Radio Broadcast Wednesday 04/29/2026

Classic Christianity – Stand Firm in The Lord – Part 3 – 4-29-26

~ So when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left on our own in Athens. We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that none of you would be shaken by these trials. For you know that we are destined for this. Indeed, when we were with you, we kept warning you that we would suffer persecution; and as you know, it has come to pass. For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter had somehow tempted you and that our labor might have been in vain.

But just now, Timothy has returned from his visit with the good news about your faith, your love, and the fond memories you have preserved, longing to see us just as we long to see you. For this reason, brothers, in all our distress and persecution, we have been reassured about you, because of your faith. For now we can go on living, as long as you are standing firm in the Lord.

How can we adequately thank God for you in return for our great joy over you in His presence? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith.

Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you. And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone else, just as our love for you overflows, so that He may establish your hearts in blamelessness and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.” 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13

~ We want to know how our brothers and sisters in Christ are doing, especial those that we know of directly from them coming to know the Truth of Jesus. We long to see them, and hear news reports from them. For the love of God is active, working in each of us to reach others for Jesus, and to pass on the knowledge of Truth to others. Someday we will also meet these great cloud of witnesses who have come before us, and have their writings of the word of God that we may know Jesus and His holiness that we stand in before God Himself. God wants us to be aware of how He sees us, and that we are one with the Father and the Son, and nothing can separate us from Him when we are in Christ Jesus. For His Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are children of God.

It’s so sad today that many don’t reach out to others to see how they are doing. To see how things in life are going. We are to encourage one another in the Faith in Christ Jesus. Share truth with one another. Build up the called out ones of God, those who are truly in Christ Jesus. Because folks, those who are on the front lines, are being targeted by satan night and day. Many of you have experienced it first hand over the years the forces of evil that come against each of us in multiple ways. And sometimes that even comes through those that are closest to us, in the form of not understanding of what it is we are trying to convey to others. Many might take things the wrong way, and will even ascribe different meanings to things that we did not even say, but they think we are saying something else entirely. And folks, never forget the most important thing in life is to know Jesus Christ Himself is our Life. Be bold in the proclamation of the Gospel as we should. Even Paul prayed that prayer to be bold in declaring Truth. And make no mistake about it, there is only one way to the Father and that is through Faith in Jesus, God in flesh and bone today. For He is alive and is our True King, King Jesus. Don’t be afraid to declare King Jesus to anyone. Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, and we are to stand in that Truth and declare it to ALL.

And a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, having done what, will I inherit eternal life?”
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone. Luke 18:18,19

Jesus is God in flesh: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

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Pray to God:

Do you really want to know the WHOLE Truth of what is going on today?

Lord Jesus, teach me the truth of the world today and give me the wisdom to know the truth and identify the lies of the devil. Thank you God.”

Bob George emphasizes the importance of faith and trust in Jesus Christ, regardless of life’s circumstances. He argues that circumstances reveal one’s nature, not cause it, using examples like anger. George discusses the unconditional love of God, which remains constant even through trials. He highlights the significance of standing firm in faith, as nothing can separate believers from God’s love. He stresses the need for encouragement and kindness within the Christian community, advocating for a judgment-free approach to others who are in Christ Jesus.

~ “Well, Paul goes ahead to say, how can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we have in the presence of our God because of you, night and day, we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. If there’s something that is lacking in your faith, we want to be there to help supply that. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus, clear the way for us to come to you. He’s asking God, clear the way so that I can come and visit these people that I love. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you folks. He wasn’t talking to people that I’m sure in his own mind he perceived as perfect, or always did the wonderful things, or said the wonderful things, or whatever it might be, but he talked about people that knew the Lord and he loved in Christ, Jesus, May He strengthen your heart so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all of his holy ones. Now, guys, here is the beginning now of basically what this book is all about, these first three chapters, basically where God’s encouraging people. It’s kind of a way and a means of dealing with people, where you’re going to encourage them, you’re going to talk about your love for them, you’re going to talk about their faith. You’re going to you’re going to encourage them in those things that are encourageable. Do you understand that, that a person might have eight bad points and two good points. He says, If you’re going to solve anything, deal with the two good points, and always find something good that you can say. And many times I said, if you can’t say something good about somebody, don’t say it. How many of you would like to live that way? Don’t you never said anything bad about anybody. How many would like to live that way? How many do? Our tongues is our worst enemy, isn’t it? And we’ve got choices on that. I’ve got choices as to whether I’m going to say something to encourage somebody or something to maybe kind of show them who’s boss. You know what you’re talking about, but we always choose the wrong choices on those things. He says, if you can find something good, encourage them with that. If you find anything that’s good or worthy, concentrate on those things with people when you’re dealing with people.” ~ Bob George

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Announcer 0:13
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.

Bob George 0:29
And so you have to just take a look and say, Well, I can’t control that I don’t know where a person’s heart is. I don’t know where you are any more than you know where I am. I don’t know how you would respond if you lost your mate, and I wouldn’t know until you lost him. Then I’ll find out where you’re walking, and you’ll find out where you’re walking, whether you’re going to keep hanging in there and keep trusting Jesus and keep thanking Jesus. It’s not that you don’t hurt, but it’s the fact that you’ve got Christ on your side and that you can trust him with it. So basically, your circumstances of life don’t cause your nature. Your circumstances of life reveal your nature. In other words, I can’t cause you to be angry. I can reveal the anger in you, but I can’t cause you to be anger and to be angry. The circumstances of life don’t cause your nature. They just reveal your where you’re walking. You say, you make me mad. Say, No, I didn’t make you mad. I just revealed the mad that was in you. I’m a stick. I stir you up. It’s like George Reaver said, I got the most perfect wife that God could ever given me. Been married 50 some years, said George, what a sweet statement to make. Why do you say that? Because he said, because everything God wants me to see about myself, she reveals it. And that’s really true. And so we realize that circumstances don’t cause your nature. They just reveal it. You can’t stir up beans in a pot unless there’s beans in the pot, and if there weren’t beans in a pot, you couldn’t stir it up. And so when you get angry, don’t say you made me that way. You just revealed my nature. Are we together on that? Now that’s tough to deal with, especially when it’s your nature that gets revealed, but again, it shows you something that you’re not the one making me mad, you’re not the one doing this. You’re just stirring up and causing me to see what’s really going on inside now, many times when we have adverse circumstances, what is our initial response? Is it normally spiritual or natural? Natural. Very much so. Somebody pulls in front of you on the freeway, you don’t just sit back and say, Oh, praise Jesus. You may use biblical sounding language, but it won’t be that kind of language. And then God gets a hold of you, and the Spirit begins dealing with you, and if the Spirit doesn’t, your wife will so either one of those take place. So you’re never without hope.

So we have to realize that in this life, that you’re going to have circumstances to come, and what a pleasing thing it is to see your people walking by faith with the hope of Christ, Jesus in their hearts. So it says you brought this good news to us, therefore brothers in all our distress and persecution, we were encouraged about you because of your faith. For now we really live since you’re standing firm in the Lord, there’s the key. Are you standing firm in the Lord? What does it mean to stand firm in the Lord? Regardless of what circumstances come your way? Are you walking by faith? Are you standing walking by faith? What do you mean walking by faith? Well, you’re walking by faith and truth. What is truth? Regardless of what you’re going through, nothing can separate you from the love of God. How many of you believe that to be true? It said trials can’t How many of you had trials? Did that separate you from the love of God? Might have separated you from your bank account, might have separated you from separated you from your job, maybe separated you from your mate. But how many were separated from the love of God in the midst of trials and tribulation? So regardless of what happens, what you’re saying is nothing can separate me from the love of God. Might have separated me from these things I was holding on to, but it never separated me from the love of God.

Knowing all these things he says, we’re more than conquerors. God loves you more than you could ever dream or imagine. He’s got a love for you that is totally out of our realm of experience. It’s called agape love. It’s called unconditional love. I love you not if I don’t love you because I just plain love you, that’s God, and you can rest in that truth. You can rest in the fact that nothing can separate me from the love of God. Is death going to separate you from the love of God? No, it’s going to enable its fullness the love of God. So in essence, death, for the Christian, is a time in our lives when we’re going to get to know experientially the unconditional love of God, totally without any interference. So that’s a promotion for us, and we must look at death in that in that fashion, that death is not something we can miss a person down here, but death for the person who is in Christ, Jesus, that is absent from the body, present with the Lord. That’s the greatest day of his life, when he leaves here and goes into the presence of Christ, Jesus, we have to look at death in a different way than what the heathen world does, don’t we, guys? And so when you hear that you’ve got an illness, or you hear that you’ve got something that could cause death, your approach to that have to be, if that happens, why Praise God, because I’m going to be absent from the body, present with the Lord. For me to live, is Christ? For me to die is gain. Do you believe that? You believe that to die is gain? For us, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. So how can I fear facing gain? And so when we’re prepared for death, we’re prepared for life, and until we’re prepared for death, we are not prepared for life. And so that’s all a part of standing firm. It’s all a part of bringing the good news about your faith and love. And that’s all this life is down here, guys that he says, The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through what? Love. What is God looking for from you and me love. Love does not criticize one another. Love is kind to each other. Love is encouraging to one another. That’s what he says up here in verse 12 that I came to you encouraging and comforting and urging you to live a good life. See, not urging you to get involved in all the garbage of the world, telling everybody how much fun that would be, but to encourage people to know if you want to be blessed, you’re going to be blessed by living a good life.

Amy and I were talking about that the other day, that by the grace of God, and I have to say, by the grace of God, that that Amy grew up in to survive. Her life was a life of survival, even up to the point when I met her when she was 20 years old. They lived to survive. They didn’t live for luxuries. They didn’t have any they didn’t have money for anything. She never had roller skates. She never had a bicycle. She never had anything except clothes on her back that were given to her by Good Will or something. And so the issue is that she didn’t have time for foolishness in her head. She was living to survive. Now me, well, we don’t need to talk about that. You could just take the very opposite you’ve got me. I didn’t live to survive. We lived for pleasure. We lived for fun and games and whatever else was was around. And so the issue is that she lived a life that was pretty sheltered because of the circumstances that were there. Well, going through those circumstances, probably in her heart, she’d be saying, this is kind of tough, although they kind of accepted it. This is just the way it is. I think her mom’s expression, it has to be so. And so that’s how she grew up and met me when, when she was 20 years of age, I guess God wanted her to get some experience and and to learn to walk by faith, or whatever it was, but, but she, but she’s lived a pretty, what you would and I would call her a decent life. It hadn’t been a big sinful life. She hadn’t been a drinker or smoker or running around with men or anything else in her life, and she was talking the other day that, you know, maybe, maybe I should have had more experience. Maybe I should have had this. And honey, you out of your mind. Praise God for the fact of the kind of life he gave you. I got to praise him for the life he gave me or let me have. And I’ll guarantee, if I’m capable doing that, you sure are. Because in the final analysis, when God looks at all of us, even though, morally, her life was certainly up here where mine was down here, from God’s standpoint, we’re all here same level, and all of us were the same, and therefore we do not have the ability to look upon people and say, Oh, thank God I’m like a sinner like they are. You know, that’s that’s what makes God sick. And one of the problems many times that you run into if you’ve led somewhat of a decent life, is there’s a tendency for judgmental spirit, and that’s where God begins to convict you on those kind of things. But what he’s going to do is neutralize all of us down to the same level of saying, there for the grace of God go I, there for the grace of God go I. See a guy out on a street there for the grace of God go I. See a person who’s an alcoholic, there for the grace of God go I. Drug addict there, for the grace of God go I. That’s when you understand guys that in God’s economy, none of us are pure in heart, none of us, and that’s why we’re able, hopefully able, to recognize the truth of that and to reach out with compassion to people, rather than in judgmental spirit to them.

When you I think of how easy it is to say things sometimes to people that you don’t mean. How many of you ever said done that said something to somebody that you didn’t mean it at all, but it was taken the wrong way? How many of you, oh, okay, all of us said That’s good. That happened to me the other day. Uh, in a conversation we had with Richard, and I said something, and I was trying to make a point, but it’s kind of a stupid point, I guess, but I didn’t know it, but I really hurt his feelings. And so he called the next day and and said he wanted to talk, and he sounded serious and and so I said, Well, I wouldn’t plan on coming over, but I’ll come over. And so we came over, and he just opened up his mouth and told me how that hurt, and I just collapsed like a little pussy cat. I felt I felt bad all weekend because I’d said something to hurt somebody didn’t attend it at all, but it’s but it hurt him, and it really made me feel bad to think that you said something you didn’t mean it, but you said something to hurt somebody. Now, if he had been mad, I’d have been mad. I mean, if he would approach me in anger on something, why then I’m going to respond to him in anger. But when he when, you’re sitting there and saying, Hey, that hurt. Gee, if you hurt somebody, you want to put your arms around them and say, I’m sorry. Isn’t that truthful? So we can, we can say things. We’ve had people in the assembly that somebody said something to somebody, and they got their nose out of joint, and off they go. Well, I don’t know where they’re going to land, but wherever they land, somebody’s going to be in trouble where they land, because that attitude’s going to go with them. You can’t escape. You can’t escape yourself by leaving here. You got to go. And so the issue is that we need to look at these kind of things and to stand strong in our faith and to stand strong with the idea that we’re not here to criticize people. We’re not here to put people down, but to encourage one another. Families that encourage one another become very, very strong families where ridicule is prevalent, it weakens you. And so if you want to help somebody and to be looked upon as a helper and encourager, then encourage one another, and God. God looks at those things and says, Well done, good and faithful servant.And so it said that that they displease, they’re hostile. It says to all men, in other words, you do not have other people’s interest at heart when you’re out promoting sin, do you? You’re not looking out after the benefit of somebody else. You’re looking out after your own benefit. So you’re hostile to men in their efforts to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles. And so God is God’s goal for us. It said it’s God’s will that none should perish and all should come to repentance. That’s his will. But is his will going to be fulfilled? Is it true that all of us are going to come to Christ? No, so in other words, can his will be thwarted? Is it possible to thwart the will of God? Absolutely, if it wasn’t, we’d all be saved, wouldn’t we? Is it God’s will that we all give thanks in all things for this is the will of God. Can that be thwarted? Can that thing come up and say, give thanks? You know, you know what you’re talking about. I’m not going to give thanks for this. I’m hurting. And so God’s Will could be thwarted. And we have to understand the truth of that. And so he said that in regard to these people who are out for one reason only, and that is to keep God’s Will from being done. And in this particular case, God’s will for the Gentiles to be able to hear the good news of the gospel. It says they’re heaping they heap up their sins to the limit, and the wrath of God has come upon them. And actually it means fully have fully come upon them.

But brothers, it says when we were torn away from you for a short time, in person, though not in thought, out of our intense longing, we made every effort to see you, for we wanted to come to you. Certainly I Paul did again and again, but Satan stopped us. Now, guys, how does Satan stop you from things? Well, it talks about up here that that these people that killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out, they displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. So who does God use, or who does Satan use to thwart the will of God? Who’s he use guys? People, people. Are we right or wrong? He can probably use other things. You know, he can get you sick and keep you from going to work and that type of thing. But basically, he’s going to use people. And how is he going to use us by lying to us, in other words, where he can use people very easily who do not know the Word of God. How does God get the Lost deceived? Because they are deceived. Why? They don’t have a clue as to what the Word of God says? Now you get people who have just a smathering of knowledge of the Word of God. They’re the most dangerous. They just they know enough to be dangerous and kind of, I laugh at Bill ________ that many of you have seen on Fox News, and he’s got some very good sense on most things, but when he starts talking religion, I have to laugh, because he’s just got a smathering of knowledge there that he’s dangerous, and people like that are dangerous. But if you don’t know whether you’re lost or saved what the Word of God says. You’re subject to deception, aren’t you? You can be deceived very, very easily. And so people, well meaning people, thinking they’re giving you good advice are literally going contrary to the Word of God.

Look at the Apostle Paul. How many times was he told by God, by what he thought God was saying, is to go into different parts of the world. And then his friends were saying, Oh, don’t go in there. You’re going to be killed, Jesus, the same way you’re not going to go into Jerusalem, are you? They’re all looking for you. Well, God was saying, I’m going that’s my destiny. And they were saying, no, no, Lord, we don’t want that to be your destiny. And so those were well meaning people, but they were not speaking truth. And so he says here that Satan had stopped us. So in other words, in some way, in somehow, in some way, Satan had stopped them through people from getting to come to visit the people in Thessalonica.

And so he says, What is, what is our hope and our joy, or the crown for which we glory? In the presence of Jesus Christ, when He comes, is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and our joy, when God looks down on people and again. And I don’t think he’s impressed with the masses like we are, but when he looks down on a group of people, and he sees a group of people that are walking by faith in Christ, Jesus, trusting Christ, Jesus with their life, and he looks down on them and he says to the people who have had anything to do ministering to them, those people are your joy. And that is really true. In this day and age. If you have people that you have discipled your own children, if you have had the privilege of of leading them into the path of righteousness, of being able to teach them about the Lord Jesus Christ, in many instances, leading them to Christ at some point in their life, you have done the greatest, the greatest thing that you could ever do for your child. There’s nothing that you could do for your child or your mate of any greater value than if the opportunity came for you to do so as to lead them to Christ, Jesus, to lead them into a knowledge of Christ, Jesus, you have literally been used of God to bring eternal salvation to your children and to those that you love. There’s no greater gift that you could give them. You could be a multi millionaire give them all the money in the world, but if they don’t have Jesus, they’re going to die dead, rich and dead, rich in money, dead spiritually. And so it’s the greatest gift that you could ever give to the people that you love is to find out where they are spiritually and if they’re not, if they’re not saved, and to know that they’re not saved, and to talk to them individually till you do know whether they’re saved or not, and then to try to lead them into a knowledge of Christ, their ability to accept that is in their hands. It’s not in yours, but it is our responsibility to communicate the truth to these people.

And so he’s saying here that that you are our crown, or you are our joy. You’re You’re everything. At the end of your life, you look back and you say, Who is your joy? Who’s your crown? It’s, it’s the people that you’ve touched with the gospel, and those are the people that you love. So he said, when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. In other words, they had been stopped enough to realize we’re not going to get through this barrier right now. And so he said, We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials, these different trials and tribulations that, again, have been put on these people in Thessalonica from the opposing body of people trying to stop this gospel. He said, You’ve been through a lot of trials and a lot of tribulation. And so you know quite well that we were disdained before them, that we were destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. In other words, God said, this is something that’s in our destiny, that we’re going to be proclaiming Christ. And when you’re going to be proclaiming Christ, you’re going to run into opposition. That’s your destiny. If you’re going to be out in this world openly and proclaiming Christ, then look for persecution. It’s going to be a part of your life. Sooner or later, it will be a part of your life. How many have found that to be true? Persecuted in your home, possibly. Today, that would still be the case in many instances, with ______ people who come to Christ. And quite frankly, there are 1000s upon 1000s of _______ people who are in Christ, Jesus today. One of their fears is that when that occurs, I’m going to be disowned. And that happens many times. There’s many people who have come to Christ, gone back to their families and said, I became a Christian, and they say you’re dead. As far as I’m concerned, you’re dead. You’re no longer a part of our family. And that’s tough, and that would cause you to think twice, wouldn’t it, before you went out and proclaimed that you’re in Christ, Jesus. But if you’re in Christ, Jesus, he said, You can do nothing less than to proclaim where you are, and so many times that happens, that can happen with being a Catholic or a Protestant. Hey, Mom and Dad, I came to Christ. You mean you’re not a Catholic anymore? You mean you’re not a Protestant anymore, then you’re dead. As far as I’m concerned, there’s still that kind of thinking in people’s hearts that say, if you’re not like me anymore, you’re out of here. And so these kind of attitudes are the things that keep the gospel many times from progressing. But the fact is that Paul says, look for it. It’s a part of your destiny.

It says it turned out that way, as you know, for this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. So he sent Timothy to the Thessalonicas, Thessalonians in order to find out what was going on. He said, I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless. Paul was saying, I was, in essence scared to death that what we said to you was said in vain. But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought us the good news about your faith and love. He’s told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us just as we long to see you. Can you hear the heart of compassion that’s coming out of the apostle Paul for the people that he had the privilege of ministering to? He said, I long to see you, and I thank you that you long to see me. Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution, we were encouraged about you because of your faith.

Now again, what is it that is encouraging to Paul about these people, it’s about their faith, isn’t it? It’s the fact that I hear that you’re walking by faith. Is that encouraging to you when you know somebody is walking by faith? It’s terrifically encouraging to me. We have many, many people in our congregation, and many people across the country that are going through tough times, I think of Doris Calwell out in Northern California, just lost her husband, Dick, after I don’t know how many years of marriage, probably well over 50 of marriage, and Dick has gone to be with the Lord, and now Doris is very, very sick, but she calls Amy back and forth, and Amy calls her, and she still is walking by faith. She’s she’s hurting. She’s hurting emotionally because of the loss of her husband. She’s hurting physically because of the physical elements she’s going through. But in the midst of that, she’s walking by faith, and she’s talking about the Lord and trusting Jesus and looking forward to the day that you’ll be absent from the body and present with the Lord. And you look at that and say, Doris, you’re our hope. You’re the it’s because of people like you that are our hope and our joy and our crown, for which we for which we live. It encourages you to hear that people that you’ve had an opportunity to minister to are walking by faith. Numerous ones of you here have lost your mates and your heart is broken, but you walk by faith and you hang in, and then you’ve got others who’ve lost their husbands who don’t hang in you never see them again.

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Bob George 14:52
Well, Paul goes ahead to say, how can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we have in the presence of our God because of you, night and day, we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. If there’s something that is lacking in your faith, we want to be there to help supply that. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus, clear the way for us to come to you. He’s asking God, clear the way so that I can come and visit these people that I love. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you folks. He wasn’t talking to people that I’m sure in his own mind he perceived as perfect, or always did the wonderful things, or said the wonderful things, or whatever it might be, but he talked about people that knew the Lord and he loved in Christ, Jesus, May He strengthen your heart so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all of his holy ones. Now, guys, here is the beginning now of basically what this book is all about, these first three chapters, basically where God’s encouraging people. It’s kind of a way and a means of dealing with people, where you’re going to encourage them, you’re going to talk about your love for them, you’re going to talk about their faith. You’re going to you’re going to encourage them in those things that are encourageable. Do you understand that, that a person might have eight bad points and two good points. He says, If you’re going to solve anything, deal with the two good points, and always find something good that you can say. And many times I said, if you can’t say something good about somebody, don’t say it. How many of you would like to live that way? Don’t you never said anything bad about anybody. How many would like to live that way? How many do? Our tongues is our worst enemy, isn’t it? And we’ve got choices on that. I’ve got choices as to whether I’m going to say something to encourage somebody or something to maybe kind of show them who’s boss. You know what you’re talking about, but we always choose the wrong choices on those things. He says, if you can find something good, encourage them with that. If you find anything that’s good or worthy, concentrate on those things with people when you’re dealing with people.

So these first three chapters, you’ve seen Paul following that truth and principle, I’m complimenting you on your faith, and now he’s going to deal with with end times. He’s going to be dealing now with the fact that I want you to be in a situation of being holy and blameless in the sight of God when the Lord Jesus Christ comes with all of his holy ones. Now he’s talking about the return of Christ. And remember when we started this study, that the reason for the book was the fact that Paul had announced and talked about the coming of Christ, and the Thessalonians were saying, Well, praise Jesus, so he’s coming back and he’s going to restore the world. And that’s right. Well, shoot, let’s sell our businesses. Sit around on the hill and eat bonbons and praise Jesus and and he was and he was saying to us, hold on a minute, guys, you don’t know when the Lord’s coming back. Go out and go to work, go live your life. Don’t sit back waiting on the Lord to come back. That could be a part of your life. Anticipation that the Lord is coming back, but you don’t know when he’s coming back. Well, of course, that was 2000 years ago, so they had had a pretty long wait on the hill and but that’s what he’s saying, is go out and live your life. That’s what we’ve talked about many times in end times, teaching people love it, because you can kind of get away from having to live your life today. If I can sit around and be preoccupied with Jesus is coming back, I don’t have to think about how to get along with my wife today, but I sure know about Jesus coming back. Well, I think you have to know that, yes, there is the fact that Jesus is coming back, and there are end times. But in the meantime, I got a life to live right here. I got people to ask God to give me love for today. And we’ve got a life to lead. So he’s going to deal with this, with this truth. And when we when we come back, we’ll be dealing with that next week. But remember this statement, you strengthen your heart so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, now again, presence blameless and holy.

Hebrews 10:14. By that one offering He made forever perfect in the sight of God, all of those who are the holy ones when he’s talking about so that you’ll be blameless and holy in the presence of our God. Has he already made you blameless and holy in his presence? He’s already done that, hadn’t he? What does he want us to do with that information? If he said, I’ve made you holy and blameless in the sight of God, what does he want you to do? How does he want you to respond to that? Do we need to go around the tables and see if, come on everybody, how does he want you to respond to that? Believe it isn’t that tough, believe it and rest in it. So someone comes up until you say, You call yourself blameless in the sight of God, that’s wrong. Didn’t deserve it, didn’t earn it. It’s a gift. It’s called grace. Legalist comes in and says, No, you got to work for it. No, you got to do this. No, no, I’m sorry. It’s called grace. That’s what it means to stand tall, to stand firm in the grace of God that he’s given to us. Don’t be wavered by what people say or what you think, or even what you think about yourself, because if we all were just honest with ourselves and be honest with yourself, don’t have to let anybody else know what’s going on underneath the skin, just you and God, how many of you would say that on a daily basis, you can just stand there saying, Lord Jesus, aren’t you glad that I’m holy and blameless because of what I’m doing and what I’m thinking? I don’t think so. But you see, in spite of that, God says, I want you to stand firm in something that I have made you what you cannot make yourself. I’ve made you set apart, and I’ve made you blame us in His sight. How did he make you blame us? The Cross, where there He who knew no sin became sin for you and me. How come so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him? I made you that way. How did he make you holy by that one offering, forever holy, forever present, forever perfect in the sight of God, those he made holy set them apart.

And so he wants us to walk by faith in that truth. So next week, when we come back, we’re going to be talking about the end times. And when we do, I think you’re going to hear some things that I don’t think you’ve maybe heard before, and maybe you have, but there’s a lot of teaching on End Times that do not make does not make sense to me. We’ll cover that next week. I do know something when we have to deal with what you do know there’s one thing I know that it’s not even up for interpretation. Flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God. How many of you know that passage of scripture? How many of you believe it’s true? Now, if it is true that flesh and blood is not going to inherit the kingdom of God, then I want to ask you, how you think flesh and blood is going to leave here at the rapture and go into the presence of God. Have you ever thought that through? Are we together on that? How is this body going to go from here into the presence of God, if flesh and blood is not going to inherit the kingdom of God? So it all be an interesting study, don’t you think? And some of those questions are what we’re going to ask and some of those questions, I think we’re going to go through, and we’re not going to do it dogmatically, because, quite frankly, I don’t care one way or the other. If God wants to turn this into a vegetable and send it in there, it’s all right with me. But the issue is that what we want to do is to come down with some logic, some divine logic, as to whether or not what we’re being taught about this End Times is really the way it’s going to be, or whether it isn’t. And then you can say, well, it really doesn’t make any difference one way or the other, but this is where I believe that that I’m going in my mind. So next week, we’ll start on that. I think it’ll be a lot of fun for us. Well, let’s pray together.

Father, we want to thank you for the Lord Jesus, for his love for us, His life in us, thank you for this word. My goodness. If we didn’t have the word of God in our hands, we wouldn’t know anything, but we do. Thank you that we have you, Jesus. Bless this group, this group of believers, people are growing to love you, continue to work in their hearts, in our hearts, to love you more, to put aside our own ideas and quit trying to always be right. To realize that the only place in the world that we can claim to be right is when it pertains to you and the word of God, not the opinions of man. So why do we argue so much over things that can’t be verified by you? Why are we so insistent upon being right instead of being loving? So Father, work in our hearts, continue to grow us teach us to say no to unrighteous thoughts and actions and to live a self controlled, upright lives as we wait for the return of Christ, Jesus, our Lord, we pray these things in Christ’s name and for his sake. Amen.

Announcer 27:11
Thank you so much for tuning in to Classic Christianity with Bob George. We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s program. We truly hope that today’s message has inspired you to walk a life of faith in the Lord find more information online at BobGeorge.net. There you will also find available CDs, DVDs and Bible studies available for purchase. It’s through your help that we are able to spread the good word of Jesus Christ. Until next time, walk in faith be good to one another and praise the Lord. Amen.