This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:00] I can remember it well the morning of September 7, 2014. I was driving to Marina High School for the first service of our church and I remember running around with our usher, Tim Payne, and we were wiping bird poop off the bleachers there at Marina High School. And it was the hottest day in the history of Huntington Beach. Anybody was anybody there on the first day of our church? You guys you guys were melting that day, weren't you? You were sweat. And we were totally unprepared for the heat. And we started this church. We started going through the book of First Thessalonians right there on our first day. And we preached a sermon that the word of the Lord rang out from the Thessalonians Church. And we used this analogy like, if you dropped a big rock into the water and the ripple effects that what happened in the water, that's what we're praying God's going to do here in Huntington Beach. We're going to drop the rock of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we're praying there will be ripple effects that will just take off. And so that was 42 some days ago. We started this adventure called CompassHB Bible Church here in Huntington Beach. And I remember that day after the service there is this guy. I'd seen him a few times and his name was Kevin. And he was one of the young men here, one of our college age guys. And I invited him to this college group we were having at my house on Sunday nights. And in the point of the sermon, the first sermon we ever did at our church, the first sermon from our series on First Thessalonians. In fact, we're finishing up First Thessalonians today. So if you would, grab your Bible and open it back up to that book, we're gonna have our 28 time. We've looked at this book together, our 28 and last time, I'm gonna ask you to turn here to First Thessalonians as the text for our sermon. And I remember that day we had to define what is this word of the Lord that we're hoping is going to ring out? What is this gospel message that we've been commanded to preach? And we said it's who Jesus is, that he's the Christ, that he's the holy anointed one sent from God, and that Jesus died on that cross for your sin, that you could have it all forgiven. And then he rose again on the third day so that you could get a new eternal life. Here's three things. You got to know who Jesus is. He's the Christ. He died for you and he rose again. That's actually what you're trusting in, to save you. In fact, how can you say that you're saved if you don't even know this good news? The Gospel of Jesus. We preach that we. So we're just gonna drop this rock and let's see what God does here in Huntington Beach and will that night. Kevin, you actually showed up at my house for the college group. Some of us were sitting outside of my house there and we started talking about the gospel and. And Kevin admitted there in front of the group very boldly that he didn't know the gospel of Jesus. And so later, actually standing in my garage, he put his faith in the gospel of Jesus and he became a Christian right there on the first day of our church. He's actually the guy, the video camera recording this sermon right now.

[00:03:07] As we as we finish up the book of First Thessalonians, he got saved.

[00:03:12] We started the book first, says Colonial's. And so that's what we've been trying to do, is we've been trying to preach this gospel. That was Chapter one for seven weeks. We were talking about the example of this church and what does it look like to be a church where the gospel really comes out from you? What does it look like in our lives? How do we spread that message? And I don't know when you've joined us, if this is your first time or if you joined us somewhere along the way throughout Marena high school, we started going through Chapter two and we learned a lot about church being a family that we're supposed to be brothers and sisters. What does it really mean to love one another and to have fellowship with one another? This is supposed to be a very personal thing and then God blessed us. In January, we moved in here to this building and so we did 14 sermons from versus lenience at Marine I school. And then we picked it up here and we've done Chapter three and then we start a Chapter four. And in Chapter four, it went from like the history of Paul and these people at that church. In the good example, that church was to us at Chapter four, he started giving commands and he started saying, hey, you're doing a good job, do more. And here's some things I want you to do. I want you to abstain from sexual immorality.

[00:04:22] Maybe you can remember when we did that sermon or I want you guys, if you've been taught by God to love one another, then let us love one another and let us love one another more and more. And we got into passages about the future, about the rapture, when Jesus is gonna come and take all the Christians to be caught up in the clouds before the day of the Lord. Judgment comes down on this earth. And we spent many weeks looking at that. And then we've been into Chapter five and just the last few weeks learning how to treat one another. We've been learning how to rejoice and pray and give thanks always because we're full time for Jesus. Last week we learned about testing all things. Twenty seven times we've opened up and we've looked at what God has to say in this letter through Paul to this church, and originally when they received this letter from the apostle Paul, they probably read it out loud. All in one sitting right there, the whole church together.

[00:05:16] And I can just imagine how a win, as he was, as somebody was reading it to the entire church, they would have started out like, yeah, I remember the good times when when God saved us. And, yeah, this is great, this relationship we have with Paul and how we love one another. And then the commands would have started. Come. Do this. Don't do this. Hey, you need to work on this. Do this over here. And I would bet by the end of the letter. Maybe somebody was starting to get a little bit overwhelmed.

[00:05:43] Maybe somebody as they were here in this letter read, they were thinking, how am I going to do all of these things, all these fast, quick commands come in here. How am I going to be able to do all of this then I'm being told to do here in this word from God. And that's what we get to in our text. The end of the letter, read it with me versus Colonial's chapter five versus twenty three to twenty eight. We now come to the conclusion and the conclusion is simply this. Say we're telling you to do all these things, but don't worry, he will do it. That's the end. Read it with me.

[00:06:16] Verse 23 says Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. And then it gives them some personal things, brothers pray for us and greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

[00:06:50] And then here's a classic ending in the letters of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. So at the end of a list of commands that he's telling these people to do with the authority from God, he says it now. But just let me tell you how this is going to work. He will surely do it. How're you going to be able to do all these things? Well, God will do it in you and through you. That's the encouragement here. At the end of the letter, in fact, this is a common way that these letters would end with a benediction. Look back at verse 23. This heading here for God, this title given to God. There's a lot of phrases that start like this in the New Testament. Now, may the god of peace. And then he goes on to say maybe something more specific. But at the end of the letter, it's kind of a prayer. It's an answer, an express desire for the people who are receiving the word of God that God would do something among this group of people. And it refers to him as the god of peace.

[00:07:55] Now, we're all post hippies here in America. So when we say peace, we might think world peace. We might think. Just relax. You know, this is not the god of hippies. It's not what I said, what it's saying here.

[00:08:06] And we might think of peace as like, well, we want to be at peace with one another, like his God going to bring peace among us. Well, that's a biblical idea. But when it says the god of peace, what we're supposed to be thinking is the peace that we have with God, that God is in heaven. He's holy in his splendor above. And we were down here. We were born in our sin. And so there was enmity between us and God. That's the way that we were born. And now because he sent his son, because Jesus is the the savior of our souls. Now, you and I can have peace. We can be reconciled in our relationship with God. So the God who has established peace with you is really the idea here because you have peace with God, because he made peace with you. Then here's what he's gonna do next. That's kind of the thought of these letters that go to the Book of Romans, turn to Romans fifteen with me. And I want you to just see that a lot of the letters. I don't know if you've ever studied the end of the letters in the New Testament, but they all sound similar to this. They have different specific things that are expressed. But the S idea of the God of peace, doing something among the people that the letter is to, it's common. In fact, it's mentioned a few times here at the end of the Book of Romans.

[00:09:23] The Book of Romans is just an impressive document from the apostle Paul, really the fullest expression of his theology and how he expects Christians to practice in their lives. And as he's winding it down at the end of Chapter 15, McIver's 33, as he's kind of moving towards the conclusion he brings up this idea, may the god of peace be with you. You now have this relationship with God who's established peace between you and the God of peace. Be with you all a man. And then in Chapter 16, he gets into some more personal greetings here. And then he says in verse 20 and gets back to the God of peace. And he says here, so I like this. This is good news right here.

[00:10:05] The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. And then another common phrase that we see throughout the letters of the New Testament, including our text this morning, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. So two ideas. The God of peace is going to do something among you because the grace of our Lord Jesus is with you. And specifically what God's going to do here is he's going to soon crush Satan under your feet. Well, yes, please. I'd like to be a part of that stampede right there. All right. I'd like to run over Satan.

[00:10:39] That sounds great. I'd like to see him get destroyed. Man, let's see God do that. And that's not all. He's got more here. A doxology ligate verse 25, a Romans 16. Maybe you've heard this phrase. It shows up a few different times in scripture.

[00:10:54] Now to him, who is able now to him, who is able so common way where we give God the glory and we say something that's true about God. At the end of a book. And really what it's saying is to the one who has the power. That's what it means, that he's able do not miss the word we get dynamite from as we move closer to the Fourth of July. As you see the fireworks stands going up and we're basically selling small pieces of dynamite to each other here so we can blow things up here in our city and celebrate boom America. Right? That's the word right here. Now I am who is able to him? Who has the power? What can he do? Well, he's able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. Yes, please. I'd like some more strength. According to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but now it's been disclosed, it's been disclosed through the prophetic writings and has been made known now to all the nations. This gospel of Jesus, according to the command of the eternal God. God is able to give you strength. Here's what he's gonna do to bring about the obedience of faith to the only wise. God be glory forever. Through Jesus Christ. Hey, man. Hey, here's what God's able to do. He is able to give you strength to bring about obedience by faith. He is able to help you keep living for him. Everything that we learned in this book. You're supposed to do. God is able to make you do it to give you the power and strength to do it. So that's always the encouragement and end of a letter where sometimes it gets intense and there's commands. And here's what you're supposed to go do. The reminder at the end is always he will do it. He'll do it through you. He's the one doing the work. Go to the end of the book of Hebrews and you'll see the same idea. Lots of encouraging passages tucked away here at the ends of these biblical books. We don't we're not sure who wrote the book of Hebrews here, but they use the same idea, the same expression. This is Hebrews Chapter 13. Verse 20. Book of Hebrews is another powerful letter about how the new covenant of the blood of Jesus is so much better than the old covenant. And it says, now, may the God of peace. Here's our phrase. You have this relationship with God. He's gonna do something among you. Now, may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will. So because of this good work that Jesus has done, because of the blood of Jesus shed. So your sins could be forgiven and because Jesus is raised from the dead. So you could have new life. Look what it says in verse 21. Here's what the God of peace is gonna do. He's going to equip you with everything good that you may do his will. Get out. I mean, it feels kind of cheesy to me, but if you look at your neighbor right now, if you look at the person next to you, don't actually say this because it'll probably make us uncomfortable. But imagine looking at the person next to you and being like you are equipped with everything good.

[00:13:56] I mean, that's what it's saying right here. When you don't have to say right now, you could say later if you want or you can not say at all. But the scripture is saying. Right.

[00:14:05] The scripture is telling you. I mean, you imagine you read this letter in your challenged. You're confused. You're thinking about it. What is God teaching? And at the end, it says they the God who you have peace with, equip you with everything good. You have everything good that you need to go and do his will. In fact, liquid. It goes on to say, God, the God of peace is working in us. That which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ because we're in Christ, God is now working in us to whom be glory forever and ever a man.

[00:14:38] Here's some encouragement here. I hope you didn't come here to get discouraged this morning because all we've got is encouragement coming your way right now, my friends, you have everything. Good God is working in you so you can actually go and do what God has asked you to do. That's what it says here at the end of these letters effect.

[00:14:58] Let's just jot down one more reference. Ephesians chapter three, verse twenty and twenty one, tucked into the middle of the book of Ephesians. As we move from the theology of the book to the practice of the book. This is maybe the famous one of these kind of doxa, illogical glory to God kind of statements now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we would ask or think through the power that's working in the church, in Christ Jesus. To God be the glory forever and ever a man. Anybody know that verse? Anybody like that verse? That's a story of our church right there. I mean, we actually had a group of people planting this church meeting together, thinking about what could God possibly do, asking God to do things among us. And guess what he's done over the 28 times that we've opened up the book of First Thessalonians together? Well, he's exceeded all the things that we were asking him to do. He's done above and beyond all that we even thought. Here we are here today finishing up the book. We could have imagined all the things that God would do along the way. All the people that he would save, all the Christians who were already saved, that he's assembling together to be a body. Believers hear it at CompassHB. This is what God is doing among us. And now it says this power of God that's working. It's working in you is the point of the sermon today. God is working in you, so you will be able to do it if you have the power of God. He's able. He's got the power. Now it's in you in the church if you're in Jesus Christ. So really, what we should be thinking as we finish our first book of the Bible is we should be thinking this is just the beginning. I can't even imagine all the things that God is about to do here among us as he's working in and through us.

[00:16:45] So we're just getting started. Go back to First Thessalonians, Chapter five. Go back to first as luminance five.

[00:16:51] And let's see what specifically are we asking this guy the piece to do among the Thessalonians church and what is going to be our prayer that he would do among us here this morning? Well, if you see here, it says now, may the God of peace himself, he's going to do something. What is it? Here's the phrase. Sanctify you completely.

[00:17:12] Hey, what we're looking at here is complete sanctification. And then it goes on to fill out the idea. Your whole spirit and soul and body, that's all of you, is going to be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Picture yourself standing before Jesus on Judgment Day. And you are not being condemned. You are not being found guilty. No, you are blameless. You are declared righteous. You are accepted in through the blood of Jesus Christ. That purchase your salvation. And now you are actually blameless. You are made 100 percent pure in his sight as you stand before him. That is going to happen for every single person who is a Christian here this morning as well, say. Here's what God is going to do. He's going to complete this work of sanctification that he's begun in your life. He's gonna do it all the way to the end until you're standing there before Jesus in the fullness of his glory worshiping.

[00:18:08] That's what we're asking God to do. One hundred percent sanctification now sanctification is the kind of church word that we throw out a lot and we assume everybody knows it and not everybody does, OK? And that's some people who think they do. Really don't. And so let's just clarify a few words here for our vocabulary. Let's write down three words. Justification is the first one justification and then the second where we want to write down is sanctification. And then the third word we want to write down is glorification. So let me just repeat those. We start with justification and then we get to sanctification and then we get to glorification. And this is the process of God working in our life. And we usually refer to it in these three different stages. So justification. Let's write down next to that being declared righteous guy being declared righteous. Okay, well, that's the moment we put our faith in Jesus. All we do is we put our trust in what Jesus Christ has done and we are declared righteous by God. Let's make this one 100 percent clear here this morning. This church is all out against anybody doing works to be saved. Can I get a man from anybody on it? We do not believe that anyone here can achieve their own righteousness or earn their own favor. We believe that is absolute futility. If you're here this morning and you are trying to be a good person, that will never happen.

[00:19:35] It will never happen without justification.

[00:19:40] You can't do work to become a good person. The only thing that you can do is put your trust in the work that Jesus did. He was the only good person who ever walked on this planet, and he lived a 100 percent perfect life. And he died for your sin and he rose again. That's the gospel. When you put your trust in that, the moment you put your trust in that you are justified, that you experienced justification. You are declared righteous by God. We refer to it around here as you are saved.

[00:20:08] Okay. Immediately went as soon as you're justified. Immediately that this sanctification then begins. Sanctification is becoming righteous. Let's get that done. Okay. Justification is being declared.

[00:20:23] Righteous sanctification is now this process that starts its salvation and continues all the way throughout my life where I pull off this old life of sin in the ways that I used to walk. And I put on these new ways of righteousness, these new ways as I'm being conformed to the image of Jesus as God is making me more like Jesus and less like my old self. We call that sanctification. We might refer to it as spiritual growth. It's becoming more holy. That's that's what it's talking about. And what it's saying in our text here is that God may that God of peace sanctify you completely. Hey, man, let me tell you what's going to happen if you're a Christian here. You're more holiness. That's what's going to happen in your life. I'm sorry to tell you here this morning, you're going to get more holy than you are right now. That's what's going to happen. God is going to complete this process of sanctification. He's going to be setting you apart from sin and making you more in his ways, according to his holiness and righteousness. And then at some point, you will experience glorification where you will become 100 percent righteous. Let's put that down. Glorification is one hundred percent righteousness where you are made light. Christ, you're in Christ in the environment of worshiping Jesus, in his presence where everything is without sin and you are without sin, you never will think it's sinful thought again for all of eternity once you are glorified. Okay, so this process of sanctification, the spiritual growth where you're seeing sin in your life and you're saying I'm got to turn away from that and you're moving towards Christ likeness. That is something that he says here. May God do that completely in your life.

[00:22:11] That's what he's praying for, these people.

[00:22:13] Go to Colossians. Chapter one, verse 28, and you'll see that same idea here when Paul writes a letter to the Kalash in church. And this is a common idea throughout scripture that that if you're a Christian person, that you would be sanctified. OK. Now now we spend a lot of time here at this church where a brand new church. We're just getting started. We've just finished up our first book of the Bible here today will mark the history of our church now by chapters, but by books. We'll remember here the first year. Were you there the first year? Oh, yeah. What were we doing then? Oh, yeah. First Thessalonians, that's how we're gonna remember things around here.

[00:22:46] Right by the book of the Bible we were going through. Hey, when did you show up? Oh, yeah. First there's the unions. Okay. You're one of the originals. That's what we're gonna think in the future we'd like. Okay. You're one of the Ojai's around here. We know you. You're from back in the day. Yeah. Yeah. See, that's what we're gonna say. Oh, you were there at Thessalonians. Oh, you've got street cred here at this church. You know, that's that's how we're gonna think about it. Right there.

[00:23:06] And so we we're going through. That's Colonial's. And the idea is there are gonna be more completed. He says to the Colossians, the same idea. Look at Clash in chapter one, verse twenty eight. Look what it says here. Cloche it's chapter one. Verse 28. Talking about Jesus him, we proclaim we're here to preach Jesus warning everyone and teaching everyone was just think about what that might look like.

[00:23:29] We're a baby church. That's that's the point I was making. We're going to mark our history. Well, this is our first book we're going through. So we're doing a lot of evangelism. I mean, sometimes when you come here, we're preaching the gospel like we think there's people here at our church who haven't yet really put their faith in Jesus, haven't really repented of their sins. And we're praying really hard that they are going to do that and that God's going to save people right here at our church. And so sometimes when you've come to the church, as the text points us that direction, we preach evangelistic. We like the goal would be justification, like we would want people to get saved right there at church this that morning. Now might be this process here where it says warning everyone, like we're saying, hey, it's not good to be in your sin, flee from your sin, turned from your sin and find life in Jesus Christ. But then it says here we're also teaching everyone.

[00:24:18] So sometimes when we gather together, like this morning, like most mornings here at the church, we're here to equip the people who are already Christians. We're working on the process of sanctification. We're saying, hey, if you're a Christian, if you put your faith in Christ, here's something he wants you to do. Here's a good work that he wants to work out in your life. And so keep reading. Cloches 128, it says, Warning everyone, teaching everyone with all wisdom. That's the whole scripture that we may present every one little babies in Christ. Is that what it says right there? We want to present everyone what in Christ here at this church mature. So are we happy when someone gets saved here at this church? Praise the Lord. But that isn't the end.

[00:24:59] That's now the beginning. It's the beginning of the process of sanctification.

[00:25:04] So if you would consider yourself a Christian here this morning, if you would say that you've been declared righteous because you put your faith in Jesus Christ. Well, my question for you then is, are you growing towards maturity?

[00:25:18] Is your sanctification becoming complete?

[00:25:21] This is not going to be one of those churches where, hey, you've been saved. You're good. You're in the club. Let's just cruise. We can all chill out now.

[00:25:28] Everything's fine.

[00:25:30] I mean, those Christians, when when I'm out there on the streets, when we're going door to door with the ice cream truck inviting people to church at Bell Atara, the pier neighborhoods, wherever we are, when we talk to people, we'll go out and we'll say things to him like who do you think Jesus is? Or Do you believe that Jesus really died for your sins and rose again? We'll try to strike up conversations about Jesus. And some people will be like, Oh, I'm a Christian. I'm good.

[00:25:55] That's that's how the conversation goes, like end of conversation. I'm like, OK, well, you probably really want to talk about Jesus then, because he's your savior, right? Like, this is going to be a great conversation. I'm good, man. You should go talk to somebody else. You know, I'm good.

[00:26:10] Already there. You know, now. Oh, that's great. Praise the Lord. He saved you. Yeah. Let's praise him forever. And here's how we're gonna praise him.

[00:26:20] Sanctification by growing.

[00:26:23] By becoming mature, by becoming complete. We don't we don't want a church full of baby Christians. In fact, what we really need in the church is mature Christians who can bring the baby Christians along and who can disciple them. So they'll stop being baby Christians so they can go grab more people and disciple them. That's how Christianity works right there. We have a desperate need for the strongest thing about this church is our need. That's really what we have going for us here. Compass and what we need is mature Christians. We need people who are they can say, yeah, I used to struggle with that sin. That used to be a temptation for me. And you know what God's done in my life. He's helped me put that off and he's helped me put on this new practice. Hey, I can relate to how you're feeling. You know, sometimes I don't feel like getting up and reading my Bible, and sometimes I don't really feel like praying to the Lord. But you know what he's told me? He's taught me how to say no to myself. And so I continue to do it. And the more I do it, the more I love him and the cold cross, the closer I grow to him. We need some mature people. And right again, that might seem like a bird and Amen. Here we go, more stuff we got to do. We'll look at the next verse. Colossians one, verse 29 says, For this, I toil. Yeah, it is hard work, struggling. And we're laboring here for Jesus. But look how we're doing it with all his energy that he powerfully works with in me. How am I going to become mature or become complete? How is this sanctification going to happen? Well, God's going to energize it. God is powerfully working within you. In fact, here's what we want to say. You can't even stop the process of sanctification in your life. It's foolproof even for you. You can't stop it.

[00:28:04] He's going to do it. He's powerfully working within you. Too much were you?

[00:28:11] I go to Philippians Chapter two. It's just a page over here, just a page over Philippians. Chapter two, verse twelve. Look at how he says it here to the people that he loves at the Church of a Phillip High. And this is what we call an antenna me. It's two ideas that seem to maybe perhaps contradict. But really in the in the spiritual realm, they go perfectly and beautifully together. And so Philippians, chapter two versus 12 and 13. Look at what these two verses are saying together.

[00:28:38] It says, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed. So now not only is in my presence here, I remember how you obeyed when I was there, but even now, much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So here's Paul commanding them. Do work and take it seriously and really get after this working out of your salvation.

[00:29:00] And then he says this in verse 13, for it is God who works in you both to will, to desire and to work to actually do it for his good pleasure. So based on those two verses, who's doing the work in the process of sanctification?

[00:29:17] Well, it said very clearly that God is after it commanded us to do it. Did you see that? Hey, go and do the work. Do it with fear. Do trembling. Give it all you've got.

[00:29:28] And here's why you can do it, because you know that God is working in you. See, that's your confidence.

[00:29:34] You can work because he is working. Let's get that down. Four point number one, you can work because he is working. How am I going to be able to do these things that we've learned over twenty seven sermons of First Thessalonians because he's the one who's going to do it through us. He's the one doing the work. So yeah, I go for it with all that I've got believing there's going to be more energy when I'm not feeling it, when I feel weak. I trust that he's providing the power because he is the one working in me. He will surely do it. That's the good news here this morning.

[00:30:11] That when God starts something in your life, you better believe that God is going to finish something in your life. He doesn't just get you win once he gets you in. He continues. This work is working in you. And Kevin, on that night when Kevin says, I want to put my faith in the gospel and we're praying together, they're in my garage. It's not like. All right, Kevin. You're good, bro. Great. Great. Put you over here. Let's go move on to the next person. No, it's like that's when Kevin and I really start getting to know each other.

[00:30:41] And we do this thing that I wish everybody at our church would do.

[00:30:44] It's this partners one on one discipleship program. Has anybody heard of this partners thing before you could pick up a workbook in the book note today. And what you do is you find somebody here at the church that's already been through this. It's this workbook.

[00:30:57] It's 10 chapters long and it starts with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the first chapter. And then it starts to build a Christian life. And what that's going to look like on the foundation of the gospel. So there's one chapter about salvation. And then the other chapters are designed to help, you know, this god of peace that you now have a relationship with. And how does he want you to live. For him?

[00:31:19] And so every week, I don't know if you know this is going on, but every week there are people from this church filling up the coffee shops and the restaurants and the living rooms all over North Orange County. And they're meeting with one another. And some people who have been with through this program are passing it on to other people. And they're going through. And as soon as they're done going through and they really get it and they're growing, they're going to go find somebody else and they're going to pass it on. And it's this discipleship that's just taking off and spreading. So that's what Kevin and I get to do before before he comes over sometimes on Sunday nights with the college group. We hit up Starbucks like an hour early and we start digging into this program. And it's awesome because where Kevin was when he got saved and where he is today, banner such progress that I can see as he really understands the scriptures and he starts applying it to his life. In fact, it's not just him personally and it's changing. It's people around him. He's evangelizing other people. He's encouraging other people. It's now this thing that started in him and it's working in him. I can see it, but it's even going through him onto other people. It's like this power that's taking over his life that cannot be stopped.

[00:32:29] And I see it there at Starbucks when he's sitting down telling me what's going on in his life. It's absolutely awesome.

[00:32:36] So we got to understand what it means to make disciples and that's helping people get saved. But we're baptizing them in the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So if you've become a disciple and we'd love to see you get baptized, we got one coming up in two weeks and we're going to hear some great testimonies of how God saved people right here at this church. But that's not the end of discipleship. That's the beginning of it. And the great commission, it says that when you've got these disciples, you're supposed to be teaching them everything that Christ commanded so they can obey every command of Jesus Christ.

[00:33:12] That's what we're going for.

[00:33:15] So we start to pass on what we know when we see people grow in this process of sanctification. So when you're encouraged to do something, to do a good work, trust that you can do it, because here's what you know God is working in. You go back to First Thessalonians five. And let's look at how it says it. And the second part of our we're just focusing in on versus 23 and 24. And look at what it says here in verse 24. I mean, I'm sorry, but here's just more encouragement for you. That's all we've got for you here this morning. Look at verse 24. Look what it says.

[00:33:46] He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it.

[00:33:53] He who calls you the one who saved you is faithful. He will surely do it. He is going to do the process of sanctification in your life for sure. Like you can. No. This is going to happen.

[00:34:08] That's what it's saying right here.

[00:34:10] And it's because he is faithful. That's something that we don't really meet around here in North Orange County when we're talking to other people.

[00:34:18] Right. I got a lot of people that I've met, even friends of mine, who say they're going to do something and then they're not quite able to follow through with what they said. Anybody ever know one of these people? Yeah. You ever see somebody like this in the mirror? Maybe when you were looking around one day. Right. I mean, our culture is getting just really bad at this, right? I mean, people say they're going to do things casually to each other all the time that they have no intention of doing when we're out there inviting people to church. I mean, if if all the people that told me they were came come into this church, came to this church, we'd need another new building. You know what I mean? I mean, there is just just hundreds of. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'll be there on Sunday. Yeah. See you there. I'll see you there now. Thank you guys for actually showing up. Right. There's a lot of people, they say I'll be there and then they're not there. When you meet a guy when I know when I meet another man who actually does what he said he's going to do and I value that guy. I respect that guy. I look out for him here at the church, even at church. It's hard for people to fulfill their commitments. Here's something just because we've never met a person like this. That's how God is, because we've never met another human being.

[00:35:29] There is someone who always does what he says every time he says it. He perfectly fulfills everything he said he was going to do. That's faithful, say.

[00:35:41] That's who God is.

[00:35:42] So if he said that he's going to do something in your life, then let me tell you what you can guarantee is going to happen.

[00:35:49] He's going to do what he said every single time. He cannot lie.

[00:35:54] He is always true to his word. So turn back the Philippians. Go to Philippians, chapter one and look at this promise that Paul is going to make to this church here in Philippians. Chapter one, verse six.

[00:36:08] It takes the expressed prayer. May God of peace, may the God of peace sanctify you completely. And here in Philippians one six, it puts it in a promise form. And I'm sure of this. Here's something I'm convinced of. Here's something I know to be true.

[00:36:23] That he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something here this morning. If God had started a good work in your life, you can know he is going to complete that good work. He has begun. He will finish what he has started. Every single time he will do it. And you can not be stopped. This process of sanctification that God started in your life, is this good news for anybody here this morning? It's gonna happen. The future is guaranteed to you right now. Sanctification will take place. Ultimately, you will see glorification if it started with justification. That's the only way it ends. If God's begun a good work in you, he's going to complete it.

[00:37:13] As you give you so much confidence in your walk with it.

[00:37:16] That's really where faith comes from. Our faith doesn't come from ourselves. It comes from our trust in the fact that God is faithful. Let's get that down for number two. You can have faith because he is faithful.

[00:37:31] Sometimes we think about faith all the wrong way, like we have to somehow muster up this mustard seed of faith in our own soul. We think of ourselves as oh ye of little faith. So I've got to get my own faith going. Terrible way to think about how you're going to grow in your faith. Here's how you should grow in your faith. Think about the faithfulness of God. That's going to increase your trust in him. You're not having faith in yourself. That's the whole point of Christianity. We're not trusting in ourselves. We're trusting in him. And he is faithful.

[00:38:04] He is going to do the promise that he says right here. You can believe it. I mean, think about something that cannot fail. OK? This is hard for us to fathom because we are we are very capable at feeling some of us fail often and we fail badly. Right. Some of us, we maybe have our strong points, but we have our things that we are not so good at. Right. His steadfast love endures. How long did we sing that his steadfast love endures for ever? It's constant, it's ongoing. It will never end. So we haven't experienced anything like that, but this is what it means, that he is faithful.

[00:38:45] His good work that he has begun in your life is so foolproof, you cannot even stop what he's doing in your life.

[00:38:54] Now, we can all relate to being human, we can all relate to being born with a sinful nature and being tempted and giving in and falling into sin. Everybody universally, we can all relate to that. That is the common human experience. But what our text is telling us today is there's a more than human experience. There's a supernatural experience that some of us can relate to where because God is faithful.

[00:39:19] He does a work in us and he changes us and he grows us to where we actually stop failing in the way that we used to. And we start doing what God has told us to do because he cannot fail. And he is faithful to do his good work in us. Seems we should start thinking a lot more about that. And the promise that he has said not only have I done a little bit of that in your life. I'm going to do more of it in your life. I'm going to complete it in your life. Someday you will be a mature Christian. Someday you will be perfect. We should spend a lot more time thinking about what God's going to do rather than what we have to do. And if we're thinking about what God has promised to do, we will approach what we have to do with so much more confidence that we'll do it a whole different way.

[00:40:04] Because we'll see it as him doing it through us. So let's just take a minute right now and let's look at some of the things that God has promised specifically. Let's just look at a couple of things. Jesus said he's going to do for you. Go to John Chapter 10.

[00:40:19] Look at John Chapter 10 and look at verse 28. Here with me. And let's just see a couple of promises that Jesus has said he will do. And because God is faithful, we can know this is going to happen. This is for everyone who has put their faith in Jesus Christ. And I'm going to read it in the you sense, because this is a this is Jesus speaking about you and so about his people.

[00:40:44] This is John. Ten, twenty eight. Look what I read, how it reads here. I give you eternal life. Here's a promise from Jesus to you. I give you eternal life and you will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hands. My father, who has given you to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch you out of the father's hand. Jesus is saying, from the moment of your salvation, he holds on to you. And there is no other power greater than him that could take you out of that place that he has you.

[00:41:26] Now, when we look around, sometimes we think we've got some intense opposition out there, I mean, it definitely seems like Satan is kind of having his way with some things and how they're going in our world right now.

[00:41:38] Definitely seems like the system of evil that we call the world is trending downwards in a big way, and Jesus is saying that no other power, no other force can take you out of my hand. Once I have you, I will never let you go. That's a promise from Jesus to you here this morning. He is faithful. He's going to do that.

[00:41:58] Here's the thing. You can't even get out of his hand. Say you can't even snatch your self out. That's what he's saying. He's got you. And it will not fail. That's what Jesus is saying. I've given you eternal life. No one can take that away from you. You have a relationship with the God of peace. Now he's going to sanctify you completely. Here's a promise. It's going to happen.

[00:42:22] Look at John, Chapter 17. You're with me to John, Chapter 17. This is something that Jesus actually prays for you. I mean, one of the one of the reasons we really need to get to know one another is so that we can pray for one another, so we can know what's going on in each other's lives and really pray for one another. And is it encouraging when, you know, people are praying for you? Is anybody encouraged by that, especially if they're a righteous person? You know what I mean?

[00:42:46] Like, there's some people when they're praying for you, you're like, oh, that's good. God is going gonna hear them. You know what I mean? That's good. I like it. I like it when those people are praying for it.

[00:42:54] I mean, this 28 time we've opened up First Thessalonians. And here's something that's really encouraged me as I study the word, as I come here to preach word. I know there are people here in this room who pray for me. They pray for me during the week. They pray for me on Sunday morning before I come up here to preach. And that gives me a strong sense of confidence. What if I told you that Jesus prayed for you?

[00:43:16] You think Jesus is a righteous person?

[00:43:17] You think his prayers are going to work. You think he knows how to pray in Jesus name? You know, I think he's praying according to the will of the father.

[00:43:25] So here's something that Jesus prayed for you in the high priestly prayer. So it's really just an expression of what he wants to do. This is what he says to the father. Start with me and John, 17. Look at verse 16 or sort of thing, actually in verse 14. That's go back to that. He's praying. And this is in the upper room with his disciples. I have given them your word. And the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. And I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. No one can snatch them out of my hand, keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. So here's his prayer. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is true. Here's Jesus praying for your complete sanctification, away from saying towards righteousness. As you sent me into the world.

[00:44:19] So I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself. I set myself apart. I'm going to offer myself on the cross. I'm going to die for their sin. I'm gonna rise again. That they also may be sanctified in truth. And then he says in verse 20. I do not ask for these. Only those are his his disciples right there in the upper room with him, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That's all the way down to us here today. On the other side of the planet in the year 2015, Jesus praying for all of his people that they would be sanctified in the truth and kept from the evil one. You think that prayer is going to be answered every single time it'll be answered?

[00:45:01] Every person who gets justified will be 100 percent sanctified and they will be glorified with God forever to enjoy him in his fullness. That's you I'm talking about if you're in Christ here this morning. Sorry.

[00:45:16] All we've got is encouragement here this morning. Is that OK for you? OK. God is working in you and even you can't stop the work that God has begun in your own life.

[00:45:28] It's a term we've been to Psalm 27, let's just see an example of this. You know, we've kind of already started to move into our second book of the Bible here, moving out of First Thessalonians. We've been talking a lot about the Psalms, who've been reading a lot of the Psalms. And I don't think we're ever going to preach through the Book of Psalms, 150 chapters. I don't think any of us would survive. Survived maybe. Or that that's we're sprinkling them throughout the entire history of our church.

[00:45:55] And so you're going to see psalms all over the place. We'll do a special sermon next Sunday on a psalm and look at Psalm 27 and look at the confidence that David has not because of himself, but because he knows that God is working in him and that nothing can stop what God is doing.

[00:46:12] Look at how he expresses his confidence. I wish every Christian here can have this confidence in the Lord. This is Psalm 27, verse one.

[00:46:21] The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Now, there were names we could have put to those questions. These aren't just rhetorical questions. This isn't just fancy language. There were people who wanted to kill David. He was the one who killed Goliath. Philistines. Other nations that Israel would fight with, they would have loved to have killed David. This famous warrior from the nation of Israel, the enemies of other nations, would have loved to have killed David.

[00:46:59] They would have celebrated it. They would have written songs about killing David Kay.

[00:47:03] There were people within his own nation. King Saul wanted to kill David and his men. They tried to kill David many times because David had been anointed King and Saul didn't want him to be king. So his own countrymen were trying to kill him. So this isn't just some idea that he's throwing out. Hey, why would I be afraid? No, there's many people who would like to kill him. Many reasons. He should be afraid. We'll look at how he talks about it in verse two when evil doers assail me to eat up my flesh. My adversaries and foes. It is they who stumble and fall. I'm not going to stumble and fall. They're stumbling and falling. Though when army in camp against me. My heart shall not fear the war or rise against me, yet I will be confident. He says even if I'm one man against an entire army, if I know the Lord is with me and working through me, then I will be confident no matter what I may face.

[00:48:01] I mean, it reminds me of a story where this actually happens in the Scriptures in Second Kings, Chapter six. The story of one of the Old Testament prophets, Aplysia.

[00:48:11] And this guy, Aplysia man, he was a great prophet of the Lord and the king of Syria at that time was always coming against the nation of Israel. And it says in second King six, you can go read this story. It's amazing. You go read it later this week. The king of Syria gets his council together and he says, which one of you guys is a spy?

[00:48:29] Because he's Israelites? They always know what we're going to do before we do it. So one of you is the mole. One of you is leaking information. Which one of you guys is it? And they say, actually, we're not telling them there's this guy Aplysia and he knows what we talk about here in these meetings because his God tells him what we talk about.

[00:48:49] So the Israelites always know what we're gonna do. It's not our fault. Don't blame us. This guy, Elijah, God's telling them everything we're saying. That's that's what they say. And so the king of Syria sends his entire army to go and surround the house of Elijah to wipe out this guy because he's so frustrated with him.

[00:49:09] Analyzes servant comes out in the morning, I don't know what he's doing, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and he looks up and all around them on the hills around this little city where Aplysia lives is the entire army, the army of Syria army. If you just want to abbreviate that a little bit, they got chariot's, they got horses, they got spears, and they are there for one purpose, eliminate Aleisha. And the servant sees this and he freaks out and he runs back into Alija and he's like, they're coming here to kill us.

[00:49:40] The whole army against us in a life is like, oh, you young grasshopper, you know what I mean? So I go, ye of little faith.

[00:49:47] All right. He's like, God, will you open his eyes so that he can see there are more with us than there are with them and God does something spiritual, something supernatural. He opens the eyes of the servant to see. And what he sees. He saw the army is circling around them with these chariots and horses. And then what he sees are chariots and horses of fire that are circling around them, facing out against the army. Angelic armies sent by God to protect his guy, Elijah. And in fact, when they come to attack them, the angelic army strikes them with blindness and leads them away. And Alliance says, what do you think about that to serve? Oh, ye of little faith. Did you really think God could be defeated by this? How many times are you and I wondering if God is gonna show up when there are angels around us fighting for us? How many times are you and I wondering if God's going to save the day when he's already there doing it? We would spend more time thinking about his faithfulness than we would have more faith. So we need to gaze upon God. We need to think more about God.

[00:50:59] That's what it gets to in some 27 verse four. Look at it says one thing I've asked of the Lord. Like, here's what I want. My one desire that I will seek. After that, I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I want to experience the presence of God. I want to be with him. To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. To see him in the goodness of his mercy and grace that are always with me, and to inquire in his temple. The Temple. This massive structure designed to make us feel small. It's got this room in it called the Holy of Holies. So it causes us to realize we are so small and God is so big. And so we think about things like what does it mean to worship him in the splendor of His Holiness?

[00:51:41] What does it mean that he's in Frode in Majesty on High and we meditate on this. We inquire on this. See we spend time thinking about God and we see his awesomeness, his greatness, his goodness. Our faith grows in him and we realize nothing is going to stop God from doing what he said and working through me.

[00:51:59] And we grew in our faith. We grow in our confidence in him. Do you feel like you're a weak in your faith? You're not spending enough time seeking after the Lord, it's not the one thing you're desiring to be hold him in his beauty to meditate on him in his temple. Spend more time thinking about God and you'll have a lot more energy and power with the things that you have to do, because you'll see that he is working in you and nothing can stop that. No one thoughts God's purpose. And so it goes on, look at verse 13 and 14 year in Psalm 27. Here's the confidence that David ends this psalm with.

[00:52:38] He says, I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That's what I believe. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness. I'm going to see God continue to be good here in this life. When I first memorize that verse, it was in the new American standard Bible. If you stay at church long enough, the translations that you memorize the scripture and change anybody ever experience that before? Like you got a good verse and then the translation changed night. Quite don't have it like you used to write. But the way I memorized this verse.

[00:53:10] It says I would have lost heart unless I believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land and live.

[00:53:17] So if I don't think God's gonna be good, if I don't think he's still working off, I don't think he's gonna be faithful to do what he said, then I'm going to lose heart. That's what's gonna happen. But if I believe that, I will see his goodness at the best of God is yet to come. And his work is just begun in my life. See, then look what it says in verse 14. Wait for the Lord. Expect it. Look to see it.

[00:53:37] Be strong. Let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. He will do it. What are you expecting he's gonna do?

[00:53:44] Because he's about to do something. So I believe you're gonna see it. Wait for it. Look for it. Find strength. That's the sermons of the Thessalonians that we're ending with. That's the sermon for our church here this morning. I got good news for our church. I'm not building this church. We're not even building this church. He's building this church. And nobody can stop him from doing it. That's what's going on here.

[00:54:06] That's what we're doing here at CompassHB Bible Church on the beach.

[00:54:10] Jesus Christ has made a promise and he's made it to this group of people right here that he will build his church on the rock of who he is.

[00:54:17] He will build his church and the gates of Hades death, Satan, the evil system of this world sin. Nothing can stop him from building his church. So what is gonna happen in the future of our church? Good things, man. God is gonna continue the work that he has begun, both for us individually and then also, I believe, corporately among us here in this church. I mean, who knows? I don't want to put a limit here this morning on what God is gonna do with this small little group of people here. Who knows what God is gonna do with us.

[00:54:50] You guys. I mean, if he's a great God, let's not limit what he's gonna do because he's the one doing the work in us. I mean, who even knows what he's going to just use my friend Kevin to do? Right. Kevin lives up in Rancho Dom�nguez. Does anybody know where Rancho Dominguez is? Anybody? It's right next to Compton, pretty much. That's what that's what it looks like on your Google map if you look up Rancho Dominguez. What a pop out to you is Compton. He's dry. He's got a good commute here to the church. Right. 30 minutes on a Sunday when there is no traffic. Right.

[00:55:26] And the truth is, I met him at CompassHB Bible Church down in South County. That's the first time we saw each other. And he's looking for a church. His family is for a church with good Bible preaching. And he shows up at our church and we just preach the good news of Jesus, the gospel message.

[00:55:40] And he comes over to my house that night and says, yeah, how come the churches that I was going to before didn't tell me the good news of Jesus Christ like that? And so he's driving down here 30 minutes to come to church one way. And praise God for saving him. I'm thinking there should be a church preach in the Bible closer to Kevin's house. I'm thinking maybe someday there needs to be CompassHB Bible church competent. You know what I'm saying? I mean, maybe that's what we need to get to. Now, maybe there are some churches out there teaching the Bible there in his neighborhood. But, man, we definitely need more of these churches as we finish up our first book of the Bible.

[00:56:19] It's very clear to me why God brought us here to Huntington Beach is because we need a revival here in this city and in North Orange County of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[00:56:26] Gonna get a man from Alabama, man, we need a revival.

[00:56:31] We need a great work of God among us. We need to let the power of God that's working in the church, in Jesus Christ. And we need to unleash it all over this area.

[00:56:40] I mean, it's pretty clear that the name of Jesus is not being lifted high. The glory of God is not being ascribed as it ought to be here in this city, in the cities around here. I mean, I think we might need to plant three churches to get all the way up to Compton. I mean, there's a lot of people between us in there. Right. We might need CompassHB Bible Church, Longbeach Lakewood over there, maybe CompassHB Bible Church, South Bay up there. I think CompassHB Bible Church conference got a great sound, too. What do you I think we should start praying for that right now.

[00:57:07] I mean, who knows? Maybe we're going to plant more churches here.

[00:57:10] Who knows what God is going to do among us? Last night at my house, there were 53 college age people who came to my house last night from the first time till now. On his fifth, we had we basically had to say, we can't do this at my house anymore. That's ridiculous. 53 people up in here. I mean, claustrophobia, you know what I mean? Claustrophobia. For Christ, that's what we were experiencing. Right. It's like my house was not designed at 53 friends over. Right. So we had to move. The college group is now meeting here at the church because we outgrew the house.

[00:57:40] That's what's going on. Praise the Lord. Right. And there's this guy.

[00:57:45] There's this guy that's been coming around to the college group. He's been going to church a long time. What he told you is a Christian and he came in.

[00:57:53] He's having some trouble. He came in I talked to him on Tuesday and we opened up first. John, how do we know if we're saved? How do we know if we have eternal life? And he went off and he had some people from our college ministry, new Christians here. We're now talking to him about whether he was a Christian or not. And he was still filled with anxiety and he was so confused about where he was at. And he came back. It was Tuesday and he came back on Friday. And it was like I was talking to a whole different person was like, now you have clarity.

[00:58:20] Now he had assurance of where he was at.

[00:58:23] I was like I met him on Tuesday, and it was one way I met him on Friday and it was like I was talking to a different person because now there was a power that had started in his life that was working through him now. That can never be stopped.

[00:58:35] It just happened yesterday, had that same conversation with another young man at our church who came to realize that he has been walking in his flesh and he doesn't have the power of the Holy Spirit.

[00:58:46] And I'm hoping that guy is going to tell me, hey, I repented of my sins, I'm turning away from that life and I'm living the new life and Jesus Christ by faith now. I mean, who knows what God's going to do among us? I see Kevin.

[00:58:57] And I just think, who's next? There are endless people that need this and his people. And we need to get mature so that God can keep bringing those people here so we can pass on what we know to these other peoples. That discipleship can be passed on from generation to generation, from Paul to the Thessalonians to us to who's next. That's what we should be thinking about the Lord.

[00:59:19] We have just begun to see his goodness here at our church and sort of celebrate the goodness of the Lord. We're gonna taste the goodness of the Lord here today. We've got free ice cream for everybody right after the service.

[00:59:32] Yes. Yes. We should clap free ice free ice cream. I saw some of you guys picking it up on your way in. I'm not going to mention any names, but you know who you were.

[00:59:41] You were even late and you were picking it up. I won't I won't say your name. I know you are right. I mean, we started out before we ever had a service, before we even opened up First Thessalonians. We started out knocking on people's doors and handing out free ice cream and inviting them to this idea. That was hopefully CompassHB Bob, a marina high school, September seven. And God has done more than what we thought he would do. He was able to do it and he put his power on display by working it out. So we want to celebrate here today with free ice cream, hopefully a rich time of fellowship. Everybody, it's right out front afterwards. Even if you don't want to have ice cream, just taste it for the goodness of the Lord. You know what I'm saying? I mean, some some somebody said to me, well, what if it's what if people don't want to have their free ice cream before lunch? And I was like, is this a real question? Like, is this a problem? What if their mom doesn't want to spoil their lunch? I was like, this is Father's Day. People can deal. You know what I mean? We we we can roll with this. Right. So even if you don't usually want ice cream, we got all kinds of things. We got ice cream, we got Spider Man Popsicles, we got fruity stuff. We got gluten free stuff in this ice cream shop. There's dog treats in here that we give to people's dogs for the gospel of Jesus Christ. All right. This is all things to all men. Ice cream truck. We're just trying to get the gospel out there. So let's celebrate here what God has done and let us pray that his good work has just begun at our church.

[01:01:05] Please pray with me. God, we thank you so much for this encouraging word. And God, I pray that every single person in here that's been justified will leave here this morning knowing that you are going to completely sanctify that, that because you are faithful, you will surely do it. And then we can believe your promise that if you've begun a good work in us, you're gonna be faithful to believe to complete it. And we will see your goodness in the land of the living. So God, let us expect to see it. God, give us this faith in this confidence that doesn't come from us, because from you, from your ability, from your power, from your Duna, Mr. Dynamite, your ability to work among us. We praise you for the work that you've done. But, God, we just believe that you are a great God and the best is yet to come. So we look to this next season of what you are about to do to among us. And we pray that you will make many more disciples, God, both by saving many more people and maturing and completing those here at this church that you have already saved so they can pass it onto other people. Now we're excited to see what you're going to do. We don't know how long we have left before you return, before we're standing, before you. Blameless, glorified. And so, God. As long as we're here, let us trust that you are working among us and let us give you the glory when you do the work. We praise you in Jesus. Name a man.