Last week we were reminded of the greatness and glory of God and how He deserves our praise and our thanksgiving. The week before we were warned that conditions are right for the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning we are going to consider once again the coming of the Lord. After reminding the Thessalonians of “. . . how ye ought to walk and to please God . . . ” in the first Part of chapter 4 (I Thessalonians 4:1) how that “. . . no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter” (vs. 6) and “That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without,” (vs. 12) Paul begins speaking to the Thessalonians about end-time events, and his warning carries over into chapter 5. Of course, we are (or should be) familiar with 4:16-18: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” Then in chapter 5 (vv. 1-11) he informs them (and us) of the conditions of that day and what should be a believer’s conduct in that day. Based on what the Bible tells us we can know we are nearing the time of Christ’s return. However, I often wonder if God’?s people today really believe that Jesus is coming soon . . . because many don’t act like it. This is evidenced by empty buildings, idle baptistries, ignored Bibles, and wasted lives. All of these indicate that a great number of “professed” believers don't truly believe that Jesus could could come today! This is evidenced by our idleness. For example, If you were at work and the boss gave you an important and immediate project, saying, “Drop everything else. This is of utmost importance. I need it done by this certain time, would you get to work on it right away? Another example is, (since it is after Thanksgiving and many decorate their houses for Christmas) if your wife said, “I have to go shopping, but it would be nice if you had the lights up when I return (and you wanted to please her), would you try to get it done? Jesus said, “Occupy till I come.” OCCUPY means to be employed with labor; be busy with a occupation. And He has clearly told us in Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8 what our main business is to be. The question is, “Are we occupying?” I only have two points to the message this morning, but in it we will see in vv. 1-11 the conditions of these last days and how God expects us to live in these last days.

  I. THE CHARACTER OF THAT DAY – VV. 1-5.

 II. OUR CONDUCT IN THAT DAY -- VV. 6-11.