SNBS - The Book of Matthew part 7

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Hey everybody, we're in Matthew chapter 8 today, continuing our study in the book of Matthew. This is Pastor Josiah from Witten Baptist Church, and this is
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Sunday night Bible study. Let's get back into it. So I'm gonna read the first four verses of Matthew chapter 8.
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Jesus has just finished the Sermon on the Mount and this is what happens. When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.
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And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
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And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will be clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
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And Jesus said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone but go, show yourself to the priests, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them.
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So, Jesus comes down from the Sermon on the Mount, he comes down from that mountain, and a leper approaches him and says,
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Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. Even with all these crowds following him,
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Jesus notices the one. Jesus stretched out his hand and said, I'm willing to be clean. And immediately he was clean.
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He told him not to go tell anybody and to go show that he, according to Leviticus, show that he has been ceremonially cleansed.
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First off, before we dive into what exactly that all that entails, I forgot to start with our
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Greek of the week. So our Greek of the week is exousia. Exousia, and it means authority.
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You'll see it in just a little bit. Used a hundred and two times in the New Testament, it means authority, a right to rule, control, power.
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Exousia, the authority, the right. You'll see that more in a minute.
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So, I like this section. I think it's a beautiful section, Matthew 8, 1 through 4.
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Crowds are following him down this mountain, but Jesus notices the one, as he does so often. He notices the one.
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And I know Jesus is tired because, let me tell you something, after preaching for so long and teaching all day long, you're tired.
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But Jesus notices the faith of this leper and says, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean.
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And Jesus touched him. And don't miss this. Jesus touched him. That leper has not been touched by another human being since he contracted leprosy.
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According to Levitical law, according to the Bible, he was ceremonially unclean, and so that germs would not spread.
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Excommunicated, he would be quarantined, and if it kept getting worse, he'd be quarantined longer and longer and longer, to where he could never integrate back into society until that was healed.
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Well, Jesus touched that leper, man, and he's immediately healed.
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The Lord of Glory touched the man that all the crowds were probably running away from when they saw him.
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That shows the intimacy and the intimate love of our Lord for us. And of course, he commands him to go, like Leviticus 14 tells us to do, he commands him to go back and offer the sacrifice to the priest so that he can be integrated back in society.
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Now, something to keep in mind with what we're reading in Matthew chapter 8, some of these events happened actually before the
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Sermon on the Mount took place. Remember, Matthew is not written in a chronological time order. It's thematic.
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We have the five sermons, the discourses of Jesus, that others, A .T.
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Robertson, John MacArthur and his study Bible, others have organized for us. So with that being said,
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Matthew is not really chronological. Mark and Luke are much more chronological than Matthew. Matthew organizes his gospel around those five preaching sermons of Jesus.
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So some of the events we're reading actually happened before the Sermon on the Mount. So he then enters
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Capernaum, where he has moved his headquarters, where he's doing his ministry now.
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He obviously has a house in Capernaum. We've already discovered that before. And a centurion approaches him and says,
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Lord, now that centurion just called him Courier. Lord, that is an act of faith already, because only
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Caesar was Lord. My servant is paralyzed at home, suffering terribly, and Jesus said, I'll come heal him.
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Listen to the centurion's response. But the centurion replied, Lord, again, Courier, I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof.
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Only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under exousion, under authority, with soldiers under me.
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And I say one go and he goes, another come and he comes. And to my servant do this and he does it. So listen to this faith.
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Jesus is about to marvel at it. When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who follow, truly
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I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
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What did the centurion say that was so impactful that Jesus said, I found no one in Israel that has that much faith.
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He said, Lord, only say the word and my servant will be healed. So you don't have to come touch him.
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Just say it and he'll be healed. But watch what he says. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.
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What he's recognizing, what I think the centurion is recognizing is this, that he has a system of authority where he's under others and he's over others.
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He commands people to go and they go and he says come and he comes. But he doesn't recognize the true, his life is not ordered around the authority of the true
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Lord. He's calling Jesus Lord because he recognizes he's the one whose authority his life should be devoted to.
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But his life is set up right now under other other under other man -made authorities.
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And I think the centurion's recognizing for the first time in his life there's a true authority that he has not submitted himself under yet.
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And it's the Lord he's speaking to now. The centurion also knows that if Jesus enters a
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Gentile's home, he will be ceremonially unclean. So he knows that Jesus has the faith to not even come under.
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I am NOT WORTHY. I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof.
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Beautiful saying. When Jesus heard this he marveled. He marveled and said with no one in Israel have
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I found such faith. I think the centurion recognized the authority Jesus has even better than his disciples do at this point because he says no one in Israel's had that much faith.
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Now Jesus says something's gonna make some people mad. Jesus says I will tell you many will come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the
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While the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out of darkness in that place. They'll be weeping and gnashing teeth. So there's gonna be many
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Gentiles from the east and west. They'll be sitting with Abraham Isaac and Jacob the patriarchs in heaven, but there will be sons of the kingdom physical
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Jews There will be sons of the kingdom that will be going to hell in outer darkness where there's weeping gnashing of teeth that's a repetitive theme and So this man the crowds probably got mad when he said that and the centurion
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Jesus said go let it be done for you as You have believed and the servant was healed at that very moment
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Beautiful. All right. Now here's what happens next Jesus goes into Peter's house and his mother -in -law is lying sick with either
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He touched her hand and the fever left her and she rose him again to serve him. No So Peter's mother -in -law sick
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Jesus goes in and heals her He touched her hand. I want you to notice what she does immediately though.
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She didn't say. Oh, wow I've been sick for so long. I need some time to recover soon as he heals her
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Her fever leaves she gets up and begins to serve him Now I told you before Jesus may have had a house.
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I think it's not unreasonable say he might be living with Peter It didn't say that but I think it's possible but at any rate
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This this mother -in -law Peters Peter's wife's mother When the moment she's healed she rises up and begins serving
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Jesus Let this be a lesson for all of us Our goal is to pour ourself out to be wringed out like a rag for the kingdom of God To have
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Jesus revive us so that we can rise again and begin to serve him again The moment she is able to she gets back up and starts serving him
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That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons. He cast them out He cast up the spirits with the word and healed all who were sick
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This was what to fill what was spoken by the prophecy he took our illnesses and bore our diseases Of course, there's a spiritual way.
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He did that he spiritually bore our diseases and illnesses and physically by healing people now
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Jesus when Jesus saw a crowd around him. He gave orders to go to the other side So that's the other side of the
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Sea of Galilee when scribe came up to and said to him teacher I'll follow you wherever you go to keep in mind Jesus knows
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The heart of this person and Jesus goes. Oh you want to follow me, huh? Well foxes have holes and birds of the air have nest but the
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Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head So even though the Bible says Jesus had a house He's on the go so much
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And even there it's not stable because he's driven out here and there so he has to travel a lot and He has nowhere to lay his head.
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He has to find places to go. So this is not comfortable living So the scribe who says with his words,
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I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus is questioning whether or not that's true Another disciple said to him
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Lord another of the disciples said so not of the twelve Lord Let me first go bury my father
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Now these crowds have been following him this whole time But now it's time to go to the other side and all of a sudden this guy has an excuse of why he can't follow so he didn't have this emergency to go bury his father on the sermon on the mount or When watching the leper be healed or when watching the demons be thrown out and we don't know that he was there the whole time but since he's called one of the disciples not of the twelve, that means he's been following him for at least a little bit and All of a sudden he's got to go do something before he can follow
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Jesus and I think Jesus sees through this pretend excuse and Jesus said to him follow me and leave and leave the dead to bury their own dead
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I Gets in the boat in his disciples The ones he's picked followed him and behold a great storm on the sea so that the boat was being swamped by the waves
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But he was asleep and they went and woke him saying save us
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Lord. We are perishing and he said them Why are you afraid? Oh you have little faith and he rose and rebuked the winds in the sea and there was a great calm and the men marveled saying
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What sort of man is this that even the winds and the seas obey him? I think it's worth pointing out
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Mark says it this way that when he calmed them so that says they were afraid right here
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They were afraid Well mark puts puts it saying this and after he calmed the winds and the waves
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They were more afraid. They were more afraid of the man who calmed the winds and the waves and they were an actual storm
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It has been correctly said Actually R .C. Sproul in the holiness of God one of them.
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Oh one of grace books R .C. Sproul Commenting on this passage said it's as if the winds and the waves remembered the voice of their
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Creator Because remember God has always existed in triune fashion father son and spirit, but Jesus was the agent of creation
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Jesus was The the member of the Godhead that actively spoke the world to existence now the father the spirit and the son were all part in Creation we see that in Genesis 1 but Jesus is the one through whom all things were created
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Colossians 1 John 1 So Jesus said let there be and there was winds and waves so even though winds and waves can actually hear it's as if they heard the voice of their
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Creator all those thousands of years before and When the voice of the
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Creator said shut up they obeyed now finishing up chapter 8
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He goes to the other side in the country of the Gatherings I Think I pronounce that right.
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Let's see what our little note here says Yeah, I know
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Garrison's how it's pronounced sometimes Okay Okay, so he goes to the other side and there's a there's a town there and He goes and there's two demon -possessed men
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Mark and Luke or John I can't remember. I think it's Mark and Luke Sometimes only mentioned one man because the one guy who calls himself
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Legion does all the talking So even though there were two guys there, they only mentioned the one because the one does all the talking
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Coming out of tombs so fierce no one could pass away and behold they cried out What would you have to do with us? Oh son of God?
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Have you come to torment us before the time? Let's just stop there You see the authority that Jesus has
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That he approaches them and they beg him they call him the Son of God Remember Satan believes
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Jesus the Son of God Satan believes Jesus is God Satan believes Jesus is the Messiah He just doesn't submit to it intellectual knowledge
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Is not the be -all and end -all of salvation. It is a heart and submission and obedience to what has been revealed to you
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Had you come to torment us before the time Before the time pra before The time they know they will be tormented.
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They know they've read the book of Revelation In a sense. I know it happened that was written after this, but you understand the point.
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They know the end They know what's coming They know that they will be thrown Into the abyss they know they will be
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Their destiny is held But he's asking him to come to torment us before the time we thought we had more time than this before judgment
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Jesus Now I heard of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them and the demons begged him saying if you cast us out
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Send us away in the herd of pigs and he said then go So they came out and went into the pigs and behold
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The whole herd rushed them steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters the herdsmen fled going the city and told everyone especially what happened to the demon possessed men and Behold all the city came out to meet
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Jesus and when I saw him they begged him to leave their region. So The demons recognized who
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Jesus is They know that they're damned. They know their eternal destiny, but they thought they had more time.
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So Jesus approaches them and they say Please let us go into the pigs and Jesus says okay, and they obey him and at that and the pigs are all thrown over The cliff obviously, it's a big financial loss for the city and the herdsmen the city asked
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Jesus to leave Now I ask you is it because they cared more about monetary losses than Jesus probably
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But I think it's because they knew the one in front of them would have I'm sorry I think it's because they knew who was in front of them and that they would have to change
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They didn't want to submit to the Lord of Glory. That was right in front of them They had grown accustomed to the demonic activity in their land and rather reject the
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Savior than change They'd grown accustomed to the demonic activity in their land pretty incredible guys
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Have you grown so accustomed with your sin? That you know, it's wrong. You would rather stay in that sin
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Then change to submit to Jesus. I challenge
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I Challenge you I've challenged you this before and we're a few chapters behind the in -person
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Bible study, but that's okay. We'll catch up Challenge you this Matthew 1344 we'll get to it in a few weeks
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Says the guy finds a treasure buried in the field and he goes and sells all he has and with joy
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He goes and buys the field The kingdom of heaven is a joyful submission to Jesus not a
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I've got to give up all this It's a joyful What's beautiful about sanctification is you grow to love the things used to hate hate the things used to love
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Whatever is so precious to you now will not be seen as precious to you
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When you come face to face with the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a piece that cannot be bought
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It can't be sold it is found in submission to the Lord of Glory Guys let me tell you something if You're still searching for that piece.
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You've been looking for your whole life is only found in the finished work of Jesus Christ. I Encourage you to remember
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Jesus's model For how we show appreciation gratitude and love for that is through loving and serving
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Our brothers and sisters in Christ so that the world can see that we're really of him. So if you are not
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Part of the local church where you're doing that You're missing out on joys and blessings of what it is to be used as a tool in the hand of God Guys, that's it for today.
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So then I Bible study as always like share subscribe If you ever
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I'll continue to do this and I hope it's of some benefit to you. Love you guys very much until next time.