Your call to worship is found on the inside page of your bulletin. It is from Psalm 96, verses one through six. So if you would turn to the inside page of your bulletin and look at that with me, and would you stand with me as we call one another to worship? This is a responsive reading, so the congregation will read what is in the bold. Hear now the word of the living and the true God. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name. Proclaim the glad tidings of his salvation from day to day. Tell of his glory among the nations, his wonderful deeds among all the peoples. for all the gods of the peoples are idols but Yahweh made the heavens and all God's people said all right would you turn with me to your Hymns of Grace hymnal. That's your darker, larger, blue hymnal, Hymns of Grace. And to number five, How Great Thou Art. Hymns of Grace, number five. Oh Oh Great Thou Art. Thou break Thou art, Thou break Thou art. And sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee. Thou break Thou art, Thou break Thou art. ♪ I scarce can take it anymore ♪ the great love of God. ♪ Thou great Thou art ♪ Our Heavenly Father, it is our privilege to declare how great you are. Our praises are meant for you, and yet you are ministering to us here today. I thank you that we can gather as your body, body of believers. Pray that we would encourage one another this morning through our songs, and that we would Have prayers, have the word spoken, the word read in a way that honors and glorifies you. We desire to bring you glory this morning. I pray that we as a body would be obedient, your obedient church, that you would sanctify us today, that you would prepare us for the battles that we face, that we would wage war against the principalities and the powers of this age with your word. So put your word in our hearts today. Put it in our minds and help it to come out of our mouths at the appropriate times. Help us to have compassion and for those who are lost, to have a hatred of sin. and to despise what is evil and wicked and not to be afraid to stand against it, but to do so in a way that is honoring and glorifying to you through the power of your Holy Spirit. And I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Turn with me now in your Trinity hymnal. It's the other hymnal that you have in front of you. Trinity number 285. Blessed be the tie that binds. 285 in your Trinity. Hey! Our scripture reading this morning is 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians 13. As we're reading consecutively through, chapter 12 last week was heavy on spiritual gifts, and chapter 14 will be heavy discussion on spiritual gifts, and 13 sandwiched right in the middle. It's a famous chapter on love. The Corinthian church had a lot of problems. And so this is written to them, but it's also written for us. And so God's word is living and active, and it's for us to take heart and learn from. And so much of what the Corinthian church was dealing with was immaturity. And so this passage is written to children of all ages. And Paul will emphasize Near the end, when I was a child, I spoke like a child, and I thought like a child, and I reasoned like a child. But when I became a man, I gave up childish things. And so all of us are being called to a maturity. And what is spoken of here is not a formula for being a good person. It is a gift from the Holy Spirit. And we don't naturally have the skills to possess this kind of love. And so let's call on the Holy Spirit as we read. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, beginning at verse 1, the words of the Lord. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away. As for tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge, it will pass away, for we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love. Amen. As we go to God in prayer this morning, we're remembering the Uhlbergs who labor in Teresia, Bolivia. Remembering their work for the gospel there. As well as we want to pray for all gospel churches all over the world that are meeting this Lord's Day. We know that we have many brothers and sisters and other parts of the world who are meeting under conditions that we can hardly even fathom. And we want to lift them up in our prayers and ask that our Lord would be merciful and gracious to them this morning as he would be to us. So let's go before our God together. Father in heaven, we gather in your name this morning asking that your name would be hallowed that your name would be holied amongst us and through us in the whole world. We ask that your will would be done and your kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. So, even as we utter those words, we understand that contained in them is the desire to see the gospel go forth and penetrate into the darkest parts of the world, the hardest reached places in the world, the most far flung places in the world. And we ask that Christ's kingdom would come and be established in healthy local churches there. And we also recognize that there's another half to that prayer, your kingdom come, that is come Lord Jesus. We ask you come Lord Jesus this morning and bring to us the fulfillment of everything that we're experiencing in part here today. Your glory, seen by your people. We pray as your people because we can pray this prayer because we know you. Pray, show us your glory. Show us your glory in your word, both written and incarnate, exalted. Show us your glory in the face of Jesus Christ. We pray for the Uhlbergs this morning who labor in Bolivia. We ask that you'd strengthen their hands. We ask that you would cause your kingdom to grow through them. We ask you that they would be committed to Christ above all things. Help them along with us to know that we are nothing and Christ is everything. Help us to be so externally focused on the face of Jesus that we forget what our own face looks like in some sense. Help us to be transformed from one degree of glory to the next, because we behold the glory of the Lord. So Lord, we ask as your word goes forward this morning, that it would go forward not just externally, not just from the voice of Pastor Calvin, but that it would come in the spirit and power. We ask that Christ would be magnified and that he would be adored amongst his people. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. We're gonna sing one more song before Pastor Calvin comes. It's gonna be Trinity 429. Trinity 429. ♪ He took on the throne to defend his cause ♪ ♪ Victory on earth, on his word ♪ ♪ All glory on his cross ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord God, I know his name ♪ ♪ His name is God ♪ ♪ Promised it that he can well stay pure ♪ ♪ But a commitment to his debt ♪ ♪ Will hold decisive power ♪ ♪ Then will he own thy worthless name ♪ ♪ Leave all your troubles behind ♪ First Thessalonians chapter one. First Thessalonians chapter one. I'll read in your hearing starting at verse eight and going to the end of the chapter. First Thessalonians one and verse eight. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia, but Acadia, but also in every place. Your faith towards God has gone forth so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you, and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescued us from the wrath to come. Well, as we come to this section of scripture, I would remind you that the Apostle Paul, in the opening of this letter to the Church of the Thessalonians, has been giving much thanks to God. And his heart is filled with gratitude because of what he has both seen and heard that God is doing in the lives of those that make up this body of Christ in Thessalonica. He points out that through the Word and by the work of the Spirit, and again, if you were in the Sunday school hour, Pastor Micah pretty much took my introduction as he opened up this passage of Scripture a little bit, but he took the Word of God and by the Spirit of God, God working in their hearts begins to increase godly graces in their lives. Their lives became marked by faith and love and hope. They were known as a people who were diligently living a life that is marked by a work of faith, a labor of love, and a steadfastness of hope. And no doubt, seeing that in their lives, the apostle Paul knows that the Spirit of God is using the Word of God to make them more like the Son of God. And he rejoices in that and gives thanks to God. And because of that as well, he is convinced that they are a people chosen of God. He is confident of that reality because he knows that the sovereign Choice of God has consequences in the lives of individuals. And so he gives thanks to God for that. He gives thanks to God because the word of God has been embraced as truth. by the individuals that make up this church, so that their lives are transformed. And as the Apostle Paul mentioned, you became imitators of me and the Lord. And by that, he's saying you've become disciples of Jesus Christ. If you're imitating me, Paul says, you're imitating the Lord. And so you are his disciples. And then he ends up saying, and not only that, how thankful I am that you've become examples. To all the believers in Macedonia and Acadia. And so the Apostle Paul, as he continues on here, continues to give thanks to God for what he has seen and heard, but also he goes on to explain the way in which the believers at Thessalonica are examples to others. And in verses 8 through 10, there are two ways in which they have become examples. One is by the extensive proclamation of the gospel. And then secondly, by the persuasive transformation that has taken place because of the gospel. So Paul's thankful for these two things, but he also points out that they're examples to others as these things are lived out in their lives. So as we open up this passage that I've read in your hearing, we shall do so under those two points. First of all, the extensive proclamation. the widespread proclamation of the word of God. Notice verse eight. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia, but in Acadia, but also in every place your faith towards God has gone forth. Now, first of all, notice with me the essence of this example. The essence. It centers around the word of the Lord. Now, if you'll notice, as you read through this letter, the progression of the word of the Lord. First of all, we are told, it came to them. Verse five, for the gospel did not come to you in word only. Remember last week we talked about it did come in the word. There was a message that was sounded. So that word came to them. And then in verse six, we are told they received the word. They embraced that word. They believed that word. And now here in verse eight, they've become enthusiastic promoters of the word. For we read, for the word of the Lord is sounded. So the word came, the word was received, and the word spread through this church at Thessalonica. So what is the word of the Lord? What do we mean when we talk about the word of the Lord? Well, it's interesting to notice how the Apostle Paul sort of interchanges the word of the Lord with the word like gospel. He says there in verse five, for our gospel, that is our good news. So when we hear that the word of the Lord is spreading, he has in mind the gospel and the focus of the gospel is the person and work of Jesus Christ. The gospel is a message concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter eight and verse 25, when Luke wrote of the ministry of Peter and John in Samaria, that they had solemnly testified and spoke the word of the Lord And it says this, they started back to Jerusalem and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. So here we see when the word of the Lord comes, it is that of the gospel. Remember back in Acts chapter 17, when Paul first went to Thessalonica, We read in chapter three of Acts 17 these words. For three Sabbaths, Paul reasoned with them from the scriptures, giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, saying, this Jesus, who I am proclaiming to you, is the Christ. It's interesting to note when we read verse eight, at the end of that verse, the Apostle Paul says that what is sounded in every place is your faith towards God has gone out so that we have no need to say anything. Your faith has gone out, your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So you see exactly what Pastor Micah set before us in the Sunday school hour. Here comes the ordinary means of grace, that being the word of God, men are confronted with the reality of their sins, and because of their sins they stand under the wrath of Almighty God, and there's only one way to be reconciled to God, and that's through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ comes into the world and gives up His life as a ransom for many. Jesus Christ takes our sin upon himself so that whoever believes in him will never perish, but have everlasting life. That is the word of the Lord. That is being proclaimed. Because of the believers. There at Thessalonica, the good news is sounding forth. This word sounding forth only appears here in the New Testament. But it is a word that we know from other Greek literature carries the thought of a clap of thunder. I was waiting last night for that one big boom. It never came my way. I don't know if anybody else got one, all right, that suddenly everybody hears it. Even those that are sleeping suddenly awaken from their sleep. What was that? It also has the idea of the sound of a blast of a trumpet. The blast of a trumpet. One of the instruments that one of my boys played was that of a trumpet. And we went through that, which everyone I think goes through when their son first gets a trumpet. He walks around the house and you're in the midst of doing something and suddenly behind you is this blast of a trumpet that scares you half to death as that noise goes forth. It was my first son. My second son did not play the trumpet. But here the Apostle Paul says that gospel, that word of the Lord was sounding forth like a trumpet blast. Macedonia and Acadia, and it was spreading through all of what we might call modern Greece. The news. was not only a message that came, it was not only words that were spoken, but this news came with power and by the Holy Spirit. And lives are changed. F.F. Bruce writes, having received the gospel, The believers, I'm sorry, having received the gospel, the Thessalonian Christians had no thought of keeping it to themselves. By the word and by that life, they made it known to others. They had no thought of keeping it to themselves. Dear people, the gospel is not a fine piece of china that you put in the back of the china cabinet and no one ever sees it. The gospel should be like that of a trumpet blasting the truth and praying that the spirit of God would come and awaken dead men to their need of a savior. It is the only possible way in which men can be reconciled to God. And dear people, what we see in the Church of the Thessalonians, we ought to pray we might see in this place and wherever the word is proclaimed. that it would come with power and by the Spirit and men would be awakened and run to Christ as their only hope of eternal life. It ought to be our prayer that in this place this morning, that God by his spirit, someone may be sitting here and thinking, I have no desire to be here. I have no desire to hear what is being said, but oh, that God would come by his spirit and by power and awaken them, open their eyes that they might see apart from Jesus Christ, there is no hope. and that today would be a day of salvation. What has happened in the Church of the Thessalonians was the awakening power of God that changes a person so that I believe when it says that this word was sounded forth from you. It wasn't that they've sent out missionaries. Maybe they did. But I believe what Paul's pointing out here is, you know what? There was such a radical change that was taking place in Thessalonica that others noted it. And as they traveled They would say, you know, they arrived at Macedonia. And one man would say, hey, I just came from Thessalonica. And God seems to be doing something there. Some of those people are not what they were the last time I traveled into that place. Phillips in his commentary says this, their reputation for faith in God likely began at home. Husbands were astonished at the new conduct of their wives who had been converted to Christ. I read that and I thought, you know, the old saying, when something's different about your wife, well, what did you do with my wife? And these men, some of their wives were converted. Remember, it says that in Acts chapter 17, concerning some women who were converted. And I imagine them going home and having a sweeter disposition. really coming and embracing their role in the home and doing it gladly. And the husband's like, what happened to my wife? Anyway, Phillips goes on to say, husbands were astonished at the new conduct of their wives who were converted to Christ. Friends and neighbors commented on the new priorities seen among those who embrace the gospel. So profound was the change among many people that the news of a significant event in Thessalonica began spreading, especially when the Christians would not give up their faith in the midst of persecution, but responded to trial with a steadfast hope and joy of the Holy Spirit. So the sounding forth of the gospel, yes, it has to come by way of message. But given the opportunity, proclaim that message came because of the reputation of many of those in Thessalonica and the change that's taken place in their lives. I would imagine some businessman who's done business in Thessalonica over and over again, and he goes in and he sees the man that he's making a transaction with, and in the past he's had to watch that man because he knows that man would cheat him if he had the opportunity, when suddenly he goes in and instead of having to watch him, he's amazed at his generosity. And usually when I'm talking to that businessman, there are all kinds of expletives that come out of his mouth. And that doesn't happen. And I usually watch this man as he berates his wife or as he angrily disciplines his children, and that doesn't happen. And the man leaves Thessalonica and goes to Macedonia, and he arrives there and says, wow, the craziest things going on in that place. Lives are changing. Well, what's funnered about? They say something about the gospel. What's the gospel? I don't know. Let's go find out. Oh, to see that in our day. Well, we who call ourselves Christians are distinct from the world by how we live. Because we seek to live a life that's marked by the work of faith, by labor of love, and by a steadfast hope. That's the essence of the example that the Apostle Paul speaks of here, but I want you to notice the effect. The Apostle Paul goes on and says, The word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Acadia, but also in every place your faith towards God has gone forth so that We have no need to say anything. Paul meets somebody and gets ready to share when he says, I want to share with you concerning the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. I want to tell you about Jesus Christ. And the person says, you don't need to. I've already heard. I've already seen. Now it doesn't mean that Paul doesn't want to give the gospel. He would no doubt delight in giving the gospel and would no doubt give the gospel. The amazing thing was the testimony of the Thessalonians. Their reputation was as such when Paul would meet certain people He wouldn't even have to say a thing, either because by their life or by their words, the Thessalonians has already sought to give them the word of the Lord. I wonder what the reputation of the Reformed Baptist Church of Linole is. out in the world. Do they even know that we are a people who have been united to Christ by faith and that has an effect upon how we conduct ourselves in this broken and sinful world? Is our reputation one of simply being a church that loves doctrine? And we ought to love doctrine. But are we more concerned about convincing others about the sovereignty of God, which is biblical, than we are about sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our faith and our action and our words should be genuine and powerful that draws the attention and stirs up others to seek God. Our faith should be evident, not only because we're ready. to give an answer to those that ask of the hope that lies within us. We're ready to speak the truth, to speak the gospel, but also our lives demonstrate that we are a people who've been bought with a price and therefore we seek to glorify our Father who is in heaven and that's displayed in my home and in my workplace and socially I know we don't live in a communistic country where our faith could mean our head. But dear people, as Christians, even living in America, our lives should be distinct. because of the way we talk, because of the way we act, because of our love for Christ, there ought to be a distinction between us and the world. And more and more, we're finding the church wanting to be like the world instead of longing for the world to know our Christ. And so we take the rough edges off the gospel. so that people might come and feel better about themselves when they leave. We find ourselves seeking to be more performance-driven than word-driven. Church of Thessalonica had a reputation of being a church that loved the Lord Jesus Christ because of their indebtedness to him for his work that brought forgiveness to them. What is our reputation as a church? Maybe next week I'll just stop strangers on the street in Adrian and say, did you ever hear of Reformed Baptist Church of Lenawee? Most of them may say, never heard of them. Or most of them, some of them may say, I've seen their sign. They just came to town, didn't they? No, we've been here 30, almost 40 years. Are we making a difference? Dear people, I don't want our reputation to be a place where you can come and get entertained and get a good performance. I pray I want our reputation in Lenawee County to be, we go there if we wanna hear the word of God. May God help us. I was speaking to a young man this past week who was in a church and he wanted to do church planting. And the authorities in the church says, well, you know, to plant a church, it's gonna take you at least $500,000. I thought to myself, I've been here 40 years and we've never seen $500,000. But the authorities in that church say you need at least $500,000 and it wasn't so that you're taking care of, but he said at least $100,000 is needed. So you can get the right lights and the lights, right? Sound system, smoke machines, and everything else you need to start a church. It seems to me if you want to plan a church. You need this. And proclaim this. So we see here the extensive proclamation. But now then, secondly, in verses 9 and 10, there is a persuasive transformation. It says there in verse nine, for they themselves report to us what kind of reception we had with you. Now the they are the believers at Macedonia and Acadia, and what is reported is what kind of, and the word here that's in the New American Standard, reception, is the word that is translated entrance. When we came among you, it's the same word that is used in chapter two and verse one. For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming, there it is, it's the same word, our entrance, our reception to you was not in vain. And so what the report was is that when Paul and Silas and Timothy arrived in Thessalonica, the reception or the entrance they received was a people who wanted to hear the word of God, who wanted to hear the word of the Lord. And that's what we need to pray. We need to pray that God would provide people who want to hear the word of the Lord, who want to hear what God has to say. And so they themselves reported about us, what kind of reception we had received from you. And when you came to hear the word of God and the power of God came, in the spirit of God, you embraced it and you turned to God from idols to serve the living and the true God. When the word of God came among you, you turned. John Stott writes of verse nine that it presents the fullest account of Christian conversion in the New Testament. The fullest account of Christian conversion in the New Testament. They turn. They turn to God. It's the same language that is used in verse 8, in every place, your faith towards God. It's the thought that as the Word of God came, you came face to face with God. You turn to God is the idea here. It is to turn from sin to Christ, from darkness to light, from idols to God. It's what true conversion is. This is an illustration of genuine repentance. There is a great contrast that comes in. And you turn away And you turn toward. That's the thought. That's the idea. And that's what happened to these individuals at Thessalonica. They turned toward God. They wanted a relationship with God. And in order to do that, they had to turn away from their idols. There's one God. There's only one God. And you can't take God and still hold on to other gods. He must be your priority. We read in Acts chapter 11 and verse 21, that when the word of the Lord was preached in Antioch, We read, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. There is a personal, active change of direction in your life. True conversion brings about a real change, a real contrast. And that change grows. But whenever there's true conversion, there's a contrast from what you once were. Paul says it this way, old things pass away and all things become new. And though you may have many areas in your life in which you need to grow, There's been a change where one time the focus of my life was me, now the focus of my life is to glorify God. At one time I sought the wisdom of the world, and now I am seeking the wisdom of God. A change. And Paul says concerning the Thessalonica's, you've turned toward God. and you've turned away from my idols. You see, idolatry had such a grip upon the people that they feared of offending their idols. To disregard would certainly provoke the wrath of these idols. And not only that, it would probably provoke the wrath of my family and my friends. Conversion cost. But my friends, oh, the foolishness of idols. Isaiah 44. I won't take time to turn to us. I mean, it just shows you the foolishness of idols. So there it talks about, you got this wood, you got this pile of wood, and you take some of the wood, you know what you do with it? You put it in the stove and you bake your bread and your cakes and so forth, and then you eat and so forth. And then you go over the same pile and you take the wood again and you carve out some idol. The same wood that one moment you're baking bread with is now something you're bowing down to. How foolish is that? Where is Psalm 115? Talks about these idols. They have ears. Can't hear a thing. They have mouths and they can't speak. They have feet and they go no place. When I was a senior in high school, I went on a trip to Mexico. And the place where we were at, it was very much out in the country. But as we were walking along the roads or whatever, there would be certain times we would come up on these idols in the middle of nowhere, people lighting candles. And I remember looking, and sure enough, he's got a mouth. But he never said a word to me. And if I spoke to him, he wouldn't respond. And the whole time, I was there for about a week, but every time I passed that idol, he was still right there, still with the same look on his face. Didn't move an inch. An idol is anything that we give priority to over God, over God. And the Apostle Paul says concerning the church at Thessalonica, the believers there, you turned from those idols. You got rid of them. But not only did you get rid of them, You turn to serve God. Your life was marked out by living for God. There's been a radical shift in how you once lived. What the Apostle Paul is describing here is not simply a people that were giving a head nod to certain doctrine. You know, do you believe in God? Oh, yes. I imagine I could go out on the streets of Adrian today and ask people, do you believe in God? Oh, yes, I believe there's a God. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? I imagine most people would say, yeah, without him, we wouldn't have Christmas. So I've heard of Jesus. Churches are filled with people who believe in God, who believe in Jesus, who know they're sinners, but have never ever truly had dealings with God. Is there evidence in our lives that we are passionately devoted towards God? I mean, that's the persuasive transformation that has taken place. When my children were younger, They had, remember those transformers, you know? One moment, that thing was a car. The next moment, it's like a person. What a change. A car to a person. I'm a transformer. I was once a dead man, lost in my sin, thought only of myself. But Jesus Christ brought about a radical change. And when I say a radical change, don't get me wrong, I never took drugs. I've never been drunk. Every young lady I dated in high school, I can look eyeball to eyeball with today. I was, I was, I don't know who's talking to me. I was a pretty decent person. But when I came to Christ, my life radically changed. I wanted to please him. I wanted to be sensitive to my sin. Have you experienced that type of transformation? And so they turned to God, they turned away from idols, but they also became a people that were waiting. Notice what it says, and to wait for the son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescued us from the wrath to come. It's interesting. He says that they're waiting for Jesus. The term that's used here again is only used here in the New Testament, the one that's here. It conveys the thought of patient expectation and trust. These believers were convinced that Jesus Christ was going to come again. And they were waiting for his return. Now, it is interesting. Waiting did not mean they were just sitting around twiddling their thumbs. While they were waiting, they were serving. There's no need for us to go to a mountain and sit there humming or whatever you do when you're on a mountain waiting, but there's no need for us to go to a mountain and hum and wait for Jesus to come. There's work to be done. So while we're waiting, we ought to be serving. That's what characterized the church at Thessalonica. Serving and waiting goes together for a converted individual. But they're waiting for that one who was raised from the dead. What gave them hope was the reality of the resurrection. The resurrection was proof that God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sins of his people. If Christ would have remained in that tomb. Then we would have no hope. But Jesus Christ conquered death, the last great enemy. And his resurrection is my guaranteed that my sins and the punishment of my sins has been paid in full by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when the apostle Paul writes about their waiting for his son in heaven, who was raised from the dead, that would all the more encourage him. That's right, he conquered death. And I don't need to fear death. But he goes on and says, this Jesus who rescued us from the wrath to come. When Jesus Christ comes again, it will be the most glorious day or the most sobering day of an individual's life. When Jesus Christ comes again and takes his own and we meet him in the what a day when we see our Savior face to face. And the only reason I can see my Savior face to face is because the punishment of my sin has already been paid. The wrath is removed. Because when Jesus Christ comes again, it will also be a day of great wrath. He will destroy the heavens and the earth. Men will hide in caves, pleading that the cave might fall upon them, as opposed to experience the wrath of Almighty God. On that day, it's too late, there's no more rescue. But dear people, every one of us in this building right now will either rejoice in the fact that God has rescued me, or you'll have the worst day of your life, one or the other. So where do you stand? He's coming back. Oh, pastor, they've been saying that for years. Yeah, they have been, but he's going to come back. Are you waiting for his return? Are you eagerly waiting for his return? And so here we see. in the lives of the believers of the Church of the Thessalonians, an extensive proclamation and a persuasive transformation set before us. Let's pray. Father in heaven, take your word now, words that come from the lips of someone who has no power to change lives. Yet your word with the work of the spirit can transform lives in this place this morning. And we pray it would happen. that some may walk out of here for the first time knowing the reality of sin forgiven and being reconciled to God. For many of us who have tasted of the grace of God, how we pray that Father, we would never lose the wonder of your grace and goodness towards us. And that we would ever be growing in our relationship with you, growing in our faith. And so, Father, do a work in all of our hearts and lives. In a way that brings most glory and honor unto your name. For we ask them in your son's name. Amen. In closing, take the Trinity hymn book. The Trinity hymn book, 599, speaks of that day when our Lord will come. The sands of time are seeking. The dawn of heaven breaks. We're closer to that day than we've ever been before. And we look forward to his coming. 599, Trinity hymn book. ♪ And praise the sun, O bright sun, ♪ ♪ For the best we've known of grace. ♪ ♪ Our God hath made the midnight, the day's present, ♪ ♪ Is their army proud, O'er the land of the free ♪ Please. ♪ We've given the Lord His second birth ♪ ♪ And then He saw the glory of His heaven's birth ♪ ♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah ♪ You're visiting with us. We're delighted to have you. And if you haven't signed the guest book, please do so. On your way out, sit in the lobby. We are having lunch. It's in about 145. We'll come back in here and hear from God's Word again. Pastor Micah will be back in Isaiah this afternoon. So we can look forward to that. You are dismissed.