1 Thessalonians 4; Psalm 99

1 Thessalonians 4
"Even More"
Paul acknowledges that the Thessalonians are already pleasing God in the way they live. But he encourages them to do so even more!  (The following list comes from Warren Wiersbe's With the Word Bible.)

• More holiness. vv. 3-8    Stay away from all sexual sin.
• More love. vv. 9-10  God Himself has taught us this, and He Who loves perfectly is our example.
• More quietness. vv. 11,12  We are to live a quiet life and mind our own business!
• More hope. vv. 13-18

As believers, we all look forward to the day when Jesus will come back. This section teaches us what will happen when Jesus comes for His Church--the Body of Christ which includes all believers everywhere including those who have already died. Theologians call this the Rapture of the Church. The words from the scripture itself are so clear that I will just copy them here, and we can all rejoice that we don't need to despair about those who have already died, and we don't need to be afraid of the future!

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.  vv. 13-18

Psalm 99
We can trust the Lord completely. Actually He alone can be trusted completely! We put our trust in many people and institutions that could fail us--from banks to bridges! But God will never fail us.

• He is king! And he cannot be toppled! vv. 1-2
• His name represents His attributes.vv. 3-5
• He is holy.
• He loves justice.
• He loves righteousness
• He has been the same God throughout all ages. vv.6-8
• Moses, Aaron, and Samuel cried to the Lord for help and He answered them.
• He spoke to Israel from the pillar of cloud, and they followed Him.
• He answered their prayers.
• He forgave them.
• He punished them when they went wrong.

We are to exalt the Lord and worship Him for the Lord our God is holy! v. 9