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Howdy. So one of the things that you know in thinking about first

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Thessalonians 5 and one of the things that stands out is this idea of being

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ready because Jesus is coming and one of the things that always stood out to me

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about that was what it was that I was always worried about being ready for as

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a child and for me that was whenever dad came home. See there are different stages

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of life where at different times you might not be sure what to expect when

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dad gets home. You see whenever you're really really little and you're excited

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that dad's gonna get there because you can play you can go do things together

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it's gonna be great but then you get older and you start realizing that the

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trouble that you've caused isn't quite as cute as when you were a little kid and

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then you start to think well dad's getting home oh no what was I supposed

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to get done before he got here. So you're starting to think okay is this when I

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needed to have my room clean is this whenever I needed to get the laundry

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done or help mom with some dishes and so of course you know at that point you're

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trying to last minute make sure that everything gets put away as quickly as

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you can and you never knew how quickly you could get the toys in the box you

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didn't realize that you could shove all the laundry into the machine really

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really quickly and you also realize that you know maybe those dishes if I at

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least put them in the sink and then at least looks like I'm partway done with

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it right or even more than that is also asking is there any reason why I might

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be in trouble when he gets home because that's never a good thing so of course

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I'm thinking to myself well is there anything I did to my sister that I know

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I'm gonna be in trouble for when he gets here and so then the whole time I'm

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kind of wrecking my brain thinking oh no was there anything and then pausing and

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saying well maybe if she did something to me then it'll all balance out and it'll

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be okay so then of course you have to go back and make sure that you tease your

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sister and get her to end up doing something to you before your dad gets

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there he's on his way okay how can I tease my sister just enough the thing is

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is that whenever we think about being ready for the arrival of our father is

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that also oftentimes we miss out on the reason why that comes up so much with

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Jesus is this idea of being held accountable being held to a standard of

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saying what is it that I'm going to be expected to do when Jesus returns and

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one of the things that we talked about last week is that you know with it is

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whenever we think about how we live out our lives today we're thinking about

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what I do with my body my mind my spirit everything that we do with ourselves is

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a testimony to who God is and so last week in the first Thessalonians passage

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we were talking about things like sexual immorality which is a very difficult

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topic but more than anything was trying to focus on the fact that what we do

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with ourselves including our body matters to God because everything is a

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gift from God but even more than that is that there were people that had passed

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away that were like before Jesus had come back again and people wondered well

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Jesus hasn't come back yet what's gonna happen to those who already died and so

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Paul is trying to point out to them that when Jesus comes back the dead will rise

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along with us and the thing with this is in looking at the passage that we have

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from chapter 5 is that it's really coming out of this idea of not to be

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distracted and not to be so drawn by everything else that we miss out on what

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God is calling us to today how many opportunities are there in our lives

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today not only to serve God but also to speak of his salvation to others but

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we're so distracted with every hobby every idea everything that can end up

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pulling us away but you see even more than that is that we can oftentimes take

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what we think about for the end times and we can end up coming up with all

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sorts of ideas about it so I wanted to make sure I explained a few things here

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you see passages like this are oftentimes taken to come up with many

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different ideas about what's gonna happen when Jesus returns now a lot of

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these you may have seen different books different movies and the like we grew

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up in this fundamentalist Christian home and it was funny my sister sent me a

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meme and was like you know why is it that you know fundamentalist Christian

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children have all these different emotional issues and it's like shows all

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of the books the Frank Peretti series and the left behind series and anything

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and everything in between and it's like every single moment is there something

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else that we were supposed to be afraid of as a child I was told don't get a

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credit card that's probably the mark of the beast we were told at one point to

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be careful about microchipping your dog that that somehow was leading down that

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path or cell phones that cell phones were going to be the the end times of

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everything no matter what happened I even had to be careful about what cartoons

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that I watched at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came up oh that got banned

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after about a year I would oftentimes try to hide whatever new cartoon I was

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watching because I was always afraid it was gonna become another one that got

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banned shortly thereafter because you'd be amazed at how much speculation there

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is that whatever's about to happen is somehow the beginning of the end of the

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world but you see there are four main schools of thought that come up in

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regard to the end times I just want to try explain them quickly because they

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help to kind of show a bit about some of our strengths and our weaknesses about

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what we think and what we know regarding Christ coming back again so for

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example historic pre-millennialism that was one of the main schools of thought

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that has existed since Jesus had risen up into heaven and people were waiting

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for his coming this idea says that the second coming of Jesus is gonna come

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after the tribulation so it's this idea that the world is going to get worse and

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worse we're going to go through a lot of suffering and then Jesus is gonna come

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back and inaugurate his reign he's gonna have this thousand-year reign that's

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going to make everything better and then all things will be made new the heavens

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and the earth and everything else that's historic however less than about two

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centuries ago there was a different way of thinking called dispensational

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pre-millennialism this is the idea that the rapture and the second coming were

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not the same thing the rapture would take all the Christians away then you'd

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have the tribulation then you'd have a second coming and then the millennial

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rule so with that that's become very very popular in today's American and some

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you know other countries way of thinking but that way of looking at it has

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become actually what it is in the last two centuries but another way of looking

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at the end times happened also same time but go back and forth between

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pre-millennial and post-millennial post-millennial is the idea that the

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events that are listed in scripture the things that we were looking for already

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happened so for example the idea of you know the fall of Jerusalem and looking

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at Nero as being you know potentially the Antichrist at the time and you know

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Antiochus Epiphanes IV and everything else is looking at events that happen

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in scripture as something historical that has already occurred and then with

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that looking that the millennium the reign of Jesus will happen in this world

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that it's going to become a place that's going to be better and better the way

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that God desired and then everything will be made new with the second coming

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but a similar one to that is a millennial everything in scripture is

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connected to events that happen throughout history there's not just one

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single person that we look back and say that is the Antichrist but rather any

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one and everyone who rejects Christ or denies his lordship is the Antichrist

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there have been all sorts of speculations from Nero to the Pope to any sort of

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leaders that we've had in the last century all sorts of speculation but on

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millennial it's not saying that there is no millennium but rather is the idea

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that when Jesus said on the cross it is finished that that was the beginning of

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his reign when Jesus said it is finished that was the beginning so not to be a

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literal thousand years but rather an extended period of time and that someday

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he will come again now as you're looking at these different things it might end up

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being kind of like oh great my eyes are crossing and I'm not sure what in the

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world about any of this and why does anybody care sometimes but what's

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amazing about each one of these is that they end up affecting how a church

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considers its place in the world and what its purpose and mission is supposed

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to be see when we look at the first three verses of first Thessalonians 5 and

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it shows what are the things that we actually know notice it says now

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concerning the times and the seasons brothers you have no need to have

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anything written to you for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of

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the Lord will come like a thief in the night while people are saying there is

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peace and security then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor

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pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape what ends up

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happening among the Thessalonians is to create this idea that they were safe

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and secure in the Roman Empire that they lived in at that time that things were

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okay that as long as they were living in a sense of security and that everything

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was going the way it needed to that was the point that was the goal but the

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problem was is that they were getting so complacent they were getting to a point

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of thinking that nothing that they did really mattered anymore they were just

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going back to their everyday life so as we end up seeing this we end up seeing

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there is peace and security but then sudden destruction will come upon them

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because oftentimes isn't it the times whenever destruction happens around us

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whenever something goes wrong when we're the most likely to wonder did Jesus

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forget me did Jesus lose track of me why is it that he has not come back for me

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yet we end up seeing over here this whole idea that we come up with all sorts

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of ideas on theology based on something where Paul was just telling people stay

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focused on Christ and whatever may come he has not forgotten you see that's one

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of things about this is that all these different philosophies and ideas on

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things they end up having different strengths and weaknesses now some of

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the strengths and weaknesses are a little bit clearer than others so for

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example whenever we look at the premillennial point of view it's a way

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of looking at specifically what is happening in the world around us and

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realizing that we are living in the world that Jesus spoke of the things that

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happened around us but also the things that happen in us and through us matter

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in the scheme of what God's plan is but here's the downside of it see the way

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that we oftentimes look at it is this idea of I'm waiting for all these signs

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to happen and then I know that I'm going to get what it was that I wanted from

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God we look at world events and it's like we're counting off little check

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marks little checkboxes and so instead of pausing and saying what am I supposed

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to be doing in the world oftentimes it can become like a spectator sport this

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idea of just waiting and pointing and seeing hey I see everything happening

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around me well it's great and then not asking how am I supposed to be a part of

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Christ's kingdom in it with all the things that happen over in the Middle

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East today is that so many people are just pointing and staring and saying oh

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hey see this is another thing off of the end time so don't worry Jesus is

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coming back for us soon but then the very same people forget that we're still

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supposed to be bringing the gospel to everybody over there this isn't something

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where the Jewish community somehow doesn't need to have the message of Christ

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they need the message of Christ like we do as do all of those around them who

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are their enemies as well by spending so much time apart from it what we end up

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doing is we turn people into numbers or characters on a page instead of knowing

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that each and every one of them is meant to be heard to hear the gospel post

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millennial the strength about that one is the idea that the work that we do in

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this world on to God can actually make a difference what we're doing here and

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now is meant to be a part of the kingdom of God this is why it was so popular at

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times like the Gilded Age the the roaring 20s and the like is the idea that

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if we're making the world better isn't that something that God would be happy

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with downside is that it ends up making everything about God's transformation

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about our efforts and it ends up making us into the ones who are instituting

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God's kingdom instead of Christ doing so but on the Amillennial side which a lot

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of Lutherans fall into the strength of it is realizing that God's work and God's

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will God's kingdom is meant to be lived out today this isn't something where we

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just look for the world to come no we're meant to live out who we are in Christ

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today he is changing the world today through us we are his kingdom at the

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downside we're the ones who get complacent like the Thessalonians and

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it's not just Lutherans there are other churches that do the same thing we get so

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caught up in taking everything from Scripture and just making symbolism out

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of it that we stop focusing on what Christ is calling us to in our world today

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we somehow don't seem to think that the stories and the scriptures in there

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actually affect our lives today we so easily get caught up in the imagery that

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we forget about the reality see that's the thing about this each one has its

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own strength and its own weakness the question is what do we actually know

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from all of these together well in conclusion stay alert and sober for the

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record all you Lutherans yes you are still allowed to have your beer it's

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okay but rather is to be able to say are you actually focused on what Christ has

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called us to today do you actually believe that he is coming again for you

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for me for us are you actually looking toward what he is on his way to restore

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because the thing is is that what whichever of those boxes may be right

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and it's probably somewhere in between Jesus is coming back so we follow him

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today we put it off so often you know like we make sure it's like well okay

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we baptized our kids and we confirmed our teenagers and well I mean they're

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probably gonna just get distracted for the next 10 15 years but hopefully

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they'll come back when they have their own kids and it'll be alright instead of

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realizing that wherever we are each and every day now is the day to follow Christ

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but more than that is that all people need Jesus and his grace today whatever

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may be happening whether we're thinking about things that are happening

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overseas or even in our own nation today it's so easy to just pick certain

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people as either the enemy or certain people as well that's that's the real

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mission field over there it's everyone everyone is meant to hear the gospel and

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if we have missed any particular people group then that means our job is not done

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but third and finally is that we can be filled today with hope for tomorrow see

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that's the whole point of what Paul was even writing this about this wasn't

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trying to give you a secret clue if you could figure out when the end of the

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world is coming that specifically said in in first Thessalonians 5 you're not

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gonna know the day of the time that's not for you this is not why I'm writing

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this to you but rather is that there are times when we see the world around us

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falling apart we see the struggles we see so much that needs to be changed but

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when those things happen that doesn't need to take away our hope we haven't

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been lost by God he is still working in this world through us and he is still

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yet to come so for this day for today what is God calling you to do how is he

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calling you to live out the gospel and how is he causing you to share with

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others thanks be to God