Introduction:   Our overall theme in II Thessalonians is "Hope for these perilous last days." Several problems are prominent in these chapters. There is the problem of the great trial and the trouble that they are experiencing, especially the matter of persecution. They had received a forged letter, teaching that they were already in the Great Tribulation (2:2). There was also the problem of some believers there who thought the Lord was going to come very soon and had become very lazy and idle and were busy bodies in the congregation. When days are difficult and people are going through great trials as believers they are prone to lose hope. To answer these matters Paul writes this second letter. In chapter 1 he deals with the matter of the trials and the persecutions. In chapter 2 he deals with the matter of the end time events that must transpire. In chapter 3 he deals with the practical problems of how believers should conduct themselves in the end times. I do believe we are living in the last days. So, there are some questions I have for you as we face these perilous last days

I.          IS YOUR FAITH GROWING?

Faith is not something dead. Faith is something which is very real. There's word picture indicated here of a tree growing. Your faith is just like a beautiful flower that is opening to the sun. Your faith should growing exceedingly. How can your faith grow?

            A.        Feed Your Faith (v.3)

You feed your faith with the Word of God. Romans -- faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. As you read the Word you encounter the promises of God and as you see the life of the Lord Jesus Christ it causes your faith to grow. There is something else mentioned that helps people's faith to grow. 

            B.        Persist Through Persecution (v.4)

The word, persecutions, refers to the trials and difficulties that Christians experience because of their faith. The word, tribulations, means the pressures and the problems that are a part of life that all people experience. These believers in Thessalonica were experiencing persecution because they were believers in Christ as well as having difficult times and tribulations in the normal pressures and difficulties of life. 

·         Being saved doesn't keep you from having pressures in life.

You still have the normal pressures of life, but then in addition to that you have the persecutions that come because you are saved.

·         Why does that happen?

Persecutions and the pressures of life cause your faith to grow. A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted. You never know what your faith is worth until it is put to the test. Faith is like a muscle. A muscle is not strengthened unless there is resistance. 

·         Is your faith growing?

Is your faith blossoming and blooming in spite of the trials and the difficulties that come? These trials and troubles that all of us experience should lead us and draw us closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. As we experience life with another person we have more and more reason to trust that person. When the trials and pressures come they drive us to Jesus and Jesus proves himself faithful - that helps our faith to grow. 

·         Is your faith growing in these end times?

II.        IS YOUR LOVE OVERFLOWING?

The word, aboundeth, pictures a river overflowing its banks. It's the picture of love overflowing. How can your love overflow in these last days?

            A.        Defer to Others

One of the tendencies we have when hard times and trials come is to pull in and become very inward. That's the worst possible thing you can do. If you are not careful you can become withdrawn and occupied with yourself and your own problems only. One of the best things you can do n troubled times…

·         Look for opportunities to express love to others.

(JOY).  Overcome the danger of being self-centered -- to focus more on 'my needs.

·         Focused on other people who needed the Lord.

Youth, Adults, Seniors, Parents, Singles, one of the greatest things you can do is to look for opportunities to touch the lives of other singles. 

            B.        Defeat Selfishness

The great problem the church faces today is the self-centeredness of our society. Too many people come to the church with the idea…

·         Here I am what are you going to do for me?

The fact of the matter is we do many things for people, It is the emphasis that is wrong. The emphasis is not - what is your church going to do for you, the emphasis is not to turn your attention inward - are you going to meet my needs?  Are you going to tickle my fancies? Are you going to do what I want?  The emphasis is to get your mind on other people who need the same Jesus that you have in your heart. This is one of the healthiest things you can do - psychologically and spiritually.

·         We are living in a world where people are becoming more and more isolated.

The technology of the time is driving us toward becoming a very isolated people. We have televisions. We have Ipods and MP3 players. Then there are computers. 

·         With isolation there comes tremendous loneliness. 

You can be in the middle of a million people and be lonely. We have become such an isolated society today (expound).

·         What a wonderful time it is to know the love of Jesus. 

The love of Jesus in your heart dispels loneliness. Are you sure you have the love of Jesus in your heart? If you are saved you do (Rom. 5:5). It's down there. You may not be letting it spill over to others. Have you let your love run over to anybody lately?

·         John 7

If you will just open up the channels and let go and let God He'll flood your life with his love and it'll overflow and run into the lives of other people. There's a world out there that's dying for the love of Jesus. We are the channel. God does not want us to be cisterns, holding the love of Jesus. He wants us to be fountains, overflowing with the love of Jesus.

In these end times, is your faith growing.  In these end times, is your love overflowing?

III.       IS YOUR HOPE PERSEVERING? (v.4)

(v. 4) patience means to bear up under. It means to keep on keeping on. They were still persevering, but because of the trials and troubles they were having and because of the false ateaching that they were hearing, their hope had been shaken. Confusing teaching was shaking their hope. Is your hope persevering? Don't lose your hope. What is hope? Hope in the Bible is not hope like we use it today.

            A.        Hope Brings Certainty

"Are you going to pass that test at school?" "I hope so." There’s a whole lot of doubt there. 

·         Sometimes we use the word hope, in our language to indicate uncertainty.

In the New Testament hope doesn't mean doubt; in the New Testament it means certainty. Hope means faith.  In fact, the Bible says that

·         Jesus is our hope (I Tim. 1:1). 

These people were being taught that they were in the Great Tribulation. Some teach that the church is going to go through the Great Tribulation. There ain't a lot of hope in that. Titus 2:13 says, "We are looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." That's the blessed hope, not the Great Tribulation. It's the appearing of the Lord Jesus. I don't plan to be here when the Great Tribulation happens. I have a hope -- a glorious anticipation.  I have something that keeps my mind looking toward the future. 

            B.        Hope Brings Constancy

I Peter 1:3 "we have been begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."  

·         That's the basis of our hope.

Because Jesus arose from the dead it means the dead in Christ shall be caught up together to meet Him in the air. One of these days Jesus will come and that which is hope shall become reality.

·         Don't lose your hope.

Don't let the day shake you. Heb. 6:19 says, "which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast which enters into that within the veil.” In those days a ship would come to a harbor. At low tide the ship couldn't get in.  So, they would take the ship's anchor on a little boat and carry it on into the harbor and dropped it in the harbor.  If a storm came up that night and that old ship was tossed and turned they didn't worry.  The anchor was already in the harbor.

Conclusion:     Let the winds blow! Let the storms come! Our anchor is already in heaven. His name is Jesus. He's the anchor for the soul.  One of these days when the end times are completed and the tide comes in, we'll be caught up together to meet the Lord and we'll go where our anchor is in glory. Don't lose your hope. When the tough times come by faith reach backward; by love reach outward; by hope reach onward.