! Thessalonians 5:

12We ask you, brothers, 1 Cor. 16:18; Phil. 2:29 to respect those who labor among you and 1 Cor. 16:16; Heb. 13:17are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. See Mark 9:50Be at peace among yourselves. 14And we urge you, brothers, admonish 2 Thess. 3:6, 7, 11 the idle,5:14 Or disorderly, or undisciplined  Isa. 35:4; [Heb. 12:12] encourage the fainthearted, Acts 20:35; See Rom. 15:1 help the weak, See 1 Cor. 13:4be patient with them all. 15See that 1 Pet. 3:9; See Rom. 12:17 no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always [Rom. 12:9]; See Gal. 6:10seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16Phil. 4:4Rejoice always, 17See Luke 18:1pray without ceasing, 18See Eph. 5:20give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19[1 Cor. 14:30; Eph. 4:30; 1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6]Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise See 1 Cor. 11:4prophecies, 21but 1 John 4:1; [Job 34:4]; See Eph. 5:10test everything; hold fast what is good. 22Abstain from every form of evil.

23Now may See Rom. 15:33 the God of peace himself Ex. 31:13; John 17:17 sanctify you completely, and may your 2 Pet. 3:14; Jude 1 whole Luke 1:46, 47; Heb. 4:12; [1 Cor. 14:14] spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at See ch. 2:19the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24See 1 Cor. 1:9 He who calls you is faithful; [Phil. 1:6]he will surely do it.

Many of us have read and heard these verses so many times that we can quote them.  Actually, the 10 verses before, Paul is exhorting the Church (us)to be alert and to live alert lives every day.  He tells us that while Jesus will come as prophesied, as "a thief in the night", He won't catch us off guard as the world.  He actually writes that the church has "no need to have anything written to you" about the coming of the Lord!  The implication here is that the church to which he was writing was prepared and living an alert life ready for Jesus to return.  That is the assumption regarding the prepared Bride of Christ, the Church.  But is she prepared today?  Of course, even in the day Paul was writing, he follows those words with the verses which began this article.  He seems to have some concern.  As a spiritual father, he was saying, "I know you are living your lives in a way that reflects you are ready to meet Jesus but just as a reminder, let me exhort you a little more."  Now allow me to lift out some standout instructions from our text today.  

                                            OUR ACTIONS- What we must do.

1.    Respect your spiritual leaders. V.12-13 While we know that no one is perfect in their walk with the Lord, we are told to respect and honor those who are our leaders in the Church.  When we lose our respect for our leaders, any group will decay and become ineffective.  There must be a chain of command.

2.   Be at peace among ourselves.V.13  Unity is the atmosphere of power released from heaven.  It was the prerequisite of Pentecost.  Unity releases spiritual authority to accomplish Kingdom work and division withholds it.  

3.    Admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak and be patient with them all.   In every group, we will have all these kinds of folks.  We aren't told to run them off but to take positive steps to bring them along.  It is hard when everyone is pulling together and working to fulfill our vision, and we see those not helping but hindering.  But we are a spiritual family.  We don't get to choose those who join us.  Actually the Bible says that it is "God who gives the increase."  What can we do?

"BE PATIENT WITH THEM ALL!"  That is really hard, but it is our marching orders.

4.    "Seek to do good to everyone."  We are told to avoid the worldly, natural temptation to withhold doing good to some or to have favorites.  It is so natural to live this way but our call is not the call of the wild but the call of heaven.  

5.    Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.  I didn't finish the verse.  It is completed with "for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  This verse is the key to being able to do steps 1-4.  

6.    Do not quench the Spirit. Do not hinder, deny or work against the working of the Holy Spirit. This is one of the big things that frightens me most about voting in churches.  It is possible and has been done many times I'm sure, to vote down the will of Almighty God.  We have to be living in the daily presence of the Holy Spirit to discern and submit to the will of God. Of course, even in churches with a presbytery system of government, this same danger is present if the leaders are not walking in spiritual unity with the Lord and each other.  The life of the Church is dependent upon the Holy Spirit being in charge and free from our natural thinking limitations.  

7.    Do not despise prophecies.  This could be preaching and teaching under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, but it can also be spiritually led words of instruction to leaders given directly from the Holy Spirit.  The Bible is filled with such examples.  Then comes the balance right on the heels of this instruction...

8.    Test Everything.  Every prophecy must be tested by the Scripture and the discernment of the leadership.  This is a big responsibility of church leadership. No one bringing a Word, whether in the pulpit or in a congregation, should ever be closed to correction. If you bring forth a "word" you feel is from God, you are finished now.  Your assignment is over. Now the system of the Holy Spirit working through leaders now must take Biblical action.  

9.    Abstain from every form of evil.  We must make moment by moment decisions to walk in the Lordship of Christ.  We must choose to refrain from every form of evil. It is usually a split second decision to choose God and reject sin.  Big sins always begin with small mental temptations.  We must choose Jesus.  

All these 9 things are choices we must make and follow.  As we do these things, God responds to our decisions as His disciples by:

                                            GOD'S ACTIONS

1.    God of peace sanctify you completely in spirit, soul and body.V.25. As we obey and choose the Lord, He releases grace to accomplish in us all we need to live Godly overcoming lives and complete the work he gives us to do. 

2.    We are kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul then declares triumphantly, "He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."

Our being prepared for the coming of the Lord is only possible because of our salvation through the Blood of Jesus, but our daily life and obedience to Him keeps us ready to meet Him!