2 Thess 3:3-5 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ. 
	As we move on in this second letter of the Apostle Paul to the church at Thessalonica, we will continue with the theme of the seriousness we bring before God in terms of our commitment to His glory in Jesus Christ. As there may have been some misconception, let us first consider the fact that we are not dealing with any aspect of joylessness. Some might think that we are to be deadly serious with regard to our mannerisms; that we should not smile, or laugh, or enjoy life with all its God-given bounties and beauty. That is not the case at all. We are not supposed to be continually solemn and grim. There is no way that we can be if we truly love the Lord and are rejoicing in Him and filled with thankfulness for all He has done for us in Christ Jesus. This is one of those misconceptions that this age is so good at exploiting.
	Rather than that, we are to rejoice always in the Lord. We are to realize that God inhabits the praises of His people. We are to continually give forth willing and joyous expressions of His Love and Grace in all our interactions on this earth. The seriousness, with which we are concerned, with which the Apostle Paul was dealing, is that of our hearts and minds and souls before God. God must be preeminent in everything in our lives and His glory must be our only desire. Just as He was serious in sending forth His only begotten Son for us, so are we to consider Him. We live before Him in the manner in which our comportment and behavior and demeanor express the fact that He means everything to us. 
We live out from Christ, choosing His way over our own way more and more earnestly as we walk on this earth. We see the futility of living for us, and the complete joy of living for Him. We desire the fullness of an intimate relationship with the One we love completely and unreservedly. In that fellowship, we seek to never disappoint or besmirch Him. That is the seriousness of our life in Christ. It is all for Him and His glory with no regard for the longings and the lures and the lusts after the things of this world. These entrapments only serve to insinuate themselves into our lives when we choose to seek them instead of Christ’s Holiness.
This then brings us into the course of this third chapter. The Apostle makes a declaration that should cause us to all the more consider God and our love for Him in four key three words of verse 3, the Lord is faithful…There is an imminent reason for this assertion that will be clearly manifested as we continue our further discussions of this chapter. However, this morning, I think it would serve us to just lose ourselves in the fact that God is faithful. It is the very core of our life, don’t you see. If God was not faithful, why would we even consider living lives that are not our own? What would the point be to this Christian walk? It would all be folly, if God was not faithful to work fully in the promises and the guidance that we are given in His Word. His faithfulness is at the very core of why we so choose to love Him no matter what we are enduring and encountering on this earth. Let us look at some of those beloved passages that serve to bring forth greater and greater avenues of praise unto God, from the utmost depths of our hearts. He deserves nothing less from us. He will receive the acknowledgement of all creation that His Word is righteous and true in the faithfulness with which He so fully deals in all creation.
In Deut 7:9, we read, Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; As we read this passage, let us consider our hearts unto the Lord. We have dealt with the manner in which we are to regard the Lord with all sincerity and holiness and honor. To that list we need to add faithfulness. As the Lord is faithful, so tremendously and absolutely and lovingly and perfectly faithful, so are we to be unto Him. Yes, it is true that we cannot, of ourselves, even begin to consider our human faithfulness in the light of His glory. However remember, please remember, that we are not seeking to bring to God anything of our earthly efforts. We are coming before Him in the faithfulness and holiness and righteousness of Jesus Christ. As He is our life, so does our relationship with God, and with each other, manifest the faithfulness of Him Who indwells us. 
As we read in Ps 36:5 Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Thy faithfulness reaches to the skies. Because He is so faithful, so completely and so flawlessly faithful, that faithfulness becomes the very characteristic of our lives. We are to be known for our faithfulness, first unto God and all the things pertaining to God. Then unto our fellowship and all the elements that make up our walk together, in Christ, on this earth. We are called to be a clearer and clearer expression of His Being of faithfulness on this earth.
1 Kings 8:56-58 "Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. As we acknowledge that God has and is and will accomplish everything that He has told us through His Word, so will our hearts revel in His faithfulness. In this light, perhaps we need to ask ourselves some questions, such as; Do I continually seek to bring before Him the honor due unto His name, not just in worship, but in the life that I manifest on this earth? Does my entire demeanor and attitude reflect the fact that I live in the light of His Word and trust Him to do all that He has stated He will do in Jesus Christ. Sadly, many of us act as if we are tentative in our belief in all the promises of God. We act as if we need to hedge our bets, to use a current vernacular phrase. We want to trust God completely, but, just in case, we also try to set up our own network of effort. We trust in it to carry us in case the Lord does not fulfill that which we hope He will. That is no way to honor our God! What does it do? It casts doubts on His veracity and His ability to do all that He has promised.
The Apostle Paul encourages Timothy with the truth of the faithfulness of God, despite our sometimes lack of faithfulness. 2 Tim 2:13, If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself. While God’s faithfulness is not dependent upon our being faithful, it should still follow that because He is ever faithful, we desire to be faithful unto Him. Just as we love Him because He so loved us, so ought our lives manifest, in a vibrant and active manner, the faithfulness of God in return to Him as His expression unto others.
The writer to the Hebrews approaches this truth from a slightly different tact. Heb 6:17+18, In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. God’s inability to lie, therefore making all His Words truth and life, is brought to the forefront. As He cannot lie, so are we encouraged in the fact that His life is now made our life through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 
In the light and the power and the trust of His faithfulness, we will find our hearts elevated with praise as recorded in Ps 89:1-8 I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever; To all generations I will make known Thy faithfulness with my mouth. For I have said, "Lovingkindness will be built up forever; In the heavens Thou wilt establish Thy faithfulness." "I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant, I will establish your seed forever, And build up your throne to all generations. "  Selah. And the heavens will praise Thy wonders, O Lord; Thy faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord, A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him? O Lord God of hosts, who is like Thee, O mighty Lord? Thy faithfulness also surrounds Thee. 
	What is the greatest of the great manifestation of God’s faithfulness? It is Our Lord Jesus Christ! In Him, all the faithfulness of God has become fulfilled for eternity. As the Apostle Paul exclaims, 1 Cor 1:9, God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It is in Christ, through the faithfulness of Our Heavenly Father, that we have been brought together, the new creation from the depths of the heart and in full accordance with the plan and purpose of God. The very core of our fellowship, our being made the Body of Christ is set in the fact and the function of Jesus Christ.
	The writer to the Hebrews gives expression to this in Heb 2:17+18, Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. Because we have been brought into the very family of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we now find our complete aid to live in accordance with that position of being in Christ Jesus. Because He has become our merciful and faithful high priest, we are enabled to stand within His holiness in the very presence of God. And, as we have been emphasizing over the course of these last weeks in this letter to the Thessalonians, Christ is our victory! He knows what we face on a daily basis and He sees s through, if that is our heart’s desire. This is the fullness of our relationship in God. He will faithfully do all that He deems necessary to develop, in us, the very heart of love that is the person of Jesus Christ. He is actively at work in us, to bring complete glory to Hisn, the glory He is due from all of creation.
	Therefore, the writer to the Hebrews, in chapter 10, verses 23-25 encourages,Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. It is in Christ that we hold fast. It is in Christ that we receive all that is necessary in order to obey Him, to honor His Word, to live in accordance to His guidance by the power and the wisdom and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. This is what is cultivated as we meet together in fellowship; as we pray together, as we praise together; as we read His Word together; and as we seek to bless Him together in Christ Jesus.
	The Apostle John highlights this faithfulness of God in action as he witnessed the exaltation of Jesus Christ recorded in Rev 19:11-13. And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. Faithful and True. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. Please notice that He is the Word of God. From His lips proceed the Word of life, of the eternal and fulfilled and blessed life in the very presence of God. It is Jesus Christ by Whom God will judge the entirety of creation. It is in Jesus Christ that we will be brought, in all His faithfulness, into the shielded brilliance of His everlasting glory.
	We close with the praiseworthy consideration of the total faithfulness of the plan and purpose of God as announced in Rev 1:4-6. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
	Again, the great declaration of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians and to us, But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ Amen.

Great is Thy Faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father! 
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not:
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness,
Great is Thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

(Chorus - 2 X's)
Great is Thy faithfulness,
Great is Thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
Guests

Announcements:     Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting
			Women’s Meeting
			Young People’s Meetings
			Tuesday, Dupar’s 6 AM
		Men’s Meeting next Monday
Other announcements? 
Any changes for the Address book – phone numbers,
cell phone numbers, email addresses?
Calendar changes?  IN WRITING

This Friday, Nov 30 – Lompoc Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration (number of attendees?)

Birthdays:		Tomorrow – Christina Wilson
			Wednesday – Dona Bryant
					Erika Parnell
					Fritz Kling
			Friday 	Corey Kling
	Our benediction this morning is Ps 100 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting, And His faithfulness to all generations. Amen