WEBVTT
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The word of the Lord for you today can be summarized in these ten
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words. What God did for Jesus, God will do for you.
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In the name of Jesus, who died and rose again.
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Amen.
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As most of you know, we're making our way through First Thessalonians on
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these Mondays this semester.
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Last week, we heard how the Thessalonians were taught how to face
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life. Lead pure lies, avoid sexual impurity, immorality uncleanness,
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continue to show brotherly love just as you have done, and mind your
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own business.
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Lead quiet lives, lead productive lives.
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Today, the lesson pertained not to how to face life, but how to face
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death.
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Paul, Silas, Timothy, they had these words we do not want you brothers
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to be ignorant, to be uninformed about those who are asleep.
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So you do not grieve, so you are not distressed or you are not
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concerned, like those who have no hope.
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For since we believe that Christ died and rose again, so through him,
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God will bring all who have fallen asleep.
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The Thessalonians
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if you read First and Second Thessalonians were confused about the day
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of the Lord.
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About that day when God would finally be done with sin and evil, with
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death and destruction, with violence and oppression, with poverty,
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hunger, sickness, illness, infirmity, when he would turn all that over
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and judge it and bring about something new, eternal, full of life,
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brightness, joy.
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That would be the day of the Lord.
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If you read Second Thessalonians, they had heard reports that the day
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of the Lord had come.
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They had missed it.
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They have to be told
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it hasn't come yet.
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Don't get all excited.
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First, there has to be a rebellion and a man of lawlessness has to be
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revealed.
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That hasn't happened.
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You haven't missed it.
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But it seems that they also thought about this.
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What if I died before the day of the Lord?
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Perhaps they had to experienced a death in their congregation.
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What about Joe?
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What about Sid?
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What about Mary?
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What about the day of the Lord for them?
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And so the word for them is don't be so alarmed.
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What God did for Jesus, he will do for you.
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For all who are asleep.
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Jesus died, but God raised him from the dead.
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And in the same way, those who are in Christ, if they die, they will
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be raised.
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In fact, when Christ comes again, when the day of the Lord happens,
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when the Lord returns, those who are dead in Christ, they will be
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raised and be with Christ first. Only after they are raised and
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gathered with Christ, will, also those who have been left behind,
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those who are still alive
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when Christ returns, when the Lord finally makes his glorious
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reappearing, they too will join and everyone will be with the Lord.
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Encourage each other with these words.
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Now that happened a long time ago in situation very different from
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ours.
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But the day of the Lord has not yet come and there is still death and
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dying.
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And so what was said to the Thessalonians I say to you. What God did
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for Jesus, God will do for you.
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Jesus died, but God raised him from the dead.
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And if you die before Jesus comes back, God will raise you from the
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dead.
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But the message that Paul has here fits more than, of course, this
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kind of situation.
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Now there is death and there is dying.
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Some of you recently have experienced that the death of a loved one,
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the death of a friend, the death of someone you knew a long time in
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your church, a death of a sister or a brother in Christ.
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Or maybe you've heard news about someone who might be facing death or
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maybe might even be you.
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So the
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promise is this what God did for Jesus, he will do for you.
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But sometimes it isn't death that is hard to face its life.
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In the mid 20th century, Albert Camus, the French writer, wrote about
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suicide as a philosophical problem.
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There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, he
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wrote, and that is suicide.
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Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to the
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fundamental question of suicide.
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All the rest, whether there are three dimensions.
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This is Albert Einstein.
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Whether the mind has nine or twelve categories.
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Immanuel Kant.
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These come afterwards.
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These are games.
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Now, suicide as to the psychological problem is the mental problem is
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really serious.
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But he was considering the bare fact of life.
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Is life worth living?
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Increasing numbers of people in the United States have their doubts.
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Report recently came out, what, 25% 30% of girls youth have thoughts
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of suicide, deaths of despair, up.
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And that's actually just actually contemplating or taking your own
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life.
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And how about the rest of life?
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How's that going?
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For some, it's not going well.
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There are those, for instance, who realize not only that they have
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not, but that they will not find someone to marry, someone who will
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love them, cherish them, support them.
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And then there are some who have realized the person I'm married to is
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will not love me, cherish me, support me.
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And is life worth living?
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Maybe it's been the end of a dream.
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Maybe it's been some sudden disaster or tragedy, or maybe just life in
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the world has beat you down.
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Now, one of the answers about youth who are who are depressed or
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struggle or maybe come contemplate suicide, one of the general answers
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is, well, one is take away their smartphones.
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And another is they should be tougher, they should be more resilient,
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we should just throw them out there or we should let them fail.
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Now, granted, that may be, well, something to do.
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Maybe sometimes the word is suck it up, but that's something to do.
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That's not a matter of hope.
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No, you have
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and Christ has for the world something more.
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Not to lower expectations, but to raise hope.
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Because they don't come from this life.
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They lie with the life to come.
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And so, like Jesus, I urge you, trust in God.
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When Jesus was dying on the cross, they taunted him.
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He trusted in God.
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Let God deliver him now if he wants them.
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For he said, I am the Son of God.
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Well, Jesus did die, but God raised him from the dead.
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And what God did for Jesus, God will do for you.
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That's his promise.
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That's the promise made sure in Jesus Christ.
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That promise is for you.
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Just as Jesus died and was raised again.
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Unless Jesus comes back first, you're going to die, but you will be
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raised again.
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I encourage you with those words.
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I urge you to encourage each other with them as well.
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In the name of Jesus, who died and rose again.
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Amen.
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We rise to pray.