As we continue in this study of Paul's letter to the church in Thessalonica, we discover more about who Christians are to be.  The people of the Church are to be a people of Work.  They should stand out in their communities as hard-working people.  

Paul gives three commands in this passage; lead a quiet life, attend to your own business, and work with your hands.  

This is a continuation of our initial study of Matthew 24: Jesus Olivet Discourse on the End Times.  In this study you will get a thorough understanding of why I believe that the Rapture of the Church will not happen until after the 7 year Tribulation.

In part one of this message, we discovered what the Biblical standard for sexuality is.   Anything outside of a marriage between one man, and one woman, for life, is sexual immorality.    

And sexual immorality also includes our thoughts and motives.  

In part 2 of this message, we look at how Paul advised Christians to uphold this standard.   It's one thing to set a high standard of purity, it's another to keep that standard. 

And keeping it begins with changing the way that you think.

According to Paul's letter to the church in Thessalonica, Christians are supposed to "abstain from sexual immorality."   

Christians are supposed to be a sexually pure people.  Well, what does that mean today?  We will discover that in this message from 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8.

In this second podcast around the topic; "The End Times; Are We There Yet?"  we are addressing two questions;  What is the one sign that will indicate that the last 7 years of history before the return of Christ has begun, and what are our rules of study for this topic.

This is the concluding message about "The Church; A People of Joy."  In all of the messages, I have emphasized that what you believe impacts your joy. 

One belief we discussed was your beliefs about time and space. If you believe that this life now is all that there is, then if your present life is bad, and there is no possibility of changing it, then you can have no joy. 

But if you believe that this life is just a very short prelude to an eternity in heaven, then the pain of this life is lessened, and the joy of your spiritual life is increased.

The beliefs that we conclude with today are your beliefs about suffering and Sovereignty.  
Scripture teaches that suffering will come to everyone; even Christians.  And it teaches that God is in control of everything in this world and that He uses it all to either bring you to Christ or make you more like Christ.  
Knowing that elicits joy in a believer.

Second attempt

We began a Zoom Bible study on Sunday evenings for our church.  The subject is the end of the world according to the Bible.

To be more specific, I wanted to lay out the chronology of events regarding what's called the Tribulation, the Second Coming of Christ, the judgment, and the 1000 year reign of Christ.

In this episode we answered the question, "What is the one sign that indicates that the 7 year Tribulation has begun?  And the answer is the rise of the antichrist.

As Christians, what we choose as our priorities will either increase or decrease our joy.  If we choose to put ourselves first; our desires, our needs, we will not experience joy, but rather, discontent.

A Christian's priorities are to be; Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself third.  

As we continue in this study of 1 Thessalonians we are discovering that the Church is supposed to be a people of joy and that our joy comes out of our beliefs.

The beliefs that we are starting with today concern life priorities.  A Christian will not have joy if their priorities are out of sync with Biblical priorities.   And Biblical priorities are simple; put Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself third, then you can have JOY.