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On Oct 18, 2020: 2 Thessalonians 2 Let Prophecy Calm Your Heart · Teachings On This Day On FerventWord

• You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Well, as we look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 this morning, this is a chapter filled with prophecy. In fact, both letters, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, really focus on the prophecy of things to come. And Paul is writing to the church of Thessalonica and ministering to them and encouraging them about those events that are on the horizon. And he's writing to them and encouraging them about those events that are on the horizon. And in both letters, there is some confusion in the church about the things that are to come. And there's some upsetness, there's some unsettledness in both letters. And so Paul, several times now, is writing to the Thessalonians to help settle them down and help them to be able to understand the things that are to come. I've titled the message this morning, Let Prophecy Calm Your Heart. And I want to encourage you to think about that. Let prophecy calm your heart. Does prophecy ever freak you out? The idea of prophecy, the idea of end times, the idea of the things that are to come, it can cause a lot of stress and anxiety for a lot of people. But as we look here at chapter 2 and consider some of the prophecy that Paul is working through here, he recounts these things not to stress us out, not to give us cause for concern, but he goes through the details of some of these things that are to come to help the Thessalonians relax a little bit, to help the Thessalonians be settled and established in their hearts. Now, the church of Thessalonica was a church that the apostle Paul planted, and you can read about that back in Acts chapter 17. One of the noteworthy things about this church is that Paul was only there in the church for three weeks. And for three weeks, as he established the church, it's interesting as you read through the letters that he keeps referring back to the things that he had taught them about the rapture, about the second coming, about these end times events while he was with them. And that's interesting to think about because, well, when Paul went to Thessalonica, there was no Christians. So here he's discipling a bunch of brand new believers as he's establishing the church. He has three weeks with them. And one of the main things and the major things that he entrusted to them and taught them was things regarding end times events. And I think that is important to us. It speaks to us about the importance for us to know, however old you are in the Lord, however long you've been walking with the Lord, there is an importance and a need for us to be established in understanding God. the prophetic calendar and the things that are to come. And I would suggest to you that when we do have a good understanding of the prophecy that God has given and the things that he has proclaimed will happen, there will be a calmness, there will be a rest and a tranquility that we can hold on to as we understand the events that God has said will come to pass. And so we want to consider that this morning. Let prophecy calm your heart. Four points to walk through as we work through this chapter this morning. The first point is found in verses 1 and 2. Here's point number one. Do not be quickly shaken in suffering. Do not be quickly shaken in the midst of suffering. Looking again at verse 1 and 2, here's what Paul says. As Paul addresses the Thessalonians here, he says, Now brethren, Now, what are we talking about here as Paul begins this chapter and begins this subject? We're talking about either two things or one thing. He says the coming of our Lord Jesus and our gathering together to him. And some suggest that's saying the same thing twice or that it's two separate things. It doesn't matter a whole lot. But if you could think about, I'm just going to kind of lay out a very general, broad idea of the overview of the end times events. We're living in right now what we would call the church age. It began when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church in Acts chapter 2. And then as the Holy Spirit began to move in the church, that has continued and will continue until, well, there is that event where the church is caught up and removed from this world. And that whole time period is the church age. That's what we live in. And that is what continues on today. After the church age, then there is another age, another long time period that we often refer to in scripture as the day of the Lord. And we talked about this on Wednesday quite a bit, looking at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And so the day of the Lord is a time period that covers a variety of things. Two major things that happen during this time is the tribulation period, It's a seven-year period of tribulation that will take place here upon the earth. Great trouble, and the majority of the book of Revelation details that tribulation period for us. But then also you have, after the tribulation, the 1,000-year reign of Jesus. That as Jesus comes back after the tribulation period to finish off, to end the tribulation, then he sets up a kingdom here on this earth and he rules and reigns here on the earth for a thousand years. So that's a quick, broad overview of some of the things that are to come. We're in the church age. The day of the Lord is coming, but we're looking forward to the rapture of the church, the gathering together of the believers with the Lord. You might remember if you've been reading along with us in the Bible in three years, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, just a few days ago we read, Paul says in verse 16, "...the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord." And so Paul there explains to us the rapture of the church, that Hope and promise of being caught up to meet the Lord in the air along with everyone else who is a believer in the Lord, those who are alive here on the earth, those who have died before us. We're all caught up and joined together, reunited to always be together with each other and with the Lord from then on. And so there's this great promise of the rapture, the great promise of the gathering together. And so Paul here says... concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that could be a reference to the rapture. More likely, it's a reference to the second coming. But then he says, and our gathering together to him. And that would be a reference for sure to the rapture. So either we're talking about the rapture and the second coming, or we're just talking about the rapture. That's what Paul is saying here in verse one. And so he says, now think about the rapture for a second. Think about the second coming, these end time events. In verse two, he says, to not be soon shaken in mind or troubled. The Thessalonians were once again shaken up and troubled. They had been shaken up and troubled previously in chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians. That's what Paul's addressing, thinking that those who had died in Christ had missed out on the day of the Lord and the things that God had in store, the millennial kingdom and the time with the Lord. They thought those who died missed out, and so they were troubled. And Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians to settle their hearts in regards to the rapture. Now in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, They're unsettled again. This time they're thinking, oh man, it's not just those who died missed out. Every one of us has missed out and we're living in the tribulation period. They were convinced, they thought they were in the midst of the tribulation as a result of the things that they were experiencing. And so that's why Paul is saying, do not be soon shaken in mind or troubled. Don't be so quickly shaken. That word shaken, it means to be cast down from your happy or secure state. You were in the secure position and you were comfortable in understanding what was to come. But now all of a sudden, events in your life has changed and now you're reevaluating your doctrine. You're reevaluating and throwing out what you've learned and being shaken in regards to the things that you knew and understood from the Lord, what would take place in the future. He says, do not be shaken in mind or troubled. And to be troubled, it speaks of crying out. It's the crying out of a multitude to cry aloud. It's a ruckus. And it speaks to this great upsetness, this great unsettledness. The Thessalonians were pretty freaked out. They were thinking, man, we missed the rapture. We're experiencing the tribulation. Have you ever been alarmed over the idea that you've missed the rapture? I don't know why that's not something I've really experienced, but I've always heard people talk about that. Like I was in this situation and then I couldn't find anybody and I was like, oh no, did I miss the rapture? Perhaps you've experienced that. This is where the Thessalonians were. Now, one of the reasons why they're in this crisis of faith and going through this is because they're suffering greatly. There's two things happening here for the Thessalonians. In chapter 1 of 2 Thessalonians, we see that they are really suffering a lot of persecution. 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 5, he talks about them suffering. In verse 6, he talks about those who trouble you. He says in verse 7, talking about them as you who are troubled. He is addressing people who are really afflicted. There's great persecution. There's severe attacks against them. And so they're suffering greatly. And along with that, there's some false doctrine that is becoming popular. And Paul makes reference to it here in verse 2. He talks about the spirit or by a word or by a letter as if from us. That there's these rumors going around. You know what Paul said? That we're in the tribulation period, that we all missed the rapture. It's already taken place. And now we're living through the days of judgment that have been prophesied. And so there was this teaching. And perhaps there were people in the midst that were teaching that. People who wrote letters about pretending to be the Apostle Paul and saying, you know, I, Paul, tell you we're in the tribulation period, you know, whatever. There was this deliberate deception that was going on against the Thessalonians. And so Paul says, do not be quickly shaken in the midst of suffering. This is important for us to consider because times of suffering very often are times where we are most vulnerable to deception. In times of suffering, in times of affliction and difficulty, as we go through crazy things, as we go through painful events, we need to understand and be on guard that the enemy doesn't look at us and say, oh no, boy, you're just having such a hard time. You know, I just better take it easy on you because, you know, I don't want to add to your afflictions. Now you need to understand that the enemy hates you. He wants to destroy your life. And in times of affliction and difficulty, that is when we are most vulnerable. That's when he steps up his attacks. That's when we need to be on guard and understand there is a severe threat against us in regards to what we know and what we believe. And so here the Thessalonians are in times of suffering and they're suffering greatly and this false doctrine comes in and they're like seriously considering it. They're like, wow, yeah, I think I do have to reevaluate all the things that I have been taught. I think I do have to, you know, throw out the truth that I have learned and come figure out some new truth because of their condition of suffering. And Paul is saying, no, no, no, you need to settle down. Don't be so quickly shaken again. in your mind. Don't be so troubled over the suffering that you're experiencing or over the doctrine that is coming in. It's a dumb illustration, a dumb analogy, but it's kind of like this. Don't go to the grocery store hungry, right? That's the rule. Never go to the grocery, don't go do grocery shopping while you're hungry, right? Because you'll buy everything. And even higher than that, don't go to Costco hungry, right? Because you'll buy everything and then you'll have 10 times more because of the bulk that is there. We've experienced this in a similar way when we're in midst of suffering. when we're hurting and in pain, that's not the time to throw out the things that we have learned and to try to learn something new. Suffering is not the occasion to learn new doctrine. Suffering does provide a great deal of insight into old doctrine. And the Lord uses suffering greatly in our lives to teach us the things that he's already taught us and to establish the things that we've already learned. But the Lord's not going to take you through or allow you to go through a time of suffering in an attempt to try to reveal some new doctrine to you. It's like going to the emergency room, finding the person who's in the most amount of pain, and then asking them to perform some complex math problem. Like that's not the time to learn some new, you know, algebra or something like that, right? That's not the occasion for that. No, at that time, when you're in the midst of the crisis, that's when you rely upon what you have established, what you have been taught, what the Lord has declared and revealed. And that gives us then an important lesson. Don't leave your doctrinal foundation building to the times in crisis. Don't wait to the time of crisis to try to then learn the foundation of doctrine. Why does God allow suffering? Some of those classic questions, some of those classic things that we all wrestle with and we all have to deal with, don't wait until then to try to learn those things. If you're not in the midst of this time of suffering, a time of crisis, this is your occasion to prepare and to be ready to establish yourself so that you will not be quickly shaken when times of suffering come. It's interesting because we can be so caught up in our world and in our life and in our own mind and situations, and then all of a sudden, you know, things change a little bit, not to belittle the situation, right, but, you know, pandemic hits or whatever, and Christians kind of freaked out for a while here. Even though Christians around the world face, you know, more severe conditions continually, perpetually, like, we experience a little bit of affliction, and it, like, you know, we're quickly shaken in the midst of suffering, right? I think it's important for us to understand. We need to know the truth about what God has said to build that foundation because there will be times of suffering. And we may not like to think about it. We may not like to consider it. But, you know, the United States, the land that we love, right, the land that we live in, we should expect there to be more and more change away from God and Not towards God. Not that we, you know, just give up and do and we don't preach the gospel, you know. I'm not saying that, but I'm just suggesting that we know things will get worse and worse. That's what the Bible teaches. And so we need to be prepared for the reality of difficulty and affliction and to build that foundation now so that later on we are not quickly shaken in times of suffering. If you're in the midst of suffering, Don't start reevaluating and trying to learn, you know, some new doctrine. Let the Lord reveal to you and give you insight into the things that he has already taught you. Well, moving on to verses three through eight, we're going to get the second point this morning, and that is do not get confused about the end times. Do not get confused about the end times. Now that's one thing that people often get confused about. And I'm not going to resolve all of that this morning. That's not our intent to evaluate and unpack and understand every aspect of the end times. But the emphasis here for us this morning is to not get confused. Check out verse 3. It says, Let no one deceive you by any means. For that day will not come unless the falling away comes first. And the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. Verse 5. Now as we work our way through this passage, some of the specific details of this passage are not immediately clear to us. Because what Paul is doing is he's picking up from a conversation that he had with the Thessalonians in person. And you can see that in verse 5. He says, do you not remember when I was with you, I told you these things? Again, he was with them for just about three weeks or so. He taught them these things. He's calling them to go back and remember those things. But again, he's picking up. He's referring back to those teachings that he had that we don't have specifically recorded. And so there's some things in this passage that we can, you know, wrestle with a little bit as a result. But here Paul is saying, let no one deceive you. And I think that's an interesting phrase to consider. Let no one deceive you. There's a couple things important about that. For the first part, you need to know and understand that there are deceivers. There are fakers. And that is a very real threat. Again, in verse 2, he refers to those who had come and supposedly by the Spirit or by word or by a letter from the Apostle Paul that Paul had not actually written to deliver this false doctrine, this new doctrine to them. That is a real threat, a reality that goes on today. It's really hard for us to comprehend many times. It's really hard for us to wrap our minds around. And we think, well, I know that person. Like, yeah, they're a nice person. They're kind and they know the word. And they would never attempt to deceive. They would never, you know, make something like that up. They would never. And we can have that mindset. But we need to be alert and be warned and understand, actually, There are real fakers, real deceivers, real threats that come against us. But the second thing I find interesting here in this verse is Paul essentially is here telling the Thessalonians, look, if you are deceived, Thessalonians, it's because you allowed that to happen. He says, let no one deceive you by any means. By any means, don't let anybody, don't allow anyone to deceive you. Now, when we think of a situation of deception, we don't typically blame the person who is deceived, right? We don't typically blame them because they were deceived. They were tricked. But here Paul is saying, look, I gave you everything that you needed to protect yourself from being tricked to believing a false doctrine. I gave you everything that you needed so that you would not be persuaded easily away from the truth. Again, in verse 5, he says, do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? I gave you what you needed. And so don't let anyone deceive you. Don't let anyone move you away from the truth that has already been revealed to you. And if you move away from the truth, listen, it's because you allowed that to happen. You allowed that person to take hold of your heart. You allowed that doctrine to take root in your heart. Paul says, I laid a solid foundation of truth about the end times while I was there. Don't allow anyone to trick you. And so as he talks about this, he gives a clear sequence of events. Now I'm going to move into verse three for just a moment. He says, let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. So here Paul is settling their hearts about the day that is to come. And he gives a sequence of events. First, what needs to happen is the falling away. And then secondly is the revelation of the Antichrist. He says, the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. Now again, my intent this morning is not to dive into the details of the prophecy. So I'm not going to tell you all the things about the Antichrist. There's a lot to cover there, and there's much that we've taught on that over the years. And if you want to dig into that, we can definitely help provide some direction so that you can study those things and pursue those things a little bit more. But the idea here is, Paul says, look, you understand the sequence of events here. There is a falling away, and then... the revelation of the Antichrist. The sequence is clear. And so what Paul is saying here is you would know if you were in the day of the Lord because the Antichrist would be revealed already. If you missed the rapture and you were in the midst of the tribulation, you would know that, Paul is saying. I taught you that already. You would see the revelation of the Antichrist. Now, as Paul talks about this falling away, there's a couple ways to understand that. One Common way to understand it is it's a falling away from the faith. In 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, Paul tells Timothy that the Holy Spirit says, in the latter times, some will depart from the faith. And so there is this anticipation of a falling away from the faith. Now, from the context here, it doesn't seem that that is specifically what Paul is referring to. But instead, the word falling away could also be translated departure. And so I would suggest that Paul here is addressing the rapture of the church. He's saying, look, here's the sequence. First comes the departure of the church, the rapture, the gathering together. Remember, he made reference to that in verse one, the gathering together of the believers with the Lord. The departure happens and then the Antichrist is revealed. Then the man of sin, the son of perdition is revealed. The tribulation doesn't begin until after those things take place. the antichrist comes on the scene and begins the tribulation with a seven-year covenant with israel and so the rapture doesn't begin the tribulation even necessarily the the revelation of the antichrist doesn't uh begin the seven-year tribulation but it's that that seven-year covenant that is signed that really marks the beginning of that event in the middle of that seven-year tribulation the antichrist breaks the covenant He goes into the temple, establishes himself as God, claims to be God and demands to be worshiped as God. And that's what Paul is saying there in verse four. And so what Paul is saying to the Thessalonians is, look, you would know if you were in the day of the Lord because the antichrist would be on the scene. He would be there demanding worship. It would be obvious. These are the events that God has said would unfold. And so do you not remember verse five? When I was still with you, I told you these things. Verse 6, and now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time. Notice again, he says, you know, because I've taught you. You know what is restraining. You know why the Antichrist is not on the scene yet. Because he's being restrained. You know why the enemy hasn't fulfilled this plan of his yet. Because he's being restrained. As powerful as the enemy is, as powerful as the Antichrist will be, he has no control of the timing. What's restraining him? What's holding back the timing? Or maybe better put, who is restraining? Verse seven, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. He who now restrains. It's a who, the restrainer. Now, what Paul is saying here is this was clear in my initial teaching to you. You know what is restraining. For us, as we look at this, we don't have that original teaching. We have to kind of connect some dots and look at the rest of scripture and understand what Paul is talking about here. But to sum it all down, to boil it down to the simple conclusions, the restrainer is a reference to the Holy Spirit at work within the church. And that work of the Holy Spirit within the church that is unique will be done with, will be removed when the church is caught up. And so the restrainer will be taken out of the way. And then verse 8, So notice again, there's a clear sequence. The restrainer is removed, and then the revelation of the Antichrist. And so when you look at verse 3 and verses 7 and 8, there's a parallel that happens. In verse 3, we see that there is this clear sequence. There is the falling away or the departure and then the revelation of the Antichrist. And then in verse 7 and 8, there is the removing of the restrainer and then the revelation of the Antichrist. And so as you look at verse 3 and compare it to verse 7 and 8, you can see that these are both referring to and addressing the same thing. It's talking about the sequence of events. And again, Paul is saying, don't be stirred up and shaken, troubled over what is going on and accept this new doctrine thinking that you're in the tribulation period because it's there's a clear sequence of events that has to take place. And that tribulation doesn't begin until after there is the being caught up together to be with the Lord and the revelation of the Antichrist and the things that unfold there in the midst of it. And so here Paul is encouraging us, don't get confused about the end times. There's a lot of confusion. There's a lot of muddied waters. Don't get confused. There's a clear sequence that God has provided to us. And so we can rest in those things. We can hold fast to those things. Now again, I'm just kind of brushing on some of the end times topics. We've covered these things many times. I have on the website, you know, teachings about these things, timelines, all those kinds of things that you can work through. Or if you want further resources, there's many other solid resources to consider along with the scriptures to understand the things that are to come. But here the point I want to pass along to you this morning is make sure that you don't get confused about the end times. Make sure that you build a solid enough foundation that you're able to stand fast in the midst of affliction, suffering, deception, all the things that will come at us. We need to hold fast and have a good understanding of what God has said will come. Well, moving on to verses 9 through 14, the third point to consider this morning is do not wait to believe and obey. Don't get Quickly shaken or troubled. Don't get confused about the end times. And don't wait to believe and obey what God has said in regards to these things. In verse 9, Paul says this, "...the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved." This point here in these verses is just a quick point that I want to make. And that is, look, when the enemy comes and his power and the Antichrist is on the scene, there is going to be great deception. And God clearly says right here, there's going to be those who believe this deception because they did not receive the love of the truth. Because they heard the truth, but they pushed it away. Because they heard the truth, but they resisted it. It put them in this condition so that now when the Antichrist comes on the scene, they receive the lies that are brought forth from his ministry. He says the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. There is going to be a powerful deception like the world has never seen when the Antichrist comes on the scene. And if we don't believe and obey right now, we can expect to be caught up He says in verse 11, This is a very serious warning that Paul gives. Don't put off a commitment to the Lord. Don't put off a commitment to believe what it is that God says and to obey him. Don't put that off for later. Don't put that off for later. Because later, there is a great deception that is coming. And it will be incredibly powerful. And of course, we will think of ourselves, I will never fall for deception. But that's not what the Bible is saying here. The Bible is saying, look, if you reject the Lord now, if you push that off until later, there is a very good chance that later when the deception comes, you will be one of the prey. You're going to fall for that powerful deception that will come. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, Paul taught a sobering truth here. A person can so resist the truth that he finally becomes deluded and has to believe a lie. There can be no neutral ground. Either we believe the truth or we believe a lie. To reject the truth means to receive the lie. If we reject the truth now, we're grasping hold of a lie and it's preparing us to believe the lies that are to come. Now Paul goes on in verse 13 and 14 to kind of reassure the Thessalonians. He says, Essentially, Paul says, that's what's going to happen to those who don't believe the truth, but we believe better things for you. And we thank God for you because you have believed the truth. So hold fast to that is what Paul is going to now say. Don't get soon shaken. Don't get unsettled by this suffering or by this false doctrine. There is a lie that's coming. And so you need to prepare yourself now by grasping hold of the truth. And so that gives us point number four as we move on into verse 15 through 17. Stand fast in true doctrine. stand fast. He says in verse 15, therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Therefore, brethren, here's the direct application he gives to us. Therefore, since all of these things are happening, you're suffering, there's false doctrine, there's a great lie that's coming. Therefore, stand fast and hold on to the traditions which you were taught. To stand fast, it speaks of perseverance, to persist when there's resistance, right? To persist in the midst of opposition. There is opposition. And so you have to deliberately stand fast and grasp hold of the truth. He says, hold the traditions which you were taught. Now, when he talks about holding on to the traditions, he's not saying hold on to the cultural traditions that you've been taught. The things that you are part of your upbringing, part of your family, part of your culture. He's not saying hold on to family traditions. He's not saying to hold on to fiddler on the roof traditions. He's saying hold on to the traditions which you were taught. Now, the word tradition, it means to pass along, to give over either by mouth or in writing. What Paul is saying here is hold on to biblical doctrine. When I was there, I told you the things of the Lord. I taught you those things. And since then, I've written to you about the things of the Lord. And so collectively, these are the traditions that you have been taught, he's saying. You can see that there at the end of verse 15. He says, whether by word or our epistle, I told you these things in person. I wrote to you about them later. Hold fast to the truth that you've been taught because all of these things are going to take place. Because of the possibility of deception, because of the great lies that are coming, because of the affliction that you will experience and the false doctrine that will rise up, Paul says, therefore, you need to make a deliberate attempt to hold fast, to stand firm on the foundation of truth. In verse 16, he says, now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself He reminds us of some of that foundational truth that we can rest on. Number one, that God has loved us. God's not out to get you. God doesn't hate you. He's not trying to punish you. Jesus died upon the cross to receive our punishment. God has loved you. And he has given us everlasting consolation or everlasting comfort. In the midst of suffering, we can begin to question that and doubt that. But this is a truth to rest on. God has comfort for you no matter what you go through. Paul refers to that in 2 Corinthians 1 as well. He's the God of all comfort. There is comfort for you in the Lord. Stand fast on that truth and continue to look to him. Don't look to some false teaching or some new thing or some fake thing. Go back to the truth that God has revealed. God loves you. He has comfort for you. And he has given us, he says, good hope by grace. Hope is that certainty about the future of the fulfilled promises that God has given. And what's amazing is that this certainty that God has given to us about the future comes by grace. It's not by our efforts. It's not by us deserving it or earning it. It comes by God's goodness, the grace of God. That's truth to settle your life on, to build your life on, to rest on, to grasp hold of no matter what we experience in this life. And as Paul talks about this foundational truth, he says, oh, may that comfort your hearts forever. and establish you in every good word and work. God has given you his word to settle your heart, to bring you comfort, to establish you and provide you a foundation for whatever storms may come. Remember the wise and foolish builder Jesus talked about? The wise and foolish builder refers to the people and the way that they handle or the way that we handle the teachings of Jesus. Jesus says, if you hear my words and do them, That is, if you believe me and obey me, then it's like building your house upon the rock. And you have that solid foundation and the storm comes, but you will not be moved. The foolish person heard the words of Jesus, hears the teachings of Jesus, but says, I don't want to follow that right now. I'm going to, I think I have a better plan. I don't, I think I believe that, but I don't necessarily want to live that right now. So I'm going to go this way. Jesus said, that person is like the one who builds his house on the sand. There's no foundation. The same storm comes to both, but the one without foundation, their house collapses because they didn't grasp hold of the truth. They didn't stand fast in true doctrine. And so this morning, as we consider 2 Thessalonians 2, again, I would encourage you, let prophecy calm your heart. The Lord has given us the outline of the things to come. Not to freak us out or stress us out, but to give us a firm foundation, to establish us and to give us great comfort. Don't be quickly shaken in suffering. Suffering will come. Affliction will come. Persecution will come. Don't be quickly shaken. Don't be surprised. Don't let that unsettle you. And don't get confused about the end times events. There's much more deception about that to come. It didn't just happen only, you know, there in Thessalonica that one time. There's much more that is to come. Don't get confused. Work out these things in your heart. Get a good understanding of the things that are to come and what God has said about that. Don't wait. Don't put off believing and obeying the Lord, but instead stand fast in true doctrine. Grasp hold of what he has said and make sure you build your entire life and every day of your life on the truth that is found in the word of God. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for our hearts this morning that you would settle us, Lord, that you would calm us and that you would help us to rest in your truth. And I pray, God, as this exhortation is given to the Thessalonians and to us by the Apostle Paul, Lord, would you help us to be refreshed and renewed in the understanding of what you have declared will come to pass. Lord, may we understand and know what you have revealed, the promises that you've given. May we be refreshed and renewed in your love for us and the comfort that you have available to us. Lord, in the hope that you've given by your grace. And Lord, may we rest then in you and all that you've done. Help us to then hold fast, to dig down deep, to find the truth that you have for us, that we might live our lives by your word, by the truth that you provide to us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.