Waiting on Jesus: The Return
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Pastor Bob Hiller
11/9/2014
Series:
waiting-on-jesus
YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/WvkaMIYy3CM
1 Thessalonians 4:14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
Death is ____________, but ...
Death is ____________ because ...
Jesus is ____________ for you!
Scripture Readings
Amos 5:18-24
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1-13
Take It With You!
Here we will offer thoughts and meditations on the message to help us as we contemplate and discuss and wrestle with what we are hearing.
The presence [of Jesus] we know at the moment--the presence of Jesus with his people in word and sacrament, by the Spirit, through prayer, in the faces of the poor--is of course related to that future presence, but the distinction between them is important and striking. Jesus's appearing will be, for those of us who have known and loved him here, like meeting face-to-face someone we have only known by letter, telephone, or perhaps email. Communication theorists insist that for full human communication you need not only words on a page but also a tone of voice. That's why a telephone call can say more than a letter, not in quantity but in quality. But for full communication between human beings you need not only a tone of voice but also body language, facial language, and the thousand small ways in which, without realizing it, we relate to one another. At the moment, by the Spirit, the word, the sacraments and prayer, and in those in need whom we are called to serve for his sake, the absent Jesus is present to us; but one day he will be there with us, face-to-face.
NT Wright, Surprised by Hope
