Book of 1 Peter - Ch. 4, Vs. 1-16 (10/27/2002)

Park Meadows Church

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Chapter 4, verse 1, Forasmuch, then, as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh.

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Joy, who was Christ in the flesh? All right.

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How did Christ suffer, David? All right, but how did

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Christ suffer? There it is.

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He suffered by separation for us in the flesh.

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That tells me that God came to this earth, took on fleshly form, and while he was in the flesh, he suffered separation from himself.

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Forasmuch, then, as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh. Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.

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Now, Virg, how in the world can we do that? All right.

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Dennis, how can we be of like mind, the same mind as Christ had when he was here on earth?

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All right. Joy is suffering physical?

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Is hurting physical? Then you think that the suffering is physical and the hurting is physical.

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Well, let me see if we can straighten this out.

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David, is suffering physical or spiritual? All right.

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Forasmuch, then, as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh. Greg, what do you think of when you think of just that part?

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All right. Then he suffered on the cross? All right.

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When did he suffer? I hope we can get that straight in our mind.

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Because he suffered for me. It was while he was in the flesh, like me, that he suffered.

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For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.

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What does that mean, Greg? For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.

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All right. All right. Now, David, does our new body, our new life, does it suffer?

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All right. Move on to the second verse. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of man, but to the will of God.

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Now, Greg, that he, the he is who?

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All right. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of man, but to the will of God.

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How long are you going to be in this flesh, Greg? All right.

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As long as you're, we call it, alive in the physical. You will not suffer from the lust of men.

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You will not suffer because of that. Christ suffered for us.

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He was separated for us. We find that any suffering we do in the flesh causes us to want to cease to sin.

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That's just logical. This is only natural that we would want to cease from sin.

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If it causes me suffering, and that's separation from God. If we cease from sin, we grow slowly toward being sinless.

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Is that true? Now, joy is the will of God being done at any time.

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All right. Now, drive that peg down deep and hang on to it.

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Because we have to realize it. To not do so, that is sin, is to live a miserable life.

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All blessings are spiritual. What do I mean by that, Greg? All right.

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All growth is spiritual. Greg, what do I mean by that? All right.

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And he says all suffering is spiritual. Explain that. All right.

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We should look at every event as a saint. What do

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I mean by that? Not from man's point of view.

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Verse 3. What kind of a person was he describing there,

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Greg? All right.

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Now, Verge, have we all spent enough time in that life?

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Yes. Christianity suffers today not only in the foreign governments, but it's attacking us right here in this country.

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And it will become more so. When I was young, growing up, very isolated, didn't have worldwide communication on such an easy scale, we didn't know what was going on in the other county.

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We didn't suffer that much. But it's different now.

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There must be and shall be a day of accounting. Why is this,

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Dennis? All right. Verge, what does he mean there's never been one?

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That's right. Yes. Well, we're supposed to be free.

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That's not the worst thing. It's just not going to help us out in this business.

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Well, it could be. Because there's nothing true on the television. And we all watch too much of it.

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Now, Greg, why must there be an accounting of man?

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Yes. There must be. All right.

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The human being is made accountable. We're made that way.

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We shall give an account, not of my neighbor, but of me. Now, Joy, who do we give this account to?

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Christ. The supreme universal judge.

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Both of the quick and the dead. Dennis, what do I mean quick? Why? Alive.

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Verse 4. What's that mean,

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Greg? All right.

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They think it's very strange. Yes. That's the only sign we have.

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The only way the world will know that you're different is that if you're different.

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That we be not moved with our enemies. Verse 5.

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Who shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead?

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Those that are already dead and those that are living are the ones that will give an account to him.

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Who does that include, Greg? What?

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Everybody. The quick and the dead. No one will escape. No matter where you are, where you hide, whatever you want to say.

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And boy, oh boy, you talk about a judgment. Verse 6.

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For, for this cause, was the gospel preached also to them that are dead?

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Now, when was it preached to them that are dead, David? When they were alive, it was preached to them.

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That they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

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The Christian life is a banquet, but it's no picnic.

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Now we come to where we left off last week. Verse 7. But the end of all things is at hand.

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Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. Now, Greg, but all, but the end of all things is at hand.

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Is at hand. What's he mean? All right, that's very good.

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The word watch is a military term. It means to be on guard continually.

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Be sober. Make a prudent and moderate use of all of your processes.

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All that you possess. And watch against all occasions for sin.

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Pray for the supporting hand of God to be upon you for good.

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That you may escape the destruction that is coming. And that you may be saved from among them when the affliction comes.

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Verse 8. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves.

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For charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Now we're supposed to, first of all, have fervent charity.

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David, what's the word fervent mean? Say it again.

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All right. Above all things have fervent charity.

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Greg, what's charity mean here? Love. Dennis, what kind of love?

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All right. He says that love will cover a multitude of sins.

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Will cover the multitude of sins. How can that be,

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Joy? It's love.

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All right. David has a boy.

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What if the boy does wrong? Will David still love him? More.

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More. Does it mean that our love to others will induce

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God to pardon their offenses, Greg? No. No way.

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It will affect us, but not God. David, can you affect

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God with anything? Nine, use hospitality one to another without grudging.

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Now, can you use hospitality and grudge,

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Greg? Just make it a rule that that which you have received at no cost, you give at no cost.

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As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of manifold grace of God.

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Now, David, even as every man hath received the gift, what's that tell you?

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All right. They can certainly refer to that. As good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

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What's manifold mean, Greg? All right.

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Virg, is your gift given to you for you? No, I'm talking about a gift that's given the ability to do something.

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No. No. This is the gift of the manifold grace of God.

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Manifold means many. Well, he's not talking about salvation because he said many.

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All right, but we can tie it down a little closer than that. The gifts that are given are given to you for the benefit of who?

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You? Others. You have no gift that is given just to you for you.

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Greg, you are to share your gift, whatever it is. That's right.

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That's right, and held accountable for it. So we're held accountable to God in Christ for the gifts he has given me and you.

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No. The gifts are given for the benefit of others.

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We are to minister one to another. That is to improve our gift.

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It improves with your giving of it. Any questions?

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Yes. Yes. He's using it for himself.

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If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.

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If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability of which

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God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever.

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Amen. Now, if any man speak, well, we have lots of people speaking.

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This person is supposed to speak as the oracles of God. What's that mean,

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David? Yes. That's right.

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Absolutely. Greg? That's right. How many conversations would that cut out?

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Yes. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability of which

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God giveth. Now, minister. Virg, what's minister mean? Great.

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Or to wait tables? Sir. All right. Now, Joy, even that is given by God to Christ for us.

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The ability to minister doesn't mean only the minister standing here or the minister seated here or the minister seated there.

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It means ministry, serving in all things wherever you can, do whatever you can for the glory of God so that Jesus Christ, and he's got

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Jesus here, Jesus the Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever.

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As we remember the uncertainty of this world's duration, we should assign to temporal things their true glory.

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As we remember the uncertainty of the duration of this that I have.

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It's not certain I'll have it tomorrow. I have it now. The only safety we have is in the life of dedication to the way of Lord.

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That's the only safety you have. That's the only thing that you know you have. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trials which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you.

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Now, beloved, so he's talking to who, Fred? Beloved.

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Yes, talking to the church body. Beloved, think it not strange.

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So instead of being strange, I should think of it as what,

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Greg? All right, but we've isolated an event.

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That might not be normal. All right, it's a test for you.

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Yes. First, I was amazed by this.

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He gave an objective viewpoint. He said that when

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Titus and the Roman legion came through, destroyed the city of Jerusalem, that those of his people were killed, that they were killed out there in Jerusalem.

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But many of the Christians came because it was evident that we had an important program that is our aim, not to throw that out, which is to close, which is to flee the mountains.

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And we did. Many of us went to a place called Hebron. Not Hebron. Hebron is a city built in the mountains.

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It's close to the border of the north. And they had this rowing path where every, he was prophesying that every river on them, hopefully, everyone was killed there.

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So he was talking about that. And it's like a theater. It was written in 1688.

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Within 10 years, when this was written, the construction was done. And it has so many prophecies in the

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Old Testament. And it's near to Mars. And the prophecy itself has an application.

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Their day was also a time. So they may have all these.

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He's not saying that. He's saying that the construction of a new city is about to happen.

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Hebron, as you know, is about to be closed within 10 years. It's wide.

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And he's warning them about the very thing that he was talking about, that killing the people of Hebron.

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The brother who turned into the other brother is already in all those things.

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That's already happening. But it will happen again. And I think this is also a forewarning of the end times.

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It's not enough for us. It's not enough for the world. It doesn't assure it.

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And it happens. It makes it very overt.

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You realize that the first part of the prophecy already actually stays in place.

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It proves that the rest of it will stay in place as well. If you could talk about all of those things, and if you could take the first thing that you had to talk about, in some capacity, in gratitude, in a capacity that's just as good as a

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Christian, think it not strange, because I love you, God. That's right. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to ruin you.

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What does it say? Try you. Big difference.

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It's a test. You as though some strange thing happened just to you.

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There are no strange things. If a man is not speaking the word of God, he has no business standing in the pulpit.

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We have no business saying we are teaching the Bible when we're not really teaching it.

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If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which

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God give. In other words, here is one man who teaches the

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Bible one way and another who teaches it another way, and you say,

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I like this one, and I don't like the other. Well, the other man's method may appeal to some to whom you, to whom your man doesn't appeal.

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We should let each one minister as of the ability which God giveth him.

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That's assuming God gave both of them the real thing, that God is in all things, may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever.

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Peter says that we are to teach the word of God in such a way that God may get glory through Jesus Christ.

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But rejoice in as much as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.

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In Romans 8, 28, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love

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God, to them who are called according to his purpose.

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Now, all things work together for good for us. 14.

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If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the

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Spirit of glory and the God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

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How can that be, David? If you're a child of God, which

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I assume you are, you have, you are, you shall endure suffering.

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God never tests you with sin. He runs no sting operations.

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He just doesn't do that. He doesn't have to. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody in other men's matters.

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Now, let none of you suffer as a murderer and all of the rest. Does that mean I hope you don't get caught?

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The suffering, what? The suffering here is in accordance with what

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Christ said. Peter puts murder right down with gossiping.

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One won't suffer even more than Peter does. In other people's matters, we won't hurt or blame the flesh.

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That's right. Sin is sin in God's eyes. In man's eyes, it's relative, various degrees of sin.

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But not in God's. He makes no distinction between the gossiping and the murder.

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Paul did the same thing. Actually, Paul and Peter, James agree on everything.

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They're all preaching the same gospel that produces the same kind of a life.

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Peter says that we ought not to be suffering for our own sins.

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God never tests you with sin. He never tests you with evil.

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As James makes clear to us in his epistle, Peter says, let none of you suffer as a murderer.

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Yet, if any man suffer, oh, so you can suffer as a

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Christian. Let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify

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God on this behalf. Lord, and witnesses for him in the midst of it, my heart goes out to the

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Christian who is in prison today because he is truly suffering punishment.

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However, if he is suffering because of his own sin, he cannot glorify

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God for it. You get the difference? Or the fact that he is in prison, but he can glorify the

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Lord. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.

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Now, I've heard that all my life. What does it mean, Greg? Oh, I think you are.

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You may not have thought about it. Let's read the rest of it. Must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

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Dennis, what does it mean that judgment must begin at the house of God? David, if we, as born -again believers, just barely are saved, and that's what you are, you're just barely saved, and we're judged being just barely saved, what to say about the rest of the world?

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I wouldn't want to be in that crowd. Well, let's stop here.

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We'll start with 17 next week.