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Overcoming Low Visibility
1 Thessalonians

Dave Carlsen
June 4, 2006

INTRO: low visibility…ever been truly LOST?

So how do I overcome LOW visibility?

1. LOOK UP: Jesus Christ is Coming Back!

Looking up requires you NOT looking down

LIFTING OUR GAZE; not just our eyes but our attention;

fixing our heart’s stare on the realities of eternity.

Phil. 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Q: What would change in your life if you lived out of your knowledge that our hero really was returning…and soon?

Life Expectancy vs. Live Expectantly

One focuses on this world the other the next…

What this means…

For Him: Upon His return, Jesus is going to…

Deliver (1:10; 5:4-11)

1:10 “Delivers us from the wrath to come.” 5:9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Reward

4:17 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.)

Perfect

3:13 blameless and holy in His presence; new bodies…from lowly to glorious (phil. 3:21; 1 Cor. 15)

Resurrect

4:13-18 The dead in Christ will RISE! Don’t gloss over that…this is AMAZING.

As Jesus died and rose again so those who are IN HIM…we follow him in death AND to life eternal.

Sanctify

5:23 God is interested in our purity. Spirit, Soul, Body…blameless.

“Well that would take an act of God!” ~Exactly…you are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven.

For Us: What this means to His followers…

By-Product of this knowledge…HOPE!

Ps. 121

So what will His return be like?

The Day of the Lord will be …both a wonderful and terrible day. One to be celebrated and anticipated yet one to dread and be frightened by.

ONLY difference is your status before the returning, reigning ALL Powerful King of the Ages…

Matt. 24:30"And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 31"And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Seep and Goats:

Matt. 25:31

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right, [SHEEP] 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

41 Then He will also say to those on His left, [GOATS] 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

[AGAIN] ONLY difference is your status before the returning, reigning ALL Powerful King of the Ages…

How can I know my status?

2 Cor. 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Phil. 3:8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, [the treasure discovered buried in a field] for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, [I’ve sold all I have to buy this field] and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, [the fortune] 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

[God wants us comforted by these truths…but NOT comfortable. In light of this imminent reality, urgency sets in.]

2. LOOK OUT! Live your life in the Light of Eternity [*incorrect the notes]

For OTHERS: external focus (closer walk with One Another)

When it comes to revival, we are often waiting on God to show up and do the miraculous (when) God is waiting for us to show up and do the obvious.”

(Dean Comerford; Future church Ministries New Zealand)

[LOOK OUT has an external meaning but also on of WARNING!]

For YOURSELF: en guarde (closer walk with Christ)

Guard AGAINST:

Discouragement & Bickering:

5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another

Idleness & Impatience:

5:14 …warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

Godless Sorrow & Ungratefulness:

5:16 Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Stand By…

Could mean stand by and do nothing/ not be involved

OR

Could mean being a key part of a military operation in communication w/ the commander who is on the other end of the radio….awaiting further instructions.

 

 

 

 

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