Everyday Christian Living:
- Love MORE . (1 Thes 4:9-10)
- Live QUIETLY . (1 Thes 4:11a)
- Mind your own BUSINESS . (1 Thes 4:11b)
- Work HARD . (1 Thes 4:11c-12)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above with your cursor for answers!
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What does the Christian life look like?
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From when I leave here today and I go home and tomorrow I go to work and I spend time with my family and I get some down time and then, you know, eventually find my way back here next Sunday, what does that time look like from the time you leave here until the time you get back?
00:25-00:26
How would you describe that to someone?
00:27-00:29
Here's what it looks like to be a Christian.
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For me as a young Christian, I had no idea what it was supposed to look like.
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I was saved, and I was excited, and I was very zealous, but I was very clueless.
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And I know I've told some of you this story before, but I remember as a young Christian, I went to this, I had just moved to Ohio, started Bible college, and I went to some like, it was like some county fair or something like that.
00:54-00:59
You know, the county fair, the farm show up in, there was a thing like that out in Ohio.
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You know, I was living out there by myself, didn't know anybody, nothing going on.
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I'm like, I'll just go to this thing by myself.
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And just kind of walking around.
01:09-01:11
Well, there was this ride called the Zipper.
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And in the Zipper, they lock two people in this cage, and the little cage spins, but it's on a track that spins, and then the whole machine spins.
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And how many people have ever ridden the Zipper at the, Okay, you know what I'm talking about?
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So I'm in line for this thing, and they're like, "You need a partner." I'm like, "Well, I don't have anyone.
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I literally know nobody in Ohio." And they're like, "Well, you need a partner." Well, there were like these three other guys in line, and they're like, "Well, we're gonna pair you up with this guy." So they locked me and this guy in the cage.
01:45-01:47
We're like crammed into this thing, like a couple of sardines.
01:49-02:14
And I'm thinking, "This is an evangelism opportunity." So the zipper starts going and we're spinning and the ride's spinning and creaking and you know bolts and pieces are falling off like they do on those rides and I'm thinking this is my chance to share the gospel with this guy so we're on this ride and we're all flying around and I lean over to this guy and I'm like do you know what's gonna happen to you when you die?
02:16-03:12
Look, nobody ever said I was Billy Graham, okay?" Looking back, he could have thought a lot of things, like, "Do you know something I don't? You know, you're gonna pull a knife on me, like, what are you talking about?" I will never forget his response. As we're on this ride, as I lean over, as I shout into his ear, "Do you know what's going to happen to you when you die, I will never forget his response as he replied, "Woo! I don't care! Woo!" And I'm on the rest of the ride flying all over the place looking at this guy, I'm like, "You don't care? You don't care? You don't care?" And so we get off the ride and like, "Oh, that was awkward." I give him a gospel tract, I'm like, "Hey, you know, something to about, because you're going somewhere for eternity and it's very important to think about it.
03:12-03:24
He took the card and he's like, "Thanks, man." You could tell he's kind of looking at his friends like, "Get me away from this guy." Here's the thing, I was like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute.
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I thought when you became a Christian, I thought every day was the book of Acts.
03:30-03:47
You roll out of bed and you get your cloak on or whatever and you walk out your front door and you preach the gospel and it's sackcloth and ashes and every day there's just thousands of people coming to Christ, repenting, and mass revival.
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I thought the Christian life just looked like the book of Acts, like adventure after miracle after...
03:55-04:07
well then I found out, and please hear what I'm saying, I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm trying to say, There's a sense in which you can say the book of Acts isn't like the book of Acts.
04:07-04:08
Now hang on, here's what I mean.
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Sometimes when we read the Bible, we can think that the events of the book of Acts happened over the course of three days.
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Like, "Wow!
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Wow!
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Three days!
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Like, that happened over years and years.
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Were those events true?
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Yes.
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Did God show up in big ways?
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Yes.
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But it happened over a long period of time.
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There's a lot of things that happened in that time span that aren't recorded in the book of Acts.
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Just like if you were like, "Jeff, tell me about your Christian adventures." I can tell you some stories of God showing up big and doing miracles and sackcloth and ashes.
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I can tell you stories of my life over the past 20 years that when you put them all together, you would think that my life is like the book of Acts, right?
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Well, we're talking about a handful of events spread over a long period of time.
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Does that make sense?
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Is everybody with me?
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Okay.
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Totally true, but don't think that like, you know, all this stuff happened in three days.
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See, I learned to understand that the Christian life, yes, those things do happen, they do.
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The question is, what does a Christian life look like when those things aren't happening?
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Like day to day, right?
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Monday through Friday, time to make the donuts kind of thing.
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Like, what does the Christian life look like During that time, what does that time look like?
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You know, we don't have some kind of detached belief system like we come to church on Sunday and we talk about these things that we believe on Sunday and then we just go unchanged back into the world.
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You know, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not just believe these facts and understand certain things so that you have this head knowledge.
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That's not the gospel.
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The gospel is, by nature, you're rebellious.
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You have sinned against God, and you deserve the worst thing that God can do to you, because you have rebelled against your creator.
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God created you for him, and we've all sinned against him.
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That's the bad news.
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But the good news is that God loves you so much that he sent his son to die in your place.
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God says, "I'm going to punish Jesus for all of the wicked things that Jeff did, and all the wicked things that Bob did, and all the wicked things that Darren did.
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But I'm going to punish, I'm going to put the payment for that sin on my son.
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I'm going to punish Jesus as if I was punishing the actual sinner.
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We are forgiven in Jesus Christ when we receive him by faith.
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But that's not the end of the gospel.
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The Bible says that Jesus rose from the dead, and because he rose from the dead, Bible says he gives us his life.
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His Holy Spirit lives inside of us.
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That's where the change comes from.
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Understand, the change doesn't come from you come to church and I read you this list of rules and you're like, "Okay, I see these rules "and I'm gonna try really hard to do better this week." That's not where life change comes from.
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Life change comes because God's Holy Spirit is living inside you.
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That's what transforms you.
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And a faith that doesn't change you hasn't saved you.
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So we get to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, we saw last week in verse 3, remember he says, For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality." And he goes on with some more teaching.
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"God's will for you is your sanctification." You're growing in Christ, you're being set apart and holy because God has pronounced you holy.
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And we're growing in that love relationship with Christ.
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And sanctification happens in your daily life, you see.
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It's not like, "We're going to get to church because I have an hour for God to grow me before I get back out there." This is a place of growth, but understand that most of your growth is going to happen day to day.
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Some of you are like, "Well, isn't this stuff sort of obvious?" And you would think that it is, but people sometimes have issues, and the Thessalonians sure did.
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Before we get to the text here, just to give you a little context, you kind of put these things together when you read 1 and 2 Thessalonians, but it looks like that the Thessalonians believed that because Jesus was returning, that they were just going to wait.
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Okay, so obviously there was some teaching that Paul gave them and Silas gave them that Jesus Christ is returning.
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So Thessalonians were like, "Oh, Jesus is coming back?
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That's cool.
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We'll just, you know what, we'll just, we'll just wait." To the point that some of them were actually being lazy and they were neglecting their normal duties, like going to work.
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You see that in 2 Thessalonians 3.11.
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Okay, so they're like, "Jesus is coming back." Well, pfft, I'm quitting my job.
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Who's going to work?
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Jesus is coming back?
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That's what happens.
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We see it throughout 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
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Paul's like, "Hey, get to work, get to work, get to work.
09:55-10:09
You guys need to get some things right about the return of Christ." I was thinking about this week, I wonder how far some people actually took this idea of Jesus is coming back, therefore I don't have to blank.
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I was wondering that.
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Like, were there people that were like, wife was like, "Hey, would you do those dishes?" And the husband's like, "Jesus is coming back.
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I ain't doing the dishes." You know, somebody's saying to their kids like, "Hey, brush your teeth and go to bed." And the kids are like, "Brush my teeth?
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I'm not worried about brushing my teeth.
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Jesus is coming back, like any second now.
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So why should I brush my teeth?
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I wonder, you know?
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Or if like dad comes home from work and he's like, what's for supper?
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And mom's like, I didn't feed the kids today.
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Why didn't you feed the kids today?
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Because Jesus is coming back.
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Like, hey, just chill out, man.
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You know, Jesus is coming back.
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So let's not get too excited.
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I don't know how far they took it, But I do know, the Bible's very clear that some of them, some of them just got lazy.
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They just got lazy.
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Jesus is coming back, we'll just kind of hang out and grab a beanbag, we're gonna wait.
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And Paul talks about that throughout the 2 Thessalonians chapter two.
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And certainly we commend them for being fired up, but they were ignorant about some things concerning the return of Christ.
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And we already saw this in 1 Thessalonians 3.10.
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Paul said they needed some more teaching.
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So, the Thessalonians had issues and Harvest Bible Chapel has issues, and the church in general in 2015 has issues.
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And ironically, the issues are opposite of the issues that the Thessalonians were dealing with.
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They were like so excited that Jesus was coming back, that they were like, "You know what?
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We're not gonna have anything to do with worldly affairs.
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We, on the other hand, are so indifferent that Jesus is coming back that we get consumed with worldly affairs.
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But it's the same message for them, same message for us.
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That's what we're going to see in the passage here.
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I know that was a big setup, right?
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But that's what we're going to see in the passage.
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What do we do with our time here?
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What does our faith look like Monday through Saturday?
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What does our faith look like nine to five, business casual, sometimes blue jeans, blue collar, white collar, one day at a time, everyday living as a disciple of Jesus?
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What does that look like?
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So in your outline, everyday Christian living, first of all, number one, love more.
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Love more.
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Look at verses nine and 10.
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He says, "Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
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For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia." Like Thessalonica was the capital city of Macedonia.
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But we urge you brothers to do this more and more.
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But first of all, love more.
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The number one, love more.
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Concerning brotherly love, he says.
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That is the word Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.
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And he says, now concerning brotherly love, originally the word meant like the affection that I have for someone who came from the same womb that I came from.
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And in New Testament times, it came to refer to the love that people have for each other in the church.
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He says, "You have no need for anyone to write to you.
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If you yourselves," look at this, "have been taught by God to love one another." And again, I was studying this this week, and I'm like, "Oh, this is easy.
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This is like the easy part of my job." Because for the Christians that are sitting here, I don't have to get up and give you some kind of a sales pitch to love each other.
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I don't have to do that.
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Here's why you should love, here's why you should love.
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I don't have to do that.
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You're like, "Well, why don't you have to do that?" Because look what your Bible says.
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He says, "I don't even need to write about this because you've been taught by God." You see, this is something that God does in you through His Spirit.
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impossible for Christians not to love.
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When it comes to loving each other, you don't need external motivation. Romans 5:5 says that God pours his love into our hearts. That's where the love comes from. Not like we muster it up. God pours his love into our hearts, so we love people with the love that God gives to us. 1 John 3.14 just blatantly says that it's the evidence that you are saved in the first place. You're like, "Am I a Christian? Am I a Christian?" John says, "We know that we have passed from death into life." That's just another way of saying we know we're saved, and that we love the brothers. He says it's an evidence of salvation. It's easy.
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Do you have a brotherly love for other Christians? You're like, "Yeah, I do, man. I small group, I love the people, I have this great love for Christians." Well, that's indication that you're saved.
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I'm like, "Do you love other Christians?" You're like, "No, man, I hate church people and I want nothing to do with them and I've never met a church person that I liked." I got bad news for you, that's evidence that you're unsaved, according to God's Word.
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That's evidence that you don't know the Lord, because you can't know the Lord and hate the Lord's people, you can't do it.
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I'm not going to try to sell you on this.
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But notice verse 10, he's like, okay, you got this.
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But verse 10, he says to do it more and more.
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We urge you brothers to do this more and more.
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So it's like, keep it up.
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You love each other.
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I see that in this church.
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I see you loving each other.
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I don't need to sell you on it.
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So I'm just gonna echo Paul here.
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You're like, yeah, keep at it.
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Like, what do you mean specifically?
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There's some broad categories.
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if you're talking specifics, compassion.
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How do we love people more and more?
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How about in areas of compassion?
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Caring for those in need, looking, okay, this is a brother that's hurting, this is a sister that's having a hard time.
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How can I alleviate the pressure?
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Compassion.
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I see that in the church.
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I'm like, hey, keep after it, okay?
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Small groups, keep after it.
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Patience is another way that we go after it more and more.
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This person really frustrates me, but I'm not going to avoid them, I'm going to show them grace, and I'm going to learn to love them.
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Somebody here today is like, "Pastor Jeff, that's exactly how I feel about you." And grow in love, right?
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Patience, patience.
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And then tolerance.
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Tolerance, meaning they might believe some things a little differently than I do.
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Maybe they're at a different level spiritually.
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Maybe we don't see eye to eye on everything, but that doesn't mean I hate them.
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That doesn't mean I'm going to try to beat them up every time I see them, prove my argument.
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Sometimes love is just like, "Hey, you know what?
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We don't see eye to eye on this, but I love you anyways.
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You're my brother." It's okay.
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Disagreed is not equal hate.
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Okay?
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So grow in that compassion, patience, tolerance.
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So what does Christian living look like?
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First of all, love more.
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Secondly, live quietly.
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Live quietly.
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Look at verse 11.
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Verse 11 says, "And to aspire to live quietly." Pause there for a second.
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Aspire to live quietly.
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This is a very funny phrase when you think about it.
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Because he didn't just say live quietly, he says to, what?
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Aspire.
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The word can literally be translated "study." It's like, you have goals?
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Like we have goals, like in the next month I want to, in the next three months, in the next six months, in the next year.
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That's what this is talking about here.
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He goes, "Here's your goal.
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Here's your goal.
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Your goal, what you're going for, what you're aspiring, what you're striving for, is to live quietly.
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What's your goal?
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Interesting, right?
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Make an effort to relax.
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Calm yourself down.
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Settle down.
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Inspire to live a quiet life.
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It's living free of conflict.
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Living free of hostility.
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In other words, it's the kind of life that doesn't go looking for fights.
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And some people, they do, they just go looking for fights.
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How many people know somebody that's just like always looking for a fight?
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Do you know somebody like that?
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Don't point, okay?
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Some of you are like, yeah, him, him.
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Some people are always looking for a fight and some people are pointing now trying to start a fight, actually.
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I'd like to remind you one of my favorite Proverbs, Proverbs 26.17 says, "Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears." I love that proverb.
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It's so obvious, right?
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It's like if you're getting involved in a fight that has nothing to do with you, he dog by the ears and you're like, "I don't understand that Pastor Jeff, you went to Bible college, can you explain that?" Yeah, here's what you do, okay? Sometimes out here you see people walking their dogs, okay? So what I want you to do is to go out and sit on that little cement wall thing, when somebody comes by with their dog, just jump out and grab that dog by the ears and just do that and see what happens.
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What do you think's gonna happen? Nothing good, right?
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And that's the point. You're better off to just, "That has nothing to do with me, right? That has nothing to do with me. I'm just gonna let that go by." You're getting involved in a fight not your own, you're just grabbing a dog by the ears. Not a good plan. To live a quiet life. You're like, "Well, what does it mean a a quiet life.
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Well, I'm gonna tell you what it means by telling you what it doesn't mean.
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Quiet versus, first of all, quiet versus frantic.
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Quiet versus frantic.
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Write yourself down.
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Some people live a frantic life.
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They're always running, always running.
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And instead of me controlling my calendar, the calendar always controls me.
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And I never just seem to find time to just rest in the Lord.
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Like when was the last time you just like, Sat on your porch and like read the Bible and like hung out, like talking to the Lord.
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You know, when was the last time you just relaxed?
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So the quiet life is not frantic.
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Secondly, it's not anxious.
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Not anxious, always worried, always worried, always worried about everything, worried about, Worried about my finances and worried about what's going to happen with my kids and what's going to happen with this?
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And what about politics and the presidential race?
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What about the stuff with the economy?
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And just frantic, anxious about everything.
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That's not the quiet life.
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Never a peaceful trust in the Lord, just constant worrying about stuff.
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That's not the quiet life.
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And thirdly, the quiet life is not the obnoxious life.
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This kind of takes us back to the dog-ear-grabber guy that's just always aggressive, always aggressive, always pushing my agenda, always, you know, listen to my political stance again.
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Listen to my belief on social causes.
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You know, let me tell you what I think about, you know, everything from gun control to fast food workers should make $30 an hour, and they're just like Constantly, constantly beating that drum, beating that drum, like aggressively listen to me.
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I'm going to force my vegetarian, gluten-free, free-range, organic kale lifestyle on you.
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That's just obnoxious.
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It just is.
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Okay?
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That's not the quiet life.
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That's not the quiet life.
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And really this ties into the very next phrase.
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Look at verse 11.
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He says, "And aspire to live quietly and," I love this, "mind your own affairs." Number three, mind your own affairs.
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Here's how we say it, right?
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Mind your own business.
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Did you know that was in the Bible?
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Let's be honest.
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How many people are like, "I'm a little shocked that that's a verse in the Bible." The Bible literally says, "Mind your own business." Okay?
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That's in the Bible.
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Literally, the Greek phrase is, "Practice your own." That's what the Greek phrase is, "Practice your own." You got your stuff?
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You got your stuff?
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Practice your own stuff.
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That's what it means.
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A little harsher would be, "Hey, hey, concentrate on yourself." A little harsher would be, "Mind your own beeswax." That was a joke that we had.
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Remember as kids, we would say, well, go ahead and say it there.
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What would we say with the 11th commandment, right?
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Remember the 11th commandment?
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"Thou shalt mind thine own beeswax." That was our 11th commandment, right?
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The Dutch uncle way of saying it is, hey, you have a problem with your nose.
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The problem is it's in my business.
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That's the harsh way, we're staying away from that.
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But the Bible says, kidding aside, "Mind your own business." Second Thessalonians 3.11, same theme.
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He goes through all this stuff again in Second Thessalonians.
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In Second Thessalonians 3.11, he says, "Don't be a busybody." You know that term, right?
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A busybody.
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And we usually just associate that with gossip, and we should, but the picture is just like Like somebody that's just like always busy, always like...
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What's the word that we use?
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I think, Marco, I think I heard you say it yesterday about being nebby.
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That's like a Pittsburgh word, right?
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Being nebby?
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Yeah, that's the word busybody.
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Busybody all over the place.
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If we're honest, it's very difficult for us because we love gossip.
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We just, we love gossip.
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I used to, while I was going through Bible college, I sold magazines.
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It's amazing how many tabloids there are.
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Whole magazines dedicated to, here's what's happening in other people's lives, and we sold them like crazy.
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Like People magazine is like, you know, the high class of the tabloids, but it's the same kind of stuff.
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Here's people you don't know, you've never met, and hears all the intimate details about their lives, and people eat that stuff up.
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Some people know more about Princess Kate's baby than they do their own kids.
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And then you have TMZ, you guys have seen TMZ?
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How many people have seen TMZ?
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You've seen a TV show, you know what TMZ is?
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TMZ, these are those people that like, Jennifer Garner went to the grocery store, and these people like jump out of bushes and shove a microphone in her face and take a bunch of pictures of her.
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And then they sit around and talk about the pictures.
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Like, look at those shoes she's wearing.
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Is she gaining weight?
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Oh, her eyes look like she's been crying.
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I wonder what's happening.
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And people just eat that stuff up.
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And a word from the Lord, mind your own business.
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That doesn't mean you ignore needs in the church, right?
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I mean, that's obvious.
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I'm ignoring needs in the church.
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Like we have a guy in our church that's like, "Wow, I'm really having some problems.
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"Do you guys think you can help me out?" Like, "Sorry, Jeff said to mind my own business.
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"So take care of that yourself." That's not what it means.
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It doesn't mean that we don't have breakout time in small group, where we have accountability and prayer.
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It's not talking about that at all.
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Like, well, how do I know when something's gossip and when it isn't?
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I'm gonna give you a checklist here.
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You ready?
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Let me give you a checklist.
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What is/what is not gossip?
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Here's just a little evaluation, just five quick things, little evaluation you can make for yourself.
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What is/is not gossip?
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Number one, does it pertain to me?
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If you're talking about something with someone and it has nothing to do with you, big caution there, okay?
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Big caution.
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If it doesn't pertain to you, you could be entering into the realm of gossip.
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Number two, am I trying to read someone's motives?
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Am I trying to read someone's motives?
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You know, you can enter into the realm of gossip when you start doing that.
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You know, maybe I'm talking to Darren and we're like, you know, Bob has seemed pretty edgy lately, is he okay?
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And Darren's like, well, let me tell you why I think he's acting that way.
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and da da da da da da, and here's why I think, that doesn't happen, obviously, but that's inappropriate to try to read somebody's motives.
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You're entering into gossip.
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Number three, is this conversation about someone just an FYI session?
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Is it an FYI session, meaning, am I just trying to get information from people Or am I just trying to give information about people?
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If your discussion about a person is just an FYI session, you're entering into gossip.
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Okay, we'll talk about this in a second, but listen, it's not wrong if you're talking about somebody because you wanna try to help them.
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Okay, like using this made up scenario earlier, if Darren's like, "Hey, Bob seems really edgy lately.
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"And how do you think we can minister to him?" We get talk and Darren's like, "You know what, why don't we invite him to go out for coffee and we'll just like pray over him for a while. Like that's a great idea. Now were we gossiping about Bob? No.
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We were talking about him because we're trying to help him. Do you see the difference? We're trying to help him.
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That's not gossip. But we start trying to read into his motives or Darren's like, "Hey, let me tell you about Bob and what a jerk he's being. Okay, bye." And we're not trying to do anything to help disciple him. We're entering into gossip territory.
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Okay, number four, here's another caution.
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You know, what is, what is not gossip?
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Here's another thing in your checklist to caution yourself against.
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Am I giving too many details?
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Okay, again, same scenario.
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If Darren's like, "Hey, Bob seems edgy," and we just like, "Why don't we get together with him and pray with him and just see how we can minister to him?" But if it's just like, "Let me tell you all the stuff that Bob told me is going on," He starts getting on all these details that maybe Bob told him confidentially, and we're just sucking up all these details.
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Now all of a sudden we're busybodies, okay?
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The details don't matter, the motives don't matter.
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Just watch out for that, okay?
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And number five, am I trying to help the person or am I trying to harm their reputation?
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If you're talking about someone, again, Are you trying to help them or are you trying to harm their reputation?
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You're like, what do you mean harm the reputation?
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Like if you're talking about someone and your reason for talking about the person is you wanna lower somebody else's estimation of that person in their eyes, that's gossip.
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If it's not like, well, let's talk about how we can help.
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If instead of it's, I think he's kind of a jerk let me tell you all this stuff so that you think he's kind of a jerk too, you're entering into gossip. And that's what Paul warned the Thessalonians about in both of the epistles. Don't be a busybody. And how does he say it here? Mind your own business. First of all, love more. Secondly, live quietly. Thirdly, mind your and affairs and then finally, finally work hard. Work hard.
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Look at verses 11 and 12.
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He says, "And to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one." I'd like to remind you that work was always a part of God's plan.
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I've heard some people try to make this claim that work is a result of the fall.
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You know why we work?
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It's because Adam and Eve sinned.
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That's not true.
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Genesis 2.15, work was always part of God's plan.
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How does work pertain to the fall?
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As a result of the fall, God said, "Work's going to be hard." You're going to be working the ground and the ground's going to fight back.
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of the effects of sin, is work is hard.
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But work was always part of God's plan.
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And again, the Thessalonians remind you of the context.
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They're like, "Jesus is coming back?
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Well just wait.
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You don't need to go to work.
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I'm calling in sick for the rest of my career, because Jesus is coming back." That's why Paul says here, and he says it in 2 Thessalonians, "Get a job.
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Work.
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Earn a living.
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Contribute.
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You know, 2 Thessalonians 3.10 says, "If you don't work, you shouldn't eat." And that's the line that you have to draw.
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There is nothing harsh about that.
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If you are unwilling to work, if you get hungry enough, you'll work.
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Please hear me.
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I'm not talking about, I'm not talking to, nor is God's Word referring to people that are unable to, okay?
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Maybe somebody, you know, whether it's an injury or they have some physical problem where they're unable to go to work, they're unable to properly perform at a job or whatever, we're not talking about that.
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We're really blessed to live in a place that helps take care of people that are unable to work.
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We're not talking about that.
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church should be coming around people who are unable to work and help. We're not talking about that. Here's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about people that can work but will not work. That's the problem.
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And the church should help people, but the church should not enable someone not to work.
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Notice he says in verse 12, again, "Be dependent on no one." You should work so that you're not dependent on anyone.
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You're not dependent on the church, you're not dependent on the government, and as adults, you're not dependent upon your parents.
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we want to help each other out, but biblically we are not to be a burden to others. And I've seen this a lot, there are people who will hop from church to church looking for handouts, and they just run down the line. They're going to the Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, and they just they run the circuit, and "hey what can you give me? Do you have some food certificates? Do you have a food cupboard? Do you have this? Do you have that?" And they work harder at that than they would if they actually got a job and earned a couple of bucks. But there are people that work the system. Like churches are nice people and if I show up and give them a sad story they'll give me something. I've seen it a lot. And it's not the church's responsibility to support people who can work but won't work. It's just not.
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Get a job.
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I had a guy I used to come to me all the time.
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I need gas, I need food, I need gas, I need more food, I need more gas, I need Christmas presents for my kids, my electric bill needs paid, my cell phone bill needs paid.
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And eventually I said, "Hey, come to my office and bring a newspaper.
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Like we're going to find you a job." This guy was able to work, he just didn't want to.
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Why?
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Because it was just easy to get onto the church and say, "What do you got for me today?" I'm like, "Hey, it's not biblical.
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I'll tell you what I got for you.
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I'm gonna help you get a job." And that's what Paul is saying here.
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Work with your hands, get a job, go to work, contribute something.
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This is what the Christian life looks like.
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We love each other more.
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You see, we live quietly, We mind our own business and we work hard.
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And like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second, Pastor Jeff.
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I know you're like really fired up about evangelism and where's the evangelism in this passage?
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I don't see the evangelism.
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I mean, you said that's why we're here, right?
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Like, aren't we here to evangelize?
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Like, where's the evangelism at here?
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Understand that everything that we see in this passage is the key to evangelism.
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Look at verse 12 again.
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He says, "So that you may walk properly before outsiders." There's the evangelism.
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There's the key to evangelism. What Paul's saying is, "Listen, church, here's what you do. Love people, enjoy life as it is, the quiet life, mind your own business, work hard, and you're gonna find that your neighbors and your co-workers are gonna to be like, "Man, why are you like that? You just seem calm, man. You're dealing with the same kind of daily grind that I am, but you just seem to enjoy life. Like, what's so different about you?" And you're like, "Man, God has blessed me.
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I'm thankful and I just want to live for Him every day. You know, He wants that for everyone.
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You should come to church with me sometime. You should come. We have a small group that meets at this house where we just get together and we talk and we pray.
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You should join me sometime because the stuff that God's doing in me, He can do it for you too.
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You see, that's Paul's point here.
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You can walk properly before outsiders.
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When you got what people want, evangelism opportunities are going to be coming to you.
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You see.
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as our rally cry, putting all of this together and getting us ready to fire us up to go out the door and be world changers. Here's the word from the Lord today. Listen, church, get on out there and live a quiet and productive life.
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Let's pray. Father in heaven, we can certainly dismiss the trials that come into Christian life that make it hard sometimes. We've talked about that, but Father, we can also swing so far to the other end and try to make it like the Christian life is just this hard thing, and it really isn't. It's just a daily walk with you. It's just trusting you every day and it's seeing you at work in the daily stuff in the living quietly and minding your own business and going to work and just enjoying life from your hand. Father I pray that you'd settle us down. Certainly we're fired up for your son. Certainly we want to take the opportunities to evangelize and do our small group outreaches and we just sent a group of people halfway across the world to do your work.
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We're certainly fired up about that, but help us to understand what it means, Father, that we win people when they see our quiet contentedness before you.
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Let's not make this harder than it is. You want us to enjoy life. You want us to enjoy our relationship with You and our relationships that You have blessed us with in our families and in our church. You want that for us and we thank You for that.
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Father, if there is anyone here who has just been stirred up, maybe agitated, maybe has been having a hard time minding their own business, maybe has had a hard time for whatever reason loving people.
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Father, I pray that we would be captured by the beautiful simplicity of this passage and enjoy that life that you've given us. Father, we thank you again for doing the work on our behalf. We couldn't do it even if we tried.
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You have done the work on On our behalf, we praise you.
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We thank you in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
What did Paul mean in verse 9 that believers are "taught by God" to love one another
What does it mean to live quietly? "Quiet" as opposed to what? Would you describe your life as "quiet" (v11)?
How do you know the difference between "minding your own business" (v11), and reaching out to help someone in need?
How does the church know the line between helping someone in need and enabling someone not to work?
How is loving, living quietly, minding your own business, and working hard the foundation of evangelism?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another