Warren W. Wiersbe - Be Ready (1 & 2 Thessalonians): Living in Light of Christs Return

BE READY

Published by David C. Cook

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All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. (Public Domain.) Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved; PH are taken from J. B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English , revised editions J. B. Phillips, 1958, 1960, 1972, permission of Macmillan Publishing Co. and Collins Publishers; RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971], Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The author has added italics to Scripture quotations for emphasis.

LCCN 2010927436

ISBN 978-1-4347-6501-7

eISBN 978-1-4347-0245-6

1979 Warren W. Wiersbe

First edition of Be Ready published by Victor Books in 1979

Warren W. Wiersbe, ISBN 978-0-89693-773-4

The Team: Karen Lee-Thorp, Amy Kiechlin, Sarah Schultz, Jack Campbell, and Karen Athen

Series Cover Design: John Hamilton Design

Cover Photo: iStockphoto

Second Edition 2010

Dedicated with appreciation to friends whose ministry was above and beyond the call of duty: Lee and Claudia Gerwin Gareth and Bev Nelson Evelyn Rankin Carol Thiessen

CONTENTS

The Big Idea: An Introduction to Be Ready by Ken Baugh

A Word from the Author

1. A Church Is Born

2. What Every Church Should Be (1 Thessalonians 1:110)

3. Helping the Baby Grow Up (1 Thessalonians 2:112)

4. Growing Pains (1 Thessalonians 2:1320)

5. Take a Stand! (1 Thessalonians 3:113)

6. How to Please Your Father (1 Thessalonians 4:112)

7. The Comfort of His Coming (1 Thessalonians 4:1318)

8. Dont Walk in Your Sleep! (1 Thessalonians 5:111)

9. Its All in the Family (1 Thessalonians 5:1228)

10. No Rest for the Wicked (2 Thessalonians 1:112)

11. Gods Timetable (2 Thessalonians 2:112)

12. Nothing but the Truth (2 Thessalonians 2:133:5)

13. Order in the Church (2 Thessalonians 3:618)

The Big Idea

An Introduction to Be Ready
by Ken Baugh

Runners, take your mark.

These are the words that I heard at the start of every race as a member of my high school track team. I can still remember the routine I went through after hearing this call from the track official. First, I stepped into the starting blocks. These blocks were a type of metal contraption anchored to the ground with spikes that gave the runner a solid starting point. After taking to the blocks, I stretched out my legs, then got into a crouched starting position with my head down and my hands on the ground carefully placed just in front of the starting line. Then I waited with anxious anticipation for the next command from the official: Get set.

Seconds later, the gun went off, and I exploded out of the blocks, running as fast as I could toward the finish line. As I crossed that finish line, I remember the exhilaration of running my race well. I didnt always win, but I always did my best.

Today we are living in the last days before the Lord Jesus returns. We are running the last leg of the race in Gods plan for His church. And over and over again throughout the New Testament we see Jesus return as a fundamental expectation. So in a very real sense, every follower of Christ is in the Get set position, awaiting Jesus return. Jesus told His disciples to Take their mark when He said:

In my Fathers house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:23 NIV )

To be fair, many people over the last two thousand years have believed that their generation would be the one to see Jesus return. I remember my grandfather was very confident that Jesus would return during his lifetime, and yet he died years ago and Jesus had yet to return.

Today there are many skeptics who scoff at the idea of Jesus return and many believers who are beginning to doubt the teaching throughout the New Testament that Jesus will return quickly. The skeptics and doubters share the same conclusion: Two thousand years of waiting is not the definition of quick. There are even some skeptics who think Christians are naive to believe that after all this time, Jesus is still going to return and that the events of the last days will commence as the Bible says. But I love how God anticipated this cynicism and disbelief. Read carefully the words of the apostle Peter, who said:

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, Where is this coming he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:34, 89 NIV )

Peter tells the primary reason for the Lords delay: God wants more people to come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Savior. And yet even with this clarity, many believers still have questions. They say something like this: Its great to let the scoffers scoff, and Im all for standing firm in my belief that Jesus is going to return soon and all, but dont the skeptics kind of have a point? I mean, I get the whole a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day thing, but it really does seem like Paul and the rest of the apostles believed that Jesus was going to return during their lifetime, and that just seems to contradict what Jesus said about all the signs like in Matthew 24 that would take place before His return. How do I reconcile this?

Thats a great question, and the answer is simple.

When the Bible indicates that Jesus can return at any moment and that there will be specific things that must happen before He returns, it is referring to two different events. The sign events in places like Matthew 24 are those things that will happen before Jesus second coming to earth, and that is a different event from the rapture of the church. Thats why Paul wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians: to help clear up the confusion about the rapture, which is the Big Idea that runs throughout these letters. Look here at 1 Thessalonians 4:1618 ( NIV ):

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.Next page