"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." 1 Thessalonians 4:13‭-‬18 The Apostle doesn't claim any special knowledgeable or have a special word.   A

Psalm 32:7  "You are my hiding place; you will save me from trouble. I sing aloud of your salvation, because you protect me." David knew in every circumstance that God is the place to turn.   As a Christian our first place to go is God who is our refuge.   To Him we turn to prayer and help.  Psalm 55:6-7 "I wish I had wings like a dove. I would fly away and find rest.  I would fly far away and make my home  in the desert." Allow the Lord to surround you with his songs of deliverance.  The psalms are inspired songs about God and his people. The Bible is prominently about God and God's people.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 Grow up and be exhorted  - building up  believers.   People taking offense with each other.   The Church needs to get its act together.   Christians need to confess your sin.  But you don't want to go into remorse but you want to go into repentance. Growing up and being accepted. In Thessalonians they received the Word and accepted it; you were saved. Jesus preached "repent".  When we give our heart and life to the Lord; we don't want to go back to the old life. The old life with stuff that is hard; the new life brings relevance. 1.  We can be confident that we are going to heaven.  Paul sends teaching to Thessalonians to correct wrong teaching.  It is important to allow grieving.  1 Thessalonians 4:13 - we grieve with hope.  We have been given authority by God to tell other people about our hope in Jesus Christ. It's natural to grieve.  John 11:35 - Jesus wept.  Jesus showed emotion and grief.  There is nothing wrong with crying. 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:22 [ Recap last week:  sanctification and love.  Allow God to do a work in your life. ] The believers were concerned about what would happen if they died before Jesus returned.   The apostles were driven out of Thessalonica, after about three weeks, only because they preached, Christ crucified. We have many problems in the world.   They can only be resolved by coming to Jesus Christ.   You can only be restored by Jesus.  The cross is not a formula.  It's not about ideas; it's about a Man, Jesus Christ. Timothy returned to Paul with an encouraging word and with questions.    They were able to stay with "Christ crucified ". There was confusion about believers who had died before Jesus returns. If you say you won't sin, the Bible tells us you are a lier.  But we can come and repent and we are forgiven. Paul had not opportunity to teach these believers himself because he had to leave.  There were false teachers that caused confusion.   W