Review:
- By Who do you chose to FOLLOW ? (1 Thes 1:5-6a)
- Are they preaching the WORD ? (1 Thes 1:5a)
- Is the HOLY SPIRIT at work? (1 Thes 1:5b)
- Are the leaders AUTHENTIC followers of Christ? (1 Thes 1:5c)
- By how you RECEIVE the Word. (1 Thes 1:6)
- By how you SHARE Jesus. (1 Thes 1:8)
- By how you REPENT from sin. (1 Thes 1:9)
- By how you WAIT for Jesus. (1 Thes 1:10)
How do you evaluate who to "imitate"?
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above with your cursor for answers!
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00:00-00:03
Open up your Bibles with me please to the book of 1 Thessalonians.
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We're going to be in chapter 1.
00:07-00:08
Today we're celebrating Father's Day.
00:08-00:13
And before we get into God's Word, I just want to share something with you.
00:15-00:16
I had a wonderful father.
00:19-00:23
And he passed away quite a few years ago, back in 2003.
00:25-00:33
You know, when it comes to Father's Day, for some it is a hard time if your father's gone ahead to heaven.
00:35-00:42
But Father's Day is also a hard time for people, sort of like Mother's Day, that don't have children of their own.
00:44-00:46
And you think, well, this holiday isn't for me.
00:47-00:52
And I just want to encourage any guys that are here, maybe you don't have kids of your own right now.
00:54-00:55
but you're a dad to somebody.
00:57-00:59
I gotta tell you this crazy story.
01:00-01:11
Yesterday, our house is for sale and it was being shown, we had back to back showing, so we went to Sharp Shopper up in Knox.
01:11-01:13
How many people have ever been to the Sharp Shopper?
01:14-01:15
Show of hands, anybody been there?
01:15-01:16
Like one of you, okay.
01:17-01:19
One of you has been there.
01:19-01:30
Sharp Shopper is the greatest grocery store in the world and I'm, anybody that knows me knows out for shopping at all, but you can get like so much stuff for so little price.
01:30-01:36
Like they have like bags of cereal for like 79 cents and like it's good stuff.
01:36-01:40
I don't know why it's so cheap and it's one of those things I don't want to know why it's so cheap.
01:42-01:44
Okay, so if you find out, please don't tell me.
01:45-01:49
Like yeah, that was on a skid that the rats got to when they salvaged, so I don't want to know.
01:51-01:58
So we're in line and there was this other couple that were there with a bunch of kids that were running around and throwing stuff into carts like my kids were doing.
01:58-02:02
And so the guy kind of looked at me and smiled, like, yeah, you get this, right?
02:02-02:03
You know, kids in the grocery store.
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So we just started talking.
02:08-02:10
We were like, yeah, we make this trip up every so often.
02:10-02:14
Our kids love to come up here and it saves a lot of money in the long run.
02:14-02:16
And he goes, yeah, it's a little bit of a hike for us.
02:16-02:17
We actually live near Butler.
02:18-02:21
I said, oh, we live in Prospect currently.
02:23-02:24
And he goes, no kidding.
02:25-02:29
He says, I live on Eagle Mill Road, which is just down the road from us a ways.
02:29-02:30
We're practically neighbors.
02:32-02:33
I said, well, what do you do?
02:33-02:35
And he started talking about these jobs that he's had.
02:36-02:41
As he was running all these things down, he was talking about this one job he had.
02:41-02:42
He used to work with potassium.
02:43-02:45
And I said, well, hang on a second.
02:45-03:00
I said, "Did you know Mike Singer?" And he said, "Mike Singer was my best friend." I'm like, "It is such a small world." Many of you know Mike Singer was a dear friend of mine who had passed away last year.
03:01-03:03
Mike Singer was like a dad to me.
03:05-03:07
And why am I telling you this story?
03:09-03:15
Because even though he wasn't biologically my father, he has kids of his own, He wasn't biologically my father.
03:15-03:20
And though I had a wonderful dad, Mike was like a dad to me as well.
03:21-03:32
And it was such a sweet reminder for me yesterday, coming to Father's Day, to meet a guy like that who Mike had an impact on his life as well.
03:32-03:35
So guys, I just want to encourage you.
03:36-03:40
Even if you don't have kids of your own, you're probably a dad to somebody.
03:41-03:44
And to that somebody, you mean the world to them, okay?
03:45-03:49
You're like, "Well, why are you telling us that?" Because we have gifts for fathers today, all right?
03:50-03:56
And if you're a father, or if you're a father figure to somebody, we invite you to stop by the table.
03:56-04:01
We would love, as our way of honoring you, to say thank you and present you with a gift, okay?
04:03-04:04
Everybody with me?
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All right.
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So where are we at?
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Thessalonians chapter 1. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I do thank you for the fathers that are here today and whether they've had kids of their own or whether they have been like a dad to somebody, we thank you for the influence that you have through godly men. And just now, Father, I pray that we would take these next few moments and really zero in on Your Word.
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Allow Your Holy Spirit to teach us.
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Father, this isn't just an exercise in reciting some academic factoids learned about an ancient book.
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This is coming into Your presence to hear the Word of the living God and let us regard Your Word as such.
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Father, we thank you, we praise you, and just now we ask that you would give us eyes, spiritual eyes, to take an honest assessment of ourselves as we look at the mirror of your Word.
05:23-05:25
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
05:26-06:02
First Thessalonians chapter 1, recall we are just starting this epistle to a very young church. And last week we saw that the Apostle Paul started this message by talking about how authentic they are. He says, "You are an authentic church." And he said, "It's obvious you're authentic by the way that I see the big three in you." What are the big three? Faith, love, and hope. And Paul says, "I can see your authenticity because you have a faith that works, you have a love that labors, and you have a hope that keeps you steadfast.
06:04-06:23
Look at v. 4 where Paul writes, "For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our Gospel came to you, not only in word, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction.
06:25-06:34
You know what kind of men we prove be among you for your sake, and you became imitators of us and of the Lord.
06:35-06:50
For you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
06:52-07:02
For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but That your faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that we need not say anything.
07:03-07:10
For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception that we had among you.
07:12-08:01
And how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for His son from heaven whom he raised from the dead Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come first of all in verse 4 he says for we know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you you know the Bible teaches if you're a follower of Jesus Christ if you're born again that God has chosen you. You're like, "Well, I thought that I chose to follow Jesus." That's true. The Bible certainly teaches that, but the Bible also teaches that God has chosen you. Do I understand that? No.
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Can I explain it? No.
08:05-08:06
Do I believe it? Yes.
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My best understanding of that is just He is God, and I am not.
08:16-08:18
I live in time and space.
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I've always lived in time and space.
08:20-08:23
I don't know any type of existence outside of time and space.
08:24-08:26
God lives outside of time and space.
08:27-08:31
There are things that make sense to God that don't make sense to me, because I live in time and space.
08:32-08:41
So when the Bible says, "Yes, I choose God, but at the same time God chooses me," my response is, "Okay." And it's really easy to get caught up in that, but that's really not the point here.
08:42-08:45
The point that Paul is making, he's saying, "We know that you're saved.
08:47-08:49
We know that you're saved." And look at verse 7.
08:49-08:50
Verse 7 is the key here.
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You need to underline this phrase.
08:53-09:05
He says, "So that you became an example to all the believers." See, everything that we read leading up to that verse, Paul was making his point.
09:06-09:10
All of these things are true so that you became an example.
09:11-09:14
Then he says in verse 8, "For not only," and he goes on.
09:15-09:22
The key in this passage is Paul saying, "You authentic Christians became an example.
09:23-09:35
You became an example." And that's the funny thing about being an example, is that you don't have a choice in whether or not you want to be an example.
09:36-09:37
You don't have a choice in that.
09:38-09:47
I recalled this week a great quote from Charles Barkley, controversial basketball-- former basketball player, now sports analyst.
09:48-09:59
But you remember Charles Barkley in the '90s in the midst of some of the controversy and some of the people saying, well, you should conduct yourself more appropriately because you're a role model.
09:59-10:03
Charles Barkley said, I'm not a role model.
10:04-10:09
Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids.
10:10-10:10
You remember that?
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Charles Barkley says, I'm not a role model.
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Just because I can dunk a basketball doesn't mean that I should raise your kids.
10:20-10:22
And I'm thinking, I didn't even know that was an option.
10:23-10:30
Thank you for clarifying, Mr. Barkley, because first of all, I didn't even know it was an option for Charles Barkley to raise my kids.
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But he made sure he put that out right away.
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Listen, I want to make things clear.
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You look at my resume.
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Yes, my resume says I can dunk a basketball.
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But what my resume does not say is that qualifies me to raise your children.
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And I was thinking about that quote this week.
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I wish we could all get away with saying something like that.
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Because you know why he said that.
10:56-11:02
What he was saying was, if I behave badly, this will take me off the hook because, look, I'm not an example for your kids.
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I'm like, "Man, that's genius." 'Cause then you can do whatever you want and just say, "Don't do what I do "because I'm not a role model," right?
11:12-11:26
You drop something on your foot at work and you use a word that you wouldn't use in church and your non-Christian friends that know you're a Christian look at you like, "I can't believe you just said that." You just, "Hey, hey, hey, I'm not a role model, okay?
11:28-11:52
"I'm not a role model." Or, you know, when you're dad, you're sitting on the couch and your wife is working and doing stuff, and you say to your kids, "Hey, why don't you go help your mother?" And your kids say, "Well, why aren't you helping mom?" You can say, "Look, I'm not a role model, okay?
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You help your mother, I'm not a role model." See, it just gets you out of things so easily, doesn't it?
11:59-12:00
Just play the "I'm not a role model" card.
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You can do whatever you want.
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I showed up at small group last week without my Bible.
12:08-12:10
I was mortified.
12:10-12:15
I'm in the car, halfway there to small group, and I'm just like, "Ahh!
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I don't have my Bible!" I get to walk in to the shame of everybody knowing that I didn't have my Bible.
12:26-12:29
So since I was studying for this message, I just played that card.
12:30-12:35
Like, "Pastor Jeff, you don't have your Bible?" I'm like, "Look, I'm not a role model, okay?
12:36-12:38
"Do as I say, not as I do, okay?
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"Just because I can look at basketball "doesn't mean I should be like preaching your sermons "or whatever." Well, kidding aside, you are an example.
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You are an example.
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You can't play that card.
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You can't just, like Charles Berkeley, try to get out of whatever you want because you say, "Well, I'm just not an example." You are an example.
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The only question is this, are you a good example or are you a bad example?
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Those are really the only two options.
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Young believers in this church are watching you.
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Are you a good example or are you a bad example?
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Little eyes at home are watching you, dads, Father's Day.
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Little eyes at home are watching you.
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Are you a good example or are you a bad example?
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I heard my favorite preacher say one time, "You win people to who you are, "not to who you say you are." So are you worth following?
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Because this theme comes up many times through 1 Thessalonians about being an example, modeling the faith.
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And it's so important.
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It is so important that Christians model the faith.
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Why?
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Because we come to church and we say, okay, the Bible says husbands love your wives.
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And young believers sitting in this church are like, okay, I agree.
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So what does that look like?
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How are they going to see what it looks like for men to love their wives?
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How are they going to see what that looks like?
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They're going to see that when you give the example.
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Here is how you love your wife.
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When the Bible tells us about how we should raise and discipline and disciple our children, young believers, you know, a lot of babies in this church that are like, "Hey, I want to disciple this little guy for the Lord.
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How do I do that?" They do that by looking at the example that you're setting.
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This is how you teach your children about the Lord.
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This is how you set an example.
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You see, being the example That's what it puts, flesh on the application of God's Word.
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So as authentic followers, what kind of example should we display for other believers?
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I want you to jot these things down.
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First of all, on your outline, under "Be an example." This all comes straight from the text.
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How are the Thessalonians an example, and how should we be an example to other believers?
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Number one, by who you choose to follow.
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by who you choose to follow.
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Let's look at verses 5 and 6 again.
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He says, "Because our Gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction.
15:39-15:43
You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
15:44-15:52
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord." First of all, you need to be an example by who you choose to follow.
15:54-15:58
Authentic believers are the result of the ministry of other authentic believers.
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The word in the Greek for "imitate" is actually where we get the English word "mimic." And Paul commends them.
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He says, you know, you imitated us and the Lord.
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You found some people that were imitating the Lord.
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And you imitated the people that were imitating the Lord.
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And that's where discernment comes in.
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This is something I didn't know as a very young Christian.
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And that is, you don't just follow anyone.
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Notice he says in verse 5, "You know what kind of men You proved to be among you.
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And you imitated us.
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But the point is you don't just follow anyone.
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I know as a very young Christian, I was saved through a stranger sharing the Gospel with me at community college.
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And as a young Christian, I was just trying to figure a lot of things out.
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Before I got plugged into a church that helped disciple me and again, this is just speaking out of my ignorance - trying to figure things out on my own, like, okay, I want to follow Jesus.
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What does that look like?
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I remember I subscribed to this magazine.
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It was this ultra Pentecostal magazine, but at the time I'm like, well, this thing's called Christian and it's a Christian magazine.
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So this Christian magazine will teach me what it means to become a Christian.
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You're like, that was your plan, huh?
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Yeah, that was my plan, okay?
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Didn't know a lot.
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That was where I started.
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So I subscribed to this magazine, and all through this magazine, they kept talking about the Toronto Blessing.
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How many people remember the Toronto Blessing of 1994?
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You remember that?
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Some of you do?
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So I'm reading this magazine, and I'm thinking, the Toronto Blessing, that's what it's all about.
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That's what it means to be a Christian.
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And you know what happened in the Toronto Blessing?
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It was the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, In January 1994, the belief was that the Holy Spirit showed up, and it manifested as the people were all laughing hysterically.
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Some people were roaring like lions, and there were a lot of people - I'm not making this up, you can research this - the Holy Spirit was manifesting himself as people were dry heaving.
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Okay?
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That's how they knew that the Spirit was manifesting Himself in the church.
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Everybody in the church was just, "Ugh, ugh, ugh!" If I walk into a church and everybody's doing that, I'm turning around and walking back out.
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Okay?
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I'm like, "I'm not vaccinated to be in that church." But they believed that that was the big manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and at the time I didn't know any better.
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So I'm just like, I went through this period, again before I got plugged into a church, I went through this period of like, well, I'm not sure if I'm an authentic Christian because I don't roar like a lion.
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I'm more like a kitten.
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And the only time I dry heave is when, you know, the mayonnaise comes out.
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And I was like, I'm not getting it.
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What am I not getting?
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Well, here's what I wasn't getting, was the fact that you need to use discernment in who you follow.
19:37-19:42
And you're like, "Okay, well then how do you evaluate who to imitate?
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How do you evaluate which ministry to follow?" Jot these down.
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It's on your outline, and they're all right from the text, okay?
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I didn't have to make this up.
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It's all right in there.
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How do you evaluate who to imitate?
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First of all, are they preaching the Word?
19:59-20:00
Look at verse 5.
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"Because our gospel came to you not only in word." Let's stop there.
20:04-20:09
He said not only in Word, but we can't skip over that because it did come in Word.
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Right?
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It did come in Word.
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Not just that, but it had to be at least that, because the Gospel doesn't come apart from the Word of God.
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That's how you evaluate.
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First of all, should I follow this ministry?
20:28-20:30
Well, are they preaching the Gospel?
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Is this a church that I should belong to?
20:33-20:34
Are they preaching the Gospel?
20:35-20:38
Are they saying this is what the Word of God says?
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Secondly, this is a great question to ask, is the Holy Spirit at work?
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He says not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
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Is the Holy Spirit at work?
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Like how do you know the Holy Spirit is at work?
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People are saved.
20:58-21:00
Prayers are being answered.
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Lives are being changed.
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Are you seeing those things happen in the church?
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Can you see things happening in the church?
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You say that is the Holy Spirit at work.
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Then letter C.
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Are the leaders authentic followers of Christ?
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That's why Paul says at the end of verse 5, You know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake.
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Look at the leaders of the church.
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Look at the elders.
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Look at the people that head up ministries.
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Are they people of integrity?
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That's why Paul says, you know, you knew to follow us because you knew what kind of people we were.
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You knew we weren't people that were telling you one thing and doing something else.
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You knew we were people that not just preached the gospel, but lived in the power of the gospel and had integrity.
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Our lives lined up what we said we believed.
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So as kids go off to college and as people move on, people have to know how to pick a church.
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Show them.
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Be an example by who you choose to follow.
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Secondly, be an example by how you receive the Word.
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Be an example by how you receive the Word.
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Did you see that in verse 6?
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He says, "And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the Word much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit." The Bible speaks much about how you should be ready to receive God's Word. Okay? And sometimes people go to church and they leave and they say, I hear the reports, they say, "I didn't really get a lot out of church today." Anybody here ever said that?
22:47-23:22
Look at some people like not afraid to raise their hands. I like that. "I really didn't get a lot out of church today. You know what? Sometimes that's my bad. But biblically, sometimes that's your bad. The Bible says you need to be ready to receive the Word. James talks about that in James chapter 1. Prepare yourself to receive the Word. And if you come not ready to receive the Word, you're going to leave saying, "I didn't get anything out of that." The Word was presented to you, you just came not ready to receive it.
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Be an example by how you receive the Word.
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How ready are you?
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Do you read ahead?
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You come to church with Bible in hand, ready to study.
23:35-23:40
Dads, what kind of example do your kids see during sermon time?
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Do they take notes?
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They see you taking notes.
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Do they see you sitting there?
23:47-23:54
open studying the Word? Or do your kids see you on the phone texting?
23:56-24:06
Anybody texting right now? Confession is good for the soul. Start checking the phones at the door like in the Old West. You checked your gun when you came in? We'll start checking phones.
24:08-24:16
Do your kids see you doing that? Oh this is a really great sermon, but I need to tweet something real quick. Do your kids see you doing that?
24:16-24:20
Do your kids see you, you know, "Can't wait till this is over.
24:20-24:24
How much longer is this going on?" Your kids, is that what your kids are seeing?
24:25-24:27
And your kids are like, "Oh, okay, here's what I see from dad.
24:28-24:29
Sermon time's not that important.
24:30-24:38
Sermon time is play with the smartphone time and think about other things time and, you know, count down the minutes till we get out of here time." Is that what they're seeing?
24:40-24:43
Because if so, you're setting an example.
24:45-24:46
You're setting an example.
24:46-24:47
What do your kids see?
24:48-24:52
What do the young believers in this church see about the way that you receive the Word?
24:53-25:02
But notice, Paul says, "You receive the Word in much affliction." That's when people need to receive the Word the most.
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And you need to show others how to receive the Word and how to trust the Word during your trials.
25:11-25:13
People need to see that from you.
25:14-25:16
You need to set an example for that.
25:18-25:21
You know when I was preparing this I was thinking about actually the Stroops.
25:21-25:30
Remember Milo was in the hospital and came down to see you guys and Ryan and Sarah were both talking about the things that the Lord was teaching them in the midst of this trial.
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And as a dad, I can't think of a worse trial than something happening to my kid, right?
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Like parents testify to that.
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Like yeah, I go through stuff, whatever, but when it's your kid, isn't that like a trillion worse. And you know here's Ryan and Sarah going through this trial with Milo's health and you know on one hand you would say they have every right to be scared and despondent and discouraged and instead they were talking about here's some things that the Lord is teaching us through this trial. What an example they served of receiving the word in affliction. I would encourage you to take a page out of their book.
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Receiving the Word in affliction.
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Set an example.
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People need to know how to allow God's Word to sustain them in trials.
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Show them how you receive the Word.
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Thirdly, how do you be an example?
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Again straight from the text, by how you share Jesus.
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Did you see that in verse 8?
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"For not only has the Word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but that your faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that we need not say anything.
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An example, in witnessing nothing slick or cheesy, just sounding the Word of God.
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As Christians, we should just have a natural desire to talk about the Gospel.
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We should have a natural desire to talk about the things of the Lord.
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If we love the Lord, it should be natural.
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And you know what, there is great benefit in evangelism classes and here's how to share your faith type classes.
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There's benefit in those things.
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But your greatest tool in sharing the Lord with people is just your own personal love for him because it's gonna be very natural.
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Several years ago I was at one of those outdoor car shows and I ran into this guy who's actually the dad of people we went to school with.
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And I recognized him, like hey, how are you doing?
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And just got chit-chatting.
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he had this bag of model cars.
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I said, "What do you got there?" And he pulled these model cars out and he was just like showing me these cars.
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And just his eyes were lit up.
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He was so excited to talk to me about, how much do you think I knew about model cars?
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How much?
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I knew nothing.
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I didn't know a thing of what he was talking about, but for a half hour, I'm like, I'm listening.
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You know what's so fascinating to me about that?
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was just how excited he was about these model cars.
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That fascinated me more than the cars themselves.
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I'm like, he loves these things, that's why he's not shy about talking about them.
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And that's how it is with the Lord.
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When you love the Lord, you're not shy about talking about them.
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When you love the Lord, and you love seeing what the Lord's doing, you're not shy about inviting people to church.
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And we've showed you this before, it's easy.
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It's easy.
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You know, you have that person that maybe they're going through a trial, and you've been thinking, oh, I really wish that that person would get to church.
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How are they gonna get there?
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How are they gonna get there?
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Here's how.
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Like, you know, sounds like you've really been going through a hard time lately, and you know what, man?
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The Lord has been really showing me some amazing things.
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I'd like you to come to church with me sometime.
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We meet at Harvest Bible Chapel, we're in the school auditorium.
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Why don't you come sometime?
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I would love for you to come and sit with us at church.
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And Jesus Christ can make a huge difference, a huge change in your life.
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Why don't you come to church?
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We have those little magnets on the table.
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Give people the magnet.
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Hey, all right, all the information is on our website.
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I would love for you to come.
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It's that easy.
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It's that easy.
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You're like, well, I don't know if they have a church or whatever.
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Ask them.
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Do you have a church home?
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They're like, no.
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I would love for you to come and join us.
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It is that easy.
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But you see, that's what Paul commended these Thessalonians for.
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He said, the word of the Lord sounded forth.
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You're broadcasting it.
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And for you parents that want your kids to be witnesses in school, I hear parents say that.
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You know, I really want my kids to be witnesses in the public school.
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Well, mom and dad, do they see you being a witness?
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Do your kids see you passionately sharing Christ with unsaved neighbors, unsaved coworkers, telling your kids, hey, I invited this coworker to church, pray that they come.
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Because if your kids don't see you fired up and set an example for it, What makes you think they're gonna go to school and be fired up about sharing the gospel with anybody there?
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They need an example.
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And that's what Paul commended these guys for.
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You are an example.
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So much so Paul's like, so I didn't even need to say anything.
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That's kind of a bummer for a preacher, right?
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I was like so ready to brag about you guys, but the word is going out so much so that I don't even need to say anything.
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So be an example by who you choose to follow, by how you receive the word, by how you share Jesus.
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Fourthly, be an example by how you repent from sin.
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Look at verse 9.
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"They themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." These Thessalonians had a radical transformation.
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They went from serving idols to serving the living and true God.
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the ways they set the example is by how they repented from sin. You see as a church we need to be serious about sin and we need to be serious about turning from it. And if you regard sin as a light and trivial thing, dads, so will your kids.
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Oh yeah, yeah I'm involved in this sin, but you know what nobody's perfect and Everybody makes mistakes and...
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Is that what you want to disciple your kids to?
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Sin's not that big of a deal.
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Sin is a huge deal.
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My sin killed the Son of God.
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That is a huge deal.
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My sin is so horrible that God took His only Son and allowed Him to die on the cross in my place.
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Is sin a big deal?
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It's a big deal to God, and it's kind of hipping the church to just kind of trivialize it.
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No big deal.
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It's no big deal.
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It's no big deal.
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It is a huge deal.
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And Paul commended the Thessalonians.
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He goes, "You guys are such an example because you were worshiping these dead gods, and you turned to worship the living and true God.
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What an example of repentance you served.
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If you regard sin as a light thing, as a trivial thing, your kids will, your small group will, other people in the church will.
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We can establish a culture of trivializing sin and heaven forbid we ever get to that point.
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So I would ask who's here today that's ready to set an example?
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Is there somebody here today that says, "You know what?
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I have been living with a sin in my life that I know I've needed to repent of and the Lord has been convicting me of this and I know I just need to stop doing this stupid thing and I've just been putting it off." Who's going to be an example today?
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Is there somebody that says, "You know what?
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Today's the day.
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Today's the day I'm done playing around with this stupid sin, and I'm going to repent from it, and I'm going to set an example for my kids.
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Look, what daddy was doing was wrong, but now I'm going to do what's right.
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Who's ready to set that example today?
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Because you're setting an example about the way you view sin.
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People need to see the radical turning from sin that comes in Jesus, and you need to show them.
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And then finally, be an example by how you wait for Jesus.
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Be an example by how you wait for Jesus.
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Look at verse 10.
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He says, "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." We talked about hope last week, and it's a major theme in 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
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This idea of hope, the return of Jesus Christ, end times, nobody talks about it because nobody thinks about it.
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How much in the past week have you thought about the return of Jesus Christ?
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How much in the past week have you thought about eternity?
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You see here Paul commends the Thessalonians that I would commend to you that you need to set an example in taking the long view.
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The life that you're living right now is here and gone in an instant.
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And how we view death, how we view trials, how we view moral decay, all of these things are shaped by the thought that we are just passing through.
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All of those things are shaped by the thought that we are just passing through.
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That changes the way we think about death, doesn't it?
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I got word that a dear friend of mine passed away Friday.
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One of the secretaries at my old church, ALS, and her daughter found her, passed away.
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And you see, sad, yes.
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Time for grieving, yes.
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Much rejoicing because this person is in heaven now.
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This person is done with ALS for eternity.
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Is that reason to rejoice?
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you gotta take the long view.
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You gotta take the long view.
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The trial that you're going through now, you're gonna be in heaven in like 10 minutes.
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And you're gonna look back on this life, and you're gonna be like, I was so worked up over that.
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That was like a second.
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Taking the long view affects the way we look at things now.
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Your moral decay, we just had this conversation, didn't we, Bob?
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We were just talking about the moral decay, and things are getting worse and things are gonna get much worse before they get better.
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And how do we wrap our brain around this?
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It's by taking the long view.
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Things are not going to be as they are forever.
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Jesus Christ is going to come back and he's going to make everything right.
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Perfect justice.
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But you gotta take the long view because we are just passing through.
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When I travel, whether it's to go to a conference or a pastor's meeting, or there's the pastor's retreat we had in Phoenix, or Harvest U, or one of those things.
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But when I travel and I'm in another town, and I'm in the hotel room, something I absolutely will not do is watch their local news.
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I won't do it.
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And my wife will tell you why.
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Because I always say, if we're in the hotel and the news is on, I'm like, "Turn that off." Like, why?
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Because that's none of my business.
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That's why.
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Their news is not my business.
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Usually when I'm at a hotel, what I'm doing is I'm on the phone checking Pittsburgh news.
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Why?
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Because that is my business.
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It's like the news will be on in the hotel when they're like, you know, security being heightened up for the biker rally that's coming into town tomorrow.
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I'm like, don't care.
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And they're like, we're getting ready to celebrate our 76th annual Cherry Festival in downtown tomorrow.
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I'm like, "Don't care." They're like, "Storm's coming through." I'm like, "I don't care.
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"Have fun with the rain.
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"I don't care, I don't care." And then they're like, "Local sports team, "you know, lost another one." I don't care, I don't care.
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Why don't I care?
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Because that's not my home.
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I'm just passing through.
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You see, we need to take that view of how we live life on the earth.
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I'm not saying that we shouldn't care about the things that are happening, But what I am saying is, we shouldn't get so wrapped up that we get into this place of despondency about the things that are happening around us, because like me staying in that hotel, I'm there and gone.
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And you on this earth, you're going to be here and you're going to be gone.
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This is the view that Christians carry.
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I'm passing through.
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I just want to glorify Jesus along the way.
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going to need to see how we view life in light of eternity? Show them. Show them what it looks like to view life in light of eternity. Show them how a believer grieves. Show them that. Show them that yes, we can grieve and yes, we can feel sad when we lose someone.
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But when we take the long view and we understand what Christ purchased us, what Christ is preparing for us. Take the long view. People need to see that and they need you to show them.
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You know, for those of you sitting here today that claim Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are an example to others. You're an example to your kids, you're an example to the church, and you're an example to your unsaved friends and co-workers, you are an example. What kind of example are you proving yourself to be?
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Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for the example that you gave us through the Thessalonians. Father, forgive us when we want to take a lazy attitude and say, "Well, I'm not perfect. Nobody should look at me. Nobody should follow me.
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As soon as people know that we're followers of Christ, we know that they are evaluating us.
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They're evaluating the Gospel through us.
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And we know that none of us are perfect, but what they should see is someone who trusts the Lord.
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What they should see is someone who even when we fall, we get back up and we're determined to do the right thing.
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So Father, I pray especially today of all days as we talk about Father's Day, eyes are watching us.
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Lives are going to be patterned by the way that we live our lives.
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I pray Father, that like the Thessalonians, we would prove to be godly examples.
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It's in Jesus' name that we pray.
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Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10
List more evidences, from this passage, that the Thessalonians are authentic.
In which of these areas do you struggle most to be a good example? How can you grow in this area?
Name a struggle you are going through right now. How does the return of Jesus change the way you think about that struggle?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for the example you are setting for your kids (moms and dads) and others who are watching!
