2 Thessalonians 2:13–17

Christ's second coming is transformative. It gives every moment eternal significance and empowers Christians with profound hope, urgency, and purpose. Discover this compelling truth about Christ's second coming through this series in Thessalonians and see how this changes everything.

Opening our Bibles to second Thessalonians, go ahead and find that portion of scripture as you do. I want to welcome in all of our campuses, both upstairs, of course, and then Lamoni and Carlisle, our Guttenberg gathering, and then just north of us, a few blocks, our foster campus at Cornerstone Baptist. So all of us in every location, let's get under the weight of the word second Thessalonians.

As you're doing that, pull up this mental image, would you? In your mind, picture a timeline. Not hard to grasp that. Just pull up again that mental image and think about a timeline in your mind.

Start to finish incrementally, some marks along the way. You know, a timeline serves several purposes. Sometimes it helps us look at the past.

We can chart or record events that occurred and kind of get a succinct view of them. The important ones, dates. You know, it could cover months, weeks, years.

Some of it covers centuries, but it's a way to kind of see what occurred. This is what happened. There are timelines that look ahead, charts that sometimes will forecast what we want to happen, things we hope will occur.

Again, you can make them as large or small as you need to, but they're designed to kind of give us a picture of what we think needs to happen. So regardless of whether past or present, timelines are a succinct and helpful tool to help us kind of see a number of things in a succinct fashion or a collected fashion. It's called a timeline.

Say the word with me. Timeline. I share that with you because second Thessalonians chapter two, the last five verses 13 through 17, it is well understood if we use the framework of a, say it with me, timeline.

Let's check it out. Second Thessalonians chapter two, verses 13 through 17, page 29 in your journals. You'll want to have that marked as well as we draw some diagrams and some timelines and see how this fabulous prayer by Paul for the Thessalonians, exactly how it is seen and understood through a timeline.

In fact, I would say this prayer, it covers the entire timeline of their spiritual journey. Let me show you. Here's what the Bible would say to us.

Second Thessalonians chapter two, beginning in verse 13, follow along with me as I read God's word for us. But we ought to thank God always for you. The word ought to does not mean if I get around to it, it really is translates to the word bound or like we will, we're going to, we're going to do this.

We're bound to give thanks to God for you. Brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because from the beginning, God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel so that you might obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You already see in some markers in the timeline, aren't you? Verse 15. So then brothers and sisters stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught, whether by what we said or what we wrote. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, our father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.

Now a quick overview. I see this as one prayer, but it has two portions. There seems to be a thankful portion, 13 through about 15.

And then there seems to be what I call a traveling portion. It's the last two verses, 16 and 17. I'll explain that in a moment.

Let's dive in and see some things in this first portion. What I call the thankful portion. In fact, here's how I would word it.

Here's how I would show it to you in a timeline fashion. The first two or three verses really show us a thankful prayer for God's sovereign timeline. And you'll notice in these verses, there are a number of theological words that describe events in the life of a Christian.

He begins with the one that sometimes people argue about and debate, but it's in the scriptures. It's stated clearly. We just need to get up under it.

Let it affect us. And that is that he's thanking God that they are chosen by God. Do you see that in verse 13? And I want to tell you grammatically, linguistically, this is the main thing he's thankful for.

You'll see some other things flow out of this word. I don't want to say they're secondary in that they don't matter. Don't hear that.

But just understand grammatically, he's really thankful for one thing, that they're chosen by God. And then from that flow, a number of other wonderful benefits. And so I'm not saying that to you because I'm trying to pick a fight or cause a debate.

I'm just saying to you grammatically, textually, that's how the text reads. Paul is saying, I am so thankful for you because you've been chosen by God. It's the doctrine of election.

Some call it predestination. Some see those words differently. Some seem the same.

Let's not try to split that right now. Just know this is clearly a wonderful, beautiful, declared doctrine. All who believe have been chosen by God.

As a result of that, notice some things that flow out of that. He says that they were chosen for salvation through sanctification by the spirit, through belief in the truth. Of course, they were called to this through the gospel.

And of course, then at the end, they'll obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't put things there in a chronological order. He simply states things that happened in the course of their spiritual life, sanctification, salvation, glorification, the first moment of conversion, hearing the gospel, all those things that he mentions and how they occurred.

I'll put it for you in a chronological order. Here's how it looked in their life. If you were to take the very same words and just put them in a timeline, they heard the gospel.

They believe the truth of that gospel, which was that Jesus Christ lived, died, was buried, rose again and ascended to the father and is the only way to have eternal life. They heard that truth. Act 17 records that for us.

They believed that truth. They received salvation, a gift of God. That began the process of being set apart unto God more and more.

It's called sanctification. And of course, that ends one day when they'll see the Lord at his coming. That's glorification.

The word here is just they'll obtain or share in the glory. This really is a picture of their spiritual journey. You could call it a spiritual timeline.

And he says that what you need in this, look at verse 15, is endurance. Here he describes that again. Look at verse 15.

In light of all that God has done and is doing in your life, all of these events that occur because God chose you out of his great love. Paul says to stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught. In other words, don't give in or go back.

Don't let go. Endure. Endurance is how and what we need to experience well the timeline that God sovereignly ordains for us.

Now, some of you see this word traditions. You may wonder like, well, Todd, are you going to tackle that word? Of course we are. It's like, what does he mean by that? Is he saying that he can just make up ideas and then kind of lay them on people and say you've got to obey this now? Is this word tradition a bad word or a good word? The word tradition here, it's used all 11, 12 times in the New Testament.

It can be used negatively to talk about man-made ideas that people then think are equal to God's word. But it's not always used that way. It can just be used to describe teaching.

And this is how it's used here. In fact, the word tradition here simply means to deliver something. And Paul here says in the text, he wants them to hold to and stand on what he taught them, what he delivered them, the apostolic teaching, the word of God.

He even says here what we said to you or what we wrote. Perhaps he's referencing 1 Thessalonians. If you recall back in the earlier part of chapter 2, he talks about how he said and told them some things when he was with them about the coming of the Lord.

And so this is what he's referring to, the teaching that he gave them. In fact, some translations put the word teaching here instead of tradition. So I don't think he's trying to give credence to like some idea that, you know, I can just have an idea about starting a tradition and we'll just call that scripture.

That's not what he's saying at all. He's simply saying there are things I brought to you as a capital A, big A, apostle with authority from the Lord, writing or in word. And so those are the things I want you to hold on to.

I'd remind you that Paul uses something similar to this in the Corinthian epistles when he says that he delivered, same idea as this word here, those things of first importance that Christ died, was buried, rose again and ascended. That's the teaching that was orally passed down, was put into writing in several of the books. And Paul says, that's what you have to hold on to.

So don't let the word traditions here throw you off. If you were to press me in a corner and say, Todd, do you have any idea what those traditions were in that culture? I do have an opinion. Can I share it with you? It comes out of the context.

I think you know our culture here and you know me well enough to know. I think within this text, the tradition he's talking about, the teaching that he gave them, that he wants them to hold to concerns the coming of the Lord. Because this verse flows out of 10 to 12 verses in chapter two, in which he reminds him, don't be upset or troubled and don't be deceived saying that the coming of the Lord has already come.

He doesn't want them to be that way. So he explains what's going to happen. And then he says, so you stand firm, hold on to what I told you, whether by letter or word.

I think he's referring to specifically the things about the coming of the Lord. Now that's just an opinion. It could be other things involved.

Maybe we'll never know for sure. That's where I just want you to hear this. It's not Paul's made up ideas.

Amen. And it's not your made up ideas or my made up ideas. It's what God has left us in his word.

We pass that down. We deliver that. And we ask our church, then our families, all believers, you hold on to this.

So let's understand two things about this first thankful portion. He's thankful because this is so different than what's described in verses 10 through 12. There we see God's actions.

And I might even say reactions to those who did not believe the gospel, who, when they heard the truth, rejected it. You should read verses 10 to 12, same chapter, just kind of back up a bit. You'll find, wow, this is a stark contrast.

You're right. No wonder Paul is thankful because these believers are not in the group of those who are condemned. God has saved them.

Now, some may wonder, you know, why did God choose them? Why did he save them? And why did he intersect the gospel to their life? Is there something they did, something they earned, something they merited? Not at all. The Bible tells us here in this text, notice, it says that God chose them because they are loved by the Lord. And the answer to the question about why does God choose us? Why did he choose me? Why did he choose her or him? It's because God loved you.

Isn't that beautiful? It's not because of anything you did. God didn't look into the future and see that you would do something later. He didn't think that you had some kind of worth about you.

The Bible says that while you were still sinner, Christ died for you. Here's the beautiful truth of the gospel. God loved you, set you apart.

Chose you and called you, intersected your life with the gospel, gave you the faith to believe the gospel when you heard it. Oh, maybe not the first time, but his grace at some point became irresistible. And you finally were drawn, you were drug to the cross, John said.

And you believed God saved you, he sanctified you, and he's going to hold you firm and fast until he brings you home to glory. That's the spiritual timeline for which Paul is thankful. The second thing I want you to see about this timeline is not that it's such a contrast to the previous one, but that this is a timeline that is, it's a prayer of thankfulness, yes, for them and their timeline.

Like here's what God's done for you. But can I say to you in all frankness, it's not about them. Let's not forget, this prayer is for them, but it's not about them.

It is about God. If you read these verses, he does say, I thank God for you. And then he goes into a litany of wonderful doctrines of what God did.

These are verses about God. Paul is thanking God for his work for them and in them. Yes.

But let's remember it is God's work and it's completely God's work from start to finish, A to Z. It's always all God. So never forget this church. Yes.

God's work. It is for you. Romans 8, if God is for us, who can be against us, we'll say amen to that all day.

But I do want to say to you, it's not necessarily about you. It's about God and what he did for you through Christ. So every one of these events on the timeline, it's for you, but you didn't cause it, earn it, purchase it, buy it, or deserve it.

God did every one of them. Let me see if I can show you how some writers of the New Testament said this. John would talk about this.

Chapter one, verse 13. This is one of my favorites because he buries any kind of a self-deserving spirit three times. Look what he says.

You were born, speaking of one of these moments in the timeline, God's work in us, spiritual birth, being born again. You were born not of natural descent, not of the will of man, not of the will of the flesh. One, two, three, bam, bam, strike three, you're out, right? It's not because of you.

It's not anything that you did or earned or I deserved. It is all God. In fact, he closes this verse with three words, same with me, but of God.

That's why you are born again. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way. He says he is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

Those words refer to who began it and who finished it. Some translations say he's the author and finisher of our faith. Revelation describes him as the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.

The point is the whole spectrum and all that's in the middle, it's always all God. So church, understand clearly what the Bible teaches and where this church lands and this preacher lands. And I can preach on this for months.

I love this topic. I love the sovereignty of God's work in salvation. I love deleting human effort and getting rid of pride and saying to you, if you are going to boast, boast in the Lord.

Amen. And making sure this church trumpets one thing for sure. There is salvation in no one else except the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Salvation is solely and wholly God's work. Now, maybe you're wondering, well, Todd, what did I do? I mean, I heard the gospel, I received it. It seems like I've got some part of this.

You do in one sense. I'll tell you what your part is. You responded to God's grace.

You didn't ask for it. You didn't call them up and say, hey, can you, can you, uh, you didn't nudge God, stir God. You weren't even looking for God.

If you were, it's because this Holy Spirit began to convict you through a crisis or some consequences. You feel like, man, I got to do something. Yeah.

God started drawing you all of that from conviction all the way to glory is God's work. Let us rejoice in that and be thankful for God's work, which is for us, right? But it is not about us. It is about him.

Makes me want to sing that course. Hallelujah. All I have is Christ.

Hallelujah. Jesus is my life. Amen.

Can we get God tangible, audible praise this morning for his work of salvation in our life? Let's praise the Lord together. Shall we? Amen. Amen.

Hallelujah. Salvation is wholly and solely a work of God. Look with me at the second part of his prayer.

Can you it's what I call the traveling portion of his prayer. It's a traveling prayer in God's sovereign timeline. Let me walk you through this briefly.

The real request here is in verse 17 here. He asked for God to encourage and strengthen these Thessalonians and he will do that through four things or four elements. We could say there are four ways we are encouraged and strengthened by God.

These are all in verse 16, his love. Once again mentioned, this is the second time God's love is mentioned in this text. Also through eternal encouragement, which belongs to God and then good hope from his grace.

Those are four things that happen throughout our spiritual journey that give us encouragement and strength by God. Again, very vertical here. God's the author of this.

He's the provider of it. He's the author and giver of these four things. Just a brief word on these four things.

Eternal encouragement, maybe you're wondering what that is. I don't know if I know for sure. I'll tell you what I think it may be.

It may be, and I can use the phrase code name. I'm not sure if that's a great way to say it. It may be a code for the Holy Spirit.

I'll tell you why. The word encouragement is a word used to describe and actually at times refer to the Holy Spirit. Parakletos means to come alongside and exhort someone, encourage someone.

The Holy Spirit's called that. The Holy Spirit is God. He's eternal.

So when I read this, I wonder if maybe Paul's not just maybe making a reference to either the Holy Spirit or the work of the Holy Spirit. I don't know for sure. It's just kind of my meager humble guess.

Whatever it is, it's some type of exhortation that's beside us that doesn't go away. Hallelujah. Amen.

At last. And then this idea of good hope. It's interesting to me that Paul didn't just say hope.

He prefaced it with this modifier, good. There are two kinds of goods in the New Testament. There's one that means attractive on the outside.

It's an aesthetic word. It refers to what is good to look at. The other refers to something's constitution.

This is a good item, meaning it's well built or it's solid or it's well constructed. Its constitution will hold up. It speaks to what's inside.

This is the word meaning intrinsically solid hope. This is not just a hope that looks good on the outside, like that's a really nice wish, but it'll probably never happen. This is the word for like you've got solid, well constituted confidence in the Bible.

Hope really is confidence in what we know is going to happen because of God's character. So here he's saying you've got good hope. You've got intrinsically solid hope.

So some really wonderful things here out of God's character. And this is his conduct towards us that all flows from his grace, which means it's not because of you and you didn't earn it. It's his unmerited favor to us.

All of these are from God. They help us in our journey by giving us the power and the encouragement to display works and words. Do you see that in verse 17? This is how people see that we're encouraged and strengthened by God.

This is really what the strength and encouragement is aimed at. It's aimed at our work and our word. So if the first timeline was a picture of our entire spiritual journey, I think this timeline, so to speak, the last two verses really speaks to the power and product in the timeline.

It's the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and it shows up in works and words. A couple of other notes about this section. You may say, Todd, why do you call it a traveling portion? I only do that because when I read these verses, 16 and 17, I know it's a continuation of the prayer, but it seems that in this portion, he's asking God to give them all that is necessary as they walk through their timeline.

All the areas and different marks of their spiritual life, he's saying in each of these, I'm praying that you'll be encouraged by God and strengthened by God. So that's kind of the traveling portion. This is his prayer for them as they journey through their timeline.

He's thankful for it. He wants them to have endurance in it, and he knows that God will give them exactly that as they travel through it. And then maybe the next question would be, why work and word? In a passage so aimed at God's work, why close this out with this kind of brief phrase that points to what we do? And that is what the phrase does.

It's our works and words that he closes with. Like, here's all of God's work. Your entire timeline, how he's going to do this in the middle of it, and it shows up in your works and words.

That's what he's saying. Why? I think it's because Paul's aware of something. While Paul would readily admit and willingly admit that all of our life is vertically and ultimately for God's glory, that shows up immediately and horizontally to other people in how we live and what we say.

Like, if we say to you, live your life for God's glory, and then you go to Montana, build a cabin, never leave, and no one ever meets you, you don't see anybody, you never do a single thing for anyone, that's not a great life for God's glory. Why? Because it doesn't impact people. They're not serving someone.

There are no works and words that really show or bring glory to God. It's just you and a cabin in Montana. So he's saying there's a horizontal, immediate sense in which we work out our salvation.

Sounds like earlier passages, right? This is what Paul's doing here. He's bringing lots of doctrines, loads of theology into the shoe-leather present moment and saying, if you want to really show your thankfulness, then do so in your works and your words. These don't conflict, by the way, the vertical and the horizontal.

Knowing that the ultimate end is glory to God, and yet knowing that in the immediate horizontal, it's done through our works and words. These don't conflict. They work together.

They complement. Let me show you what Matthew says about both of these and how they complement. Matthew 5, 16, you've heard this verse.

In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your, what church? Good works, and give glory to your Father in heaven. Here's what Paul would say about our language and our words, Ephesians 4, 29, that no foul language should come out from our mouths, but instead only what is good for building someone up in need so that it gives grace to those who hear. So here, Paul addresses words and how they can give glory to God, build others up, be used for good.

Matthew talks about our works, how they can give glory to God. I think Peter does a really good job of bringing both together in this very summarizing verse about both. Look what he says here.

If anyone speaks, let him speak as one who speaks God's oracles or God's words. If anyone serves, let it be from the strength, that's the same word as in 2 Thessalonians, that God provides. So do you see just in a couple of sentences, he summarizes really all of our Christian life into speaking and serving.

And God actually should motivate and compel both of those. So it's kind of what Paul's saying here. The work of God in our life should show up.

It should be displayed really in our works and words. So let's put this together. One prayer, but a couple of portions and each one has like a timeline.

There's a thankful timeline for God's, a thankful portion for God's sovereign timeline. And there you kind of see your Christian life, your entire journey, and God is the reason for it. He's the one behind it.

It's his work in your life. And on that journey, then we pray for traveling grace, so to speak, while we make that journey for God to give us strength and encouragement in the timeline, knowing that again, it's from him, but that shows up in how we live and serve and impact others. So yes, we are saved by his work.

And then his strength empowers our work, which impacts others. And they are aware and they see God's weight in our life and the value that we have towards God as they watch how we live. Essentially, we see in this prayer what was introduced to us at the first of the service and what you see in that card in your chair.

We simply see four words ringing true throughout this prayer, saved people serve people. Admittedly, most of the prayers about the first two words, saved people, but it does close with just a brief phrase that these are the kinds of people who serve people. Through their works and their words.

So that's really a good summary for us. That's the simple Thessalonian truth today. The prayer, the two paragraphs of five verses, however you want to see it.

It's summarized well with these four words, would you say them with me? Saved people, serve people. And most assuredly, I want to repeat this. This is all done through God's strength.

It's for God's glory. But listen, church, the in the moment visible and very simple reality is this saved people who are thankful for all that God has done. Serve his people as a way to show their love for God and thankfulness to God.

In fact, 21 plus years of being one of your pastors here, almost 40 years in ministry. Here's something I have seen on a regular basis, every location, every group of people, different states. Here's something that holds true in every place.

When you're thankful for God's work, you're available for God's service. I've never met a thankful person, I mean, vertically thankful for God's work on their behalf when they truly understand all that God did and all that they could not do and did not do. And yet God did through Christ for them.

When that thankfulness really gets deep, I've never met a single person thankful that wasn't available for God's service, for his mission. They had various options, different things they could do, but just without exception, thankfulness just leads to an availability to serve God's people. When you've been impacted by God's work, typically those closest to you, God's family, they know about it.

So the question then is this, is this the prayer flowing from your life? Is this the prayer flowing from your life, from our church, from your life for our church, from our church for your life? Are you thankful for the sovereign timeline of God's work in your life? When you look back and you see all that God did in bringing you into his family, in moving you from enemy to family, from darkness to light, from lost to saved, from condemned to justified, all of that, when you see that, is thankfulness well up in you? And then out of that thankfulness, are you asking God for strength as you travel on that timeline so that you show your thankfulness through your works and words, so that through service, your heart of gratitude is noticeable? That's really the question that we're asking today. And frankly, that's the question we're asking for the three weeks following today. When we emphasize that saved people serve people, Adam was right.

It's more than just a quote. It's more than just a memorable way to express a theological truth. It's our desire to help you think about all that God has done for you and then to express that in environments where his family gathers and serve his people, serve his kids.

Saved people serve people. So you're going to hear about a lot of opportunities, not only this week. You've heard about those.

We'll have a card there in front of you. You'll hear about them for the next three weeks in different areas of our church, some more out front, others behind the scenes. But it's our desire to help you pray this prayer and see this prayer answered.

A thankful prayer and a traveling prayer that represents really just this key truth. Saved people serve people. Now you're going to hear about a number of opportunities, like I said, but can I bring one to your attention that's pretty pressing right now? Concerns our foster campus just 11 blocks north of us.

Cornerstone Baptist Church's pastor, Evan, he deployed a few months ago. Before he deployed, he asked our church and its elders if we would help foster their church while he was gone. You may be aware of this.

I think we mentioned it several times. Some of you are new. You may not have known that.

So our elders prayed, met with their deacons. Two pretty different churches, by the way. But we were good friends.

And so in the course of that, we sensed the Holy Spirit really opening that door and nudging us. They did as well. We met, we talked, we went over there for a Q&A.

Long story short, they voted to approve a memorandum which kind of laid out how this would work. They're more of a congregation-led church, so they do some voting. We don't.

So all that was kind of, again, part of the differences. But we could sense the Lord bridging some gaps. So we said yes.

They said yes. And about in May-ish, late May-ish, we officially began fostering them. We met with them last Sunday afternoon just to walk through how things were going, some needs, the falls coming up, their desires to see, you know, their church kind of have more of an outreach presence as well as to just, you know, do ministry well.

And one of the things that surfaced is this. They've got to figure out, we've now got to figure out with them, Lord willing, how they can bring some Sunday morning ministry to children during their service. They have a Sunday school there as well.

So there's two different opportunities. And so after our meeting last week and just knowing our agreement, and I want to do a good job at that. I want to keep my word to them like you do.

And so we just said, hey, why don't we ask our church if we can have some people attend at this campus, this foster campus till next May, mainly the school year. And so my appeal to you today is this. Will at least 20 of you from First Family Ankeny be willing to consider serving and attending there through next May, primarily to help get their children's ministries off the ground on Sunday morning? Now, here's why this matters.

Regardless of what we think about our post-Christian culture, which we are in, did you know that most surveys will show you that the most common time for people to go to church is still Sunday morning, 11 o'clock. So we're about 30 minutes late normally. Yeah, too early here, I guess.

Right. But that's a typical time. A lot of folks say, well, if I'm going to go to church or they feel the spirit drawn, I feel God's work.

They're not sure what it even is, but they kind of look for a church. And so to have a strong children's ministry in a town that's family centric is vital, vital. And I told them last week we were talking about, I said, if we don't figure this out with you, it's like a flashing sign that says we don't know where we live.

In a town like Ankeny, not to have a church with at least some sense of family ministry during your service or before, something like that. It's like just being unaware of what's around you. It's one of the main reasons we prioritize children's ministries.

We live in a town that's very family centric. I don't know that it's always good what you see in those families. I've said to you for years, Ankeny's highly dysfunctional, has a beautiful front door, though.

But open that door and you see a lot of dysfunction, a lot of homes. But man, there's more reason for the gospel, right? So we just encourage the church, like we've got to figure this out. We've got to figure out children's ministries during your service and a little before.

So to do that, smarter folks than me can work the details. I'm just here to appeal to you this morning. Are there at least 20? Are there 10 couples? Are there five or six families who would say between now and next May will help revitalize and re-energize a sister campus? We don't know what next May will hold.

We don't know how they'll vote or what they'll say. Our concern is to do a good job in the moment, as we agreed to do, and to see another church in our city revitalized and be a brighter spot for the gospel. Amen? We're praying to that end, and I'm appealing to you.

In this time of seeing how saved people serve people, would that be a place that God could use you or your family over the next several months, during the next school year? If so, you can use that card you received when you came in. You can use the QR code, Stop by Connect Center. A number of ways to make sure that we know of your interest.

I want to ask you, join the ranks of many who are living out what we saw from this prayer. They're saved people serving people. I've seen these folks around.

You have as well. I saw Justice Rowe do this just a few weeks ago. Justice and Lauren were attending at Ankeny.

They're about to have a baby as well, and they moved to Carlisle. They didn't wait weeks to get involved. They said, our church has a campus there.

We're in. Week one, they show up. They get involved.

He gets on the Set Up and Tear Down team. He gets in the Men's Bible Study. I mean, didn't even miss a week.

Saved people serve people. This is what Nate Hibbs did just a few weeks ago in Lamoni. Their family relocated to Lamoni.

We didn't know Nate. Nate didn't know us. I think he may have known Josiah somehow, but when he relocated, he connected with Josiah.

They began to meet for a Bible study. He began attending. He was somewhat of a musician, I heard.

So he began to help Matt with the worship. And in just these few weeks, Carlisle, excuse me, Lamoni has done some really good things with adding to their worship team. He said last week to Josiah, he said, hey, I hear you have some youth.

He said, let's do the vetting, but I'm in. I'll help. I love watching that happen on our Lamoni campus.

Saved people serving people. Not twisted with their arms being twisted or a knee in their back, right? Just like, hey, opportunity to show my thankfulness. I'll serve God's people.

It happens here in this campus. One of our cameramen, Jamie Montgomery, he's a real behind the scenes kind of guy, but man, every week he's got a camera on his shoulder almost every week at least. Willing to help.

He was saved, oh, maybe a year or two ago, I think it was through one of our members. Just was friends with him and led him to Christ. He came and got baptized.

Now he's serving the Lord. I mean, he loves it. Same with Ashley Dinkle.

Ashley was saved and baptized here. I didn't know that Ashley had skills in helping with special needs situations and special needs families. But in our small group, Julie and I lead a small group where it's only for those who are new Christians or who've never been in a small group.

So that's who our small groups for. And so in that small group, we're just talking and she kind of relayed what she does and how she's been trained that way. And I was aware of several special needs situations.

I just said, would you be okay if I connected you to them? And she said, of course. I heard this week she's already met with some of our staff about maybe special needs ministries and how to help there. Just made my heart so happy on that.

You know, hearing about those kinds of situations, man, it makes your heart sing when you see saved people serving people. It almost happened with another man named Andy Bratz. You know, Andy, his wife gave a testimony here this morning.

He called a couple weeks ago. There were some of our partners who were overseas most of the summer. They were coming back and two of them, they got stuck in Chicago.

We're going to be there for well over a day. So they called RJ. RJ said, let me see if I can get a ride for you.

He called Andy to get a van or get a vehicle. Well, Andy said in the moment, listen, RJ, I'll just go right now and get them. So RJ says, don't worry about that.

We'll find someone. And he says, I am that someone like who let me go get him. RJ said, tries to talk him out of it.

And I don't know all that happened, but they, something else happened. I think over in Chicago, they got a flight back earlier, but RJ told me the next week he said, man, I've got to quit talking folks out of serving. I said, amen.

You do. You're right. And we were laughing about it.

And it's kind of a good story, but we, we both rejoice that there's just people who are willing to step up, drop what they're doing. Sometimes get involved on a team and a rotation or serving the spur of the moment that saved people serving people. And I just want to encourage you join the ranks of the majority of familyers who are thankful for all that God's done for them.

And as a way to show that they serve with their works and words, that's life. That's the journey. That's the timeline we're on and God causes it and strengthens every bit of it.

So can we pray that for each other? Can we be that for each other all by God's grace and power?