04-27-25 - FINALLY BRETHREN, PRAY. - 2 Thessalonians - 3

MESSAGE BY  PASTOR ROB INRIG

   FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.

I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy (Gaby P, Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G, Fega G,  Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J. Manuel D. C, Yuya N. Mercedes L. )   Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can add names from family and friends who need prayer

________________________________

To all of you who visit this blog, I ask for a prayer for Gabriela Piña a beloved friend who is battling with Cancer, she has been fighting against this disease with much positivism against this terrible disease, we have been praying for her but she is battling lately with the unpredictable, my heart is with much pain knowing this, but my great faith in our Lord is strong that for Him there is no impossibles even when everything looks dark, I know that He has a light waiting for her. I ask Him with my spirit and heart to give her that opportunity that He always has ready for everyone, to know Him, and to be a living testimony that He is real and that He loves her infinitely as His adopted daughter, I ask you humble for a prayer together so that He hears our prayer, as I know the power of the prayer, and my prayer for you all with your support in this painful moment, we love her as a sister in Christ Jesus. With my broken heart, I thank all my brothers and sisters in Christ for your support, Amen!

___________________________

As we have referenced on several occasions over the last number of months, we are living in very strange times where what we have long known has been turned on its head.  Some changes good, a good number definitely not and some, beyond confusing.  No wonder many are asking, how did we get here?  The more perplexing and for some, more anxiety producing, is where is all this going?  

It’s easy to get twisted around with what is seen, many angry, some confused, a good many incredibly anxious.   So what do we do with all this? 

The quick answer is what the Bible tells us, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you. Phil 4:6, 1 Pet 5:7  In short, coming to God choosing our focus to be on Him – our answers in Him, our supply in Him, these re-centering us on thankfulness.

Now lest you think these exhortations  were given when times were good, think again.  These were penned when Nero and Domitian were ruling – whose persecution of Christians was severe.  

So these don’t be anxious encouragements aren’t some nice wall plaque feel goods - ‘life is good, all is well’ - when anxiety lives far from you.  No, these are given for us to run into when anxiety hovers close and threatening to barge in to where we do life.  

So as we close the pages on 2 Thessalonians, how do we live without becoming overwhelmed by things that surround?   How do we take hold of God’s truth not allowing emotions that debilitate to hijack before His truth establishes strong roots?  

No simple answers, just some thoughts, beginning with a quick but important observation, that our emotions are very good at lying. Those lies sometimes coming in repeated whispers, trying to get us to draw close and stay close to hear what they have to say rather than what God has to say. 

I think today’s passage helps us in the context like we now face but it’s important to situate it in the persecution the believers in Thessalonica were experiencing.  Paul writing to realign them with truth but don’t miss that he does more than just correct faulty belief.  His writing is not teacher to pupil rather he places his words in relationship, Finally brethren, pray for us - reminding they are brothers with one another and with him. 4 things on which our prayers are to focus: Petition, Provision, Protection, Projection. In this, he’s re-assuring them they don’t walk alone

The truth is when we go through times of difficulty, it is easy to feel as if we are alone, even  when we are surrounded by others. When we keep those feelings to ourself, it is easy to get overwhelmed with how hard things are, how hopeless things seem.  Alone, those voices get amplified, often screaming in our thoughts, distorting and enlarging as they become convincingly real. Yet when those things are shared with others who care for us and are committed to us, lies can be seen for what they are. Distortions challenged. Enlargements scaled to size.  Support given to carry us through.  

Because that is what we as brothers and sisters in Christ are called to do as we support, as we identify with, as we come alongside.  A community of faith not just for Sundays but in each other’s lives, where we don’t have to put on masks presenting ourselves differently than who we are. Being honest that we do struggle, that we do fail, that we do mess up, that we do lose our way.  But in their support and reminders to focus on God’s truth, I am not alone. 

That’s why it’s important to join with other believers in a house group or a small cluster of accountability partners to both strengthen and be strengthened by others. To join with: women here at the church on Wednesday nights, men in monthly events, Bible study on a Sunday following the service meeting in the lounge, in a neighbourhood house group throughout our communities – Richmond, North Delta and North Surrey, New Westminster and Tsawwassen.   

When Paul writes, Finally brethren, pray for us, understand the dynamic.  Paul is the one who has brought them to faith – their spiritual ‘father’ if you like, but here he is not relating to them that way of parent to child. His request, Pray for us doesn’t have him standing apart from them – ‘greater than’, rather it’s him saying, I need you and your prayers. I’m not needing the prayers of some super saints who have passed all their Greek classes.  I’m not waiting on the prayers of a Peter or a John - I’m needing your prayers, you who have only known Jesus as Saviour for 3 months. Who haven’t got your Thee’s and Thou’s down. Paul telling them he needs their, Hi God, it’s Brian.  Paul is in a mess right now and could really use your help. 

Their prayers – your prayers - powerful for the work God wants to do.  Can God accomplish His purposes without us?  Of course He can but He has chosen to work out His purposes through us.

This said, I want to focus on what Paul points to in this passage concerning prayer.  

First, Paul encourages us to pray with PETITION. There is a need, so pray.  Paul phrasing this, That the word of the Lord may have free course.  Which is to alert us that obstacles come and blockages arise, when we don’t pray.  Paul asking them to pray that the Lord would remove the things that hinder what the word of the Lord desires to do.  We are told that, The Word of God is swift and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Heb 4:12 and that, My word that goes out from My mouth shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish what I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it  Is 55:11.

So God’s Word is something of great power BUT God energizes His word through us His fellow workers, His coworkers 1 Cor 3:9, 2 Cor 6:1.  This in no way suggests that God is limited by our actions.  How can the God who created everything be limited by us but there is a sense that sometimes He is waiting on us before He moves.  James tells us, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much Ja 5:16.

So Paul’s PETITION?  Pray that the word of God would have free course in our lives, streaming into all areas of our life.  Even during those times when life gets tough.  Praying that our kids will see the reality of Jesus in us.  That our relatives will see Jesus in us, that our friends and co-workers will see that Jesus in us.

The Amplified Bible and NKJV render this, Pray that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be honored [triumphantly celebrated and glorified], just as it was with you

So we are to pray for our kids, our needs, our concerns.  But also take this into what Paul is encouraging us to do in this prayer, That the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be honored [triumphantly celebrated and glorified.   

Asking God to pour out His power on this place – on the worship, on the lobby encounters, on the mid-week ministries, on the children and youth ministries, on the preaching.  So that people  who come into this place see Jesus and so people who go out from this place show Jesus.

Your prayers - calling on God for the Holy Spirit to move, for lives to be transformed, for rescue to come and for evil to be defeated.  Praying that more than being the people who come to this church, we actually lay hold of the fact that we ARE the church God has chosen to celebrate and glorify Jesus so the word of the Lord will spread rapidly. Seeing not perfect people, not altogether people, but in love people who ask the Holy Spirit to do what we cannot.   Change lives.  

This to ask, Will you commit to  to pray asking God to miraculously transform lives here at Bethany? 

Praying petitions like this, validated by what happened to you when you first came to faith.  Sure, perhaps your experience wasn’t as dramatic as some others but your rescue from death to life was no less real, no less needed.  So pray, knowing what we have been given in: 

God’s PROVISION.  

John 1:12 tells us, To all who have received Him and believe on His name, He gives the right to become children of God.  As His children who are loved, we are to petition Him for ourselves and others.  That means coming to Him with our anxieties and things that confuse – because He loves us.  That means when life gets hard, we are to run into Him - because He cares for us.  The God who spins galaxies into existence is the same God who feeds the sparrow and sees when one falls and yet assures us, we are worth far more than these.   Matt 10:29-31  

A God who cares for us and intimately knows us, You have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.  You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.  Ps 139:1-3    This God who we are told, His love for us is steadfast – which is to say stubbornly committed, unshakable, unchanging.  

Jeremiah tells us, Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  Jer 17:7,8.

God hasn’t answered in the way we asked, the way we wanted.  When a belief held doesn’t pan out the way we thought should be.  That’s why we are warned to, Not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching  Heb 10:25.   Paul’s encouragement to bring your  questions, your doubts, your confusion into a place where they can be explored in the surround of a community of faith who are committed to one another.  

Because this is what a community of faith should look like.  Not a place we bury our questions, doubts, anxieties quietly keeping them to ourselves but sharing these with people we trust in order to get a better understanding through God’s Word, what God is wanting us to know.  Above all, what we are told in :3, The Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

In this we are directed to 3 things, 1st He is faithful :3.  We are told this repeatedly in Scripture, where the Lord assures, I will never fail you or abandon you or Do not fear or be in dread, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.  Heb 13:5 CJB, Dt 31:6  

That no matter if all others fail you, He never will. Psalm 34:17 says, The righteous cry out and the Lord hears; He delivers them from all their troubles.  Psalms 142:1-7 I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. I pour out before him my complaint; before Him I tell my trouble.

To cry out to the Lord is to reveal our absolute dependence upon Him, in everything – our victories and our defeats, our failures and our needs.  

2nd  He will establish you :3.  He establishes me on what is true.  Establishing me as everything around me gives way.  Establishing me when the things I hold to don’t support.   Establishing me when the rescue I’ve trusted in doesn’t come.  

Our challenge is that we don’t truly know this until the things on which we stand give way, when the difficulties come, when the friends disappear, when the resources dry up.

But in the midst of this, our Provider, the One to Whom we are to come in prayer.  

And what are we to pray in this?  That the word of the Lord may be glorified.  

Which is to say that God’s word is seen to be true, that what Jesus came to do - did happen and will happen.  That He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  That He has come, To proclaim good news to the poor, bring liberty for the captives, sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Lk 4:18,19.

All available to us in Jesus, God’s provision given us in His amazing love

And then there is our prayer to pray for His PROTECTION - deliver us from evil :2,3.  This is the 3rd promise God has given us, that 3rd He will guard you from the evil one.

Here, one more reminder that as followers of Jesus we are in a spiritual battle, a battle we are to fight as the song reminds, on our knees.  In prayer laying hold of what He tells us, No weapon fashioned against you shall succeed and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord Is 54:17  The Lord is faithful.  He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.  2 Thess 3:3

So yes, as children of God, pray prayers of Petition; as ones deeply loved, pray prayers assured of His Provision; as soldiers of the King pray prayers confident in His Protection but above all, pray prayers focused on God’s PROJECTION - where we are to look, Who we are to see, Who we are to believe.  Notice where we are to specifically focus, The Lord will direct our hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ (the steadfastness of Christ) :5.

God telling us, as we pray, fix our eyes on: God’s love and Christ’s promises.  

1st, His love - our hearts directed into the love of God.  It’s one thing to pray, quite another to know that the One to whom we pray has lavished His love upon us, a love that is everlasting and unfailing 1 Jn 3:1, Jer 31;3, Is 54:10.  The love He demonstrated on the Cross is the same love He embraces us with today, right now - He wanting to hear our voice, He wanting to be given our concerns.  Knowing we are loved isn’t something we just acknowledge in our heads, it is something we are called to embrace in our hearts.  Loved knowing you are safe, loved knowing you are listened to, loved knowing you are known, loved knowing you are accepted.  Loved not just is some precepts known but love that is believed. 

 John puts it this way, We have come to know and BELIEVE the love that God has for us 1 Jn 4:16.  John making the distinction, it is not so much what we know, it is what we actively believe.  Believe even when we don’t always see - when a tragedy comes, an illness strikes, a loss overwhelms.  

Even at times like this, the Bible tells us, His love is unchanging, His presence is near.  It’s true, we don’t see Him as we would like.  He’s not in sight but it’s to this 2nd certainty that Paul also speaks, telling us to keep our eyes fixed on this, that Jesus is steadfast in what He has promised.  The Jesus you are waiting on will not disappoint.

His answers not always in our timing but in His.  In our impatience we often want to help God out, His timing not as fast as we might like, His answers more unclear than we often think best.   So in our impatience we step in to help things along like with Abraham.  God promising to him a son in whom the whole world will be blessed but a year goes by then another and another.  And after a time – things bordering on the impossible and with that – the solution arrived at, I better get in and help what God has planned.  Leading to Ishmael and the mess that we continue to see even to this day. 

But His promise is certain, none more certain than the one He said to Thomas, If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself.  The references to Jesus’ Second Coming outnumbering references to His first coming by a factor of eight to one.

So Christ’s returning – yes but until then, Paul’s command – engage.  Engage in prayer - praying bold, believing prayers and in this, stepping out in authentic, committed faith, vigilantly holding on to truth.  Don’t get sidetracked by those who live differently, either by those outside the faith who oppose and those within the faith who distract.  Keep centered on what is true, keeping away from those who play fast and loose with God’s truth.  Unlike those ones, model faithfulness in the workplace demonstrating dependability and excellence in what you do.  Not necessarily excellence in the ‘product’ that results but excellence in the effort and workmanship given so that what we do is as excellent as we can make it.  This to say, excellence defined by hearts committed to do the very best that we can do. 

Which means working as God sent and God placed people: as a student, an employee, a neighbour, a volunteer. Live productively, not freeloading, living off somebody else’s generosity, God’s direct command through Paul, If a person is not willing to work, he shall not eat  :10.   

We are also not to be people who add to the gossip, who do the bare minimum, who leave the work aside so we can share the latest FB or Instagram news. Instead we are to work in quiet fashion rather than promoting negativity that   discourages and harms.  As followers of Jesus -  we are to be people who are models of all there faithfulness in the workplace. 

Living like that, fully committed to being God’s people –

engaged, prayerful and assured - that what we live

for and Who we wait for will not disappoint.

www.bethanybaptist.bc.ca