Hey, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions that jump online here. Make sure that we are going live make sure we're going live everywhere. Send out the text message. Let everybody know. We are going live. Okay, so that's going live over there.
Let's double check to make sure we're going live on Facebook. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. It's so good to be with you. This. I'm going to actually do a little bit show and tell this morning. We went on vacation to White Sands National Park down in. I think it's called Alamogordo, Texas or sorry, New Mexico. And Olivia and Deborah bought me a new mug it says White Sands National Park. That nice big huge ceramic mug. So I'm thankful for that gift. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. This where every day you and I we get together we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year 2022 Lord willing, we'll make it from the book of Acts to Second Thessalonians if you've been watching for a while, you know we had to move that a little bit because sometimes the Lord doesn't well that we do. Anyways, why don't we have some coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's word. They got me the big mug because they said I really like coffee and big mugs. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this team. We thank you for the gift of getting to come to Your word. Lord, we pray now that you would remove from us distractions and work in our hearts that we would know who you are. Love you and walk in your ways in Jesus's name. Amen. Well, why don't we go ahead and get our Bibles? We're at First Thessalonians First Thessalonians very and it's only three verses today. So let's see if we can get through this first Thessalonians pardon me first. So lunians CHAPTER THREE beginning of verse 11. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you? And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another, and to all just as we do to you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. With all his saints. Well, what a beautiful prayer we need to ask ourselves a What's this about be what's the best verses summarize this and see, what are we called to do in response to these words? So first, what's this passage about? Well, Paul is writing to the people in Thessalonica. He loves them. He has been encouraged by the good report he's received from Timothy and now he's going to pray for them. Now the missionary pastor has a heart to take them to the Lord. And in his prayer. He says, now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you verse 11, he's praying that you will be able to go to them, right, their hearts are already there. They love them. They're encouraged by them, but they really want to see them. So he says, it's up to the Lord sovereignty. It's up to the Lord's plan. It's up to what God does in his providence, aligning all things so they might be able to go to them and he he makes this request to the Triune God, that he might be able to go and see them again. And then in verse 12, he he turns his eyes from wanting to go visit them to wanting something in their lives. And what does he pray for them? And may the Lord make you what increase in abound, increase and abound, not in the material things of this world, not in the riches that might deceive them and pull them from Christ but my increase and a bound in love to one another and who all just as we do to you he wants them to love to love one another and to love outsiders, right. He wants them to increase in love. And not just affections for others, though. He does want them to have affections towards others, but he also wants them to also do to show love. Not just to say I love you to people in the church, but to show them practical love. He wants it to increase he wants them to have from deep down in their hearts didn't like in their kidneys, their bowels. Of compassions for others, but he wants them not just to have those compassions but to actually see it lived out in their lives. He says this is us for you also right he wants Paul to be able to show them love. He wants himself to be show love. He wants the other missionaries. To go and show them love and to continue to increase and abound in love both feelings and actions for each other. But not just for people in the church but also for others. This this is this idea that what fulfills the law of God. Well, he is a God of love. And that love in the mushy sentimental way, you know, not Hallmark movie type love nor in the licentious immorality type love that we're getting fed today in our culture but a true godliness. What is the greatest Lord Jesus to love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind with all your strength and the second is like it to love your neighbor as yourself as our vertical relationship is redeemed between God and man so our horizontal relationship is marked by love. By this they will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. And so he's praying for them that their love would increase and abound. And then the last verse so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. What is the foundation stone or the first step toward holiness? It's love. If you want to be holy, you need to be loved by God. And you love others, or because the first table of the law the first four commandments are that we shall have no other gods before him. We shall not make any graven images. We shall not misuse his name. We should remember the Sabbath date. These are all showing our love to God. And the second table is laws like you know, commandment number five through 10. Whether it's Honoring Your Parents, which shows holiness is because you love if you're not going to murder it's because you love if you're not going to steal it's because you love it. It's not going to commit adultery. It's because you love it. It's not going to be curvatures it's because you are happy for your neighbor, you love him and you're happy with your own estate. Because you love God and what he's given you are you're not going to bear false testimony against your neighbor. Why? Because you love him. The first step of holiness isn't self will. What is love? That's God's love being poured out in us and our hearts now being turned toward love Him and to love others. So this is how we'll be established and holiness by abounding and increasing in love, both affections and actions. And so he says, blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. This opens up a transition that we're about to get from the Apostle Paul, that the Holy Spirit's giving us that this is not the end. We believe that Jesus Christ is going to return again, with all his seats. He's going to come again. And so we look forward to that great day. When will be seen as blameless in holiness? Because we've increased in abounding in love. Not because we first loved him, but because He first loved us. Well, what are we? What's the best first to summarize? I don't know. I just underlined the whole thing. Let me know what would you underline in your Bible? Maybe I just underline verse 11. If I was forced to maybe underline 11, but then chapter 12, and 13 would probably get the double underline. Right. Let me ask you for calling. Did you do what I encourage you to do yesterday? Did you thank God for someone in the church? Did you go before the Lord and pray thanking him for someone in the church, maybe even somebody you didn't like? Maybe that's the first step of love. Being thankful to God even for the difficult people in your lives. I don't think we will increase or a bound in love if we're not thankful for others. And so I know Thanksgiving was a while ago. I know I wasn't with you. We missed it. But the question is, are you thankful? And are you bounding in love toward others, even to those who are outside? Is there a practical way that you can love someone? Today, this week, maybe you can make a meal for someone maybe you need to make a phone call to a widower shut in. Maybe you can visit your old crotchety Anna to is really hard to get along with and doesn't you don't really like I don't I don't know who is it in your life that it's hard to get along with Ken Can you love them? Not because of what they can give you but because you're going to show love What is it today that you can love. I'm going to tell you what this morning. I'm going to pray for each of you.
This prayer. Let's go to Lord. Father, I pray to you God and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanking you that you have brought me back from vacation from far out in the southwest and have brought me back to the saints. People I love here in Iowa Lord, we pray that our hearts would be reunited with those saints who we love. And Father I pray for all those who are listening that you the Lord might make us increase and abound in love toward one another and to others. Lord, I pray that you would establish our hearts blameless in holiness before God and Father you might encourage us that our Lord Jesus Christ is returning again with all the saints. Please, Lord, make us thankful. Make us abound and increase in love in Jesus's name, Amen. My Lord bless you. When you overflow with love toward God and toward your neighbors and made the peace of Jesus go with you. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai