Services/Sermon in Toronto 02.09.2018

For once again giving us this opportunity to gather around Thy precious Word. We also wish to thank You for giving us these many precious escorts to help us here along the way to Heaven.

And we also, dear Father, wish to also thank You for this most precious gift which You have given unto us. This gift of personal faith where we can, as little children, gather with Your flock and be on that road to that eternal home there in Heaven.

And we also, dear Father, pray on behalf of those who are in lonely places of watching due to illness or health or perhaps even work. We pray that You would be there even comforting them also.

And we once again wish to pray unto You, dear Father, on behalf of those who are in lonely places of watching, on behalf of those prodigal sons and daughters whom the enemy has deceived. We ask, pray, that You would once again call them into Your Kingdom so that they would once again see that brightness of that destination.

And all of these and those many unspoken words and thoughts we enclose in that perfect prayer which Thy Son has taught us. Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever and ever. Amen.

The theme for this Sunday, which is the 15th Sunday after Pentecost, is thankfulness. And when I even thought of this theme, I thought of how poor we are at thanking. When we even pause, and reflect on our lives, and we see the many, many blessings which the Heavenly Father has given us.

And if we think how often have we remembered to thank, I am sure many of you, along with me, can say that we have been poor at thanking. But I thought I would read a portion of God's Word, which is found in the first epistle to the Thessalonians, in its fifth chapter. And I would read from the 16th verse on to the 25th. And the words are in Jesus' name as follows.

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesying. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Amen.

This portion of God's Word is a letter which Paul wrote to the believers there in Thessalonia. And it's an exhortation to these believers. If you were to read that whole book, we can see where Paul instructs and he exhorts them to remain in faith.

And I thought, even when we think of this, these words of God, which were written 2,000 years or so ago, that's how once again we see how God's Word is timeless. That which was good instruction then is also in the same way to us believers today, good instruction.

And he begins with those words that rejoice evermore. And when we even think of rejoicing in the Lord, we can't not even all say that we even rejoice today that we have been preserved as God's children on to this day. And also this, that God has so blessed our lives that we have lacked for nothing. He has given us all which we need, and even more than what we would need.

Then he instructs them with those words that pray without ceasing. And again, when we think of this theme of thankfulness, is it not so that we are poor at praying unto the Heavenly Father to thank Him for what He has given?

And we even think of how poor we are at thanking the Heavenly Father for all which He has given us for this journey of faith which we have been through. And we are on. He has given us these precious escorts here in His kingdom. He has given us the Spirit to instruct and guide us. And He has given us that precious gift of the Gospel.

And how often we forget to thank. Often we remember to pray when we face difficulties or we have trials in our lives. These are those times when we remember to turn to the Heavenly Father and we pray for help and we pray for strength.

But how good it would be to remember in all things give thanks unto the Lord. As it even says here in this 18th verse, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

And when we think of our Lord and Savior, we certainly know there is much to give thanks for. So we give thanks unto God for Him. For through Him we were given that hope of eternal life.

And also, even as in the beginning of that Gospel of St. John where it says that He came down and became flesh and He dwelt among us and His own received Him not. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

That's what it says. It will say it in the Bible. It's biblical words. That He says those words that He was full of grace and truth.

And when we think of even those, has it not been so that in God's kingdom we have never lacked for grace and truth? That mercy seat has always been open unto us. And we have always, always been able to put away those sins as they attach.

And also, we receive those words of truth here in His kingdom. They are those words which instruct us and guide us. They instruct us of how sin is sin. It does not try, as the world today would wish, to try and change those borders of God's kingdom that make them a little wider.

But we know this, that God's word, even as we spoke at the beginning, is timeless. It has not changed throughout time. And it is still the same today. It is that same instruction today as it was so long ago.

And when we think of even today within God's kingdom, we see how the enemy of souls would even wish to try from within and extend those borders. He would wish to make it, perhaps, to man's mind easier to believe.

But, once again, we see how poor man is. Man likes to try and think with his own mind. He would make it easier to believe by extending those borders of God's kingdom.

But, when we think of faith, is it not so that it is such a simple message? It is one thing that is asked of us, that we would believe upon Jesus Christ and that we would take up the cross and follow Him in all that we need to do to receive Him.

Remain believing, is to ask for that gospel message which flows freely from within God's kingdom. And when we wish to believe, God will give us that strength that we need for that journey.

And here, then, he continues, quench not the spirit, despise not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is good.

Here, Paul instructs those believers that obey the spirit. Try not to put away that spirit which lives within us. For we know, even when we think, when we think of it in this way, when we receive those trials on this way, it is as if those fires which burn, and they try our faith to make it pure as gold.

And it also says that despise not prophesying, prove all things. This instruction is something which I'm sure all of us have needed.

When we think of God's word and those instructions which we receive from our dear escorts, and even sometimes that preached word of God which we hear, sometimes it can prick our hearts.

And it can awaken our hearts to see our own condition, and how wretched and sinful we are.

Paul here instructs that even in those moments, we would despise not the prophesying. He says that, hold fast that which is good. And he says to prove all things.

When we think of this, that prove all things, all things, I have, even in these times now, thought of this even. When we listen to God's word as it is preached, is it not so, how quickly our spirit says amen to that which is spoken.

And I know it is a prayer of all of those who have been asked to serve, that even if that word which one would preach is not that pure word of God, that congregation of God would quickly instruct and guide and teach so that they would be the words of the Spirit, the words of our Heavenly Father, and not those words of man.

And this is what Paul is speaking, that we would prove all things, that we would listen to that word, and we would be able to tell whether those are those true words of the Spirit, and we could say amen to those words which are true.

He then instructs, that abstain from all appearance of evil. Even this, we know how good instruction this is for each and every one of us.

And when we think of this, that all appearance of evil, is it not so that today the enemy of souls has become so sly, he is so smart and able to deceive each and every one of us.

He can make those which are evil appear in a form which perhaps is enticing, and our flesh which is so weak, so easily falls.

But here, Paul instructs, and it is instruction unto these new believers, but it also is good instruction for all believers that abstain from all appearance of evil.

And he then continues, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here, he prays on behalf of those fellow believers that God would remain in their hearts and they would remain in faith and be preserved blameless unto that second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And when we think of this being preserved, unto that second coming, we even think of this journey which we have before us. We don't know how long or how short it may be. Only God knows the days of our lives.

But we know this also, that it is a daily battle against sin. It is that battle against sin. Against our own flesh. The enemy of souls and the world. That trifled enemy which we battle each and every day.

But, we can take comfort in this. That if we wish to believe and we wish to put that sin away, just as Jesus has promised, he will be with us to the end.

And when those trials of life come upon us and we feel our tiredness and weariness and we can perhaps even begin to question God that why has this happened to me?

We can take comfort in those words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ where he even spoke unto those believers that, take up my yoke for it, or he says, come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke for it is light and I will give rest unto your souls.

And so it is that Jesus will not give us any more. He will not give us any more than we are able to bear. He will only give those trials which we can endure.

And even in those moments of trials we can turn to those escorts there right beside us. And from there we can receive of that fount of mercy as much as we need.

For we know that when we receive of that mercy fount it gives us strength to endure one more day. And it is that power of God unto all who believe as Paul says.

And it is that which carries us each and every day on this journey. And in this way our bodies and our souls can be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And he then even continues that faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.

Even as we just remembered when we think of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we know this that he is the one that he is faithful. He is there beside us each and every day of our lives.

He is there in those small children teaching us those ABCs of faith. He is there in Sunday school where we gather around God's word.

But he is also there in those moments when we are alone perhaps feeling tempted and the world feels so close.

Jesus so even in those moments where the world feels so close we can say we can take comfort in this that if we want to believe if we want to fight those temptations which are there before us he is faithful and he will help you on the way.

And even in those moments of temptations and trials we can do as Paul instructed at the beginning of our text we can pray we can pray for strength for that day that we would be preserved in his precious faith which he has called us into.

For this faith is not something which we ourselves choose or we ourselves decide when we would wish to be able to live. To enter into it.

But it is a gift from God. And it is a gift which he calls us into. He is the one who offers grace even as in the book of Revelations he writes I have left before thee an open door and no man has opened that door for us and no man can take it away from us.

It is purely God's grace and the merit work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ which will carry us on to the end.

And when we pause even here it says that I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.

Is that not the wish of each and every one of us that we would not only be hearers of the word but also doers of the word. That we would be as that light onto the world and that we would be holy and sanctified through the God of peace.

And we know how often dust and the dirt of the journey attaches onto us. And how often we need to wash our robes and our clothes close this down.

And we are anxious whose busy work keeps us here sleeping andありがとうございました and through Christ and Jesus name all sins and doubts it be we all it life and peace Jesus name and blood, all sins and doubts forgiven, freedom and joy.

And then, the last verse of our text has these words that brethren pray for us.

How comforting it is and can be when we know that dear brothers and sisters in faith remember us in prayer.

And how often it is that here in God's kingdom we remember each other in prayer.

And when we even look back on our lives and we think of those difficult moments perhaps the loss of a loved one or perhaps a child losing their faith is it not so that when we look and we wonder how we made it through those times we must say that those prayers of those children of God carried us but most importantly we received that strength from that precious gospel here which is found in God's kingdom.

And when we remember even think about when we were out there in that world how close those doubts are onto us.

And so often we even doubt our own faith that am I truly believing that how can it be that such a small flock only makes it to heaven.

Was it not so even for those travelers on the road to Emmaus who had just seen those happenings of Easter.

They who had traveled with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ watched him do many miracles and they watched him crucified there on that cross and they began to doubt.

They thought that was this not the Messiah who was to come to free Israel and who appeared unto them there and who was to come to save them.

We remember how that traveler appeared beside them who was our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And we remember how he asked them that why are you so sad?

And we remember how they asked art thou a stranger that hast thou not heard of the happenings in these days.

And they explained unto him how Jesus had been crucified.

And we remember how Jesus answered unto them. He said unto them O fools and slow of heart to believe.

And I've often thought of those words that how they still apply even yet today.

Are we not fools and slow of heart to believe?

We so often doubt but in the same way as those travelers on the road to Emmaus were comforted.

Jesus used his word for we remember how he expounded unto them from the scriptures and spoke unto them of Moses unto the prophets.

And is it not so for us even today when we feel our doubts and weariness and we come before God's word is it not the same feeling as those travelers had?

Does not our heart burn within when he expounds unto us from the scriptures?

And so it is that we need to gather more and more before God's word so that we would be refreshed and strengthened on this journey.

So that those living words which understand and which the spirit feeds onto us would give us that which we need each day.

And also let us always remember to pray for one another so that we would carry one another towards that eternal home there in heaven and that we would be preserved blameless unto that coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And even myself, who so often is filled with doubts and feel my own sinfulness, I would yet ask that can I even yet believe all my many sins and doubts forgiven?

I promise to believe along with you. In Jesus' name, and always blessed name, Amen.

Let us yet close with the Lord's benediction. The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make His face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.