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Speaker 3Welcome to First B. God has made us worshippers. He's made us worshippers of him. Why don't we stand up and sing to the God who has created us, who loves us?
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Speaker 2Alright. Before the day. Before the day. Before the light, before the world of fog around the sun. God on high, stepped down in time, and wrote the story of stuff everyone.
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And he has filled our hearts with wonder so that we don't raise remerlder. You're not made to worship. You're not called. You're not given see who we were meant to be. Alright.
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All we are and all we have. All we are and all we have is all we get from God that we've seen. It free. You and I embrace surrender. You and I will see we were meant to be.
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Speaker 1Have a few announcements this morning. First of all, we're glad that you're here and thank you, Renzi and I don't have a clicker so I can't tell what the next announcement is at is until he tells me. Oh, yes. The connect hour. We're not bringing it back.
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We're just bringing the slide back. It's always been here. It's between the two services about ten ish to eleven ish. There'll be fruit, donuts, coffee, and conversation down at the other end of the hall down there in the fellowship hall. So, feel free to go down and join in and connect with somebody from the second service.
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If they get here early and you stay late, we'll all know each other. So, that's great. That's the connect hour. Monday nights at First B at 06:15PM. You get meal, music, and a message every Monday night.
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Now, we've had a couple of traveling shows recently where we've gone a couple of blocks over to Philbock Park. We've also got one scheduled that we might split the group and go. Some of us go to the Hootenanny. The band might even play one night at the Hootenanny. We will see.
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We're trying. We're working on that but Monday nights at first B is 06:15. Meal music and message. During the school year, we also have Awana but for the summer, we've disbanded that for a while. If you are a young person, if you're in middle school or high school, be watching out for a text from Renzi.
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This week, he took a group that turned out to be an all girls group because that's who responded to the text at the Stilton lot. They met and then they rode bikes over to the village, had ice cream, went up to Gandhi. It's kind of nice up the gondola. So, summer schedules in the works. He's got a bulletin board outside of his office and so if you want to go down and see what's going on with Solid Rock or just listen out for text.
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He's going to try to keep it bouncing and kind of fresh. So, we're glad that you're here. Does anybody else have an announcement that I'm forgetting? I feel like I'm forgetting something. I probably am.
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Stand up and greet one another. Wait a second. Wait a second. Wait a second. Don't do that yet.
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I knew I was forgetting something. It was you. Vacation Bible School happened this week. There are no decorations to tell me it's vacation Bible school right now but that happened all week and it was a great week. We had how many?
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137. 137 kids came together this week here and had a ball. We had a parachute in the middle of this room and they were doing the, like, making mushrooms and running up under it and playing games. It was awesome. So they had a ball and we have a video of what went on.
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So do that and then we'll get up and greet one another. How about that?
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Speaker 2And even though the wall in the valley of the shadow of death, your perfect love is casting out fear. And even when caught in the middle of the storms of the sky, I won't turn back on you while I am. And I will feel no evil. For my God is well. And if my God is well, no.
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You never let go. Every high and every low. Oh, no. You never let go of my Lord. You never let go of me.
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And I could see the light that is coming for the heart battle song. A glorious night that I've gone to bear. And there will be a man to tell these troubles, but it's all that I take on. We'll let to know you're here on this serve. And I will feel no need.
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For my God is waiting. And if my God is I won't and never let go. Never let You go. Go. Oh, You never let
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Speaker 3Amen. You can be seated. I'd like to
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Speaker 2ask
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Speaker 3the frontline team if they would come forward and participate here in the worship of giving. If you're a first time visitor, I wanna say you're welcome here and and we're glad you're here. We're not asking for your money. Pray that you guys feel welcome and church, let's do that too. When we see new folks coming in, make sure we we give them a good, warm, loving welcome.
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Let's pray together. God, we do give you thanks. Just as the song has reminded us, you never let go. You are always there. You are constant.
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You are unchanging. Just that alone should cause us to just stand in awe of you and and cause us to love you even more. That you are constant. You are unchanging. That your love never fails, it doesn't give up on us.
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We thank you God for all you have given. This is just one way in which we can give you give back, but I pray God that throughout the week we'd be thinking more than just giving money. We'd be thinking about how do we serve you? How do we love you? How do we serve other people?
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And work that into our lives because our worship have given, it it doesn't just end here. It's it's all the time. That's the way you've wired us to love you and to love others. Help us and show us. We pray in Christ's name.
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Amen.
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Speaker 1Amen. Sometimes, don't you wish that was your gift? Holy. Is that covetous? Kinda.
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I appreciate that. Thank you. And I do have the clicker up here now. I'm excited to be here this morning. We've been in Thessalonians first then second for not too terribly long.
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I talked to my dad this week in Georgia and my accent comes back really strong when I talk to my dad in Georgia and he he said, yeah, we've been in Thessalonians for six months. I don't know how you spend six months there. We've been there for about six weeks but I I went through last week and I used this diagram and we built it up based on second Thessalonians two thirteen through 15. You know, last week, we talked about some interesting stuff, the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition, destruction, and we talked about all the different end times prophecies and haven't come to pass and antichrist and all of that sort of stuff which is really really interesting at the front part of that passage but then, Paul follows it up with what I called important stuff. It was the gospel and this is the way that he laid it out based on second Thessalonians two thirteen through 15.
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He said that God chose from the beginning, you as first fruits and through Christ's work and through the gospel witness of Paul, he says, our gospel, meaning the good news of Christ but the one that we shared with you. He said, God chose from the beginning in order for you to be saved, for Christ to do the work, and through our witness, you believed and you're being sanctified. So, it's through sanctification and through belief. Paul says it that way. Now, at the end of the service, rather than doing a altar call testimony and saying, come on down.
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I said, if you have any problems with what I said this morning, come on up to me afterwards and let me know which is great because y'all did. A bunch of people did. It wasn't that you had any problems necessarily. It was that you were like, oh, I didn't like it when you said belief was here and saved was here. That bothered me and I said, well, I said it multiple times.
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I just didn't put it on the board. You are saved at belief. When you believe, you are saved. God chose from the very beginning that Christ work would be the means by which you could be saved and if you believe the gospel witness, you are saved. So, does that make any sense or you're having more problems now?
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Okay. So, I changed it. I added a few categories here or qualifications. So, God chose from the beginning that by Christ work, that includes his perfect life, his sacrificial death, his burial, and his resurrection, and I could put in there for you good Presbyterians, his session. He is seated at the right hand of the father.
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His work is done, okay? The gospel witness goes forth by his authority and if you believe that, you are saved right there. Now, through sanctification, you will ultimately be saved on the day of the Lord and that's what first and second Thessalonians is pointing towards is the day of the Lord. It's eschatology, end times stuff. So, glorification follows that.
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So, that's my amended slide. It's not exactly based just on those verses like that first one was. But it's all God's grace. Every single bit of this is by God's grace. So, that's just a bit of a clarification from last week.
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That's going to come up a time or two this week. This is the other question that came up. How do you know if you are of the elect? What in the world? Baptist preachers starting the message with this.
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Really? How do you know if you are one of the elect? C. H. Spurgeon said that if the elect had a yellow spot on their lower back right here, that he would be walking around England or New England.
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He would be walking around lifting up shirt tails, London. He'd be walking around lifting up shirt tails and looking for that spot and he'd preach to them but until then, we have to go with what the Bible says. Whosoever will may come. Does that make sense? So, how do you know if you are one of the elect?
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It is by what you do with the word of the Lord. When you hear the gospel, do you respond and believe and does it change your life? That's how you know if you're one of the like. Have you heard it? Do you believe it?
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And is it changing you? So, I believe in that complete and total sovereignty of God and I believe that he has given complete and total free will to man. So, I affirm both. We're starting off with that just as a clarification because those were the things. Somebody said, you are stepping all around the word elect last week.
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Well, he didn't say that but he did say that he chose you from the beginning. Second Thessalonians three one through five. After that minor clarification, let's go on to just five verses today. We're not doing a whole chapter. We could have but the next verses get into an area of church discipline and I want you to have a good grounding for how he steps into that loving, loving argument.
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So, this is what Paul wants out of the Thessalonians. Second Thessalonians three one through five. I'm using the New King James version of the Bible to start off with at least when I change. I'll hopefully will mention that. Second Thessalonians three one through five from the New King James says, finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified just as it is with you.
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Now, I've told y'all before and I keep on, well, I keep on saying this, that whenever you see italics in the New King James version or most modern versions of the Bible, they're supplying that word or those words so that they make, it makes more sense in English. So, I want to say this swiftly is it's kinda contained in the word run and as it is could be it was, as it is, as it should be, as it they're adding the word there. So I wanna go through this first. Finally, is a disjunctive. It is this is a grammar sermon y'all.
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Woo hoo. Grammar sermon. Finally, is a disjunctive. What it is saying is, alright, I've made my statement about the end time stuff and I have recently just prayed for you. If you look at the last two verses of second Thessalonians two, that was my benediction for y'all last week.
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It says and where is it? It says, now, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work. That was his prayer for them and then he says, finally, it's almost like a pastor saying in conclusion but not quite. What it, that word finally, Tyle Lloydpon means, from now on, from this point forward or it also could say, and besides all of that, finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified just as with you. I'm leaving out the it is.
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I'm leaving out this swiftly. That the word of the Lord may run and be glorified just as with you. Treko from I think where we get our word trek is so that it may run. That's what he's asking them to pray for was that the gospel itself would hit the ground running just like it did with them. You remember, in first Thessalonians, he applauds them over and over for having done with the gospel what they should have done.
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Believe it and then share it. He said that everywhere we go, people are mentioning that somebody from Thessalonica told us about this. That's what's supposed to happen with the gospel. May it run. Pray that it may run and that it be glorified, built up, magnified, made famous.
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Work, do its work, just as with you. So, what does Paul want for them to pray for? Well, the first thing he mentions in the first verse there, pray that the word of the Lord may run. Amen. Do y'all want to pray that?
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I want to pray that. That's what I want for it to do. I want for it to hit fertile ground and immediately take root and then go from there. The word of the Lord may run. Second verse, after the finally brethren, pray for us.
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You know, that's something else I want to mention. Paul, a lot of times we can think back to these guys and their names are in the Bible and we think that these guys kind of had it set up where and Paul is accused a lot of being author authoritarian. He's an authoritarian guy who says he rules by decree. Peter is also listed as being an author authoritarian guy. In fact, the the Catholic church has him listed as the first pope with the authority that Christ gave him.
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He is in a seat of authority. But Peter says, my fellow elders, like there are a bunch of them and Paul, when he says to these young Christians, probably less than six months, they've been believers and he says, I want you praying for me. I covet your prayers. I want for you to pray for me that the word of the Lord may run swiftly. And be glorified just as it is with you and second thing he's praying for, that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men.
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The word unreasonable there and some of your translations is going to be listed as perverse and other translations, it'll say evil. The word actually means technically out of place. Those who are out of place, a perversion is something that has its place but has been changed. Does that make sense? Lust is a perversion of love.
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Something that's out of place. A person that's out of place. And then wicked just means wicked, bad, evil, wrong, and then he follows it up with, why are they unreasonable and wicked for not all have the faith. There there's a definite article in there in Greek. Not all have faith.
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So, pray for what? First of all, that the word of the Lord may run. That's his primary objective. What does Paul say? Woe be unto me if I don't preach the gospel.
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The word of the Lord needs to go forth. This is what it needs to do. So pray that the word of the Lord may run and pray that we, he, Silas, and Timothy, who are writing this letter, may be delivered. And that word is definitely rescued. They are in peril.
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And if you pay close attention to the grammar, he doesn't mean it in a general sense. He means, we're in Corinth. We are being persecuted. There are people that are right here with us who would have us dead if they could. So, please pray that the word of the Lord may run So, the message and pray that the messengers may get out of this situation that we're in.
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Now, the fact that he was in a situation may have been the reason and that he was able to write this letter. God uses everything but pray that the word of the Lord may run and that we may be delivered, rescued from this bad situation and he says, for not all have the faith. So, Christ's work has been done. That's death, burial, resurrection, perfect life, session. It's all been done and the gospel witness has gone forth through Paul.
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He's telling every creature that he comes up into contact with but instead of belief, he has gotten rejection from some and that is still the case. If you are living your life before men and they see something that is different about you and they ask you flat out, what is it? And you say, Jesus, someone will say, wow. I need to I need to do something about that. I need to pay attention to that.
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That's made a huge difference in your life and then there will be others that, Jesus, what kind of a quack? Well, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard. No. I reject it. And there will be resistance to God's message and his messengers.
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It has always been since the beginning. They saw the prophets, right? The world was not worthy. Always. There will either be belief or there will be rejection.
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There there are only two things that you can do with the gospel. How do you know if you're one of the elect? You've heard it, you believe it, and it changes you. Resistance to God's message and his messengers is the other option. What does Paul want for them to be?
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So far, what we've seen what Paul wants him to be is prayerful. Paul is a pastor. I'm starting to see how soft Paul is recently. I used to think Paul was really a hard nose authoritarian and Barnabas was a loving guy that kind of cleaned up Paul's relational messes. I don't think that anymore.
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The more that I study Paul, the more I think that his heart is there and he wants for them to be prayerful for the message and for the messenger and that's what I want for you. Whether you are a long time member here who I'm just one in a series of pastors or if y'all are traveling and you're doing a huge loop of The United States and you accidentally happen to get here this morning. What I want for you is that you would be prayerful. For the message and for the messenger. Second Thessalonians three one through five up to verse three, it says, but the Lord is faithful.
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Who will establish you and guard you from the evil one? Now, that's interesting if you look at the grammar of this one, the but right there. He says, and that we may be delivered from that we may be delivered, but the Lord is faithful who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. That seems like, does that go together? Does that really go together?
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The more you think about it, the more you look at it and you go, why is this? What Paul is saying right here is, I hope that, I mean, he knows that they love him. You can tell that from the whole first letter and the second letter. You know he loves them. And he's asking that he may be delivered primarily, I'm sure because of the message he feels like it needs to go forth and he knows it.
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Not all have faith. They're in peril of losing their life but when he says, but the Lord is faithful who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. Paul wants for their confidence not to be in him but in God. Does that make sense? The Lord is faithful.
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He immediately turns it. The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and he will guard you from the evil one. I'm not with you anymore. I got to start this process.
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I got to see the gospel take off and run with you but I want you to be paying attention to the Lord. He is faithful. He will establish you. He will guard you from the evil one. So, what does Paul want for them to be?
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He wants for them to be confident in God. Not necessarily in him. Paul said in a couple of different places in Philippians in one particular place, he said that, I don't know whether I whether it'd be better to live or to die. For me, it would be better to die and go be with Jesus but for you, it would be better that I live so that I can give you this instruction to bring you along in the faith. He doesn't care whether he goes or stays.
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He wants for their confidence to be in God. So, what do I want from you? I want for you to be confident in God. I had a a friend in high school that used to have lots of, they weren't completely life consuming problems but there was always something, you know, and I was a Christian and she was not. We were good friends and she often would come to me with difficulties and problems.
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I saw her about ten years out of high school and she was in church and she was a Christian and I I was like, oh, that's awesome. That's fantastic and she said, yeah, I knew you were a believer in high school and and you know, it just wasn't a thing at the time. That that button the thing. But I'm sorry that it wasn't. I look back on it now and I wonder and and I said, well, where are going to church?
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And she told me and she's, I said, what do you think of the pastor? And I knew him and she goes, oh my goodness. If he weren't there, I'd probably, I don't know what I'd do. I thought, well, he's a Baptist pastor. He ain't likely to be there long.
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You know, that's the way they go. It's she said, what she literally said was I'd slip my wrist if he were not there. And I was taken back. I was like, what? We don't need to be artificial providence or step in as a savior.
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You can get ahead of somebody and give em the gospel but then Paul recedes. He gets out of town literally and then writes back to encourage them to put their confidence in God. So, for my friend in high school, I I saw her a few years later and her confidence had shifted from being in man to being in God. Praise God. That's wonderful and the gospel is running in that one and her family.
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So, praise God. Verse number four, and we have confidence in the Lord. He's saying, I want you to have confidence in the Lord and we have confidence in the Lord concerning you both that you do and you will do the things we command you. Oh, here comes that authoritarian Paul. He's been setting him up for it.
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No. No. He's saying, we have confidence in the Lord concerning you. I trust God to do what he will in your lives. I saw the gospel take root and I believe that this is the way he works and so, on your behalf, I have confidence in the Lord that you will do, that you are doing, and you will do.
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Those are both progressive tense verbs. You are doing and you will be doing the things that we are commanding you. So that begs a question I'll get to in a minute. What's he commanding them? But what he wants for them to be is prayerful, confident in God, and obedient.
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He wants for them to be obedient. Now, this is where we have that problem with Paul. Some people go, I don't like Paul. I don't like what he says about this and I don't like what he says about that and when he's buttering them up right before he gives them a series of commands. I don't like that.
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That's not what he's doing, people. He loves these people. He really does love em and he's asking them to be obedient to God the same way he expects for himself to be obedient to God. It's a pastor's heart. I have tasted and I have seen that the Lord is good.
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Trust me. It will go better with you if you live according to what God has said and that's all he's asking from him. But he does want for him to be obedient. What do I want from you? I think I skipped it on this.
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So what do I want from you whether you've been here a long time or whether you just popped in for the day? I want for you to be obedient to what God has to say, and this is where he has it to say right here, to his word. The word of the Lord that should be prayerful about the message and the messengers, confident in God, that he knows what he's doing, and obedient to him, trusting that if we walk by faith and not by sight, he will take care of us. He shows it over and over right here in his word. So, prayerful, confident in God, and obedient.
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That's what I'd like for y'all to be. The fifth verse and the last verse that we're studying this morning is now, may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. Now, this is the New King James version and I like patience of Christ, but that's not exactly exactly what it says. In one sense, it is. So I put up the New Living Translation.
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The New Living is an incredibly readable version of the Bible. It is an actual translation, not a paraphrase like the Living Bible from 1971 was. May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ. That's getting at it. It's really wordy but it's getting more at what the the word says there.
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The English standard version, the new ESV version says, now may the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. That's it. Steadfast, endurance, patience, you could go long suffering. You could go through this whole series of things. It is the duration over time.
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Remember the chart at the beginning said, sanctification, that process and the big parenth esis there between belief and ultimate salvation on the day of the Lord. That sanctification process, it's about steadfastness and persevering. Persevering through somewhat difficult circumstances sometimes through joy too but may the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God so that you feel his love so that you know his love, understand it, and are able to share it, articulate it. But to the steadfastness of Christ. Christ knew the cross was looming in his future, his whole life.
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He knew what he came to do and he did it and that's what Paul's asking that they would be obedient with all that God is commanding which he is in a position of authority from a distance that he has commanded but he's asking them to walk in the steadfastness of Christ against considerable opposition. No pictures today up here. There's not been one picture. Do y'all know nothing of me from middle school, high school, anything. What does Paul want for them to be?
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He wants for them to be prayerful. He wants for them to be confident in God. He wants for them to be obedient and he wants for them to be steadfast. That's a good list. Those four, if we could be that, repeated application over time, prayerful, confident in God, obedient, steadfast.
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That's what Paul wants from the Thessalonians and that's what they're being. Did you see right here? Let me get back to the he says, and we have confidence in the Lord concerning you both that you do. You already are doing this. You are doing actually, progressive action verb.
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You are doing this and you'll keep on doing it. I know that. I have confidence in God that he's the one doing the work. I see that it's happening. He's not commanding them because there's no sin mentioned in Thessalonians.
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We we haven't gotten the laziness yet and that could be a sin. It's coming but so far, we have not heard one sin for the Thessalonians. He's trying to correct some minor eschatological confusion. You are already doing these things. Prayerful, confident in God, obedient, steadfast.
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That's what he wants them to be and that's what I want for you to be. I see Jim. What? Here. Again, and this is his big one right here, obedience.
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He loves that. If people would just be obedient, life would be so much easier and you're right, that it would be. I have found when I am disobedient, things do not go well with me. And from that aspect, I am telling you, please walk in obedience. It's much easier, much more joyful, and you see God works so much more readily.
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So this is the r mcd version of first of second Thessalonians three four. The Ray McDaniel version says, and we remain confident. It's a progressive thing. We have been confident. We're gonna be confident.
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We remain confident in the Lord on your behalf that y'all are doing and that y'all will be continuing to do the things that we are commanding y'all to do. That's what he says. That's the that is what it says. I put in the this y'all are doing this already and y'all will be continuing to do it. I trust God that that's the case and that we are commanding.
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Confident in the Lord. The things that Paul wants for them, he just prayed for them two verses before this section started. So, he's already prayerful. He's saying that he's confident in the Lord. He's obviously being obedient.
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He's not asking them to do anything that he wouldn't do. And one more. Listen to the list of commands. So, this is where We're drawing to a close here. Just listen to the things.
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When we think of authoritarian Paul, telling people what to do. Oh, ecclesiology, church structure, all this business. This is what he's telling the Thessalonians to do and this is what I'm telling y'all to do and I say it with the authority of God just like he did. I'm going to go in order through first Thessalonians and second Thessalonians grammar nerds. This is all the imperatives in the two books.
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First and second Thessalonians up to this point. First Thessalonians four eighteen says, therefore, comfort one another, come alongside and encourage. First Thessalonians five eleven says, therefore, comfort one another and build each other up just as you're also doing. First Thessalonians five thirteen through 22 has a bunch of em. I'm going to list them.
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Be at peace among yourselves. Warn the ones who are unruly. Comfort the ones who are faint hearted. Helping uphold the weak, be patient with everybody, don't render evil for evil, pursue what is good for yourselves and for everyone else, Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.
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In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things and hold on to what's good. Abstain from every form of evil.
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Pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. That's first Thessalonians. Second Thessalonians is this, stand fast and hold on to the traditions that you have been taught. And then the this section.
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Finally, brothers, pray for us. That the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified just as with you. Amen. Now, next week, we will get into a section where he talks about some church discipline but that is the framework within which we will have the discussion, okay? That he loves him, he cares for him, he wants him prayerful, confident in God, obedient, and what was the last one?
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Steadfast. Steadfast. Thank you very much and good listeners. That's wonderful. That's what I want for you to be.
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I do want to say that it is by God's grace. It's the only way that any of this happens. So, it's in that context. We're going to sing Your Grace Is Enough. It's the same song the kids sang a little while ago.
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Would you stand with us? And We'll lead you in Your Grace Is Enough because it is.
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Speaker 2Alright. Let's sing your And you wrestle with the sinners' heart. And you lead us by still waters and still mercy. And nothing can keep us apart. So remember your people.
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Your children. Your Remember your enough. Your grace is enough for me. Great is your love and justice, God. And you use the weak to meet the strong.
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And you lead us in the song of your salvation. And all your people sing along. So remember your people. Remember your children. Remember your promise, oh, God.
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Let's sing it. His grace is now. Your grace is now. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough for me.
48:19
Say that again. There's grace is enough. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough for me.
48:48
Speaker 1Amen. Amen. Now, may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ. Amen.
