P.S. : Be the Church!
- Love INTENTIONALLY . (1 Thes 5:14-15)
- Pray CONSTANTLY . (1 Thes 5:16-18)
- Listen CAREFULLY . (1 Thes 5:19-21)
- Be sanctified COMPLETELY . (1 Thes 5:22-24)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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Open your Bibles with me please to the book of 1 Thessalonians.
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Let's pray.
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Father, right now we're about to turn to your word.
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May we take it as seriously as you do.
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Your word actually tells us that you've exalted your word even above your own name.
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This is serious business.
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And it's an easy time to check out, to think about other things, to sort of let the brain I can go on autopilot, but I pray, Father, that we would just dial in right now and hear what Your Word has to teach us.
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We praise You in the glorious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Amen.
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1 Thessalonians 5, we're going to be picking up in verse 14, but this is the last message in our series called "Be the Church." In our series, we've been walking through 1 Thessalonians with the Apostle Paul as he's been telling this young church, "Be authentic.
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Be an example.
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Be done with people pleasing." He said, "Be an imitator." You find people that are following Jesus Christ.
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He said, "You imitate that faith." "Be an overcomer.
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Be an encourager.
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Be self-controlled.
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Be loving.
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Be comforted.
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Remember, there was a lot of confusion in this church as to what's going to happen in the end times.
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And you're seeing that today, aren't you?
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You know, all this talk about, "Well, blood moon, does this mean this is the end of the world?" And there's all this confusion and talk now.
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And that was exactly what was going on in this church, which is why we spent two weeks looking at the words of comfort that Paul said.
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You know, there's two things coming.
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First of all, Jesus is coming back to get His church.
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And second of all, the day of the Lord is coming when God is going to judge those who have rejected Him.
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Be comforted in knowing the truth of God's Word.
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Be comforted.
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And last week we saw "Be at Peace." Be at peace.
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And Paul talked about the relationship between the church and the leaders.
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Paul had a lot to say to this young church.
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It's hard to believe that this young church is turning four years old and I know there's a lot of excitement about that.
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I remember when my kids were four.
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It's not as fun as it sounds.
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One more message and the title of this message is just simply this, "Be the Church." We're coming down the home stretch in chapter five and I was kind of laughing as I'm reading 1 Thessalonians.
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You're going to see this as we go through these verses.
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It's almost like the mailman was coming down the street and they're like, "Paul, you need to finish this letter.
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"The mailman's coming." He goes, "But I have a lot more to say." Paul, the mailman's like, he's seriously, he's like three houses up.
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"But I got a lot more stuff I gotta say." Like, wrap it up, Paul, wrap it up.
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"But I gotta, well, just be quick about it." So he's like, "Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay, "all right, I'll pray." And he just like jams a bunch of truths into his shotgun and just POW!
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Just like hit you with a whole bunch of really impactful truths.
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We could spend 12 weeks on this section that I'm going to be looking at today.
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I've identified this week.
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There are about 12 different subject matters.
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We're not going to do that because I don't believe that's the way that Paul wrote it.
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Nor do I want this sermon to feel like it's 12 weeks long.
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We can just sum it up really.
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I was looking at this this week with all of these things that Paul's saying - all these last minute instructions for the church.
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How can we sum this up?
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And I think really the only way you can sum it up is Paul's just closing this letter saying look, just be the church.
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Alright?
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Just be the church.
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In other words, he says maximize your life in Christ.
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You have new life in Christ, you baby Christians.
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There are some things that you can do to maximize your life in Christ, individually and as a church.
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There are some things that you can do to cooperate with what the Holy Spirit wants to do in you, so you have a choice.
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You can cooperate with the Holy Spirit or you can kick against the goads.
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Never a great plan.
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So on your outline, P.S.
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Be the church.
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First of all, number one, Paul tells this young church, "Love intentionally." Love intentionally.
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Look at verses 14 and 15.
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Paul says, "And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak. Be patient with them all. See that no one repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone." He's saying a lot there, and if we're just going to put this under one heading, this section is, it's obvious what he's saying.
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He's saying you need to love intentionally. Love intentionally. And I love people. I love Where two or more are gathered, we're going to have drama.
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And Paul here, first of all, he gives us three specific troubled people and how to deal with them.
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Did you see that in verse 14?
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He gives three specific troubled people and how to deal with them.
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And I actually found pictures of these people on the internet.
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The first person he addresses are the idol.
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Do we have a picture of the idol guy?
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This is the idol that he addresses first.
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And he's saying, "I don't feel like it.
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I don't feel like it." This guy would rather do anything than work.
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He's content to come to church and to complain and to criticize, and I don't agree with the decisions that are made.
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"Well, how much are you part of making that decision?" "Well, I'm not, but I'm just telling you, I don't agree with..." See the Thessalonian church obviously had a problem.
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There were people that were like, "Oh, Jesus is coming back.
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Well, I'll just sit here and wait." And they got lazy.
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But you see when he talks about the idol, I want you to write this down because we are going to see this throughout, the difference in what he is teaching.
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Write this down.
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This is a problem of the will.
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This is important.
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This is a problem of the will.
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What is this guy's problem?
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This guy's problem is, it's his will.
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He won't get up and get involved.
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He doesn't feel like it.
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He has 12 excuses why he can't get plugged in at church.
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And he doesn't like the way things are going at church, but he's not going to be involved.
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It's a problem of the will.
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What does Paul say to do with that guy?
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He says to admonish him.
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We've already talked about this word.
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Same meaning.
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Admonish means give instruction with view towards change.
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a term that I thought was more common but I recently found out it is not. We've always called it giving the Dutch uncle talk. How many people have heard of giving the Dutch uncle talk? Just a couple of you? Okay look it up. A Dutch uncle talk is like the guy that's just gonna tell you how it is. You know he's not gonna poo-poo things like he's not gonna be like well I know maybe you don't feel like it maybe maybe you should go and maybe you should pray about possibly getting involved. Dutch uncle talk doesn't do that. Dutch uncle talks like, "Wipe the Cheetos off your chest, okay, fold the newspaper up, put your shoes on, and let's get to work. Come on, come on. You know what? Everybody would like to lay around. Laying around is easy, but there's work to be done, so get up, okay? Get up. Get on a program here." He says, "Admonish the idol. Give them that Dutch uncle talk." Now the second one, that's, by the way, idol is I-D-L-E, okay?
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Not I-D-O-L, we're not admonishing this statue.
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It's a lazy person, idle.
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That person needs a Dutch uncle talk.
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Secondly, the fainthearted.
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We have a picture of the fainthearted person.
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Oh yeah, there she is.
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What if this happens?
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This person is constantly worried, constantly anxious, constantly hates change, let's just keep everything as they are and you know what if we try this as a church and it doesn't work out and gosh I'm just so, I don't know if I can handle it. I mean there are people that are faint hearted. Whether it's anxiety or depression, right this is an emotional problem. I'm not making fun of this person, we're obviously making caricatures to illustrate the text, you get that right, but this person has an emotional problem. The other person had a problem of the will, "I won't, I won't do it." This person, they don't want to be like this. The anxiety, the depression, they don't want that. That's why they're called "fainthearted." It's an emotional problem. And what do we do with them? Well, what does your Bible say? When somebody is anxious, discouraged, when somebody is having an emotional No problem.
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They need encouraged.
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They need encouraged.
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Which means speak by coming close.
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In other words, this person needs a relationship in their life.
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They need somebody, a Christian brother or sister to come alongside and put an arm around and say, "We can do this.
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We can do this and we're going to do this together." I'm just really nervous about this.
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I have panic attacks and it just really concerns me.
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And this person needs encouraged.
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This person needs, "Hey, hey, I understand.
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We're gonna get through this, okay?
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We're gonna do this together.
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We're gonna walk through this together, okay?
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You don't gotta worry, we're on a team here, okay?" And they need encouraged.
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Then the third problem person listed here is the weak.
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Do we have a picture of the weak person?
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I could spend 20 minutes explaining why this is when you study God's Word and you can do this, but when it's talking about weak, it's talking about somebody who is spiritually weak, meaning they are susceptible to sin.
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That's what the word means.
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Susceptible to sin.
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Paul talks about that a lot in the latter chapters of Romans.
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They are susceptible to sin.
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This is the guy that's like, "I just can't help myself." Maybe he's got an addiction to pornography.
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Or maybe he's got some besetting sin in his life.
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He doesn't want it.
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He knows it's wrong.
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He's weak.
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"You had stuff on your computer again that you shouldn't be looking at?" And this is what he says.
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He says, "I can't help myself.
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I just can't help myself, man.
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I've tried and I can't help myself." Okay, so the idol, they have a problem of the will, right?
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The fainthearted has an emotional problem.
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This guy has a spiritual problem.
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He has a spiritual problem.
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What do you do with this guy?
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Well, what does your Bible say?
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The Bible says you help this guy.
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What do you mean help?
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It means you hold them up.
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In other words, Galatians 6 says, "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness." In a spirit of gentleness.
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This guy doesn't need kicked.
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This guy doesn't need you to come along and say, "I can't believe you screwed up again.
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What's the matter with you?" He doesn't need that.
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He needs help.
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He needs that person to come alongside and say, "Look, I know this sin has been a problem for you and we're going to make a plan.
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We're going to put filters on your computer.
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You're going to have accountability with one of our elders once a week.
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We're going to have Pastor Jeff call you every week to see how you're doing.
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We're going to get through this.
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We're going to study God's Word together about what it says about sexual purity.
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We're going to get through this together, okay?
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But you're getting help.
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We're not just going to overlook the problem here.
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You're getting help.
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We're putting a plan together.
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That's what you do with this guy.
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You got the idle, you got the faint-hearted, and you got the weak.
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But I want you to notice in God's Word, He uses very specific words on how to deal with each of them.
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You're like, "Yeah, I got that." You might have got that, but sometimes as a church we screw this part up.
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Bad.
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We screw this up.
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Now I wanted to make an illustration today.
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I wanted to bring a hammer.
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And I left my house and I forgot my hammer.
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So I, you know, running around here, "Anybody have a hammer?
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Anybody have a hammer?" Somebody gave me a hammer to use for my illustration.
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This came from the children's ministry.
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But the reason I wanted a hammer is there's an old expression, I know at least one of you know it.
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Did you ever hear the expression, "When your only tool is a hammer, you what?
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You treat every problem as a nail." When your only tool is a hammer, you treat every problem as a nail.
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And what does that mean?
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It means you have a one-size-fits-all approach to everything.
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This is exactly what Paul is talking about in this passage.
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See sometimes as a church, we have a one size fits all for everything.
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Like we can tell these guys, "You know what you need is you need some counseling, man.
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You just need some counseling." And so we have idle guy here and we get, "You just need some counseling, man.
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You need counseling." And we just get our hammer, "You need counseling." And then we go to a fainthearted lady and she's like, "Oh, I'm just really depressed." "You need counseling, lady.
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You need counseling." And then we get to the weak guy, "You need counseling!" And we treat every problem like it's a nail.
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And we have one tool in our tool belt, and this is the only tool that we use.
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But Paul used very distinct words in this passage.
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Because church, we can't use a one-size-fits-all approach.
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In this passage, I'm telling you, this passage revolutionized my ministry as a young pastor.
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because I used to be Mr. Hammer.
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Everybody got the Dutch Uncle talk no matter what.
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And I've learned over the years that some people don't need that.
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Some people need something different.
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And I remember as a young pastor studying this passage, and I was like, this is really what I need.
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In other words, you can't help the idol.
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You see, you can't help the idol.
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That guy that's lazy doesn't need to come to me for a seven session counseling series why he shouldn't be lazy. He doesn't need that. He needs the Dutch Uncle talk. You can't encourage the weak. Ok? The spiritually weak person? He doesn't need encouraged. He doesn't need the guy with his arm around saying "There, there, everything is going to be ok." You're not doing anything for that guy doing that.
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They need actual help. Let's get Miss Fainhearted You can't give her the Dutch uncle talk.
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He's like, "I'm just so depressed." And we're like, "Would you knock it off with the stupid depression?
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You've been using that excuse for four years now.
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It's getting a little old.
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Knock it off." You can't do that to her.
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You will crush her.
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You see, you can't do the one size fits all.
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God's Word says you need to evaluate when you have these problem people, is it a problem of the will, is it a problem of the emotions, or is it a problem of the spirit, and you have to address each of them accordingly. In other words, you need to meet people where they are. Small groups. This is the kind of stuff that needs to be happening in your small group. There needs to be transparency, and there needs to be authenticity, but you also have to be loving each other intentionally. Okay? Loving each other intentionally. So small group, or that person is in your breakout session of your small group, and they're having a problem, evaluate for yourself. Is this a problem of the will, the emotions, or the spirit? Do they need admonished? Do they need encouraged? Or do they need help?
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And Paul here is telling the church, listen, just love intentionally. Love intentionally. Verse 14.
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He says, "Be patient with them all." I'm glad he put that in there. Great reminder for me.
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Because that's the common denominator for all these problem people.
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Because let's be honest, whether somebody's idle, or faint hearted, or weak, sometimes those people can wear on you.
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Sometimes problem people just wear on you.
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And they can annoy you, they can bother you, they can frustrate you.
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That's why Paul says, "Look, whatever issue they're dealing with, pray for patience.
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It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit for a reason, because we need it.
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Be for patience.
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So be patient.
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Secondly, these are generals.
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He gives like three specifics and three generals here.
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He says be merciful.
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He says see that no one repays anyone.
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Evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
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So secondly, be merciful.
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Don't repay evil for evil.
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But then you get the guy that's like, "Okay, alright, Pastor Jeff, but doesn't the Bible say 'eye for an eye'?
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'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth'?
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Doesn't the Bible say that?" That is a gross misinterpretation of the Old Testament.
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Yes, the Bible says that.
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Listen, that was for Old Testament Jewish courts, okay?
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That is court of law stuff, meaning if somebody takes you to court, here's how you should judge, proper restitution should be made in the court. That has nothing to do person to person. Nothing to do with that. Jesus had to correct that in his ministry because some people took that verse and took it as this personal vengeance thing. You wronged me, I'm going to get you right back. It was never meant for that. It was never meant for that.
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That's why he says, "We don't do the eye for an eye thing." He says, "Nobody repays evil for evil here, ok?
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And he says, "Seek to do good to one another and to everyone." Be patient, be merciful in that last phrase. Be gracious. Actively love. Actively love, practice random undeserved acts of kindness, but be gracious, ok? So as Paul closes the letter, he says, "Church, you need to love each other intentionally." Love each other intentionally. Secondly, pray constantly. Pray constantly. Verses 16-18. He says, "Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Pray constantly. Like, well wait a second, we've got a contradiction How can I be doing both of those at the same time?
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If I'm supposed to always be doing one, I can't always be doing the other." And like, wow, that's not what he's saying.
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He's saying to constantly be walking in communion with an ever-present God.
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Because rejoicing and praying is really the same thing, isn't it?
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Isn't it really the same thing?
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You're talking to God, right?
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Rejoicing is just, "I'm praising God!" And prayer is just like, "I'm having a conversation with God.
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I'm telling God what I'm thankful for, and people in my heart that I want to pray for.
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He's just saying, the Holy Spirit lives in you.
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You should be in constant communion with the Lord.
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Constant communion.
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Constant communion.
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Worship is part of that.
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Not just, you know, sometimes we think of prayer, we think of just praying for needs, but that's just one part of it.
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Your prayer should include some worship time.
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That's why we printed up these, "How to Pray for an Hour." Some of you might be like, "You know what?
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My prayer life is really weak and I could use some guidance." This is just a guideline.
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That's all to say, "Here's how I can incorporate some other elements into my prayer.
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Praise, confession, petition, thanksgiving, singing as part of prayer." Do you do that when you're praying?
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Sing a worship song to God in your prayer.
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That's part of this, okay?
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Communing with God.
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Intercession.
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Closing with praise.
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This is just a great little guide to help you if you're wanting to incorporate some other elements into your prayer life, but you're not sure how.
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Use that.
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Use that.
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And pray constantly, constant communion.
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In verse 18, he says, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus for you." I want you in your Bibles to circle the word "in." Give thanks in all circumstances.
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Why is that important?
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Because he's not saying to give thanks for all circumstances.
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There's a huge difference between giving thanks in circumstances and giving thanks for circumstances.
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As most of you know, last week was the one year anniversary of a very good friend of mind who was killed in a motorcycle accident. I thought a lot about Mike the last week.
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And when I think about Mike, obviously I'm not thankful for his accident, right? I'm not thankful for his accident. I'm not happy that he had that accident. I can't say, "God, I'm so thankful that that happened." But I can be thankful in the circumstance. What thinking about Mike, I've been thinking about how thankful I am for the time that I did have with him. I'm thankful that he's reunited with his son who died. I'm thankful that Mike trusted Jesus Christ and I have no doubt where he's at today. I'm thankful that someday I'm going to see him again, whether I'm on the earth another 15 minutes or another few years, whatever. I know that someday I'm going to see him again. I have a lot of things that I can be thankful in the circumstance even though I'm not thankful that that circumstance happened. Does that make sense? The Bible doesn't tell you that we should be thankful for all things. The Bible says we should be thankful in all things. A huge difference.
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Let your communion with God be as natural and constant as breathing. So love intentionally and pray constantly.
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And thirdly, listen carefully.
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Listen carefully.
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Some of you are like looking at me.
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That's what goes into blank.
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Listen carefully.
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Listen carefully.
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Look at verses 19-21.
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He says, "Do not quench the Spirit.
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Do not despise prophecies, but test everything.
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Hold fast what is good." Carefully.
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First of all, he says, "Do not quench the Spirit." Ephesians 4.30 says, "Do not grieve the Spirit." What's the difference?
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Grieving the Holy Spirit is when you do something He tells you not to.
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Meaning you sin.
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That grieves the Holy Spirit.
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He doesn't leave you.
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You don't lose your salvation.
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But when you sin, Paul tells us in Ephesians 4.30, "You grieve the Holy Spirit." Holy Spirit is a person and a person with emotions.
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It grieves Him to see you doing things that hurt yourself.
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It grieves Him to see you doing things that are going to hurt other peoples or hurt your testimony.
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He doesn't want to see that.
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That grieves the Spirit.
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But here, Paul says, "Don't quench the Spirit." Grieving the Spirit is when you do something He tells you not to.
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Quenching the Spirit is when He tells you to do something and you ignore Him.
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When the Holy Spirit is calling you to do something, and you know He's speaking to you very clearly, and you're ignoring Him.
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You're drowning Him out.
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You're dumping water on the fire, so to speak.
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He is, "Don't quench the Spirit.
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Listen to the Spirit.
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Listen.
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Listen carefully.
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Listen to God." One of the ways that you listen to God is by listening to the preacher.
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You're like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, you just made that up." I didn't. Look at your Bible. He says, "Do not despise prophecies." Okay, "Do not despise prophecies." The word prophecies is a general term for the Word of God. While Paul was writing this, the Word of God was being written. Okay, so this was being transmitted to the church by somebody getting up saying, "We have a letter from the Apostle Paul," and they were reading the Word of God.
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Those were called prophecies.
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Paul says, "Do not despise them." The Greek word for "despise" literally means to think little of something.
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That's literally what it means.
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To think little of something.
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Do not think that it has very much importance.
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He says don't think little of the Word of God.
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Listen carefully.
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Do you understand the weight of this book?
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Do you understand the impact that this book has?
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You know the Pope is in town, did you hear about that?
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The last several days, I've always seen people gathering to listen and repeat and retweet things that the Pope has said.
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And it's just like, everybody is making a big deal about the Pope being in town, and I'm like, we've got the Word of God in our hands.
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And yet we're so much more reluctant to give that the weight that it deserves.
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But don't despise prophecies.
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He says test everything.
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Verse 21, "But test everything." You should test everything.
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When I get up and preach, you should evaluate the sermon by this criteria.
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Is that what the Bible says?
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You might not like what I say or agree with what I have to say, but when you go home, You should take your Bible and say, "Did Jeff just say what the Bible says?" And if I did, you've got a problem with God.
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If I didn't, then I have a problem.
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Okay?
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But did I say what the Bible said?
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You should test everything.
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I'm not expecting you to just swallow everything that I spoon-feed you, like, "Oh, okay, Jeff said it, so it's got to be true." Test everything here.
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Is that what the Bible says?
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I've had so many times in my ministry people like, "Well, I don't agree with you." And my response is, "Well, what does the Bible say?" "Well, it does seem to be saying that." I'm like, "Okay then, your problem is not with me." I was talking to a good pastor friend of mine last week.
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He had this guest preacher in that preached this sermon that...
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This guest preacher said that, "We are not sons of God until we get to heaven.
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and someday we become sons of God.
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And what we need to do in the meantime is to obey Jesus' new 10 commandments.
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Jesus has these new 10 commandments.
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It's like unity and truth and blah, blah, blah.
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And if you don't obey Jesus' new 10 commandments, then you're going to be shut outside the new Jerusalem that's talked about in the book of Revelation.
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He's telling me this story.
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I'm like, what did you do?
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He said, I had to get up and refute the sermon right there.
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He goes, "I was so uncomfortable.
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I had to get up and refute the sermon right there." He said, "I got up and I said, I'm just telling you, he goes, "I gotta tell you, I don't agree with anything that you said." He said, you know, John 1, 12 says, "To those who received Jesus Christ, he gave them, those who believed in his name, he gave them the right to become children of God." He goes, "So I don't agree with that.
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I believe that we're children of God the minute we receive Jesus Christ." He said, "And if it's not obeying Jesus 10 commandments, whatever that is, he said, "I would be so far outside of the New Jerusalem, I'd be on the other side of the planet." He goes, "Our entrance into heaven is based on the merit of Christ, not mine." But I give this pastor credit.
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He didn't just call for some private meeting or send him a text like, "Hey, you did a good job.
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A couple points I might not have worded that way." He just got up and took care of business right there on the spot.
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The point is this, you have to test everything.
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Even a guest preacher in a fundamental church can preach heresy.
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You test everything and he says, "Hold fast what is good." Hold fast what is good.
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Pretty obvious, right?
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Listen carefully.
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When the preacher is preaching the Word of God and you can rightly receive it as the Word of God, just hang on to that.
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Hang on to that.
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This is what the Bible says.
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Jeff said this in the sermon today and that's what the Bible says.
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He says, "Hold on to that stuff.
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Hold on.
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And then finally, be sanctified completely.
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Be sanctified completely.
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Verses 23-24.
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He says, "Abstain from every form of evil.
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Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely.
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May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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He who calls you is faithful.
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will surely do it.
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He says first of all, abstain from every form of evil. Don't fill your mind, don't associate, don't play around with sin.
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Stay away from sin. It's not even worth playing with. Abstain from every form of evil. Then he says, "May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.
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All of these other things that we've talked about this morning are an exercise of our will.
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Notice it's very clear that this is something that God does to you.
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Did you see that?
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May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.
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Did you see the difference there?
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He didn't say you go get sanctified.
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He said my prayer for you is that God would sanctify you.
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And we'll question, what does sanctification mean?
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Sanctification is just a fancy word talking about spiritual growth.
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Spiritual growth.
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You know, when you come to Christ, you're a baby Christian, right?
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And you're just reading the Bible for the first time and you're starting to understand things.
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Still a Christian, still saved, but you're just immature in the faith.
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And as you grow in the knowledge of God's Word, as you grow in maturity, as you grow and discernment, that process of growth is called sanctification.
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And you can't sanctify yourself any more than you can save yourself.
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Okay, sanctification is a work of God.
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That's why he says, "May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely." It's his prayer.
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Notice he says a couple times in there, "May, may." He says, "This is my hope for you.
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I want to see you grow to completion.
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I want to see you grow less and less attached to sin.
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I want to see you long for holiness more and more.
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That's one of the glorious things about salvation.
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God doesn't just save you and say, "I'll see you in heaven." When the Holy Spirit comes, He changes our appetites.
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That's something you see in sanctification.
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You grow more and more and more hungry for the things of God, and less and less hungry for the things of the world, because God has changed your appetites from the inside out.
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To be sanctified completely, you're like, "Man, that's a tall order.
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I can't sanctify myself at all, let alone do it completely." Look at verse 24, just in case you missed it.
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Paul says, "He who calls you is faithful.
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He will surely do it." Who's the burden on?
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The burden's on God to do that.
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Like is God going to keep His end of that?
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Paul's like, "Don't got to worry, because He who calls you is faithful." How faithful?
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100%.
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But gosh, you know, it's so hard though.
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It's just so hard.
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Sometimes I feel like I'm so immature and sometimes I wonder, sometimes I wonder, Paul, and Paul says, "He will surely do it." He will surely do it!
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Take it to the bank.
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Hold on to Christ.
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When we talked about sanctification, See that takes the pressure off, doesn't it?
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He's not saying here's your checklist of things that you need to do to grow in holiness.
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What he's saying is you pursue God because He's the one that will sanctify you.
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So just seek Him.
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Go after Christ.
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Pursue Jesus Christ.
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God will sanctify you.
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How does He do that?
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How does God sanctify you?
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I've got these three things down.
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Three ways that God sanctifies me.
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Number one is through His Word.
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Remember when Jesus prayed in the garden, John 17, verse 17, Jesus was praying to the Father.
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He said, "Sanctify them in the truth.
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Your Word is truth." How does God sanctify us?
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He does it through His Word.
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How does God sanctify us?
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How does God mature us?
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Secondly, He does it through circumstances.
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God allows trials in your life to refine you.
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He's not punishing you.
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He allows these things to come into your life so that He might refine you.
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And through that refining, you grow more mature.
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Through the Word, through circumstances, and then lastly, but I certainly don't think least, this is a big way that God sanctifies us through relationships.
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One of the main ways that God ministers to people is through other people.
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Honestly, I don't think that's a good plan, but God never asked me.
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"Jeff, what do you think?
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I'm thinking about reaching the world.
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I'm thinking I'm going to use people." I would have been like, "God, I don't think that's such a good idea because people are bums.
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People are failures.
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People are annoying.
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I mean, people drop the ball all the time, God.
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I don't think that's a good plan." He didn't ask me, okay?
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But the truth is, somebody is visiting today and they are like, "Oh my gosh, I am a bum." But God's plan is to let His glory be on display through us bums.
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And one of the biggest ways He will work in your life is through other people.
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That's why every week we are like, "Join a small group, join a small group, join a small group." Why?
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that you exchange in and out of these doors on Sunday isn't cutting it.
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Okay?
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Join a small group where we meet in each other's homes and we get in the Word together and we pray for each other.
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We put away our hammers, right?
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Join a small group if you haven't already.
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So God will sanctify you through the Word, through circumstances and through relationships.
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I'm going to round out the letter here.
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He says, "Brothers, pray for us." Meaning pray for your leaders.
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We've already talked about that.
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I know you are, and I can't even tell you how much I appreciate that.
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You need to pray for the elders and the ministry team of this church.
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He says, "Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss." He's saying, "Be intentional about your affection." Granted, in our culture, we don't typically run around kissing each other, and I'm not suggesting we start that trend.
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But what he's saying is just be intentional about the way you love each other, right?
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Just be intentional.
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Verse 27, I don't know, it just cracks me up.
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He's like, "I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers." Like, wow, Paul, settle down, we'll read it, okay?
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We'll read the letter, but he's just like, no, no, no.
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No, I put you under oath.
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Like, okay, I promise.
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No, no, you don't even have to promise.
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I'm promising for you.
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"You are going to read this letter." Like, "All right, Paul, we're gonna read this letter." And joking aside, it was just so important for the church to know what Paul was going to encourage them and it was just so important.
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Paul's like, "This young church needs encouraged.
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So listen, I'm not even giving you an option.
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You're reading the letter." Letter from Paul, should we read it?
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You're reading the letter.
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Maybe we'll read it next week.
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You're reading the letter today.
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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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with you. So, if we're going to be the church, let's recap. How are we going to love?
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Intentionally, right? We're going to love intentionally. How are we going to pray? Constantly. How are we going to listen? Carefully. And how are we going to be sanctified? Completely.
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The charge that Paul gives the Thessalonians is the same charge I'm going to close the in this series, in this message with you, be authentic, be genuine, and be the church.
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Father in Heaven, what a rich passage we've had the pleasure of discovering this morning.
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And Father, as we close this time in prayer, we just want to thank You for Your faithfulness.
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Because by nature, we do drop the ball.
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In nature, we do fail.
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And if it were up to us to make this happen, it never would happen.
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I love this reminder that Paul gives us that Father, You are faithful.
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You will surely do it.
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This work that You're doing, Father, it doesn't rest on me.
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It doesn't rest on our elders.
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It rests on You.
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Father, let us be a people who just pursue Jesus Christ and seek to understand Him more through your Word.
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Seek to commune with you more through prayer and through rejoicing.
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Let us be people who just pursue you and allow you to do that inside-out work that only you can do.
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You are faithful. You will surely do it.
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Father, I thank you to be a part of a church that simply just wants to be a genuine church.
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Not for show, not putting on some kind of performance.
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just a group of people that love you, want to grow in you, and want to make you known.
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Father, by your grace, let us move forward, we pray in Jesus' name.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:14-28
Review the "problem people" in verse 14. Have you had a tendency to treat all "problem people" the same? If so, how can you grow in this area?
Describe the difference between being thankful FOR all circumstances and being thankful IN all circumstances (v18). Give examples.
How do people quench the Spirit (v19)? How do people grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30)?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another. Confess any sin struggle.
