How Do We Relate With One Another While We Wait for Christ's Return|Future Hope Wk 2|Paolo Punzalan

[Music] hello victory fort we want to welcome you to our service today we are so glad that you could join us uh thank you so much and i saw some of you um you know uh online and uh melinda saying hello to nana thank you for those guys who are tagging your friends okay i can see you guys tagging your friends and please uh let them know that uh we're online and uh we are so glad that we could worship together uh appreciate justine or justine justine thank you for praying for afghanistan and i know that there's a lot of things going on around the world today pray for haiti as well i know that they had an earthquake about five or six days ago more than 2 100 people the death toll has continually increased and so let's continue to pray um again on top of all that we're going through today uh these things are continuing to happen but listen i want to say that god is faithful and god is in control amen and so um and you know talking about um afghanistan are we have uh guys on the ground uh we have two men uh and their families uh we do have uh small house churches there uh that are reaching out and so i just um they wanna say that let's continue to pray uh i i loved what one of our leaders said there he said this despite the threat despite the danger despite the looming difficulties we will stand strong we will continue to trust the lord even if it would mean death we will not recant we will continue to follow jesus i love that and i love that the heart and i think of you know sometimes we think what we go through today is really hard i can't even imagine what they are going through at this moment in time and i you you wonder what will cause a person to remain steadfast in his or her faith in the midst of suffering in the middle of all this suffering right and how can one actually say that and and you alone can you can say that only if you see something beyond what the natural eyes can see today if if that person has an understanding of our future hope uh then there's that's why there's there's confidence and there's an i hope you have that issuance today i hope you have that confidence in your heart today and that's why we are having the series entitled future hope that's the prayer that we will understand clearly and completely uh or not completely but at least in greater measure the hope that we have in the coming days see you and i will face and will continually face heart the hardest of times but keeping a perspective of the present without letting go of the future will keep us going you understand that we're going through what we're going through today but the future hope that we have we know that christ has something for us and you know in the book of first thessalonians we'll be there in a minute but it talks about the church in thessalonica it was uh it was a year previews when he writes this letter and sorry the year after he visited thessalonica or now in greece called thessaloniki right and so he visit visited that city and many people came to faith in christ he was only there three weeks but after three weeks a church was born imagine right and so you're going to notice if i could show you the picture of thessalonica or thessaloniki right this is a harbor city it's in the upper right you'll see it there near um berea area of macedonia it's the most populous populous city that time and the most uh prosperous city in the macedonian area region and so this was where paul came you know paul was very strategic as well he knew this was a harbor city and from this city will branch out the different to the different cities around the area who did paul wrote the letter to okay to the church in thessalonica why did paul write the letter well a few things i want to bring to mind today number one to address the accusations that he was deceiving people and that he had evil motives right you check out uh verse one of chapter two it says therefore you yourselves know brothers that are coming to you was not in vain but though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at philippi as you know we had boldness in our god to declare to you the gospel of god in the midst of conflict verse 3 for our appeal look at this our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive but just as we have been approved by god to be entrusted with the gospel so we speak not to please men right but to please god who tests our heart now i want to stop there for a moment and say this it's important to be at peace with god because when we're at peace with god we will have the peace of god and what does that how does that apply to us today no matter the accusations or misinterpretations you know your god you're good with god right and so you think about maybe at work there's conflict there or maybe somebody took the credit you built that project you closed that deal somebody took the credit for it you know lord okay i'm good with you hey lord i'm not pleasing men i'm pleasing you at home right you've been misunderstood lord i'm pleasing you not men a church you know how many of you here you've been offended by somebody in church that is not uh that happens right and so because the church is a place where people come together and people are not perfect and and there are things said not said done not done because of that offense happens right and but question who are you pleasing who are we living lives for and paul is saying here we do this not to please men we're here to please god some of you need to drill that in your hearts today we're here to please god not to please people and then paul says here we speak what we do not to please man right and then another reason why he wrote this letter in in first thessalonians he says in chapter two it was really to encourage the church to persevere and to hold on to the word of god okay to hold on to the word of god because you know at that time there were epicureans and stoics that were pushing back right and and in fact the bible says in chapter one they they turned from idols to the living god and so it cost a ruckus right and then of course the jewish people who did not like the preaching of the gospel and jesus of course did not like uh when the church was growing now in verse 13 look what the bible says and also we thank god constantly for this look at verse 13. when you have received the word of god which you have heard from us you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is the word of god which is at work in the new believers right so the thessalonians accepted the word of god as the very words of god hold on to the word of god guys i want to encourage you today listen okay there are a lot of opinions there are a lot of statements there are a lot of things that are thrown our way but what is your final authority today what is the filter okay what is the filter by which we live life through all right hold on to god's word as the very words of god the bible is our final authority that's that's a question for all of us here today do you believe that the bible is god's word that it is your final authority because what we believe about god's word will determine how our attitude will be towards it if it's merely a suggestion then we will pick it up okay we will pick and choose whatever we want to you know read and even obey as if we're in a buffet line and pastor brandon we don't get to eat and go face today right but if it's our final authority then what he says goes at work our decisions our choices our friendships the values the relationships that we're in how we define marriage how we define sexuality our image in god who has the final authority in your priorities now note god's word is the final authority not what pastor brandel says not what pastor paulo says not what justine says all right we learn from people paul said imitate me as i imitate christ but the final authority is god's word somebody say amen okay okay daniel de guzman amen said he said amen all right not well not what we you know we watch on youtube not just a convincing podcast that we listen to and those are helpful don't get me wrong they're very very helpful but it's the word of god that's the final authority and then of course he clarifies here that the church to the church that jesus will come jesus is coming back like listen and type it there okay jesus is coming back this has to be clear to everything the way he came the first time that's why we're celebrating christmas okay the waking christmas okay jesus came christmas he will come back again when he made that promise he will come he said he what he said he did right and he and paul here is saying don't miss it when he comes you'll know it's him you will know it's him and you know that he has come back you won't miss it he will come like a thief in the night nobody knows when he will come but he will come look at verse 17 verse 17 says but since we were torn away from you meaning in three weeks they were out there out of there they were pushed away brothers for a short time in person not in heart we endeavor to see more eagerly and with greater desire with great desire to see you face to face listen i i i feel him don't you feel him oops sorry about that we miss being able to see each other face to face we miss being together right and the technology then was letter writing i'm glad for the technology today it's virtual okay we have these cameras and we're online but then it was letter writing that was the the main technology that they had but he said even though we have this technology of letter writing i still want to see you face to face verse 18 because we wanted to come to you i paul and again and again but satan hindered us we have an enemy that will try to stop the work of god 19 for what is our hope and our joy our crown is our of boasting before the lord jesus at his coming is it not you for you are our glory and our joy interesting how paul used this he talks about crowns uh in greek it's the word stefanos okay he says the church is our crown meaning the people that they've reached for the gospel of jesus christ the believers interesting how he mentions the word crown because theologians tell us that there are five crowns uh that the christ follower is going to receive at the coming of of jesus christ when he returns right and here's what i'm trying we're trying to do for the for the next you know last week and even now in the next couple several weeks we're going to try to lay down some eschatological foundations i know that's a big word eschatology it's really just the study of the last days that's what it is it's a teaching about the coming of christ right and so just basic basically what i want to be able to do is to lay foundation and and this stefanos or this these crowns that paul is talking about are the rewards of those who followed and served christ all right let me give you the five crowns the soul winners crown you'll see that in first thessalonians chapter 2 19 the imperishable crown first corinthians chapter 9 the crown of righteousness ii timothy chapter 4 the crown of life revelation chapter 2 verse 10 and the crown of glory let me go through that one by one briefly i wish i had a lot of time but you know chapter two is a long chapter let's talk about this first the soul winners crown some call it the victor's crown okay those who brought people to jesus right going to proclaim jesus each you know when when we proclaim christ to people and when and and you know sometimes but we we preach christ and we preach the gospel we share jesus to people we share the gospel we share the love of jesus and we we want to close the deal right away we want to close the deal right away meaning we hurry the the thing the the process of listen they're gonna grow in their journey with god they're gonna grow in their relationship with jesus right uh we don't have to close the deal right away and just encourage them share you know text them a bible verse pray with them right encourage them ask them how they are talk to them about the love of jesus share a testimony of what god has done in your life pray for them over the phone zoom call with them inch them closer to christ and continue to preach the word to them and you know we preach the gospel by going but you also you and i can also preach the word by sending we send them by prayer we send people by praying for them or send them by our support you know aren't uh the thessalonians actually going through a tough time you might ask you know why why is paul encouraging them to continue to share the word and to share the god's the love of god well here's my thought for you i say that might be your question today shabbat is like i can't even talk to people right now right and so why will i even put this on my on my shoulders you know these are moments when we need to hear about the love of jesus these are the moments and in fact when we share god's love to people that actually gets stamped even more and deeper and lodged in there in our hearts and and we get reminded jesus has never forsaken and never will okay um the second crown is the imperishable crown the imperishable crown talks about in first corinthians chapter 9 it says in verse 24 do you not know that those who run in a race in a race all run but one receives a price run in such a way that that you may obtain it and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things look at the last part now they do it to obtain a perishable crown but we for an imperishable crown and those are faithful to jesus will receive this crown the bible says if you stick to uh to him and to remain faithful to him to the end it's reading an article by the gospel coalition they were talking about how and the article says how afghan afghanistan pastors reflect on the on the sovereignty of god and so it just it it's it's so heart-wrenching at the same time moving when when mark morris the pastor writing this was talking about some of the afghan pastors that he got to call have a call with and and he said you know i listened as the afghan pastor spoke through the tears about his friend and this is a quote a faithful believer whose village was taken by a militant group that has taken over the nation three days earlier and this brother's 14 year old daughter was ripped from his arms and forced into sexual servitude in what the men would dub as marriage and her dutiful privilege and responsibility but the afghan pastor says we're going to stay faithful to jesus guys i want to encourage you we're not going through what they're going through but we're doing going through other things and it may be really tough for you right now but stay faithful to jesus amen number three the crown of righteousness the crown of righteousness in second timothy chapter four verse eight henceforth there's a lay is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing what's his crown of righteousness those people who you know do you feel that sometimes he's like lord you just come back just come back now just come right it's like ah you're languishing it's like lord just there's come but at the same breath you realize oh wait wait wait wait wait my mom my aunt my brother they have not they don't know you yet uh my office mate right there are there's still people that don't know you jesus i okay it's okay lord i'm gonna endure don't come yet lord i want you to come but not yet because friends don't know you yet number five the crown of life revelation chapter 2 verse 10. do not fear what about uh what you're about to suffer behold the devil is about to throw some of you in prison that you may be tested and for 10 days you will have tribulation be faithful unto death and i will give you what crown of life the crown of life those who persevere and remain faithful in the middle of suffering for them will be given the crown of life that's number four the last one and then we'll continue the crown of glory first peter chapter five verse four the crown of glory and in first peter chapter 5 verse 4 the bible says and when the chief shepherd appears you will receive the unfading crown of glory that's number five crown of glory those who serve jesus and use their abilities their talents even personal resources you've given your all to jesus and and you may not be a multi-billionaire today you may not have your your your your the car that you've dreamed off you may not have the vacation home that you have wished but you have a crown of glory waiting in heaven why because you have used and leveraged your time your resources your personal abilities for the kingdom of god amen for the kingdom of god question so what okay what about these crowns right come here you might be asking that question here's what i want to say god sees every little sacrifice we make for him and in the end it is all worth it in the end it's all worth it god sees every single sacrifice you know sometimes we want people to see and be impressed by our servitude pero thank god that he sees every single thing the prayer that you prayed i called somebody and you prayed for them the you know you come here and the worship team is here you you come to and take risks and and lead worship justine you have three children right and but you're here you're serving every little thing jesus sees and at the end it's all worth it it's all worth it now one more question before we continue i have a lot of questions here and what do we do with the crowns right does that mean heaven i have four crowns you only have two right well revelation 4 11 and 10 and 11 says 24 elders what did they what did they do they all laid their crowns before christ at the end it didn't really matter surely we appreciate the crowns and we will all rejoice in fact realize this in heaven there's no sin which means there's no jealousy or envy it's like we will actually rejoice with those who rejoice in the young hey justine had five i only have three right there's none of that because there's no sin in heaven but all the achievements and all that we have uh received from him as a reward we will all lay down before him anyway because he is deserving of all of our worship now let me try to continue this um it's interesting that in here we see three metaphors because we're going to receive reward from him and then i i wish i had time i had prepared it uh we're going to talk about son of the bema seat of christ the judgment seat of christ but we'll we'll set that aside for the next one but but to bring some a bit of application for us here today these crowns that paul talked about are going to be given during the judgment seat of christ that's you find that in second corinthians and we'll talk about that somewhere in the coming weeks but but he says they he will come and when he comes when jesus comes he will give these rewards but while we wait while we wait okay the question okay where's joey joey the question is what do we do now how do we relate with one another right um the number one the first metaphor he gives is that of a mother verse five you know we never use flattery nor did we use a a mask to cover up greed okay masks we use masks now but not to cover up greed because you know anyway but god is our witness okay verse six we were not looking for praise from people not from you not from anyone else even though as apostles of christ we could have asserted our authority instead we were like young children among you look at the last part just as a nursing mother cares for her children so we cared for you because we love you so much we're delighted to share with you the last part there not only the gospel of god but our lives as well wow paul did not just share the gospel he said we shared our very lives you know that's the calling god has for every single one of us that we would would share lives together these days all the more this is so critical that we don't just share god bless you praying for you or put the praying hands on the emoji on the on the text when somebody is sick right just actually share lives what can i do how can i help how can i serve paul shared not only the gospel and selflessness is so seen in here while we wait for the coming of christ we share our very lives with one another you know yesterday i called one of the guys from church and every saturday morning they meet uh for a small group and you know they started meeting weekly when the pandemic hit when kovitz started and 2020 his business plummeted as in really you know i think they were functioning at 30 40 only and just sales went super down right but he was saying you know what god is faithful because i'm i'm so grateful for prayer i'm so grateful for men i could i could pray with and even maybe even and even cry with and he said you know what we're ending 2021. if we're on track we're ending 2021 better than 2019. i said how can that be he says just god open doors i don't have time to explain and i i don't have his permission to explain the details right but but it's just amazing what god has done in his life and the point is not the increase the point is sharing lives together that they pray together that they share with one another their burdens their pain their fears these are men these are strong men they do have fears but thanks be to god we have a father in heaven who will cover us even through our fears many shared lives that's the first one mother like a mother number two like siblings verse nine it says surely you remember brothers and sisters our toil and hardship we work night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preach the gospel of god to you brothers and sisters we're brothers and sisters that's there's a i read a book by scott mcknight he talked about siblingship okay that we have this relationship being in one spiritual family were called as brothers and sisters this means guys listen at the foot of the cross we're all bowing before the king on level ground not one is better than the other right not not because brandel is a pastor he's better or more superior than paul right and so everyone at the foot of the cross stands on ground level or on level ground rather there's no hierarchy of power really in relationships and and and which some people are deemed more superior than the others in christ we are valued accepted regarded we are all valued accepted regarded in him in fact those of you watching want to say this you matter you do some of us are just getting hit by insecurity these days right because of the uncertainty of the future you matter you are seen god sees you god knows you as as christ has valued and accepted and regarded us so should we value accept and regard one another and which is why i was telling our our worship team and our team here earlier you know the even just the question how are you makes a huge uh difference when you talk to people just don't go in business into straight into business those of you if you go to the office sometimes we just type an email or even call and then we just talk about the task list for the day sometimes it might be good to just ask hey you know how are you is there anything i can pray for you what's going on in your life today how are you would be a pretty good question to ask these days amen um i talked to you months ago about the abc news article on friendship doubt friendship dot meaning um people are feeling you know doubt in their relationships because of the isolation right and before you give them the benefit of the doubt oh they're just busy now it's like ah you know i'm scenezoned maybe i'm not his best friend anymore or maybe we're not really that close any longer and then this morning i was reading an article on friendship fade and and that article was explaining that survey tells us but in five years ago people feel uh they don't have close authentic genuine friendships one out of ten don't feel that or feel that they don't have friends now it's one out of eight and there's more people feeling like this is i'm really isolated i really don't have friends and so and so i want to encourage you today if you need somebody to pray with please don't do i i really sound like a broken record or for those of you need a broken record destroyed mp3 what is it um something okay [Music] internet just but i just i keep repeating don't do this pandemic alone if you need somebody to pray with or a group to be with please type connect there and our connect team will do their very best to find you a prayer partner a group just type connect there okay the third thing we'll end with this one father i'll try to speed this up he says you know like a father with his children we exhorted each one of you and encourage you and charge you to walk in the manner worthy of god who calls you into his own kingdom and glory the word exhort here is the word para kaleo meaning it's para is said kaleo is to call means to call somebody beside you that's what it is right when you call somebody beside you there's an idea of comfort there's an idea of let's walk this thing together i mean kind of like what pastor brandon was talking about let's journey together let's walk this thing out together it's literally to call the person to be beside you right you're not ahead of them you're not you go ahead first i'll follow you you're you're right beside let's journey this thing let's let's walk this out together you're having a tough time come on we're going to get through this together that's what a father does he says that's like a father we did this to you gosh i tell you today we need this we need this we need to be walking with each other not not pushing each other away right not pushing each other away and i know that when you think when you think about what's going on today there's less and less empathy i mean we are all going through a lot we live in crazy crazy crazy times and i love in that book that i mentioned earlier scott mcknight said it this way so the ability to feel this is what empathy is what empathy is the ability to feel what someone else feels and to exit our own feelings and enter the experience of others ah that's not easy that's what he said he defines empathy as the ability to feel what someone else feels and to exit our own feelings and enter the experience of others walking with somebody and empathy is needed today in a world that's in pain and clearly hurting and that's this is on top of all the cynicism and the and the criticism that we see online everyone is talking and making a stand but no one is listening to each other thus we end up hurting one another see when there's a climate of empathy and even a culture of empathy people will not feel invisible they will feel seen see without empathy everyone will feel triggered in fact no one will end up trusting one another the outrage culture that we have today are it demonstrates the weaponization of emotion and the elevation of emotion above reason and you see moral righteousness now rises in proportion to your level of outrage if if one is more emotional and outraged and the more authentic they are perceived to be the more authentic one is the ones greater moral standing is but instead of seeking understanding we're increasingly interpreting interpreting the actions of others in the least generous way possible and assuming the worst of intentions remember in john chapter 1 verse 14 jesus came right dwelt among us full of what pastor brandel full of grace and truth right full of grace and truth jesus came with truth yes because he's the way the truth and the life but he came first with grace and then truth i need us to hear this today guys in the in the world there's a lot of outrage and people feel triggered and there's a lot of criticism that's come full of grace yes we need truth absolutely [Music] we need to come with grace and as we end our time today [Music] i want us to pray honest pray because [Music] jesus is coming back [Music] he's coming and he may he may come tomorrow he may come 10 years from now he may come 50 years from now or a hundred or a thousand his time schedule not mine we have to be ready and as we're preparing we're called to care for one another we're called to be in relationship with one another with caring and empathy and love [Music] you guys getting this i hope you are because this is preaching for myself as much as it is for you so i'm going to ask our worship team behind me let's just worship him first before we pray let's sing this song there's only one who we can actually look to i mean i look at my own heart it's like ah god there's a lot of arrogance and pride sometimes and there's a lack of empathy it's like it's so easy for me to judge people and they give me to criticize i thank you that you're a perfect father you're perfect in all your ways i can trust them and so i want camille could you just lead us go ahead lead us in worship and let's sing this song again and then i'll come back and pray [Music] you are perfect in you are perfect in all of your ways you are perfect in all of your ways [Music] you are perfect [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] who i am [Music] it's who i am [Music] you are perfect in all of your ways you are perfect [Music] is you are perfect [Music] you know um [Music] you sing that part again perfect in all your ways and can we just make that our prayer today it's a declaration this master brandon just whispered to me just felt the lord at least in his heart that some of you here today are on the verge of just like ah i don't know anymore it's like i'm about to let go and it's like i don't know what to do it's like this pandemic has dragged on for so very long and i don't know if i can last another day [Music] so camille could you just lead us and just sing that song you're perfect guys sing with us [Music] you are perfect so these questions you see that we're going to keep that on the screen after i pray lord thank you for [Music] thank you for your goodness thank you for your love you are worthy of praise thank you god that for even for this moment that we have together to read the word study the word let it be that your word becomes the final authority for life and conduct for us lord i pray that your righteousness your peace the joy of the kingdom be with us in jesus name we pray somebody say amen amen amen amen god bless you have a have a great great great weekend so [Music] you

Channel: Victory Fort

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Length: 42min 7sec (2527 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 21 2021