for us. 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:24.920 But there's great damages done by disordered loves when we put the right things in the wrong 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:33.079 place and when these things matter to us much more than anything else. 00:17:33.079 --> 00:17:39.319 And it often means we see our lives in a very shallow and simplistic way. 00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:44.359 And so we need to be educated in the gospel truth. 00:17:44.359 --> 00:17:47.439 We need to keep going back. 00:17:47.439 --> 00:17:53.679 Sometimes I would love to just be telling you something dramatically new and wonderfully 00:17:53.679 --> 00:17:58.200 fresh and uniquely wow. 00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:01.839 But really this stuff should be, shouldn't it, for us? 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:05.759 Because God keeps telling you, and Paul keeps saying, I desire to know nothing among you 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:07.639 except Christ and Him crucified. 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:11.520 And then I keep thinking, well, is that relevant for people as they go into the workplace and 00:18:11.520 --> 00:18:12.520 as they serve? 00:18:12.520 --> 00:18:17.280 Do they need something more tangible, something more practical, something more that they can 00:18:17.280 --> 00:18:18.280 grasp? 00:18:18.280 --> 00:18:23.120 No, I think if we can see the beauty of Jesus Christ and the glory of His love for us, that's 00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:25.960 the solid rock that keeps us standing. 00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:27.360 It keeps us going. 00:18:27.360 --> 00:18:32.920 We're loved eternally by the Father that we share in the glory of the risen Son that 00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:36.680 the triune God has committed to us and that we've been chosen from the beginning. 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:42.960 These things will change how we walk and talk in the world that we go to. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:52.039 So that's the solid rock that is mentioned here by Paul, the solid rock truth on which 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:55.480 we stand in our battles and our struggles. 00:18:55.480 --> 00:18:58.320 How do we respond to that? 00:18:58.320 --> 00:19:03.440 How do you respond and how am I to respond to these things? 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:11.840 Does that will determine how we live our Christian lives and determines how fruitful and how 00:19:11.840 --> 00:19:13.840 contented we will be in our Christian lives? 00:19:13.840 --> 00:19:20.600 Well, I think the first thing, obviously, and it's very obvious, is that we respond by hearing 00:19:20.600 --> 00:19:28.480 Him, by hearing His voice in the word preached or in the word that you read, that you're not 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:30.600 just reading it through for the sake of reading it. 00:19:30.599 --> 00:19:35.359 It's not just a ritual we go through, but each time we come to the word we're saying, 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:38.679 God, what is it that you're saying? 00:19:38.679 --> 00:19:40.240 How do you want me to respond? 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:41.839 What is it that I need to hear? 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:47.599 Because then as you see in that first section from 13 to 15, speaking to the brothers or 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:52.039 the brothers and sisters in the church, speaking to them all. 00:19:52.039 --> 00:20:02.200 So interestingly, He says, God chose you and He called you so that you may obtain, so then 00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:04.079 you may hold. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:10.559 Now each of these us is singular, although it's going out to the whole people. 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:14.799 And He's saying, you, you, you, and you, and you. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:23.240 See, the message is, God isn't interested really in a generic message or just a message 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:29.279 that gets kind of thrown out to a church family to some impersonal crowd. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:34.079 He wants each of us to open the word and He says, you, and you, and you, and you, and 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:35.079 you. 00:20:35.079 --> 00:20:39.599 He's speaking into our lives and He wants, you know what that great picture of blessing 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:45.959 is, isn't it, face to face with God, being face to face. 00:20:45.959 --> 00:20:48.159 There's nothing more personal than being face to face with Him. 00:20:48.159 --> 00:20:52.959 It can be very awkward if you don't like people invading your personal space. 00:20:52.959 --> 00:20:59.480 But being face to face with someone is that, is that image of honesty and openness and personal 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:00.719 commitment. 00:21:00.719 --> 00:21:06.679 And we hear His voice, you know, and listen to what He's saying and take it and respond 00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:10.720 and allow Him to take it into our hearts to change us. 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:19.799 You know, if I've had a meal, great meal, and I rise from the table and I haven't realized 00:21:19.799 --> 00:21:26.600 that there's a big blob of cream from the pudding on my beard. 00:21:26.600 --> 00:21:33.200 And I just happen to pass a mirror and when I get to the mirror and I see it, I don't 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:36.920 just walk away from it and just leave it the way it is, wipe it off, don't you? 00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:38.600 You want to get rid of that. 00:21:38.600 --> 00:21:43.519 Or maybe your wife, your husband, or your brother or sister acts as a mirror for you 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:48.360 and says, by the way, you've got a big blob of cream on your beard. 00:21:48.360 --> 00:21:51.279 You want to deal with that before you go and see anyone. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:53.360 And the act is a mirror for you. 00:21:53.360 --> 00:21:58.880 And you know that the Bible tells us, it uses that illustration, it says the Bible is like 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:05.200 a mirror into our soul and we're not to walk away from it unchanged, we're to let it expose 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:11.040 the things that need to be exposed and we need to come to Him in confession and repentance 00:22:11.040 --> 00:22:15.680 for these things to be cleansed so that the cancer of sin is being dealt with in our lives 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:17.900 and we're being sanctified. 00:22:17.900 --> 00:22:23.240 So we hear His voice and we take, we allow Scripture to be a mirror. 00:22:23.240 --> 00:22:31.079 And each of us need to do that, you don't look in a mirror for someone else. 00:22:31.079 --> 00:22:34.759 You look in a mirror for yourself to see your own reflection and that is what we're to do 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:36.519 from Scripture. 00:22:36.519 --> 00:22:38.079 So we hear His voice in Scripture. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:45.680 Then verse 15 tells us that we are to stand firm and hold on to the traditions that we've 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:46.680 been taught. 00:22:46.680 --> 00:22:50.880 It's a great picture, two pictures isn't it, hand and feet. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:57.240 Stand firm on the rock, hold on and grip powerfully to His truth. 00:22:57.240 --> 00:22:59.040 Christ is that rock. 00:22:59.040 --> 00:23:03.520 I talked about that this morning at Cornerstone. 00:23:03.520 --> 00:23:04.960 God is our rock. 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:10.240 And it is His truth that we stand on, isn't it? 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:11.240 That's what we... 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:13.000 God is the Word incarnate. 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:14.880 We need to know the Word. 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:21.000 You know what, I love seeing the children here at night church. 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:26.760 Now they may be drawing and may not be listening but they're learning to come into God's house, 00:23:26.760 --> 00:23:33.280 with God's people and they'll learn to sit and they'll learn, we hope and pray, to listen 00:23:33.280 --> 00:23:36.400 and hear the Word of God in their lives. 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:38.120 And that's what we want to do. 00:23:38.120 --> 00:23:44.640 We want to be people who know the truth and who stand firm and hold on, who soak it in 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:48.600 His truth becomes our worldview, it becomes our perspective. 00:23:48.600 --> 00:23:51.920 It's where we plant our feet so that we're not blown over. 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:52.920 What was it? 00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:56.800 I can't remember the name of Hurricane this week, Hurricane Archie or something. 00:23:56.800 --> 00:23:59.360 And it was a wild one and lots of things blew over. 00:23:59.360 --> 00:24:05.200 There was a whole forest blew over in Dunbar and there's lots of things that would blow 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:06.960 us over in our lives. 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:16.079 We have to plant our feet on the rock that is God and hold on to Him without letting 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:17.079 go. 00:24:17.079 --> 00:24:26.319 You know, it's not a kind of limp handshake we have with God. 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:29.759 We're gripping on the dear life. 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:34.600 Jacob when he wrestled with God he said, well, not let go unless you bless me. 00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:38.679 And that is, we're not to presume on His grip, we're not to take this truth and say, well, 00:24:38.679 --> 00:24:40.159 God doesn't ever let me go. 00:24:40.159 --> 00:24:44.079 And one of His chosen and He's committed to us. 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:47.079 It's quite the opposite. 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:54.679 We don't presume on His grip but we hold on because we have that responsibility and we 00:24:54.679 --> 00:24:57.059 stand firm on the rock. 00:24:57.059 --> 00:25:01.839 You know what it's like trying to walk, if you ever try to walk on a trampoline, it's 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:08.359 a nightmare, or walk on skree, you know, at the side of a mountain where there's lots 00:25:08.359 --> 00:25:13.039 of loose stones, it's desperately difficult to keep standing or in marshland where there's 00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:14.480 bogs and stuff. 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:16.720 You just sink. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:23.959 And that's what it's like trying to be a Christian with a closed Bible, trying to be a Christian 00:25:23.959 --> 00:25:30.839 without soaking in the truth and without standing on the rock which is Jesus Christ. 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:32.319 And that's what we're asked to do. 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:37.039 It's an act of faith and we're asked to do that in His name. 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:39.720 Stand firm and hold on. 00:25:39.720 --> 00:25:45.799 And then the third thing, there was four things the first time, there's four things this time. 00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:47.799 Third thing is speak and act well. 00:25:47.799 --> 00:25:55.039 Verse 17, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:59.879 So that's the opposite of taking the truth of God's word and saying, great, I can just 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:02.760 relax because God's in control. 00:26:02.760 --> 00:26:08.400 But being chosen, being part of God's purpose, being indwelt by the Spirit, it doesn't deny 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:11.360 our responsibility to live for Him. 00:26:11.360 --> 00:26:17.360 It heightens it and it transforms it because the motive is a changed heart. 00:26:17.360 --> 00:26:22.440 We see His beauty, we see His love and we see the glory of the truth and that becomes 00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:27.680 the motive for speaking right and acting right in our lives. 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:29.360 And we need both, don't we? 00:26:29.360 --> 00:26:32.680 We need to live both ways. 00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:39.240 And dealing with the grumbling, complaining, criticizing, moaning, gossiping, bad mouthing 00:26:39.240 --> 00:26:41.680 that sometimes we engage in. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:47.799 And also dealing with the act, loveless actions that sometimes are a part of our lives. 00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:53.480 We do things for the glory of God because it's good and because it's to serve Him as 00:26:53.480 --> 00:27:01.079 freedom, not to be praised, not out of cold duty, not out of fear or reward. 00:27:01.079 --> 00:27:07.720 So we respond then by hearing His voice, by standing firm and holding on, by speaking 00:27:07.720 --> 00:27:12.120 and acting well and lastly by breathing the oxygen of prayer. 00:27:12.120 --> 00:27:16.000 Are you not surprised that that's there? 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:17.880 Breathing the oxygen of prayer. 00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:23.360 Verse 13, it starts with prayer, we thank, we ought always to give thanks to God for 00:27:23.360 --> 00:27:24.360 you. 00:27:24.360 --> 00:27:29.000 Verse 16, it is a prayer that He gives now, may the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:33.200 their Father who loved us and gave Himself for us comfort your hearts. 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:38.640 And then in verse 3, chapter 3, verse 1, He says, finally brothers, pray for us. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:39.880 Pray for us. 00:27:39.880 --> 00:27:43.240 So breathe the oxygen of prayer. 00:27:43.240 --> 00:27:51.000 So prayer is the bread in which the meat of the truth is the sandwich. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:59.160 So we've been looking at the sandwich of truth tonight and the rock that is God, the bread 00:27:59.160 --> 00:28:02.759 that is at the top and the bottom of that is prayer. 00:28:02.759 --> 00:28:05.759 And that is the sandwich that we eat. 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:10.240 And we do so because it's the debt that we owe to God. 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:14.599 That word ought, but we ought always to give thanks. 00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:16.160 It's a debt word. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:19.960 We've got a debt we owe to the living God. 00:28:19.960 --> 00:28:23.240 We offer it and we ask for it. 00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:25.240 We offer it for others. 00:28:25.240 --> 00:28:30.839 Paul always prayed for his fellow Christians, but he also asked for it. 00:28:30.839 --> 00:28:38.120 And I want you to be a people who ask for prayer of each other and offer prayer to each 00:28:38.119 --> 00:28:45.879 other because we struggle and because we need prayer for each other and we need to offer 00:28:45.879 --> 00:28:47.879 prayer to each other. 00:28:47.879 --> 00:28:51.439 It's so significant. 00:28:51.439 --> 00:28:58.000 Praying the truth, that's what Paul is wanting here, the truth into one another's lives. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:01.479 And that includes a sense of thankfulness, doesn't it? 00:29:01.479 --> 00:29:03.359 He gives thanks for them. 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:08.319 And he gives thanks for the solid rock of Christ at work in the lives of others. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:09.319 So you know what? 00:29:09.319 --> 00:29:14.719 A nice thing to do is to see someone in the church and you give thanks to God for them 00:29:14.719 --> 00:29:16.839 and you tell them that. 00:29:16.839 --> 00:29:20.159 And you give thanks for the work of God in their lives, for the growth in grace, for 00:29:20.159 --> 00:29:23.679 their maturity in Christ, for the fact that they're growing, for the way they responded 00:29:23.679 --> 00:29:30.639 to something which showed that they were living and standing firmly rooted in Jesus Christ, 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:33.640 giving thanks. 00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:36.880 But also praying like Paul prayed for gospel progress. 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:39.520 That was his request, wasn't it, to that church in Thessalonica? 00:29:39.520 --> 00:29:42.240 He said, will you pray for us? 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:45.759 Not that we'll not be persecuted, not that things will be easy, not that someone would 00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:48.520 give them lots of money so that they could have an easy life. 00:29:48.520 --> 00:29:52.160 But that the gospel would progress. 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:55.560 That the Lord, the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored. 00:29:55.560 --> 00:29:57.560 I love that phrase. 00:29:57.560 --> 00:29:59.000 He's wanting rapid progress. 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:05.119 That's great, open doors, good soil, converts, fruit. 00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:08.119 That's the heart that we have behind seven days of prayer that we've just finished. 00:30:08.119 --> 00:30:12.279 It's the heart behind the seven, the city group studies we've been looking at this year, 00:30:12.279 --> 00:30:17.519 Jesus' response to people and how we respond because we want lots of converts. 00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:18.519 Why? 00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:21.960 Because that means less people in hell and more people in heaven. 00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:25.200 Gospel progress, it's a great prayer to make. 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:30.160 And also protection, he prays for them, for protection in verse 2 of chapter 3, that we 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:34.759 may be delivered from wicked and evil men for not all of faith, but the Lord is faithful. 00:30:34.759 --> 00:30:38.840 He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. 00:30:38.840 --> 00:30:44.840 What a great prayer to be praying for ourselves, for your leaders, for the church, for one 00:30:44.840 --> 00:30:50.680 another, for the churches in Edinburgh, throughout the world. 00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:52.600 He's our good commander in chief. 00:30:52.600 --> 00:30:54.440 He's your good commander in chief. 00:30:54.440 --> 00:30:57.039 He will strengthen and protect you. 00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:00.519 It's the prayer that comes into the Lord's prayer as well, isn't it? 00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:04.480 To be spiritually aware within a battle. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:06.080 Don't blame God. 00:31:06.080 --> 00:31:13.279 Don't blame circumstances, but recognize that there's a spiritual warfare that He's 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:16.640 already defeated and will one day destroy. 00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:19.000 But trust Him. 00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:20.160 Trust Him. 00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:23.799 Trust Him in your difficult circumstances and the darkness. 00:31:23.799 --> 00:31:26.000 Pray for gospel progress. 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:32.159 Pray with thanksgiving as we respond to the rock truth on which we stand. 00:31:32.159 --> 00:31:34.200 Amen, let's pray. 00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:37.639 I'm going to pray actually quite, I'm going to finish the quarter past because I wanted 00:31:37.639 --> 00:31:42.639 to pray through this quickly because that seemed appropriate. 00:31:42.639 --> 00:31:44.000 So let's pray. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:48.399 Father God, we thank You tonight for who You are. 00:31:48.399 --> 00:31:50.359 We thank You for Your gospel. 00:31:50.359 --> 00:31:52.359 We thank You for Your truth. 00:31:52.359 --> 00:31:55.839 And tonight we stand on You as our rock. 00:31:55.839 --> 00:32:00.679 Sometimes we think the Bible is a bit irrelevant or it's just theoretical or it's theological 00:32:00.679 --> 00:32:06.159 truth and it doesn't impinge on my day-to-day life. 00:32:06.159 --> 00:32:12.719 May we move from that deception and may we remember that as we see Your promises and 00:32:12.719 --> 00:32:17.079 we look back to Your work and we look forward to Your promises and we see what You've done 00:32:17.079 --> 00:32:24.359 in our lives, may we stand firmly on the solid rock which is the gospel, the truth, the Bible, 00:32:24.359 --> 00:32:27.279 the message, the person of Jesus Christ. 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:32.480 Lord, we thank You tonight that we've been chosen from the beginning, that God the Father, 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:38.319 the Son and the Holy Spirit is committed to our salvation, that we tonight, although we 00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:44.599 might not think it, we share the glory of a crucified and risen Savior we are eternally 00:32:44.599 --> 00:32:45.919 loved by the Father. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:52.480 May these things help us to understand and have a perspective in the life we live. 00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:59.740 May we stand and respond by hearing Your voice, by listening to what You say, by standing 00:32:59.740 --> 00:33:06.560 firm, by holding on, by being in the grip of grace, but also gripping on to grace ourselves, 00:33:06.560 --> 00:33:14.360 by not being holding on loosely, by not being second cousins once removed to the living 00:33:14.359 --> 00:33:20.599 God, but to know You intimately, to know Your Word, to pray daily and to live in Your presence. 00:33:20.599 --> 00:33:27.639 And in so doing that we go out into our working day, our student lives, our neighborhood, 00:33:27.639 --> 00:33:31.119 our home and we speak well and we act well. 00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:36.839 Help us Lord to do these things and help us to be people who breathe the oxygen of prayer. 00:33:36.839 --> 00:33:44.159 May St. Columbus be a body of people that breathe the oxygen of prayer together and individually. 00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:49.960 May we be thankful for one another and for the progress of grace in our lives. 00:33:49.960 --> 00:33:55.960 May we pray for each other in the battles and the struggles and not be ashamed to ask 00:33:55.960 --> 00:33:57.440 for that. 00:33:57.440 --> 00:33:58.960 We pray for gospel progress. 00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:00.480 We long to see people converted. 00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:04.519 We love to see baptism, see it at the front, not just of children, but of grown-ups who 00:34:04.519 --> 00:34:07.240 have come to faith and never been baptized. 00:34:07.240 --> 00:34:11.639 We long to see people from sparkle sisters and we long to see our neighbors and our friends 00:34:11.639 --> 00:34:13.159 and our colleagues. 00:34:13.159 --> 00:34:17.279 We long to see those that have come maybe for the last six or seven years to the carol 00:34:17.279 --> 00:34:18.279 service. 00:34:18.279 --> 00:34:23.159 Not because there's anything magical about that, but because we believe it reflects our 00:34:23.159 --> 00:34:26.839 relationships that we have built over many years with people. 00:34:26.839 --> 00:34:31.440 That these relationships will bear fruit, that we will speak well and act well into them 00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:36.920 and tell people about the gospel and that the seed would be sown into good hearts and 00:34:36.920 --> 00:34:39.319 that souls would be saved. 00:34:39.320 --> 00:34:44.760 And we pray, as we pray for one another, we pray for protection, the evil one. 00:34:44.760 --> 00:34:49.760 He is wiser than us and he knows the Bible better than us and he often comes as an angel 00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:50.760 of light. 00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:54.120 We've seen that and we've talked about that. 00:34:54.120 --> 00:35:04.280 May we not be naive or glib or ignorant about his tactics, but remind us Lord God that he 00:35:04.280 --> 00:35:14.280 is a defeated foe, that he moves only under the authority of the sovereign God in his 00:35:14.280 --> 00:35:17.280 defeated reality. 00:35:17.280 --> 00:35:24.480 And then the mystery of that enable us to seek protection and help and strength from 00:35:24.480 --> 00:35:29.440 you who promises, always promises to do that. 00:35:29.440 --> 00:35:34.880 I pray particularly this evening for those who might be here who are battling and struggling, 00:35:34.880 --> 00:35:44.240 struggling with doubt or cold hearts or difficult circumstances, family or health, heard bad 00:35:44.240 --> 00:35:53.960 news, who are struggling with bad news, who are lonely, who are isolated, a million, a 00:35:53.960 --> 00:36:00.159 myriad of different things that might cause people here to be crying out inside even though 00:36:00.159 --> 00:36:05.519 they might put on a great and bright face in public. 00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:09.840 We pray that they might hear your voice and your love and your grace this evening, especially 00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:10.840 from your word. 00:36:10.840 --> 00:36:17.920 I pray for the young people, I thank you for the children here, bless them we ask, bless 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:20.519 them so that they will know Jesus from an early age. 00:36:20.519 --> 00:36:28.079 And I pray for the young adults and the students who will be at identity night and those maybe 00:36:28.079 --> 00:36:29.559 are unable to be there. 00:36:29.559 --> 00:36:36.039 We pray for them that they might find their lives on Jesus and on the rock that is him 00:36:36.039 --> 00:36:37.679 and his word. 00:36:37.679 --> 00:36:39.679 We ask all in Jesus' precious name. 00:36:39.679 --> 00:36:51.679 Amen.