Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:00:00]:
If the sun sets you free, you'll be free indeed. Amen. And one of the freedoms we enjoy in this country is the freedom to worship, freedom to gather. And that's what we're doing today. And happy birthday, America. You don't look a day over 248. He's 249 years old today, in case anybody wanted to know. On Friday, we're going to celebrate it on the 4th of July, celebrating the signing of Declaration of Independence.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:00:25]:
And then, you know, we got off and running. So I hope you all enjoying your, your life, your liberty and your pursuit of happiness. You know, I love this country and one of the things good about this country of many things, we have civil discourse, right? We have our opinions. And you may not like it, you may not not love, but you have the freedom to express yourself. But what I like is, you know, we can, we can find what we're looking for. We're finding, we look for peace, we're going to find peace. We look for trouble, we're going to find trouble, right? If we look for love, we'll find love. If we look for hate, we'll find hate.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:01:02]:
I think we love this country. A lot of us love this country. Not because she's perfect, but because we have providence. Divine providence. If you look over the history, God has been with us throughout the ages. Our country doesn't really start 200 years ago. It started on Mount Sinai really with Moses giving us 10 commandments, taking us in history to Greece, to Rome, you know, the Reformation, going over to the England to pilgrims. We made the transition over, you know, on the Mayflower, now in Jamestown and the whole thing.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:01:37]:
And here we are today. God bless America. So I just want to say God bless America and God bless you. Thank you for joining us today. And yeah, I get the privilege and the honor of sharing God's word today from a very timely book. We're going to be looking at Thessalonians, first Thessalonians and hi to everybody joining us online. I'm glad you're you're joining us online, everybody in the house, it's good to see you. But if you have your Bibles, you can open it up to first Thessalonians and there is a second Thessalonians, the sequel.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:02:10]:
Well, we're going to take a look at it. It's very timely. One of the books that we normally find, you know, as end time teaching is Revelation. People automatically go to Revelation. What's happening at the end of the world? This world is crazy right now. Are we headed for the end? Right, we run to Revelation in the Bible. But first, Thessalonians has a lot to say about the time topic, a lot to say about end times and things. So we're going to get into that right now and it's going to be awesome.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:02:44]:
And it's. I like to. I enjoy history and stuff. It's very intriguing. I remember as a kid I was in the backseat of my dad's car and we would be driving from Honolulu out to a red hill area. That was where we moved. But seeing this big giant sign that said jesus coming soon, you know, and I always looked at the sign as I passed by which side it was. But anyway, I passed it by every time and it sparked my curiosity as a kid, Jesus coming soon.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:03:14]:
And, you know, and I always thought, that's great, man. Jesus loves us so much, he's going to come to Kalihi first, you know, that's awesome. I love that, you know, Kalihi represent, you know. But it sparked my curiosity, like I said, and that's why I'm so. I never had follow up though, after I was, you know, learning about Jesus a little bit here and there as a kid. Never had follow up, never went to church, never going to, you know, Sunday school or nothing. So I kind of fell back into the world. Worldly ways, a worldly system.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:03:48]:
But I always had that, you know, idea in my mind and that little belief in my head from that big old sign, jesus coming soon. I didn't know when he was coming, but he sounded like he's coming soon. And then of course, as I grew up, I studied more, but that's why I'm so grateful. In our church, New Hope Kapolei, we have on a Sunday morning nursery, we have Kid Zone, we have Journey. All of these teaching these times to teach the little ones, to teach the young ones at a young age about Jesus Christ so they don't have to just have that void, you know, just hear a little bit. They get the full gospel over there at the nursery. So God bless all of you teachers and, you know, volunteers that help raise our keiki, raise our little kids well. And, you know, you'd be surprised that it won't depart from them.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:04:36]:
Scripture says, you know, train up a child in the way they should go. And when they're old, they will not depart from it. They might stray a little bit, but when it comes down and the rubber hits the road, they're going to know where to turn, where to turn because of their firm foundation. So I love the fact that we have that firm foundation. And we're going to be looking at this book. Like I said, it's a timely book for the days we're living in. We hear more and more talk about end times, second coming, wars and blowing stuff up on the news. Good night.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:05:07]:
We have Iran and Israel, Russia going on. There's all kinds of stuff, Taiwan, anywhere you want to look, just name a place. It's unrest and it is kind of a fearful thing at some point, some point, if you watch this stuff too much. So we really got to have an understanding, a biblical understanding of what's going on in the world, where we stand in the world today. So this is what we're going to take a look at from the book of First Thessalonians. Okay? So we do an overview first, a little bit. It's kind of like a history lesson and I don't want history to be boring like a dusty old shelf. So we're going to have real time, you know, real time look at first Thessalonians.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:05:53]:
So we're going to get into it now. It really discusses the events preceding and accompanying the return of Jesus Christ. Right. In later chapters. So we're going to take a look. Overview, we're going to take an overview of first Thessalonians and then we're going to get into chapter number one. Okay, chapter one. And you know, a practical thematic teachings are okay.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:06:19]:
And we do that sometimes special specialized things, but sometimes zooming in on one book in the Bible really enlightens us. So after we leave here now after our series, you guys don't know about First Thessalonians, you go, oh, that's about the second coming of Christ and various other things. About other themes in this book is living pure and holy lives. And it's also about the resurrection of the dead because some people wonder, you know, what happens with the folks who already passed on. And then the next one is second coming of Christ. So that's what we're going to take a look at. And before we go, let's open in a word of prayer and just tell God thank you and we love him, Lord God, we do love you, Lord. We thank you for your word here in First Thessalonians.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:07:09]:
We thank you Lord for that. Your word is alive and sharper than any two edged sword, Lord God. So allow it to cut us to the core. And let us remember what you have for us, Lord. Let us remember your teachings and remember the accounts of the Apostle Paul and Timothy and Silas as they wrote this Book to one of the early churches in Thessalonica, in Jesus name we. Amen. Amen. So let's take a look.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:07:38]:
Our first look at first Thessalonians. In your notes you have like a little, you know, thing to catch up on. Who, what, where, when, why. Remember when we learned things, this is how we learned. So the author of the book is Apostle Paul. And if you don't know his story, you can track him down in the Bible. Apostle Paul and Silas and Timothy, that was his little crew, that was his little group that he was traveling with. Okay.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:08:10]:
It was written in AD 51 and 52. The year 0 was when Christ was born. And then that's how we get time. Right. In case you, you know, we're new to studying the Bible. BC is before Christ. AD is after that. No, just kidding.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:08:27]:
It's Ad is anno Domini is Latin for the year of our Lord. Anyway, so that's BC and AD we got. And then just 50 years, just 50 years after Christ resurrected, this is when the, the, you know, the Apostle Paul had that stirring that, you know, and this just moved. He was like the missionary of missionaries, kind of go getting, go get him kind of guy, right? So he just started to write his letters, visit churches, plant churches and teachers. It was so awesome. So he soon after founding the Thessalonican Church, you know, he wrote the earliest letters. One of the earliest letters. And believe it or not, this same Apostle Paul wrote about 2/3 of the New Testament.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:09:11]:
Two thirds. It's all broken down into these little letters, right? Except for like the gospels with Matthew and Mark, Luke and John and a couple other ones. But Paul was a very avid, avid writer, but he was on it. He was always all over the place. So in this particular journey, this is second missionary journey we're going to take a look at. Okay, so Thessalonica known nowadays, if you want to look it up, call it Thessaloniki. When they had the Romans occupying, you had Thessalonica. The Greeks got it.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:09:44]:
Now Thessaloniki, but it's located up in northern Greece because beautiful, beautiful place. You can still see the, this like ancient tower up there, ancient architecture there and good food. According to our missions director Tim. Tim got the privilege of journeying there and visiting and he said they got great food, great, you know, sea life. If you think about it like a San Francisco type is on the bay and it's overlooking ocean. It's beautiful green creek water and looking out into the Aegean Sea. That's where, that's where our location is. And yeah, the Ottoman Empire tower is still there from the 12th century.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:10:31]:
And we'll get, you know, we'll take a look later on, a little bit more on the architecture and the history. But the main theme, like I said, is second coming of Christ. In these two epistles, first and second Thessalonians, 20 references to the second coming of Christ is mentioned. 20 references. So in every chapter, there's five chapters in this little book. You could read it in one sitting if you want, which is a great little book. I encourage you to read it after this and during our series. So this is going to be a series on First Thessalonians.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:11:07]:
So in chapter chapter one, verse 10, it says, and to wait for the Son from heaven. So here's a reference. And then in chapter two, 19. For this is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes. Awesome, awesome. And then number three of chapter three, may he strengthen your heart so that you will not. You'll be blameless and holy in the presence of our Lord and Father when our Lord Jesus comes again. So second coming again.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:11:45]:
And then also in chapter four, this one is one that you've heard before. Caught up together with them in the clouds to meet him, Meet our Lord in the air. First Thessalonians 4, 17. You'll hear this talk if you're new to the church or if you heard the rapture, the rapture of the church, the great taking away, right? This comes from actually a look, I mean, a word that the word rapture isn't really in the Bible. You know, we're looking at the word rapture comes from a Latin raptura, okay? And the Latin word that was used to translate the Greek harpazo, you know, know, taken away, right? And they caught up or snatched away, suddenly removed. Okay? So if you ever hear, oh, the word rapture is not in the Bible, where. That's your explanation right there. It's a translated, translated Latin word.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:12:45]:
Okay? So that's the, you know, that's just an example. It's 20 different times Apostle Paul references. He wants to reference, you know, second coming of Christ. That's awesome. Because he's talking to them and he wants to. Wants them to be informed, you know, what's happening. One of the key points that he wants to make. So in view of this, should anyone bother to ask if Christ will come again, right? His first coming was sudden and a surprise to philosophers of his time, the second coming will be no less surprising.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:13:22]:
Okay? No less surprising. So it could happen in an instant. There's some prophetic things that, that they say is going to happen. And it's a whole thing, it's a whole can of worms. If you want to get into it, study prophecy. But it's worthwhile, right? Anything about the Lord is worthwhile to study. So you look into it if you want to. There's a lot of, lot of interesting facts and a lot of interesting things about prophecy out there.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:13:52]:
Paul, accompanied by Timothy and Silas, spent only three weeks in Thessalonica, only three weeks, on his second missionary journey. During that time, Paul not only founded the church, but he grounded it firmly in the truth. While he was there, Paul also created a great stir. His enemies, which consisted of like Jewish non believers in Christ, accused him of having caused trouble all over the world. Wow, what a claim. All over the world. You know, of course their world was around that area, Greece and Mesopotamia and stuff. But, you know, on account of this charge of treason, the brothers sent the apostle away unto Berea and Athens, so down south and Corinth.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:14:41]:
And it was from here that he wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians and sent it by way of Paul. And you know, when it says they charged him with treason and they sent him away, he had to literally escape out of Thessalonica because they were like, get out of here. They were mean to him. And there's an actual wall that they say that Paul kind of had to shimmy up. I know if we have that here, it's a wall and it's still there today. And they believe that this wall, he had to scale it to get out of town. Okay. Because, you know, these were Jewish people who are set in their ways of the Jewish religion, did not believe in Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:15:21]:
So this is a little artifact right here and there's so many, you can just look up. I just really am intrigued by history because it's still there. Stuff is still there to this day. Very interesting. So my point on this one is, you know, you can see in Acts 17 you can follow the accounts of Apostle Paul in the book of Acts. So you flip back a little bit, you can follow his journey in Acts as well as reading it in Thessalonians. And Bible study doesn't have to be dry and boring. It's kind of like a puzzle.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:15:57]:
You know, we're piecing together this puzzle and you be curious. We all should be curious. Was this. And check, you know, if, I mean not check if it's true or not, but just check all these facts and see how they line up. It's very interesting in case you should get into a discussion with somebody and wants to know these things or has a question, then we as the church are to be equipped on these things. Yeah, you'll soon love to discover piecing together these things. And it's in an organic type of way, you know, it's really cool. So continue to, you know, be diligent in your Bible study.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:16:35]:
They mentioned a place here called Berea that Paul went down to. And I don't know exactly where it is, but Paul commends the Berean people for checking the Scriptures and making sure that what they were talking about was true. So he commends, hey be like the Bereans. So you'll hear that every now and then. Be like a Berean be studying be the Word. All right. So during his stay, yep. A number of Greeks and women came to believe in Jesus Christ and, and grew in to compose mostly Gentiles.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:17:09]:
So anybody non Jewish? So the, the, his audience were Greeks and Romans, you know, pretty cool. The Apostle Paul had all these new people. And Thessalonica was a very cosmopolitan city. So you had people from all over the world gathering together there. And so he was able to, hey, talk about Jesus Christ. They had no idea there were still, you know, the Greeks, at least they had Zeus and Poseidon and Hades. These were their gods, the pantheistic type of gods they had. But then now Apostle Paul's introducing this new God, the true God, the true and living God.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:17:48]:
That's what we'll get to Paul. Amen. So Paul began to feed them the meat of the Word. Right away, you know, he didn't hold back. He's like, I'm gonna teach you guys the heavy stuff. So he goes on to teach them about the Holy Spirit. You find it in 1 6, chapter 16 in the Trinity. That's a big thing, trying to explain the Trinity and then the, you know, the second coming of Christ.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:18:14]:
And these, what I mentioned, Holy Spirit and Trinity and second Coming are all essential teachings of church. You know, we should all kind of have a grip on these things, have a grasp on these things as we study the Word. So some people were worried about, you know, those who had died. So Paul's going to address this in later chapters. You know, what about these, our friends, our family who died. And they didn't get to hear about Jesus Christ. And of course that's out of their concern for their family. And Paul's like, hey, that's A great question.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:18:48]:
They were afraid that they're not going to have any part in the Rapture, because he had heard about the Rapture, the great taking away. And they're like, what about these guys? We're going to hear, we're going to learn about it in the future. Chapters. And others watch this. Others were overwhelmed by the expectation of Christ's return, that they were neglecting their daily tasks. So they were like, he's coming soon. Well, I guess I just don't have to go to work. Whatever.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:19:13]:
I'll sit on my couch and eat gyros. Whatever the Greeks would eat back then, have a gyros. Oh, I like the gyros, man. But anyway, get back to the thing. So let's not be like that. You know, we have to get up and live. Even though we're waiting for the second coming of Christ, right? We cannot just be chilling. It's like, oh, you know, we have life to live.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:19:40]:
So wishing to correct these wrong views and inspire comfort in these new believers. Paul wrote this epistle. So that's why he wrote it, to kind of squash all of these kind of strange things, which is great. That's great to have questions and it's greater to have answers, right? To bring your questions, hey, Pastor, what about this? What are they talking about? This. That's why it's good for community to come and sit down. We can find that in Bible study. It's a great place to learn to ask questions, to bring it out. Right? So what I like about this letter, too, it's a real heart to heart.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:20:15]:
You know, he gets very close to his brothers and sisters in church, and the word brothers and sisters occurs more than a dozen times. You know, hey, my brother, that was a brother Hale that gave the announcements. That was brother Jason and sister Cindy and brother Aaron. And we hear that sometimes and we think, oh, gee, it's kind of corny. But, you know, if you abbreviate, nowadays they say, bro, hey, bro. You know, in Hawaii, hey, brah, you know, and now I'm hearing even the sisters getting more in it, because it's hard to see your sister say, hey, bro, hey, bro. And she's like, I'm not a bro, I'm a sis, I'm a sister. So it's a good thing it's already the connotation of a family, right? And we know about brothers and sisters, okay? That the beauty is they love close and they're deep and they're brothers and sisters all the way.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:21:07]:
But when you have the disagreements and stuff right around that happens, from what I hear, you know, it can get really gnarly. But they're still brother and sister. I happen to be only child. That explains a lot of things, I think to a lot of folks, only child is cool. You know, I get to draw a lot and draw pictures and whatnot. But anyway, brothers and sisters in Christ, right? We're all brothers and sisters in Christ. We're a family. We're ohana.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:21:36]:
That's what in Hawaiian. This is a message of comfort and a message of instruction for those in the midst of persecution. So it wasn't easy. You think it's hard now? You know, it was really hard back then. It was just a new religion that was coming out of Judaism, right? This. This new messiah came. People have heard about, heard the news. There was this guy, Jesus, this rabbi and his very new thing.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:22:01]:
So they had a lot of persecution. You should be, you know, worshiping the Jewish rabbis and whatever you should. In the Romans, you should, you know, be worshiping them. And, you know, they had Caesar back in Rome. Caesar. All that he was good for was the salad, this Caesar salad. But anyway, that's my only joke I had to throw in something like that. But we don't worship Caesar, you know, like, if hail was there, we'd say, hail, Caesar.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:22:34]:
No, maybe not. Maybe not. I'll just stop already. I'll go back to the script. There should be nothing doubtful or divisive about this blessed hope. And it is a blessed hope. You know, this is not our world. This is not our final stop on our destination.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:22:50]:
You know, we have heaven as our home. Heaven is our home, and we look forward to that. And, you know, of course, there can be some hesitation. Like what? You know, we all respond differently. But as we work through this, we'll probably find at the end, you know, just the warmth of a loving God who created a place, you know, a place for us to go. So. So we're going to continue looking at this and, yeah, like I said, ask yourself, what is my response? Is my response fear, anxiety? Am I happy? Am I longing? You know, I remember after my dad had passed away, my mom, you know, being. She was up, up in age.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:23:30]:
Was she 80s, I think. Oh, no, 70s or 80s. And I want to be with Dad. I want to be with Jesus, she would say. But she missed my dad. And she was longing for heaven. Heaven is our home. And so that's the sort of look.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:23:45]:
So let's ask ourselves, what is, you know, what is our response? You know, so let Us not quarrel with one another about so sweet a message as our Lord's quote. I will come back, so Jesus will come back. So either we go first or Jesus comes and we. We see the thing. You know, either way, it's going to be awesome. So that's kind of a nutshell. Overview of first Thessalonians. We want to take a quick look at chapter one.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:24:16]:
Now, chapter one looks kind of like this. We'll just read from chapter one, verse one, when Paul introduces himself and his crew. And then we'll go down to chapter seven. Okay, so let's all read this together. Well, you know, you can read it. How shall we do this? Shall I read it? I'm just going to read it. You follow along. Okay.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:24:41]:
Paul, Silas and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you. Everybody say grace and peace to you. Grace and peace to you. I love that. I love that greeting. There's a guy where I teach also art at a little private school, and he'll do an email and he'll say, grace and peace, brothers and sisters. And I've started doing that because you have grace.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:25:09]:
You know, you're wishing for people for favor, unmerited favor of the Lord and peace from the Jewish shalom. Shabbat shalom. Peace, peace. That type of peace, meaning the whole encompassing peace. Yeah, your body, your soul, your mind, your spirit have peace. Not like the old hippie days. Peace, man. You know, this is like a whole encompassing peace.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:25:32]:
So grace and peace to you. I love that greeting already. And then in the second one, second verse, we always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work. Watch this. Produced by faith. Your labor, prompted by love and your endurance. Inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:25:57]:
Amen. Right there, right there. That's a. That's a T shirt. That's a coffee mug for me. I would like that one right there on a plaque. That's awesome, man. And, you know, checking ourselves is always what we wanted to do as we look at that church.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:26:12]:
How is our church doing? Is our church, you know, prompted by love? And is our church inspired by hope? In Jesus Christ? Is our labor. Well, I said prompted by love. What did I say? Produced by faith. Your work produced by faith. This is checking our right motives. Checking our right motives, I think. Not doing things begrudgingly. Oh, I gotta do this or that.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:26:37]:
Oh, you know, don't start off with a sentence with oh, you're already. You're already going down the wrong road already. You know, hey, I get to clean God's house. I get to God's house. Oh, can I get an amen? And I get to come to church and hear his word. I get to on the worship team. I get to get out of. Give a bulletin, make a coffee.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:26:59]:
It's for God's people. Because after this, after church is done, after Saturday or Sunday, we all go back to the day, to day nine to five grind. And they're not that nice. Some. Some of them, hallelujah. Maybe they need some prayer time and they need some time with Jesus. And we are the ones to bring the light. And how can we bring the light if our light has got bad motives on it? So already he's starting off very good.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:27:25]:
Right on, Pastor. I mean, Apostle Paul. He's past pastor. Now he's APostle Awesome. Number four, for we know, brothers and sisters, loved by God. See, you are brothers and sisters who is loved by God. That's a nice thought. He has chosen you.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:27:45]:
Get it? He has chosen you. You guys are all here for a reason, not by accident. He's chosen you because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. I love that. Because on our own, we can do only so much with Holy Spirit's power. We can move mountains, we can rise above. And we can do more than we, exceedingly more than ever. We even dream, you know, how we lived among you for your sake.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:28:20]:
So he's giving them examples. He's letting them see the model. You've become imitators of us and of the Lord. For you welcomed the message, the midst of severe suffering with great joy given by the Holy Spirit. Oh, yes. And you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. So that was their little neighborhood, Macedonia up north and Achaia. So I wonder if people see us and use us as a model and man, you know, New Hope Kapolei, they're on it.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:28:57]:
I went there. They're very friendly church, and it's awesome. And I think we'll get to that in a little bit. I'm rushing ahead of myself here. So exciting to. Is it good? So good so far. First Thessalonians, Amen. Inspired inspiration, right? Inspiration while waiting for Christ to come.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:29:16]:
So we're not going to be the one sitting down, eating our gyros and say, oh, I wonder if he's coming today. I guess not. And then just chilling out and Watching tv? No, no. Paul's message is a model under the guidance of the Spirit. He did not live to please others in a way that displeased God. He was on fire for God. This guy did not try to capture others with flattery. He was not covetousness.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:29:44]:
He didn't have covetousness. He didn't look at others what they had and look at himself. He was a tent maker. You know, he was a humble tent maker. He raised his own funds that way. But, you know, he wasn't like that. He wasn't seeking glory for himself out of his work. Paul kept at his task day and night.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:30:08]:
So he didn't just chill and just rest. Paul, this is the part I love, too. Paul always encouraged others. And this kind of example he was, and we should be also, you know, encouraging. Are you an encourager? You look at that word encourage. It means really literally to pour courage into someone. Somebody's afraid, somebody's, you know, going through stuff right now. You have to.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:30:35]:
You have God's spirit to go over and say, hey, you know, can I pray with you? Can I stand with you? What's going on? How's it going? Remember the other day, I just got home, I park in my car, and I see some stuff going, going on with a neighbor and a delivery guy. I'm not going to mention the name of the company of the delivery guy, but this guy was yelling at her, you don't have the code. I can't give you the package. And she goes, that's for my daughter. Give me the package. Blah, blah. And all the neighbors was watching too, right? And I could have just, you know, quietly slipped on by, but I just kind of walked over and asked the Lord Jesus, you know, I know this lady. That's why she's my neighbor and not looking good.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:31:16]:
It's obvious. So I just walk up, hey, crazy question, is everything all right? If I was them, I would say, does it look like it's all right? That's what I do to my wife. Does it look like it's all right? No. So automatically he comes at me. He wants to get me on his side. She doesn't have the code, she can't get the package, blah, blah, blah. And she goes, he's yelling at me, blah, blah, blah. And all of a sudden, I'm referee now, right? And I'm like, oh, referee Jeffrey, here we go.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:31:44]:
And I'm like, you penalty. You yelling. You cannot yell. And you calm down, lady, because you don't have the code. Where's the code. She had them written on her hand, actually. So she had to go like this. Right here, right here, the code.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:31:57]:
She, like, put him real close to the guy's face. I was like, whoa. So I'm like, hey, you know what? Let's just chill out. Let's take a deep breath. Let's have a year old, I don't know. And then just chill. Just take it easy. And so all that to say, I think I was an encourager.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:32:16]:
I was a fight stopper, at least. But let's encourage one another, right? This is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world is your own name, Dr. Hale. Love you, man. Love you, man. Brother Art, Love you, man. See, they all pop up. They all go.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:32:33]:
They're going like this. Yeah, I love it. People say, hey, Jeff, you know, I'm like, ooh, who's calling my name? But let's encourage one another. Let's love. As Paul loved, he gives us example, okay? He included his friends and fellow workers in his greetings. So he writes his letters, hey, what's up, Aaron? How you doing? You know, and whoever you know, Ben. And then, oh, there's my name. Including his friends, Paul knew the secret of friendship so many of us would, like, possess.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:33:04]:
The Bible tells us how to have friends. Here's a friend who sticks closer than a brother in Proverbs 18:24. You want to have friends, be friendly. Not rocket surgery, right? Rocket science. I did that on purpose, by the way. Rocket surgery is like a little thing, right? Anyway, he loved people, and he always acknowledged others. He loved people. He acknowledged others in the service and expressed appreciation.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:33:37]:
So there you go. In your notes. Write that down. He acknowledged others and he expressed appreciation. Paul always encouraged others. Just think about that. These three things, if we add this to ourselves, who knows who we might speak to after we leave here to bring encouragement to, hey, you know, I appreciate you brother or sister. I want to encourage you today.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:34:01]:
You know, I want to stop the delivery guy from yelling at you, Whatever it may be, however it works out. He always express appreciation. When you walk into the room, do you say, here I am. Or when you walk into the room, do you say, oh, there you are. You see the difference? Oh, how's that? Oh, there you are. Hey, what's up? How you doing, Lisa? What's up, Lisa? How you doing? Hey, what's up, Ben? You know, I mean, just, you know, and it's not fake it till you make it. I pray that we have that spirit of love and concern, because sometimes it's the answer is not too good. And I've heard that answer.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:34:40]:
Hey, how you doing? Not too good. And there's a sigh, and I know already. Oh, Lord Jesus, come on, come on. Let's. Let's, you know, be a minister to this person, whatever they're going, whatever's going on. And sometimes not. Sometimes it's, hey, I just came from a baseball game or whatever it was. I just had this celebration.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:34:58]:
Oh, nice. We can celebrate with people, right? Bible says mourn with those who mourn and celebrate with those who celebrate. Right? Amen. Yeah. So again, it's not the me, it's the we. You know, when I teach, I have the W, which could actually look like an M, and then the E, and I change the me and switch it around to a we. Change the me to a we. Right? And here's a pro tip, if you want, when you're speaking, you know, to someone in a group, and then there's a third party.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:35:31]:
You know, some people talk about third wheel, but in the Christian world, at church or whatever, bring that third party in to conversation. You know, like if I'm talking to Donna, my wife, and we're just her and I, and then Ben's kind of hanging out over here. Automatic, automatic. Hey, Ben, you know, I was just telling Donna about this restaurant that we tried, you know, include people. Let's not. How you like to just stand on the side and watch these guys talk right in front of you. And you wanted to say hi and get in on it. And then it's almost like they give you the Heisman Trophy, you know, the stiff arm, like, move away, move away, like, bruh.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:36:13]:
You know, where's the love? Anyway, small kind pro tip, you know, if you want to try that. I think so. One of the things that Donna and I had in common early on in our relationship is, you know, she was the one. If she went to the room, she wouldn't say, here I am. She looked for the ones who was kind of new and a little bit uncomfortable, and she would gravitate to that person. And I had a little bit of that same trait. I don't know where that came from. But then we got together and, you know, now, dynamic duo.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:36:45]:
I don't know. But praise God for my wife. Donna love her. Yeah. She's worthy of a clap. She's the one keeps me on the radar. You know, you have the pilot and the navigator. I'm nothing without the navigator.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:36:59]:
You know, when I get in the car, I just turn off my brain. I Just say where you let me go. You let me go straight, you let me turn left, right, whatever. She goes. Sometimes she goes, go this way. And I go, I'm sorry, I couldn't see you. Which way? Turn left or right? Go this way. You got to say left or right.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:37:17]:
Okay. Anyway. Smoker. Smoker. Inventing. Love you, baby. Love you. Okay.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:37:26]:
Okay. So when you're in a car and you want somebody to turn right, say right. Don't make your hand like that because we are looking at the road. We're trying not to hit pedestrian. Okay. What else? We're almost done. We're going to land the plane soon. Hallelujah.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:37:43]:
But, yeah, first Thessalonians is awesome. Let's pray as Paul prayed. Okay. The next thing. We always thank God for you in all of our. We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. So, you know, a one off every now and then is good. But continually mentioning you in our prayers, that's deep.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:38:04]:
That's heavy. Do we follow up with new friends that we meet and new prayer requests, or do we just hit it once, you know, oh, we're going to lift up this prayer. Amen. And then carry on? He carried his friends in his heart, praying for them, keeping in touch with them. It doesn't have to be an elaborate, you know, meeting, a big dinner. Maybe just have a lunch with somebody, maybe have a coffee, invite them to, you know, Starbucks or whatever it is. A quick text even. Hey, bro, how you doing? Hey, sis.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:38:35]:
Just thinking of you. Just praying for you. I've gotten those. And sometimes I've reached out and they say, maybe it's not me, but someone says, it's just the right timing. I just needed this at this moment. You never know and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's prompting. Sometimes it's, you know, he'll say, I'm thinking of Donna. Just had that.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:38:54]:
I'm thinking of somebody today. I'm gonna write them or text them or email them or call them. So have them in your heart. Okay? Pray continuously. Continuously. We have a great prayer ministry that has grown out of New Hope Kapolei. If you come here, you're gonna get prayed for, okay? Not once, not twice, but. And there's a intercessory prayer intercessory that happens on Tuesday morning.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:39:17]:
And then there's prayer tonight at the end. There's prayer on Sunday. There's prayer on Wednesday. Wednesday night, we have our prayer gathering. Midweek prayer gathering. Say again Tuesday, staff meeting. When the staff gets together, we Compile a list of people and things to pray for. Do we have a prayer list? It's okay to write them down.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:39:43]:
Have a list of people and things to pray for. Okay. We like to create community and a culture of love and acceptance and growth and sometimes challenge and, of course, accountability. That's where small groups are so vital. Life groups. Vital. Do you pray for others by name, like Apostle Paul did? Try speaking to Christ about others, and soon you'll be speaking to others about Christ. All of us can do this, even the most timid.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:40:17]:
Evangelism is messenger. And so we're going to bring the message. We have a message of life. We have a message of life. Amen. And then I like this, I heard this once. Push, pray until something happens. P U S H.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:40:36]:
Pray until something happens. Pray and then you'll feel a prompting. Or you just keep praying. Keep praying. And then do we realize as Christians why we're in the world? Why we're here anyway? Right. Let's look into that. You know Matthew 28? Of course, it's the last thing Jesus says before he goes up. Go into all the world and preach the gospel.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:40:58]:
Teach them about me and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. How seriously are we taking our task? So this is the challenge part. It's like, oh, this is for me. You know, I go, 7 11. I just buy my stuff and then I leave. Sometime I'll say thank you. I'll say, God bless you. Like, wow, Jeff, you're really getting out there.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:41:22]:
He said, God bless you, and she never even sneezed. Okay. But anyway, and then Paul. First, Paul thanks God for his church. He knew church did not consist of gorgeous buildings or mortar and stone, but of people who are in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul knew this. Okay. So that's why he's writing to this Thessalonian church.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:41:54]:
Paul is very pleased about the wonderful growth these young ones have made. He says you become a model to all believers in Macedonia and Thessalonica. The Thessalonian church really made an impact around their area. Right. We read that earlier. Everyone was talking about the wonderful way God was working. And you notice they gave God the credit. Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:42:17]:
The wonderful way God was working. Now, not this, this church is great. This church or this leader or this person, this God is great because God is moving. He gets the glory, he gets the credit. He gets 10 out of 10 on Yelp. If you want to go 10 out of 10, that's what they're Saying nowadays, I don't know, the kids nowadays in the. All the stratosphere and the Facebook time. Whatever.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:42:44]:
My face, whatever. Whatever it is. Just kidding. Insta. That's what they got. Instapot, Instagram. All right, here we go. The Thessalonican church made an impact, right? And then I pray that we're making an impact too.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:43:00]:
So I don't know if this message, but you know, look at the older message. You could get inspired. I hope this one inspires you too. Hallelujah. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord. You know, be inspired and go out into the world, make a difference. We pray that making an impact. Life upon life, heart to heart, right? We are a praying church.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:43:22]:
We have life groups. Food pantry is awesome ministry and people's chance to get into into the mix in ministries. We got missions, we go to Fiji. We go to different places, you know, around and make a difference. And right here on our own backyard, weekly gatherings, fellowship. So community. That's what it's about. So life in three tenses.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:43:46]:
That's what he's looking at now. Life in three tenses. First, Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10. Paul tells us how to live, you know, during this time. Life in three tenses. Remember who you are and remember whose you are. We belong to Christ. We were called for.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:44:07]:
They themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols. Hallelujah. You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Amen. I hope that's you today. And you know, all of us have at one point turned and, and said, yes, I'll follow God. I'll turn from idols, whatever they may be, right? It might be habits, you know, material things.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:44:40]:
Sometimes sports can be an idol. Sometimes hobbies can be an idol. We get so engrossed, you know, I can get so engrossed in Star wars or whatever, I have to pull it back, you know, I have to dial it back, right? Turn to God. And in the present tense, we are to serve the living and true God. You cannot have a relationship with a little statue or, you know, beautiful as they are, totem poles or whatever. He's a living God. And if you have a living God, you have a living relationship. You have a give and take, right? Hey, Jeff, I don't know.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:45:12]:
You better check this man. You check your spirit. Yes, Lord. And I can pray to the Lord and Lord can give me signal, give me wisdom, work things out. You know, I pray for favor and then, you know, things work out. Sometimes Doors close. How come this door closed? Lord, maybe you got to go this way. Okay, fine, I go this way.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:45:30]:
It's a relationship with a living God. Living God, okay? We can have a relationship because he lives, he's alive. We can count on him to make our days count. Okay? Are you with me? Church? Okay, I'm going to land the plane soon. I keep threatening to land the plane. In a future tense. Here we go, in a future tense. We are to wait for his son from heaven first.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:46:00]:
Thessalonians 1:10 believers were serving and waiting. Okay, serving and waiting. They say sitting is the new smoking. It's as bad for you as smoking was. I don't know how true that is, but sitting too long, that's why I got to get up and I got to walk and I got to move around, you know, as you get up there. As the years come by, we got to keep ourselves in shape. So let's wait. Let's serve while we're waiting.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:46:24]:
Let's move our bodies around. I can move a little more. I confess. I got a lot more to move. They that believe in Christ would come again, as Christ would come again as he promised. And amen to that. So let's serve as we're waiting. The blessed Hope the prophets of old waited for the coming of the Messiah for many generations before he came.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:46:56]:
But when the set time had fully come, Christ did come. And the church may have to wait a very long time for his promised Second Coming. Because of the wait, many have lost vision and hope. Sometimes it's a long time. Remember back in the old days? Jesus coming soon. Jesus coming soon. And if you're old enough, you're like, bro, I've heard this my whole life already. Jesus is coming soon.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:47:19]:
But he is coming. He is coming. Maybe not back then, maybe not here, but stuff is happening and he's going to be coming soon. But in the fullness of time, Christ will come again as he promised. In John 14 says, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am, there you may be also. And Also in Acts 1, 11 men of Galilee, they said, why are you standing and looking into the sky? The same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. And in 1st Thessalonians 4:16.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:48:12]:
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God. And the dead in Christ will rise First. So there's one of our answers, right? They were worried about the dead in Christ. If they're dead in Christ, they will rise first. In Revelation 1:7, it says, look, he's coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the people on earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be. Amen.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:48:49]:
Amen. In closing, like I said, we've all heard the message. We've heard the talk about the end times and Jesus coming soon, and everyone from the past. The question for us now is, how will we respond? Just like I said earlier, how are we going to respond to this? Is it in fear? Is it anger? Is it joy and expectation? I'll just leave you with this last scripture verse from Psalm 91:1 5. And people have prayed this prayer countless occasions, usually when times were not so great, sometimes they needed to seek shelter from the Lord. And they prayed. Psalm 91. Let's read this together.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:49:37]:
Ready? We have it in our notes. Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, He. He is my refuge and my fortress. My God in whom I trust. Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you shall find refuge. In his faithfulness will you be shield and your rampart.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:50:09]:
You will not fear the terror by night, nor. Nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plagues that destroy at midday. Hallelujah. So if you don't know the fowler snare, you think of a fowl, a bird, you know, they used to catch him with the little noose, with the snare that catches the leg, right? Don't let the devil beware where you're walking, where you're stepping. Don't step in these trees, traps that the devil will set for you. And in closing, like I said, watch when I say that, usually the music will start. Yeah. See that? Oh, thank you, Jesus.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:50:50]:
In closing, music always soothes the heart, right? It calms the spirit. Thank you for the gift of music, Lord. If you've never said yes to Christ, or if you want to rededicate your life and even for you online, you can say this and check in with us and let us know that you said a prayer. And you realize that, man, I need Christ. I need to be sure of that. I'm sure we can send a yes packet. Okay. Over.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:51:18]:
So if you've not yet received Christ and you're on the fence, maybe this is the next step, right? The next step in your journey. It starts with a prayer and then you can get a yes packet and then we'll follow up, we'll invite you into community, then you can start your journey with Christ. The yes packet will be just for you. And in it you'll find some helpful things, a little Bible and some information about our church. So if you are sincere and you're saying, man, I want to get to know Christ and I want to choose him as my Lord and Savior, just pray with me this prayer. Is anybody in here who want to do that, rededicate their life? Or you can just with all eyes closed and heads bowed and thank you, God, for those who are making decisions right now, Dear Lord, I've heard of you, Lord. I heard of your love. I know the gift of your salvation is free and your mercy and forgiveness.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:52:22]:
And I want to receive that now, Lord. So just come live in my heart, Lord. Start me on my journey. I thank you for this time that I get to pray and I admit that I want to follow you now. I confess my sins and I want to repent from them and turn to you, Lord. Be my Savior. Be my Lord, be my friend. I receive you now into my heart, Lord God, and ask you to lead me and guide me from now on.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:52:47]:
In Jesus name, Amen. Let's give them a praise for those who have prayed that. And if you prayed that in your heart and you're sincere, you want to start it afresh, let us know over here at New Hope Kapolei what happens in chapter two. Find out next week. Come join us next week as we continue our look at first Thessalonians. Okay, God bless you all. Have a wonderful rest of the evening.