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1 Thessalonians chapter 6. Because it's not a great storm of folks who are coming. There is a steady trickle of folks who are finding their way into church. But the wonderful thing that was there was just around the room, people sharing stories of just the reality of how these things are being worked right across the country.

What's being seen. Andrew himself told of a young man who he knew, who had gone up to a quarry just outside of Cardiff, with the intention of throwing himself off the top.

He had no hope in life. His life was chaotic. He was homeless at that point. No church background. Nothing to hope in. And so this is it. I'm just going to finish it.

But at the point where he was standing on the top of the cliff, actually he said, I heard God speak. And he said, your story does not end here. Your story doesn't end here.

And so he got off the cliff so convinced that he'd been spoken to. He went to WH Smith and bought a Bible. He'd been reading it. And that's when he encountered Andrew at a sort of basketball outreach.

And Andrew was able to help him answer some more of his questions. He gave his life to the Lord. But what's going on? Why this uptick in interest?

Well, we're trusting that the same Holy Spirit that was bringing new life to the Roman world at the time of Paul, and we're reading about in Thessalonians, is also at work today. And part of the backdrop to this uptick, I think, is that the UK is not just a post-Christian society, but it looks that we've gone post-secular, that after being a Christian society we went secularized, but now we're post-secular because people, there's a generation who are disillusioned, disillusioned by the secular dream of life without God, or life without a spiritual dimension.

And they're turning to all manner of things, and Christianity is one of them, which we give praise and thanks to God for. But actually, it's not just Gen Z, those in the 18 to 24 category.

Another pastor told me, I'd been messaged one evening by someone he didn't know, asking, you know, could you meet with me? And he said, sure, when would you like to meet? He said, can you meet now? I said, oh, okay.

So they met, it was the evening outside his church. The pastor was a little bit worried. His worry and stress increased when he saw a sort of bearded biker altitude kind of waiting for him there.

And the fellow plied him with question after question. And at the end of it, as he walked around and all the controversial matters in the Bible and so on, he said, well done, you've passed the test.

And the pastor was like, what test? He said, the test was to see if you actually believe the Bible. I've been reading it. I know what it says. And I want somebody who actually believes it to convince me that it's true.

I'm an atheist. It turned out that he'd read, sort of studied in philosophy. He'd read very widely, looked into other religions. He said, but atheism is just not answering or satisfactorily the questions that I have.

And I want someone to teach me what the Bible has to say about the big questions of life. And so the pastor met with him for something up to two years, answering his questions, going through the Bible, when eventually he yielded his life to Christ.

God is at work. Hallelujah. God is at work. God is at work. But what people are looking for is not some half-baked version of Christianity.

People are looking for the real deal. They're looking for authentic Christianity. And that's why it's exciting to look at the Bible, at the firsthand documents, the eyewitness accounts of those who were actually with Jesus and saw him and saw the things that he did, heard the things that he said, and then report all of these things, who were there when the Holy Spirit came in power and began to transform people's lives, who were there as God began to move beyond the Middle East out into Europe, as we're seeing in this letter in Thessalonians, because Thessalonica is based in a town, even today, it's still in northern Greece.

And so we've been seeing just how this real deal is kind of the true Christianity, authentic Christianity is being displayed and worked through, even in this letter.

Chapter 1, we saw how Paul describes what authentic church looks like. He said, chapter 1, verse 6, you guys were a model to everyone around in terms of how you were following the Lord and worshipping together, living lives together.

We saw authentic Christian leadership in chapter 2 that was humble and loving and selfless and servant leadership. And it's not that Paul couldn't be firm at times, you see that in the letter to the Galatians and to the Corinthians, but principally the undergirding foundations were loving, were servant-heartedness.

Last week we saw the authentic progress, what authentic progress in the Christian faith looks like, chapter 3, as we heard chapter 3, verse 6, Timothy were giving a good report of what he'd seen as he'd gone and visited them, that they had these strong foundations in the original, authentic, apostolic gospel, heard from the lips of Paul himself, who'd been one of the ones entrusted as a guardian of the gospel, how that had been found in prayer and a willingness to hear, receive, take to heart, act on the word that they were hearing, and how the Lord was leading them.

And here in chapter 4 then, we get another look at what it practically looks like to follow Jesus in a number of areas that specifically the Thessalonians were needing help with in their situation.

But of course, as we will find, as we always do, that it's as just applicable today as it was then. So, we're looking at three areas.

Authenticity, or a sanctified sex life. Authenticity, or a sanctified work lives. Or authenticity in terms of Christian understanding of our sanctified view, if you like, of the next life.

So first of all, an authentic Christian view of our sex life, our sanctified sex life. And actually, it's a really interesting time and season in which to be discussing something like this.

Because until recently, I think the common view of the traditional Christian view of sex and marriage and so on would be that it was at best antiquated, and at worst, repressive and terrible.

However, I think there's just a really interesting stream of folks, like for example, the journalist Louise Perry, who's not arguing from a Christian perspective, she's not a Christian, but is arguing that we should actually return to a traditional Christian ethic, whether Christian or not.

It was a fascinating podcast episode in which she was interviewed and sort of unpacked why that was. Also, another, I don't know if you follow Justin Brarley's podcast on the surprising rebirth of God, but in his most recent one a week before this week's, they were discussing where do Gen Z women fit within this kind of resurgence of interest in Christianity.

He interviewed a lady called Freya India, who's author of the Substack Girls. I have to confess, I had to look up what a Substack is. I'm so out of touch of what's going on.

I know, it's sad, isn't it? Oh, okay, good. Angela's on a Substack, so you want to look her up. That's good. So, he interviewed Freya India, described how, you know, she described how as a non-Christian, her gut was telling her things, the things in the culture just weren't right.

For example, the chaos that there is in the dating culture, where a person can be dating three other people as well as you, and you can't ask if they're dating anyone else, or if they're considering everyone else, because that would be seen as judgmental.

And so, just saying, it just doesn't feel right. And there are many other things besides. And just sort of saying, actually, in that chaos, actually Christianity presented something, a beautiful alternative.

And it's fascinating to me, partly because in my teens, the questions about Christianity were, is it true? You know, give me the evidence for the resurrection. What about, how does faith fit alongside science and the discoveries of science and so on?

And over time, you know, if you live long enough, you see these kind of shifts in culture and so on. Over time, the debate shifted to, well, does it work? Will it help me sleep at night?

And it seems that the debate has moved on again. And one of the crucial questions that people are asking today is, is it safe? Is Christianity a safe alternative?

Will it keep me safe? And Louise Perry and Freya India have experienced something of the unsafe world of the secular dream. And they stand shoulder to shoulder as someone who's become a Christian, someone who's not yet a Christian, to say, yes, actually, I think Christianity is safe and offers a safe and a beautiful alternative to contemporary society.

Well, why is that so? And what does it say? Maybe, on a morning service, I don't assume that everyone here has been to church before or has read the Bible before.

And so, we try and kind of have some helpful things included so that I'm not assuming any knowledge. Well, in what ways is it safe?

Well, let's look at the passage because that's exactly what Paul is unpacking. Thessalonica was a port city. And if you know anything about port cities, you'll know the kind of things that go on.

I lived in two port cities in Scotland where by night certain streets in the cities would fill up with prostitutes. The culture of the time, it's Thessalonica, it's the Roman Empire.

Well, we know what it was like from archaeology that when the Victorians started to unearth Pompeii from the volcanic cocoon in which it had been sort of frozen in time.

They were fascinated to discover, somewhat shocked, to discover the amount of pornographic artwork in people's homes, in their businesses, and depicted in statues. Sexual promiscuity and sexual permissiveness of all manners, adultery and so on, were common as well as other forms of sexual activity.

That was the world and the kind of chaos that the Thessalonians knew and were brought up. It was the air that they breathed. And so, as Christianity, they would know the mores of that society.

Was Christianity going to give them something that was safe and beautiful in comparison? Well, let's see. Verse 1 is interesting, isn't it?

He says, As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you in how to live in order to please God, as in fact you're living. So Paul has moved on from wanting to really encourage them in the good things that they're doing, for the ways in which God is going to help them in other areas in which their knowledge is lacking, and became evident when Timothy went to see them and to see how they were getting on and encourage them.

Paul had discovered that he was only there for a short time. If you've not been here, they were only there for a short time, and so there were areas in which he wasn't able to cover. And so he takes the opportunity to do that now. But look where he starts.

Because our following of Jesus, he's saying it to them and to us, it's not out of a kind of dogged, grit-your-teeth obedience of duty, but he's saying actually it is out of a heart filled with delight, that delights to please the Lord, verse 1.

That's the kind of motivation of the Christian life. Here's the new heart orientation for every Christian. The number one person that we want to please is, well, now it's the Lord.

Now that we've been saved, now that we are His. The one who was pleased to save you, the one who set His affection upon you before time began, the one who has prepared a place for you in heaven, that is the one who we are called upon to love and delight in, and as a consequence, seek to please Him.

Please Him not as a means of being saved, as if, you know, to think if I do enough good works, He'll be pleased with me and I'll get to heaven. No, that's not the gospel. They're pleased to delight the Lord, because He is already pleased with us.

Not to get Him to be pleased, but because He is already pleased with us. That is the power of the cross. That unbelievably, as we put our trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord, He is delighted in us, not necessarily with everything that we do, but at a fundamental level, pleased with you, delighting in you, accepted you, adopted you, forgiven you, justified you, made you His own, and determined that you will spend eternity with Him.

You, specifically. That difference of living to please God, because He is already pleased with us, not in order to make Him pleased with us, makes all the world of the difference in the Christian life.

Imagine being offered 12 months' work to do a fairly mindless task every day. The same work is offered to two people. They'll be told that they'll be paid at the end of the 12 months.

One is offered kind of the living wage. The other is offered a million pounds at the end of the 12 months. One goes to work each day, somewhat resenting the work, because it's so menial and so on, and it's a fairly low pain.

The other goes to work, you know, newspaper under his arm, arm, whistling in every day, because he knows that he's receiving a great reward at the end of it.

Our motivation is delight, not jury. Thankfulness, not begrudgingly, because we are receiving, and will receive, a wonderfully undeserved great reward from the great lover of our souls.

So stop and reflect, just before we sort of enter into thinking about, you know, this sanctified sex life, this, the new life that we're called to live in. Stop and reflect, are you and I living in the beautiful reality of the truth that we are already, it's accepted at a fundamental level by the Lord's.

And if we aren't, enjoying the fact that we are justified by faith alone, what do we need to do to change that in this coming week?

And how would that change the way that I approach this week and these things? But also when we stop and think about it, actually, who is it?

Because this, I guess, asks the question of it, who is it that ultimately we're living to please? What's the order of priorities for us in that? It might be different in different areas of life. Sure, we can say, yes, I'm looking to please the Lord in this area, but actually in this area of my life, well, actually, my, you know, I'm looking to please my boyfriend or girlfriend more than the Lord.

or in my work life or wherever it might be with my finances. The challenge here is to put the Lord as number one in every area of life, isn't it?

And it's made all the easier, it can be made all the easier when we understand and delight in his pleasure in us. And we grasp that as we were singing earlier on. The one who, as Zechariah reminds us, rejoices over us with singing.

The psalmist tells us, holds us as the apple of his eye. We need to let the glory of these truths melt our hearts and change our lives. And that change, of course, is not a static thing.

It progresses into every area of life and in every season of life. And I think as we think about these things that Paul is writing, that's an important platform before we move into them.

That we're called to delight in God's love and in his saving power. And delightfully take on the things that he asks, the paths that he has for us. So he says, you know, you're already doing well.

Now I ask you and urge you in the Lord, verse one, to do this more and more. So what are the areas that he wants more and more to happen in? Verse two, you know the instructions we gave you about the authority of the Lord Jesus, number one in our lives.

And it's God's will that you should be sanctified and that you should avoid sexual immorality. Okay, it's interesting. It's an interesting sort of direction. But given what we know about the location, the culture, that's not surprising.

And if you're new to all this, you've maybe heard people say, oh, and you've maybe said this to yourself, oh, the Bible has such a low view of sex.

Well, actually nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, the Bible has a really high view of sex. That it's God's idea. He invented it. He said, it is good. We saw that on Genesis one and actually practiced it in the way, in the context he designed it for within the bond of marriage and the covenant of marriage.

It's actually a holy thing. It's a good thing. It's a beautiful thing. A right thing. I think to be enjoyed. Verse three, and it is God's will that you should be sanctified, that you should be chained.

Again, if you're new to all of this, you're thinking, what does sanctified mean? It means being changed from what you were to who you now are in Christ as a Christian. Learning, as you say, verse three, to control our own bodies.

And in the scripture, self-control is a sort of binding principle in all of the fruit of the spirit and in our Christian lives. Self-control, that in a way that is holy, Christ-like and honorable, or as he said in chapter three, verse 13, increasingly holy and blameless.

And we may wonder, what actually is God's will for me? And we struggle with that. Well, let me say this, and we think about our career or marriage and so on. But in the scripture, it becomes clear that God's will for us is more moral than geographical.

He's more concerned about our character than our career, about who we are than what we do. What is his will for me? His will for me is first and foremost that we would enjoy the Christ-like life and to which we've been called and work that out in the different spheres in which we then find ourselves.

It's God's will that you be sanctified, that you be changed, become more like Christ, holy in character as he is holy. And that's a principle, isn't it, that spans the whole of the scriptures when you become familiar with it.

Right from Leviticus 11.45 through verse Thessalonians here in chapter 4 onto 1 Peter 1.6 where that call to be holy as I am holy, enjoy the new life that I have for you.

And holy just means set apart, distinct from those around. And one area that that's working out here as he's instructing is the area of sexual immorality. Verse 3, it's God's will that you should be sanctified, that you should avoid sexual immorality, that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans who do not know God.

And that is, in this matter, no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish those who commit such sins as we told you and warned you before.

So the Greek word that Paul uses because he's writing in Greek originally for sexual immorality is the word pornea, from which we get words like pornography from. But actually the word pornea, it has a much wider meaning.

It means all sexual activity outwith the one flesh relationship God established in the beginning as patterned in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 between a man and a woman within the covenant of marriage.

So that means, you know, this includes no sex before marriage, no polygamy, no polyamory, no adultery, no pornography, no hiring of prostitutes, and so on.

Past week, one pastor was commenting how he was preaching on a similar kind of thing at church, a whole bunch of brand new converts in the fellowship and on the way out one of the guys said to him as he shook his hand, he said, is that right about prostitutes?

The pastor said, yes, absolutely is. He said, I better cancel my appointment for later on in the week then. This kind of reality is the gospel hits people's lives who are coming from backgrounds other than Christianity.

It speaks right in and brings that change, doesn't it? That transformation. And so here are the ways in which God is saying, actually, Christianity is safe.

It offers a more beautiful alternative than the world that is wise and it is safe. The secularists will cry out an objection, but what about liberty and the individual's right to choose to which, actually, it seems many in society are crying back saying, but what about virtue?

And the individuals need to be protected actually from these things. And the scripture sits at the sidelines saying, seek the creator in the days of your youth, in your teens, in your 20s, your 30s, your 80s.

And one of the objections Louise Perry mentioned at the beginning who's not a Christian yet, that she has to pornography is actually the high rates of suicide amongst women who are involved in making these movies.

And it mainly is women and it's mainly men who watch it, but not exclusively. You know, here's the reality. Pornography wrecks people's lives.

It wrecks a person's view of the opposite sex. It wrecks marriages. It wrecks relationships, just even in general society because people are feeling they need to live up to the expectations created by these movies.

There's nothing new under the sun. The issues that they were facing are the issues we face today. And bear in mind that Paul's writing to Christians here and they are struggling with these issues.

And in every fellowship, in every country, in every time, people will struggle with these issues. And we need to be real and we need to be honest. And so if you're struggling in these areas, speak to a mature Christian around about you.

Because friends, we need to get real with these things. We need to be killing sin or else it will be killing us and our relationships and our marriages. But on that note, actually, this week, there's a new addiction that seems to be taking hold on the internet that's just, if not even more addictive than pornography.

And pornography is addictive. And that is the addiction to rage. Grant Scrivener reports in his podcast just in the last week, which I think is really helpful and encourage you to listen to it, a warning about social media algorithms and the way in which they are shaping our thinking to be aware of them.

Because, you know, whatever direction it is that we want to go, the algorithm will keep feeding us more in that direction. So if it's one way, it will feed you all information in that way. If it's the other way, it will feed you all information.

You will not see both sides of the story. And so we need to be aware of just how the algorithms are shaping and influence us. You know, if we want to see cute chihuahuas, then that is all that will come up time and time again on our feed.

The algorithm will find what you want and it will feed you more. We need to be discerning. And if it's porn we are looking for, it will feed the addiction.

If it's rage we want, then it will feed the rage. So verse one, live in order to please the Lord who is pleased in us.

Grieve for that in our lives which grieves him, that from which our old life that we're taking, that we've taken on. But also, if these are things that you were involved in your own life, then your old life, then we can feel a sense of guilt and shame as they are brought up.

We need to claim the precious truths of the scripture that now that you are in Christ, as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us, the psalmist tells us.

That if we confess our sins, he is faithful and true and will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The old is gone, the new has come. These are the precious truths we need to cling to and rejoice in.

He has washed us, he has cleansed us, he has made us new. We are lifted from the guilt through the saving power of the cross.

But Paul continues, that each of us should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honourable and that in this matter no one should take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish those who commit such sins as we told you and warned you before.

So believers were involved in these ways with other believers, luring them into compromises in such areas, whether it's having an affair or premarital sex or whatever. You know, the kind of whispering oh God won't mind we're practically married and so on.

There's a solemn warning in regards to wrongdoing and taking advantage of one another in a brother or sister in this area. He doesn't go on to outline what that means but it could be that just from the sense of shame that arises that comes out of a pregnancy outside of marriage or the ongoing sense of guilt that comes as these things are mentioned time and again or in the future or that we're just given over to and lost to our lust.

But it's a solemn warning for us. For verse 7 God did not call us to be impure but to live a holy life.

Therefore anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being. So you're just not rejecting me and what I'm writing here you're rejecting God the very God who gives us his Holy Spirit.

In other words it's not just a whim or time bound or culture bound thing or a hobby horse of Paul it's actually he's proclaiming the very fabric of creation patterned in Genesis as we looked at when we went through the book of Genesis.

But we may be thinking you know but I do struggle with these things and it is hard how am I going to get the help? Well yes speak to I'm a mature Christian but also Paul tells us the secret here as well. He gives to us his Holy Spirit to help us to empower us and to enable us to overcome.

So Paul's saying enjoy the new life that is a beautiful alternative to what is in the world. a life that seeks to please God that is a sanctified sex life authentically Christian sexual morality enjoyed and at work in your life.

But as well as a sanctified sex life he also goes on then to talk about a sanctified or authentic work life. Let that gospel work out in the workplace. Verse 9 but about your love for one another we do not need to write to you for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another and we saw just how loving they were and it was kind of everyone in the area knew about it.

In fact you do have a love for all God's family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you brothers and sisters to do so more and more and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.

You should mind your own business and work with your hands just as we told you to do so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so you will not be dependent on anyone.

And again Paul's tapping on the early chapters of Genesis and Adam and Eve were given works to do. They were made in the image of the God who works who creates who maintains who sustains.

The wisdom literature in the scriptures is full of encouragements and extols the value of work which we know in general is good for us.

It is good for our physical and our mental health not to be idle. The problem is that for whatever reason they were believing maybe they were thinking oh the Lord's coming soon so why should I bother working.

These new believers are being idle refusing to work exploiting the love and kindness of other believers sponging of the goodwill of the family of God and then it's becoming busy bodies they've just got too much time on their hands becoming a bit of a menace and affecting the witness of the fellowship causing frictions adding burdens and so he's encouraging them to maintain that love for one another.

Here's a bit of a vision for our calling in our work context when we are called into and Emily was talking about that kind of we should have a sort of a vivid view of our whole week not just Sundays and think that's the day that God works no no we're called to work and to serve the Lord in every day of life he says make it your ambition to live a quiet diligent working life one that wins a hearing for the gospel one that's worthy of respect one that pleases God so whether we're working full time or part time or temping a student or teenage jobs we're full time at home we're retired whatever it is that our present calling is make this your ambition to live in such a way that it wins a hearing for the gospel so when we learn to for it and we do that by learning to for example you know when others are dissing the management to actually understand that management has its place in the economy of God we not fully respect the individuals who take up those positions but we're to respect if you like the office of management because that's part of God's design and purpose and so we're not we don't join in the kind of dissing the management but actually try and say there's a different way to live you don't excuse wrongdoing but you don't go bad-mouthing the bosses the whole time it might look like not cheating on your expenses or your taxes or the business's time especially but not exclusively if we're you know the temptation maybe if we're working online it'll look like punctuality being on time not just on time maybe even before the time it looks like kindness in the workplace not the first dashing out the door necessarily but making that time to go the extra mile with colleagues who are struggling does the jobs that no one else wants to do

I'm very convicted by that last point because there's an infamous because Stuart in the office that you know the moment where the staff take turns in cleaning different parts of the office it was my turn to clean the toilets and I had a wee hissy fit for fuck for the sake why do I have to clean so doing the jobs that nobody else wants to do and the same principles I think apply in our studies whether it's PhD or a masters or first degree working as Paul says in Colossians 3 as for the Lord not for men and women submitting our essay as to the Lord doesn't mean you're trying to get a first the whole time but having integrity in what you've submitted as you try to balance everything else out in your life to honour the Lord maybe it's asking folks if they're going through a hard time would you mind if I pray for you it doesn't have to be there and then just in your own personal quiet time it might be sharing with them what you're learning or hearing in a community group or at the weekend it's really interesting

I was at church and I heard this she was like an Apache helicopter pilot in Afghanistan and how she became a Christian it's really interesting just leave it there you don't have to just drop the seed you don't have to go on see what happens thinking how we can live lives that please the Lord in this area of life an authentic Christian life in our workplace sanctified Christian life in the workplace life but then also how we can have an authentic hope a sanctified view of the next life and we'll be brief on this because time's running out and we'll have another go at it next week he says brothers and sisters we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death referring to the sleep of the body not the soul so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope so it appears even for in the short time that Paul was away that some folks have taken ill and died they're wondering what has happened to them like little kids you know when they ask you know when a family member passes where are they now these baby Christians have the same question there there are all sorts of thoughts about that in their you know in the society at the time but what was what would happen to them and he's going to unpack that for them he says for we believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him because of our union with him we're kept by him and that hope that he is conveying it's centered on the resurrection of

Jesus he rose and so you can know with clarity you too and they too will rise and that hope shapes how we grieve so that we're not grieving like others who have to don't have this hope that he's not saying we don't grieve yes we grieve we weep we mourn we feel the pain the emptiness of the place of the person that they filled in our lives we feel that but also we have hope that they have not just gone but they've gone to a better place to be with the Lord and that is better by far there's hope this is not the end that as we fall asleep and take our last breath on earth our next breath our next moment is taken in and with the Lord and so he's according to the Lord's word we tell you that we who are still alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep and Calvin

John Calvin reckoned that the Thessalonians were worried that only those who were alive when Jesus came back would be with him he's saying no no that's not how it is for the Lord himself will come down from the heaven with a loud command shouting rise you know the story that folks are saying that when he shouted to Lazarus at the grave Lazarus come out that if he didn't say Lazarus first then every grave would come out but on that day he'll say rise and every grave will empty the voice of the archangel the trumpet the call of God the dead in Christ still rise first and after that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet with the Lord in the air and as Paul says in Corinthians we who are alive the mortal will be clothed with immortality the perishable will be imperishable we will rise to be with him I had a friend who used to say I can't wait for that day because on that day I'm going to go I can fly I'm like a friend you will not be saying I can fly because it's the

Lord yes the one who we love now and yet have not seen we will see him on that day and how we will rejoice as our mortal bodies are changed and we see the Lord and like John Paul is trying to describe in a sense the indescribable but from our perspective we are we are still living at the coming of the Lord and please Lord yet be it today and if it is today give me a moment because I let me know I need to a few folks I want to phone first to tell them you're coming and they need to sort it out on the day that he comes there will be a reuniting of soul and resurrected body for those who have died and a renewal of our bodies if we are still living on that day and that is our hope that sustains when we're sitting when I sat with my mother as she was waiting to go to glory and sang her favourite hymns and psalms to her that is the hope that permeated those days that though I grieved her passing because I loved her so the hope that she was with the Lord was what brought comfort in the midst of the tears it brings hope and comfort for the grieving as

Joyce Hill as some of you will remember her was dying I visited her and she would say Calum you know what I'm not afraid I know where I'm going it brings comfort and hope to the grieving it brings strength to the dying so no wonder Paul says so we will be with the Lord forever therefore encourage one another with these words for we have a glorious glorious hope so I'm going to invite the band up just as I finish here's the thing you know all of this is wonderful stuff it is it is beautiful alternative yes it is safe but actually it's just another set of laws if actually all we're doing it is out of duty if we don't have at the very base of our experience a vivid relationship with the Lord day by day enjoying his presence day by day just spending time with him read that book that Emily was writing it's only a quid to help us in our sort of understanding of what it means and the pleasure and the joy that we can have in the Lord's presence and that be our great and chief inducement inducement to live those changed lives battling some of the things we're battling in terms of sex lives or living for him in the workplace faithfully and holding on to the hope that is ours seek the Lord enjoy his presence this week let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing let's sing lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip