Transcript

John Barnett here, and I'd like to introduce to you today our newest series. I've been working on this for months and now we're recording it and we're going to have 20 sessions this introductory and 19 more sessions going through all the chapters and verses of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and I'm so excited.

But let me give you an overview and I'll be showing you and reading you the key verses, but just touching on well, what you see on the screen. Rapture Ready Living - God's Blueprint for Holy Living. And it's a journey through the life changing truths. Welcome to a series I've long wanted to do and this is my introduction for all of you through the Bible.

Bonnie and I are traveling right now. We're living from place to place between teaching assignments, but we're going to be teaching this class in the United Kingdom and in other parts of mainland Europe all the way across to Asia and the next 20 weeks are going to be so exciting this week and 19 more lessons and I'm going to be showing from my Bible the key verses.

But what you see on the slide in front of you, it's Rapture Ready Living - God's Blueprint For Holy Living - A Journey Through the Life-Changing Truths of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. And what we're going to see here is in a culture that's hostile to God, how do we construct a life that stands firm? And the eight specific points that I'm going to show you from the Bible are one point from each of the chapters. And so let me just show you the eight chapters.

1 Thessalonians 1 is what I call the great U-Turn, how they turn from idols to God, a dramatic transformation in their lives. Chapter two, Paul starts confessing the integrity of life and testimony and ministry that he had. Chapter three, these people whose lives were so deeply enmeshed in the Roman culture and paganism and sin of the day, they came to the theological understanding of justification, and Paul sums up this entire transformation by calling it ememptos, living unaccused, nothing to hide. Chapter four, another Greek word harpazo and that speaks of our blessed hope, the glorious appearing of Christ, and these people-maintained purity in a very impure world, totally parallel to our culture so pornified from advertising to every other part of media. The pornification of culture confronted the purification that Jesus Christ's return offers. So that's going to be a great lesson for us to study. And then chapter five of 1 Thessalonians are the disciplines, rejoicing, praying, giving thanks. In fact, in my Bible, I have marked the incredible 19 different imperatives, and I'm going to be, when we get to that lesson, sharing that with you. Then the sixth lesson is justice, trust God to settle the score. We're not vigilantes, we're not taking the law in our own hands. We trust God. He said vengeance, his mindset, the Lord.

The seventh lesson is 2 Thessalonians 2, and it's how to avoid deception, and we're going to see that in just a minute. And then finally the sum of the whole message of both epistles is Paul just saying we're supposed to have an orderly life working quietly and staying in rank and serving the Lord.

So, the setting that we're going to see. Now remember how we got here is in our Acts study, if you've been coming along with us through Paul's Life and Letters, we got to chapter 17 and Acts 17 the first 10 verses is where Paul goes in chapter 16 it ends and Philippi and Paul starts walking and notice what he walks. He walks 97 miles along the Ignatian Way headed to Thessalonica and he knows he only has a little while to be there because he gets run out of most places where he ministers. And so, despite his short three to six weeks that were, that the book of Acts records that he only had three Sabbath days. So, it was either three weeks or three Sabbath days, and then he was out of the synagogue. But whatever happened, it was very brief and that's Acts 17:6. But modern Thessalonica is built over the ruins of the Roman period where Paul served and the thriving church of Jesus Christ, both in the believers of Thessalonica and around the world, is testimony to what God did through Paul.

So, let's go through these one at a time. The eight keys to Rapture Ready Living. Key number one is the great U-Turn. And I want to read to you, and I would encourage you maybe you can mark these right now or pop a shot, a screenshot of this so that you can get this overview and get your Bible ready. And in the next lesson I'm going to talk to you about the whole journaling and all the options and the resources we have available. But I want you to just enjoy this with us today so you can do whatever helps you study the best. For they themselves report concerning us, the kind of reception we had among you, how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God to wait for His Son from Heaven whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. The concept salvation required a radical break. They switched masters and instead of anticipating sin and the world and the flesh. And everything this world had to do, they were looking for Christ and we're saved to serve and we're not saved to be spectators. And that turn to the living God is one of the key truths of this book.

The second key is key number two, the walk of integrity. And basically, that's in verse 12. If you look at chapter two, verse 12, and if you notice I have it all highlighted and marked in my Bible. It says, we exhort each of you and encourage and charge you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into His Kingdom and glory. The second point, the theme of 1 Thessalonians 2 is walk worthy of God. Our life matches our destination where we're headed. And Paul, do you remember the people saw him and I'll teach you about this? He went 97 miles with the beating from Philippi. He went into the bathhouse. Remember public bathrooms, public bath houses of the Roman Empire. And Paul, when he disrobed and went into the bath, everyone was whispering. They're saying, look at all those fresh wounds. He's probably an escape slave, or maybe he's a thief or some criminal. So, look on the left. Paul said, I had a ministry that wasn't just informational teaching. He said, I had a mother's gentleness cherishing you a father's exhortation. And he says, I taught you how you ought to follow Christ.

The third message, or key to a Rapture Ready Life is the amemptos life. Look at chapter three in your Bible and I would encourage you to mark verse 13 so that he may establish your heart's blameless and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus. Now, do you remember the amemptos life? The whole discovery at the turn of the century of the French, they found these gravestones and I'll talk all through that. And when they brushed them off, they found that word. You see above my head there amemptos. And the definition is unexcused does not imply sinless perfection. And that's the joy that Bonnie and I are teaching. We are frail and broken and fallen humans like all of you, and we have come to know Christ and we are uncondemned for our sin because all my sin is on Christ and all the penalty is on Christ and all His righteousness is on me. Not because I'm worthy of it or deserve it because of His love. And for Bonnie the same as she is recording this and helping me and praying me through this, we have that life and our tombstone testimony is that we're blameless, nothing to hide.

The fourth lesson that we're going to study, key number four of the Rapture Ready Life Blueprint is purity in the promise. And look at chapter four, verse 13, and we're going to study this in depth. But it says, for this we declare, or but we do not want you to be uninformed brothers about those who are asleep that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. And then skipping down to verse 15 where I started for this, we declare to you by the Word of the Lord that we who are alive and left until the coming of the Lord will not proceed those who have fallen asleep. But look at verse 16, for the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. And then here's the blessed hope and the promise we have, then we who are alive, who are left will be caught up.

Now look, there's a Greek word harpazo, it means to snatch away by force when Jerome, the great scholar in the second century, was translating the Greek and Hebrew Bible into the Latin in the second century, which was the beginning of the Byzantine era and the beginning of the church wanting the Bible in Latin, the language of the Empire, he translated harpazo into Rapturo Latin, which became Rapture in English.

Now the connection is Paul, in this cesspool of immorality calls them, and we're going to cover this in depth in verses three and four. This is the will of God, your sanctification, be pure. And the blessed hope is Jesus is coming to snatch us. And so, we want to be found by him living the way he asks us to live. And that's our fourth lesson. It's going to be such a joy to share that with you.

Our fifth lesson is right here chapter five, the disciplines of the day of the Lord comes like a thief and the world is sleeping and they face judgment. But we are children of the day and Paul repeats this. Now remember Paul is in Corinth as he's writing this, and it's the same city that he's writing not only 1 & 2 Thessalonians, but he writes the epistle to the Romans. And the epistle to Titus, all four of those, he writes from Corinth and then he writes from Macedonia, two letters to Corinth, which are 1 & 2 Corinthians. So, a total of six letters are surrounding Corinth.

But this, Paul said to the Romans in chapter 13, we're supposed to put on the armor of light and we're supposed to awake and live and put on Christ. And so, our operating system is this triple thread. You see above my head, rejoice always and to the right, pray without ceasing, and there at the bottom, and in everything give thanks. This triple thread is the antidote to spiritual sleepiness, but grumbling is a sign of sleepiness. It's like the world, and so God's will for us, just as we saw in chapter four, is sanctification and holiness and purity. God's will for us here in chapter five is to be rejoicing, praying, and thankful as a follower of Christ.

Now, the sixth key right there is the fire of justice. It's 2 Thessalonians 1 notice Paul shifts tone. They are so heavily persecuted as he writes the second letter he's concerned. They've also had a real test to their faith because you see they had this intense fiery persecution. And Paul says, Hey, a payday is coming bottom left. The concept is God promises you who are suffering. He's going to trouble those who are suffering. Let me read that to you in 2 Thessalonians 1:6, since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. God knows who's afflicting you, and God will repay them in kind and vengeance is His continuing inflaming fire. Verse eight, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and who do not obey the Gospel of the Lord, so what a hope for them.

Well, key number seven, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, the antidote to deception, and we're living in the most deceptive times. Look what it says a message to them and for us. Also in verse three, let no one deceive you in any way for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first. And what Paul gives is even a whole reminder of this. And we're going to go through this in this lesson. When we get to it in seven lessons from now. But the danger is the church was shaken by forged letters and false teachings, and Paul said, this is just the beginning. There's going to be a man of sin. The Anti-christ coming. What's the safety mechanism? Well, we are to love the truth and it's not enough to own a Bible or to know about the truth. We have to love it. And if you're not anchored to the Scripture, we're vulnerable, which leads us to what I'm going to teach you all the way through this class.

And that is that there are two tools that every student of Scripture needs. On the left, they need a systemic theology, which sums up, you see right down the middle there, a summary of theology throughout all the centuries from the Roman Catholic time, the that Byzantine Church in Jerome and how it grew into the Roman Catholic Church, all the way down through our current modern charismatic Pentecostal renewal period. This theology there is to see systematic theology takes all the verses in the Bible, puts them in the blender, and then pours out around each of the major divisions of systematic theology, all the verses and logically explains them. But it logically explains what the Catholics, the Anglicans, the Armenians, Baptist, Dispensational, Lutheran, reform, Renewable believe. Somewhere in that stream you'll find your background, and none of us are exclusively anything but biblical. Okay?

There's only one book, I believe, every word of the Bible, even the systematic theology. I've taught it through twice every one of the 1,253 pages to the elders and deacons of Tulsa Bible Church, and Calvary Bible Church. In those years of teaching, I would preface my teaching time each month with saying, now I don't agree with everything that Grudem says. He is a brother in Christ. I'm going to show you what he says, what the Bible says and how I disagree with him. But this gives us a common ground so we can discuss this theological truth. So, it helps to understand what people that are also in Christ that disagree with us believe. So that's the value of it.

Now, on the right we all need a summary of doctrine. If you can only buy one resource, buy the MacArthur Study Bible. That is like a complete Bible college seminary education, 25,000 notes for the 31,000 verses of the Bible. Just a treasure. And I'm going to be teaching you in this course how to use the MacArthur Study Bible and how to use Wayne Grudem, and I'll even be citing both of them in the classes. Okay?

Key number eight is the orderly life. And this is what it says in 2 Thessalonians 3:6, now we command you brothers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness, not according to the tradition that you receive from us in verse 11, for we hear that some walk in idleness, not at work, but busy bodies. Now such persons, we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their own work quietly and to earn their own living.

Paul exhorts us to the orderly life. Some believers had stopped working and became busy bodies. What we see nowadays, they comment on everything online and post and debate everything. Disorderly is a military term. We're going to look at the Greek language. It's being out of rank, what you see in the center. See how the tort, the shields of the Roman, all Legionnaires made that tortoise shell, but when one was out of rank, people could shoot through the area and hit some of the soldiers. And that's what happens. So, we're to work with quietness, eat our own bread. The quiet life is what Paul calls us to and God commands. And the best way to work for or to wait for Jesus is to be busy. Our life should be quiet and a disciplined testimony to the world.

So, the eight keys to a Rapture Ready Life. We're going to study chapter one, chapter two on integrity, blameless before the Lord, the second coming of Christ in the weeks ahead. What a week. That's going to be a glorious week. How to discipline our lives and give thanks and not be like the world letting God His justice come and protect it from the lies of the devil in the world and artificial truth all around us and living that orderly life.

Now, there's three action steps. And so, what I'm encouraging you is to take this course for the next 20 weeks. Take your Bible, mark it, do your devotional journal, and then watch this.

Get joyful. That's the first, before you worry about writing anything down this verse at the bottom, thy words were found. So, what I encourage is take a whole week on each chapter. So that means you don't have to exclusively do this. You can continue with your church or Sunday school or your classes or lessons or whatever you're doing with your family. But Jeremiah summarized and it, I just spoke at a conference and I told them, this is one of my favorite verses in the whole world, Thy words were found, that's me seeking God in His Word. And I did eat them, that's me, reading and asking the Lord to open my eyes. And Thy Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. I find this joy welling up.

And I'm going to tell you stories all the way through. I just had to have my phone fixed so we could travel. And I went into the Apple store and they assigned me this fellow walked right up to me and he looked at me and he said, you are a Christian. I've never had anybody do that before. And I thought, oh, the iPhone's spying on me knows what I'm reading, what I'm looking at, where I'm going on the internet. He said no. This was in New England before we took off on a trip. And he said no. He said, I work all day long in this gigantic New England mall near Boston. And he said, I see hundreds and thousands of people streaming through here. He said, I can tell the Christians. He said, a Christian has radiance. Wow. Get joyful. The rejoicing in my heart because I'm called by Your name, oh Lord of hosts.

Number two, get accountable. You can't survive the coming cultural darkness without joining a local church and forming a small group. And we need to be doing what it says in Hebrews 10, pulling each other out of the ditch.

Let me just talk about that. The mandate of the body of Christ is we're to and let me just go through. Hebrews 10 with you. And let us consider one another. So, we have to have a group that we're watching in order to stir up. So, we have to be close enough to actually you can't do this online. You have to do this in person. You have to look them in the eye. It has to be real. It has to be you saying to them, I'm watching you. I know you, you're different. You're down today. You're struggling with something. What's going on? The word stir, great Greek word, it is paroxysm. Where we get the English word paroxysm from.

It means that we don't just lightly do it. We say, hey you got to, snap out of this. The devil is devouring you. Okay? Because we're not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. That's the local church and our small group as a matter of some is, but we get together and exhort one another. But look at this and so much the more as we see the day, Christ's Return approaching. The church that Jesus bought in his building is a network of connecting individuals. It's not unconnected islands. We're called to speak. Listen, faith stirring hope building words, that's what the Lord wants.

And so many people get caught in that isolation trap and the battles around us, and Satan picks them off the weakest in the flock and they're get getting swallowed up by the storms rather than the strength of living stones connected, resist temptation to isolate, break into someone's life with words from God's Word. You'll see the wiles of the devil frustrated in their life and yours.

This is what Bonnie and I get to do all this. We just finished up at a conference and now we're launching to our long time. We go all the way from September through November traveling across Europe and the Middle East and finish in Asia and get home after Thanksgiving. But in that long time, we spend so much time with one-on-one discipleships and counseling sessions with both frontline missionaries and next generation students, the young people and what a thrill it is to see, look at this, Satan's wiles frustrated in their life by the Word of God.

Now, this is how you stir someone up. You check if they're listening to God, feeding on His Word, reading the word, and memorizing, and whether they're talking to God in prayer and witnessing to others. That's how we stir ourselves up. And then when we encourage those listening and talking spiritual disciplines in their life, it stirs them up. And when they, as we are empowered by the Spirit of God, we exhort, we encourage, we correct. That's what God wants.

And then finally, get protected. Protect yourself from the coming mega-deceptions by not only having your digital Bible, have an analog Bible and know your doctrine. That's why I talk about the systematic theology in the study Bible.

And then pray for us. There's my wonderful wife Bonnie, and it is such a thrill to serve with her, and I hope that you will just let us be a part of your life in these next days.

So, it's time to go. And I encourage you to take this course this playlist, this is Class Zero, and the playlist below it are all 20 of the classes. And that ends with a summary when I go back over all eight chapters and just encourage you to get connected, get joyful, and get protected by God. And let's live Rapture Ready Lives. Orderly, joyful, secure lives, protected and grounded in the truth, resisting the devil and speaking His Word into the lives of others as we allow Him to speak to us. Thanks for letting me share this series with you. I hope you'll be with us in the days ahead and do send me notes and messages and wonderful Bonnie too that you can't see this behind me and let us know you're taking the classes and let us know how God is working in your hearts. Thanks for joining us. God bless you as we study through 1 and 2 Thessalonians together in the days ahead.