Book of 1 Thessalonians - Ch. 2, Vs. 1-20 (08/15/1999)

Park Meadows Church

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You can come back to your seat. In the book of 1

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Thessalonians, we went through chapter 1.

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Starting with chapter 2, I have a question for you. Does the

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Holy Spirit overcome the enmity against God? No.

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What does it do? Turn to John 3 .7.

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Read it out loud, Greg, when you find it. The enmity against God exists in the flesh.

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We must be born again. We have a new nature, new spirit, new life.

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So the Holy Spirit does not overcome the enmity against God.

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He simply gives us a new life. It has nothing to do with the enmity against God.

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The flesh still holds it. Now I have an assignment for you that you'll have about two weeks on.

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And it is this. Jesus died on the cross, was placed in the tomb, and spent three days.

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Now please understand that the Jews counted any part of a day as being a full day.

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So he was placed before six o 'clock one evening, and was absent from sight for all of the next day, and then arose on the third day.

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That's how they get the three days. But what I want you to research is, what did he do during those three days?

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Did he just lay in the tomb, or was there some activity that he performed?

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So I want you to research the law for the high priest in the tabernacle.

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What did he do immediately after he finished with the once -a -year atonement offering at the brazen altar?

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And the scripture is as follows. Leviticus 16 .13

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13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18, and 19.

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Leviticus 16 .13 -19 Well, that's not all.

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13 -22 will be all -inclusive.

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Then Luke 23 .42 and 43, and Ephesians 4 .8.

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Now let me go over all of this one more time. An assignment

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I'm giving you that is due two weeks from today is to write down a very short paragraph describing the actions of Jesus after he was placed in the tomb.

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Your scripture reference is Leviticus 16 .13 -16 .22

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plus Luke 23 .42 -43 and Ephesians 4 .8.

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Are there any questions about the assignment? Yes.

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And I want just a short paragraph. I don't want an epistle. Any questions?

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Yes. What was that very first question we started out with? Does the

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Holy Spirit overcome the enmity against God?

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No. We are overcomers only because we're in Jesus.

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He's the overcomer. But the enmity against God still exists in the flesh.

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And he did not overcome it. He simply gave us a new life.

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Beg your pardon? Did we not receive the power to overcome the flesh when we received the new birth?

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Well, let's not get things mixed up. We receive power to do lots of things.

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And it is the Holy Spirit that gives us that power in Christ. But the question was, did the

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Holy Spirit overcome the enmity against God?

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And back in Genesis 3, 14 or 15, he makes the statement,

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I will place enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed, and the state of enmity exists between the flesh and God.

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We're not in the flesh any longer. We're born again. We are not sinners as being in the flesh.

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We still sin once in a while, but we're not sinners anymore. So he did not overcome the enmity that was in our life.

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He gave us a new life. The enmity still exists between the flesh and God.

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Any questions about the assignment? Fine, then

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I will expect a short paragraph from everyone. Chapter 2 in the book of 1

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Thessalonians, he says,

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For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain.

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Greg, what would it mean to be in vain? Having no purpose.

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To be empty. We did not come to you with advertised entertainment.

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We did not declare to you something that was like a novel. It was not a theory or our philosophy.

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We came to you with the holy word of God. Verse 2, but even after that, we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated, as you know, at Philippi.

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We were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.

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Now, Debbie, it would seem to me that it would have been much easier for Paul if he had rationalized the situation and decided it would be better to be more careful to win friends and influence people than it would to be run out of town.

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But the soft sell was not Paul's way. I don't think it should be in presenting the gospel.

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Know this, folks, that the greatest sermon that you shall ever, ever preach is your life as you live it in Christ.

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It's more powerful what you do than what you say.

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Because you know to a certain extent who hears you, but we never know who sees us.

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Verse 3, for our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanliness, nor in guile.

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Greg, what is guile? Triggering. All right.

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But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

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Now, if you'll look at 1 Thessalonians 2 .4 in the original Greek, the word allow is really appointed.

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But as we were appointed of God to be put in trust with this gospel, and it was not to please men.

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Brother David, I know you're still weak, but maybe

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I can ask you one question. Just off the top of your head and just in this town, how many or what percentage of the sermons that will be preached today around 11 o 'clock that will be designed to please the congregation?

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What a tragedy. The supreme purpose of our life should be not to please men, but what?

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To please God. Is it possible to please

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God, Greg? He has revealed his will to us, so it is possible to please

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God. To please man is impossible.

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As it's impossible to please all men, it is almost as impossible to please one man.

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Even God himself did not please all men. How blessed is the truth that it is easier to please

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God than it is to please man. What?

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Yes. Why is it true that it's more possible to please?

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That's poor English. Why is it possible to please God instead of man?

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What makes that? What? All right.

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There's another big reason. That's it.

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Man changes, fluctuates every time you see him. God does not.

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I'd like for it to really sink into us this morning. There's a

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Christian here. I'm sorry.

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I'm saying in our world today, most people that you work with aren't saved. So there's no pleasing them anyway, because they're lost anyway.

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What you would do anyway, they don't understand anymore. So there's nothing to please them.

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All you can do is do what you should do as a Christian, and God will take care of the rest.

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In any fashion. At all. If he did, we would not exist.

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Verse 5. For neither at any time used we flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness, as God is our witness.

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He involves God in this statement. Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ, but we were gentle among you, even as a nurse.

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And the word nurse here has reference to a nursing mother being gentle and cherishing her children.

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So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also of our own souls, because you were dear unto us.

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That's a wonderful statement. Paul intended more than just to preach the word of God.

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He expressed his own feelings toward these people. That's the way it should be.

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Let's talk about flattery for just a moment. What does flattery do to you as the receiver?

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Inflates? What? It also confuses because you really don't know what to say.

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Our friends, Brother David, lots of times are more dangerous than our enemies.

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God pity the church or the work of God that must depend upon men who require flattery and compliments before they give their support to the work.

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They might as well not give it. A cloak of covetousness, not money, covetousness.

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This is a cloak of many colors. There are men who covet honor, fame, position.

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Each one of us need to search our hearts and uncover anything that would lead to that.

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Again, flattery is like a very, very thin, worn -out cobweb. It won't even catch a fly.

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It becomes easier to bear our afflictions when we know the good success of our ministry, but that can be accomplished without flattery.

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Don't brag on individuals. Brag on God. When a teacher or preacher or worker knows the success of what he's doing, it puts new spirit in the ministry, puts new life to the message, and he becomes more active in the

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Lord. It's a killing thing for a student to turn away from the teaching.

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And I've had one. Perhaps more, but I know of one. And it hurts.

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Verse 9. For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day.

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Because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.

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What does he mean, joy, by working night and day? All right.

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Trudy, what do you think? That is Trudy, isn't it? No, not Trudy. Dennis, who's that sitting by you?

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This one. Oh. I didn't see him.

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I thought she was here by herself. Is it

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Roger? That's Tracy. What did he say?

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He said, no, it's Tracy. I give up.

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Yes, sir. I've forgotten the question now.

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Well, what does it mean here when Paul says they work night and day? Well, that's what it seems like it would mean, but you have to know

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Paul. You have to know what he did. Go back. For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail for laboring night and day because we would not be chargeable unto any of you.

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How? All right. Paul supported himself.

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He took nothing from the churches. Wherever he went, he found work usually as a tent maker, and that's what he means.

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And in verse 9, he gives a brief statement to that fact. He doesn't talk about it much. He did not let his personal upkeep stand in the way of his teaching the word of God.

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Boy, I think that is really something. It's my belief that all preachers should do the same today.

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I'm so thankful that our pastor proves this point. I must confess something.

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I don't guess I have to, but I'm going to. For years, I have taught this very same idea that I thought every preacher ought to have to work in the world.

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First of all, to keep them from becoming isolated from people.

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And you know, when we joined out here, when we came out here, I found a preacher that did exactly that, and I almost resented it.

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It was such a shock, such a change, and such a different way of operating.

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And yet it was the same thing I'd been teaching. Now, how do you explain that?

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I can't. We deceive ourselves. Yes. But it is absolutely true.

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Maybe God led you here. Paul never received any honorary degrees.

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He had pure motives. All degrees are man -made, by the way.

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I've never found in the Bible any place where Jesus was addressed as Dr.

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Christ. Verse 10, ye are witnesses.

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And God also, how holy and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believed.

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Again, he calls on God to witness this. As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you into his kingdom and glory.

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Walk worthy. Debbie, help me understand that.

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What's it mean, walk worthy of God? To be.

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Someone else. To live. What? To live. To live.

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Well, that doesn't help me understand much. I think it kind of portrays his children here, so I think it has to do with the same way.

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In the physical world, when children grow up and go out into the world, what they do reflects upon the name of the family.

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Absolutely. And in Proverbs, it says the child left alone will make his mother ashamed.

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Well, God never leaves his children alone. So Paul is just saying that we should walk worthy of the name that we carry.

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Again, I don't have to, but I will. Something that I found out about my grandfather not very many years ago,

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I never met the man. Mother and dad just never talked about the past family, so I knew nothing.

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But Bea and I were going through some old papers that we had accumulated after mother passed away.

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And we found a letter from my grandfather. And Bea, I don't remember to whom he addressed it.

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But in the letter, he had stated that he had been married the second time.

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After grandmother died, he found him another woman. But he said in the letter that the next morning, he took her back.

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Because she was not worthy to bear the name of Fisher.

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Now, he didn't go into explanation, but I remember those words.

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She was not worthy to bear the name of Fisher. We bear the name of God in his son,

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Christ. We must walk worthy. We must show to the world this name of Christ.

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That it is something to uphold. And then he goes on and says that God is one who has called you unto his kingdom and glory.

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Who can tell me the true meaning of the word kingdom? Well, then

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I'll call on someone. Greg? Well, that's pretty good.

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As the word kingdom is used in the New Testament, it can be reduced to one word.

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What? Authority. The word kingdom always means authority.

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And of course, it's the authority of God. You were called into his authority.

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Take heed of backsliding. Walk not as those in darkness, but walk in light.

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For this cause also, thank we God, without ceasing. Because when you receive the word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth.

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The word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

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Effectually. Greg, what does that mean? It produces results. Produces a result.

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Isaiah 55, what is it, David, 11.

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Somebody look that up. Read it.

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It says in the words of our church. It shall accomplish that for which

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I purpose it. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ, Christ Jesus.

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For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the

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Jews. Fred, can we expect to suffer as long as we live in this world?

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Yes. We as Christians. Yes. For Christ's sake. Yes. I believe that.

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Fifteen. Who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us and they please not

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God and are contrary to men. Now please understand something. Even though it says who has killed the

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Lord Jesus. They thought they had. And it's written from their viewpoint of thinking.

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No one killed the Lord Jesus. He gave his life. He released his soul back to the

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Heavenly Father himself. And if anyone slew him, it was

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God the Father. Sixteen.

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Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. This was a situation that is hard to believe.

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Remember this church had two churches in one. One was a Gentile church.

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The other was a Jewish church. And they both met at separate times in the same facility, wherever that was.

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But they had nothing to do with each other. This was the way of life with the

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Jew and the Gentile from time immemorial almost. So they carried it over into the church and still they all had nothing to do with each other.

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And they would forbid, the Judaizers now would forbid

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Paul and his group to even speak to the Gentiles. That they may be saved to fill up their sins always for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost, the

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Judaizers. But we brethren being taken from you for a short time in presence.

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He has such a strange way of saying things. He says we've been gone now for a while.

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Not in heart though, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.

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Debbie, with great desire he wanted to see them again. He wanted to look in their eye.

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Do you realize how important that is? I was thinking one time as we were flying to Idaho to visit with her sister and husband and all of the family up there.

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That here we were wanting to go to Idaho and we were in the plane going.

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Then I decided no it wasn't that we wanted to go to Idaho. We wanted to go and visit

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Ina and Ed. And then the thought come no that's really not the reason.

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We want to go and be with them personally, close and see them.

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But then that was not really the reason either. And it finally come down to the fact

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I wanted to look in their eye. I wanted to see their eye when

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I spoke to them. We don't think much about that. But it's extremely important.

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And getting more so to me since I can't see beyond about the fourth row. But to look in someone's eye which is the window of the soul.

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I think Fred the older you grow in the Lord and the more sensitive we become to the influence of the

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Holy Spirit. The more we're able to discern the spirit and even thoughts of that person by their eye.

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Eighteen, wherefore we would have come unto you Eve and I Paul once and again but Satan hindered us.

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For what is our hope, our joy and our crown of rejoicing are not even ye in the presence of our

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Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. I discovered something about myself this week and I don't mean to be talking about myself all of the time.

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And I hope I don't anymore. But I've read a great many books after the great minds of people in the world.

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And I have several books in my library, my study. But brother

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David the older I get and the more I seek joy.

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The only place I can find it is in God's holy word. None of the rest of it means anything to me anymore.

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Just his word. We're a little early but I'm going to close with this statement and then

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I hope you ask some questions. Can Satan be persuaded?

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Can Satan be persuaded? Anyone can answer.

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Then you would have to answer yes.

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Got one yes. Got a yes and no in the same family.

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Got a yes and a no in the same family. What do

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I mean by what? Yes. Yes. Got another no.

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Jesse? Can we give a reason?

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What? Can we give a reason? No, you can just answer yes or no. The reason comes later.

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Can Satan be persuaded by man? He cannot be persuaded.

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Now comes Fred's explanation of it. Satan has what purpose?

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And that's to overcome God. His purpose is to overcome

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Christ really. Well we were servants of Christ.

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Alright. Angels in the beginning are still in my area.

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They're in a different topic. I mean he has a different purpose, angels did in the beginning, than what man has.

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We have a different relationship with God. They can't be saved. Only man can be redeemed.

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That's right. We're in two different fields here. And they can do things that we can't do.

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I mean we have men and women. They're all masters. Their purpose is different.

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So therefore they're in a different relationship with God than man.

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That's true. But don't ever think you can persuade Satan. Because you cannot.

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Alright, are there any questions about the lesson this morning? Well I'd like to ask this question.

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As believers we can't persuade him, but we can say, can he be behind me saved?

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Well let's command him. We can command him. Because we're not his, we don't know who he is.

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Well let's command him, then he changes his mind. So he moves away. And I think that's part of how we can.

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Someone else. Someone else said something. I want to find it. It was Jesus.

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It was Jesus Christ who said, can he be behind me saved? Yes. There's nowhere where it says we can say that.

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When we are dealing in spiritual warfare, we should pray to the

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Lord himself. And say Lord please find Satan and rebuke him in a sinful way. You don't talk to Satan.

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That's why I hate that little song that the kids sing about the devil sitting on a tack. I don't want to see that around here.

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Because you don't talk to him. Not even the angels treat him that way.

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Only the Lord. The point is, you're still praying and asking

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God for Satan to leave you alone at that time. So, in essence, you've asked

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God to change Satan's mind and leave you. Actually, you've asked the

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Lord just for rebuke. Not necessarily to change his mind, just to get rid of him. Well, he gets rid of him.

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That's not good enough. I'm going to go get this person. But it's more like instead of saying it's safe when you leave, leave.

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It's more like you fix him up and throw him out. So, he's not really persuaded. He's removed against his own will.

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The only thing we can do is end Christ. We can do nothing on our own.

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I hope none of us are still at the level of thinking Satan made me do this. A lot of Christians like to believe that Satan is buffeting them.

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I don't know why they think they're so special. They think Satan is going to take time out.

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Because he's not omnipotent or omnipresent. And he's going to be in one place at one time.

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That's right. And he's not going to… We as Christians in this large pond or ocean in which we live, we don't make it up ripples.

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He's actually drawing attention. So, for a Christian to say, well, I'm being buffeted by Satan or whatever, is almost a spiritual ego boost.

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They think that Satan is actually going to take time out. You're right. And certainly they don't understand. It's the same thing.

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A little bit. It's not Satan made you do it. You did it yourself because you wanted to do it. That's right.

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Because of your sin nature. And that's why you did it. It's not because of Satan. I mean, people try to blame something on man.

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Well, man is incurably trying to blame others.

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Never himself. Blame the serpent. The serpent made me do this.

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Yes. And if you ever play tennis and you miss the ball, you look at the racket. That's right.

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Well, let's stand and we'll be dismissed. Whenever you do anything, it's because you want to.