“Coming Attractions” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11

Introduction:  The fear of being forgotten or left behind when you don’t have a ride.  Wenatchee winter walk

I.        (v17) “We shall always be with the Lord”

A.     (v13) “But we do not want you to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep [dead]”

1.      John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me will live even though…”

2.      “…lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.”

B.     (v14) “Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.”

1.      John 14:3, “I go to prepare a place for you…and if I go I will return”

2.      Why bring back the saints?  Is it to face judgment or dispense judgment?  Is it to live here?

3.      Revelation 20:4-5, First resurrection and martyrs.  The millennium reign.

C.     2 Corinthians 5:1 and 5, “For we know that if this tent which is our earthly home is destroyed…”

1.      John 6:39, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

2.      (v15) “we who…remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have already died.”

II.       Signs & Summons

A.     (v16) “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,”

1.      “…with the voice of an archangel”

2.      “…and with the trumpet of God.”

3.      Revelation 1:7, “He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him…”

B.     (5:2 “You yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night.”

1.      (v3) “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them.”

2.      Jeremiah 6:13-15, “’Peace!  Peace!’  When there is no peace.”  [See also Jeremiah 8:11]

3.      “They shall not escape.”

C.     (v6) “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us stay alert and be clearheaded.”

1.      (v8) “Let us… [put] on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.”

2.      (v9) “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

Conclusion:   4:18, repeated in 5:11, “Encourage one another with these words” and “build one another up.”