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Sunday 2/27/22
Sanctification
📽️ 1 Thessalonians 4 🔊

1Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
 2For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
 3For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
 4That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
 5Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
 6That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
 7For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
 8He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
 9But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
 10And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;
 11And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
 12That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
 13But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
 16For 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:
 17Then 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.
 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Written By: God through Inspiration
Penned By: Paul
Date Penned: (51 AD)
Overview: Looking to the Lord in Trials and Persecution (c 1-5)
Theme: Watchfulness for the Lord (c 4-5)
Message: The Future of the Church (v 1-18)

1 Thessalonians 4 Commentary

(4:1-12) Live to Please God - The first three chapters of this letter focus on looking back at Paul’s visit with the Thessalonians and defending his ministry with them against his critics. The final two chapters look ahead to the future of the church—giving advice for certain areas of Christian conduct that he felt needed to be addressed. The end of chapter 3 is a prayer that Christ would make these believers strong, blameless, and holy before God (3:13). That is a process of walking in faith and learning to live to please God. Effective faith should show itself in every area of a believer’s life.

(4:13-18) The Hope of the Resurrection - Paul always taught people about the future—that salvation carried a promise of eternal life. He surely told his audiences that the same Jesus Christ who died, arose, and ascended would one day return. This would be his “Second Coming” (2:19). The believers knew that this could occur at any time and that it would be unannounced. The rest of chapter 4 and the first part of chapter 5 seem to be addressing several questions that had come from the church through Timothy regarding the resurrection of believers and the Second Coming.
Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we continue in the book of 1st Thessalonians with Chapter 4 and in our text we see Paul instructing us to control ourselves from ungodliness, making ourselves vessels of honor, following the Holy Spirit, and doing the will of God. In making application we see that we have a calling to live a sanctified Godly life abstaining from lust and fornication. How about you? Do you live a life that honors the Lord. Let us learn from today's Text and live a life sanctified to our Lord which is His Will for our lives.
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Sincerely,
Dr. Dave Burnette
Director, The United States Bible Society, Inc.