Good Works Refresh Workers

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Please turn your Bible to 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 that can be found on page 1026 if you're using the pew

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Bible 2nd Corinthians Chapter 7 so we've been in this series on Motivations for good works and this particular subsection of that series has been on how

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How good works help your neighbor last week. We looked at how good works

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Encourage leaders and now we will be looking at how good work. It's encourage workers

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How good works refresh workers? Sermon today will simply be on the second half of chapter 7 verse 13

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However To prepare for this I would like to read beginning in verse 5 to the end of the chapter

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Please stand when you have that for the reading of God's Word For even when we came into Macedonia our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn fighting without and fear within But God who comforts the downcast

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Comforted us by the coming of Titus and not only by his own By his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you as he told us of your longing your mourning your zeal for me so that I rejoice still more and Even if I made you grieve with my letter,

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I do not regret it though I did regret it for see for I see that That letter grieved you though only for a while as it is

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I rejoice not because you were aggrieved but because you were grieved into repenting

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For you felt a godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret whereas worldly grief produces death

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For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you But also what eagerness to clear yourselves what indignation what fear what longing what zeal what punishment at?

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Every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter So although I wrote to you

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It was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong nor for the sake of the one who suffered their wrong

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But in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God Therefore we are comforted

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And besides our own comfort we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all

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For whatever boasts I made to him about you I was not put to shame, but just as everything we said to you was true.

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So also our boasting before Titus has proved true and His affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all how you received him with fear and trembling

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I rejoice because I have complete confidence in you. Amen You may be seated

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Dear Heavenly Father we thank you for the your word today We thank you for this passage in 2nd

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Corinthians 7 13 We ask that you would open our eyes to understand it more fully that you by your spirit would

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Enlighten our minds and lighten our heart that we might know your truth and we pray that you would stir within us a great zeal for The calling that you have given us

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In Jesus Christ, you have redeemed us as a people for his own possession to be zealous for good works

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Jesus name. Amen So last week we looked at the needs of workers or excuse me of leaders

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Leaders are in a particular role. They need encouragement and Good works are an encouragement to leaders

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Well, there are many who are not in particular leaders But our workers who are likewise in need of encouragement can be a very discouraging thing working for the

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Lord You look around there are many false Believers who are

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In the church and they do not contribute in any real meaningful way

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And it is very discouraging to workers to see that kind of inactivity and even among true believers often because of immaturity because of particular spiritual ailments

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There is a lack of zeal that can be very discouraging So I'd like us to consider this passage and Besides our own comfort.

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We rejoice still more at the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all To understand what it means to have one spirit refreshed and how good works

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Do refresh the spirit later on in verse 15? It says and his affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all how you received him with fear and trembling

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As we've defined good works that is simply sincere obedience How has

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Titus been refreshed through the sincere obedience of the Corinthians? So Titus has been sent by Paul to the

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Corinthians to deliver Multiple messages to them here. He has delivered this letter known as second

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Corinthians But he also has delivered another letter to them a letter that's often called the difficult letter or things along those lines where He is communicated with them in relation to a matter of discipline

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Now traditionally is held and I believe it is likely That this is the same matter of discipline that was in first Corinthians 5 the man who had slept with his father's wife now they had

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Been arrogant about this and had not dealt with this and in first Corinthians Paul had told them they needed to deal with it

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There is the suggestion that if this if this is indeed the same incident of discipline that they had not dealt with it as they ought and so Titus had to come and Encourage them further in that to which they responded

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With obedience in this matter of discipline and this has been a great encouragement to Titus Paul had boasted about the

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Corinthians he had told them about how sincere they were and their zeal for the

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Lord and Has been manifestly true when Titus has come to them now

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There are more matters at stake now Titus has come again and one of the matters at hand is the matter of the

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Collection for the poor in Jerusalem Later on in the next chapters of 2nd

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Corinthians We see the poor in Jerusalem that collection being addressed and Paul says some very similar things says in 2nd

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Corinthians 8 24 So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men

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And he says this in the context of commending Titus to he says in 8 16

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But thanks be to God who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you So Titus has appeared a second time

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He is encouraging them once again to make good on the boast that he has made about the

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Corinthians So here you have this notion of the good works the sincere obedience of the

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Corinthians being an encouragement for For for Titus for other churches for those who would labor for the sake of the gospel

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Particularly for those in Macedonia in verse in chapter 8 verse 1 It talks about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia so before Titus was refreshed and Encouraged and now not only

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Titus but even the churches in Macedonia as they would give sincerely to the

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Lord for the sake of the poor in Jerusalem So to begin understanding this notion of Spiritual refreshment of having one spirit refreshed.

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It's important to know what the spirit is. What is the spirit? Simply put the spirit is the immaterial

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Constituent part of man the immaterial constituent part of man Man is composed of two parts.

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It's composed of material a material part, right? There are things of me that you can touch my body

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That is The physical constituent part of man the material constituent part and then there is an immaterial constituent part

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That's known as the spirit that part of me which cannot be touched Now the

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Bible uses several synonyms for this notion of the spirit and you can see that and a lot of especially in the poetry where the of the

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Old Testament where there are many parallels between things where The author will use synonyms in order for poetic variation, but he's speaking of the same concept consider in Psalm 51 what

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David says Psalm 51 10, he says created me a clean heart Oh God and Renew a right spirit within me

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So he says create me a clean heart renew a right spirit To have one's heart cleaned is to have his spirit renewed heart and spirit are used synonymously there

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Later on in verse 17 of that same Psalm the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart

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Oh God, you will not despise right, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart

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Oh God, and then he goes on to describe this So he speaks of God wanting wanting a broken spirit

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And then he goes on to describe that broken spirit as calling it a broken and contrite heart So heart is used as a synonym for this notion of the

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Spirit then you may be familiar with the Ezekiel 11 where it says and I will give them one heart

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She's I will give them one heart a new spirit. I will put within them So what is it when God is giving this new heart?

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He's giving a new spirit. These are synonyms for one another Exodus 35 says and they came everyone whose heart stirred him and Everyone whose spirit moved him and brought the

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Lord's contribution to be used for the tent of meeting So those whose heart stirred them are those whose spirit stirred them.

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Okay, so heart and spirit are used as are used as synonyms There's another word that is a synonym

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That is the word soul consider in John and John 12 and 13

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Multiple times Jesus is troubled and on one hand This is called as his spirit being troubled and another time.

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It's called his soul being troubled John 12 27 now my soul is troubled John 13 21.

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Jesus was troubled in his spirit Being troubled in your soul is not a different thing than being troubled in your spirit

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Those are one in the same the soul is the spirit Job 7 11 says I will speak in the anguish of my spirit

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I will complain in the bitterness of my soul One in the same now there are a couple of verses at least there are two primary verses that would cause people to doubt this whether or not the soul and the spirit are the same thing now a

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Lot of people have this idea that there are three parts of man They're not just two parts his material part and his immaterial part, but there are two immaterial parts, right?

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There's the spirit and there's also the soul Now you go and you look at what people have written about this and everyone who thinks the soul and the spirit are different things

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Almost all of them have a different idea of what the soul and the spirit is. This is not a very unified or consolidated view but But those verses that would cause people especially to think this way are the following Hebrews 412

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Which talks about piercing to the division of soul and spirit? So a lot of people look at that and they think oh, this is talking about divining the soul and spirit these are two things that can be divided from one another and before that in That phrase he had talked about dividing the joints and marrows the joints and marrow are different things soul and spirit must be different things

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Well, if you think a little about what? the author of Hebrews is saying

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The difficulty that the Word of God is so Precise that it can divide

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Things that would be otherwise undividable Think about what joints and marrow are Joints and marrow are actually not difficult to divide from one another joints are outside your bones

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Marrow is inside your bones. Okay, there's actually a pretty big Division wall between those two.

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So in the author of Hebrews talks about the difficulty of dividing joints and marrow He's not talking about dividing joints and marrow from each other

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He is talking about making sense of them within themselves You know, what is the what is a joint?

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You know, it's this massive tissue. Are there different parts of it? What is the marrow are there different parts of it?

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You know scientists took a long long time to develop the kind of equipment where they could see what a blood cell is understand this substance that just otherwise without very advanced technology cannot be divided so when

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Paul talks about joints in marrow as Two things that are difficult to divide within themselves when he goes on to speak of the soul in the spirit

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He's not talking about two things to be divided between each other but using synonyms

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Speaks of the soul speaks of the spirit as being something that you cannot divide without without advanced technology without God himself

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Piercing into it. You would not be able to divide the soul and understand the soul You would not be able to divide your spirit, which is the same

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There's another passage that people like to point to to claim that these are three different things. Second Corinthians 2 13, excuse me

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There's passage in Thessalonians 1st Thessalonians 5 23 May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless now.

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It sounds like there's three parts spirit soul the body You know Jesus Spoke of obeying

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God with all your heart your mind soul your strength and when

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Jesus says that He's not Identifying the heart as being different from the mind now a lot of times we would emphasize, you know

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Emotions with the word heart we didn't emphasize intellect with the word mind We'd emphasize, you know a zeal or a life with the word soul

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We'd emphasize ability with the word strength But these are not really different different things when it talks about one's heart being troubled

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It's talking about one spirit being troubled if those are Those are the same things. The soul is being troubled same thing.

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These are all Different words being thrown together to emphasize These are these are near synonyms for each other and by near synonyms

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What I mean is they refer to the same thing but with a different connotation with a different emphasis

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Okay, the word spirit and soul they are different words They do have a different emphasis even if they refer to the same thing the soul

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Tends to as you look at all the examples of the word soul It tends to speak of the constituent and material part of man that part that can't be touched in relation to Man being created from the earth to his body as you look at the way the word spirit is used it tends to be used to speak of man and Connection to where he has come from from heaven the spirit of God having breathed into the body life.

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And so The word soul tends to emphasize man's origin from the earth word

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Spirit tends to emphasize his origin from God having breathed into him now these

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This can be most especially seen one of my favorite Points to share parts of scripture that would show how these words are used differently to describe man and connection to the earth rather man and his connection to heaven is in first Corinthians 15 and first Corinthians 15

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You see the description of the spiritual body in the natural body now in both of these cases

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It's actually it's just talking about the physical right? It's not even talking about something that is Immaterial it's talking about the physical body and it's calling it a spiritual body versus a natural body

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Now the word natural is literally the word soulish The word soulish now, that's not a real

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English word But if you were to look at the Greek word, you would see it's using the word soul to describe that body

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So it's comparing a spiritual body a resurrection body that has been That is made more heavenly

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Like the heavenly man Jesus Christ versus the natural body which is like Adam's body

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Adam who is from the earth as Opposed to Jesus who is from heaven

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So one the spiritual body the other is a natural or soulish body So these words spirit and soul while they refer to the same thing the immaterial constituent part of man

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They are referring to it with different connotations One the earth one with heaven so all this simply explain where that What this term means spirit is the immaterial?

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Constituent part of man so to understand what? Refreshing the spirit is you can look at the various passages that talk about this spirit being weary for example

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Hebrews 12 3 says consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself

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So that you may not grow weary or faint -hearted now that word for faint -hearted is literally faint -souled

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So you might not be fainting in your soul So these words I'll use the synonyms you can go and you can look at them and you can say what does it mean to?

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Be refreshed in spirit. Well, it'd be the opposite of being faint in spirit. And what does it mean to be faint in spirit?

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Well, the same thing is fainting in the soul or fainting in the heart. So here when it speaks of faint -hearted literally fainting in the soul

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It's talking about kind of discouragement where you would not continue pursuing what

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God has called you to Jesus though his body was Distressed he did not grow faint in his soul as he continued the work that God had called him to 2nd

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Corinthians 2 13 my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother

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Titus there see Paul speaking of his spirit not having rest, you know, not being

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Refreshed he's discouraged because he cannot find Titus And so what is what is this?

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Faintness of spirit or this weariness of spirit the opposite of refreshment the thing that would require refreshment it is simply a loss or a lack of confidence in the value of faithfulness a lack

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And the confidence of the value of faithfulness, you know Think about the kind of thoughts that one has when they're spiritually discouraged, you know, they think why bother no one else is doing this

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What effect is this even going to have or sometimes it can feel like an implicit rebuke if?

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You are working hard for the Lord and no one else's You know, why wouldn't they if working hard for the

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Lord is obviously a good thing Why wouldn't other people be doing it? Maybe there's something they know that you don't know.

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Maybe you're a fool for Giving so much of yourself to the Lord. It's very Real aspect to this kind of discouragement and I'm sure all of you can think about Situations just in the natural world where you've come across this kind of discouragement because other people are not working

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No doubt. You've been on some kind of project where your project mates whether in school whether in the workforce or anywhere just aren't picking up their end of the their end of the work they're leaving you with a lot of slack and so You look at that you think man, what is that?

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What is the point? Why even try if I don't have help? How is there going to be any kind of effect?

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Maybe they maybe I'm the fool to put an effort here You know all these thoughts come to mind and then the opposite is true

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Right when you see people working then you think wow, there really is a value in working.

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I Know that my work will have some kind of result because I see that their work has some kind of result.

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I I know that if they think this is wise that it gives me confidence that it is a wise thing to do.

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I remember one particular time where I was involved in Cleaning up a it was an abandoned school as property

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I I was fairly young so I don't remember the details But I believe what had happened was this abandoned school had been acquired by some charitable organization and it was in disrepair and needed to be cleaned up in order that they'd be able to use it or Sell it or something like that and I was a part of this very massive team to clean it up and so all my job as a ten -year -old or whatever

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I was Was to cut ivy off of a off of a fence.

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It was very very large school Very large fence going all the way around and I remember

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Just being so impressed to see all the people painting and how fast they were working and see all the people cutting the ivy and just Going so fast.

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It was just very encouraging to see all the work that was being done And I've you know There have been few times that are so similar where I'm just so encouraged to work hard because I see all the hard work

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Is being done very encouraged gaining a confidence in the value

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Confidence in the value of faithfulness and this is a this is a real thing You look through Scripture the way it speaks to this kind of refreshing It says in 1st

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Corinthians 16 18 For they refreshed my spirit as well as yours give recognition to such people.

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So Paul here is talking about Stephanus and Fortunatus And he speaks specifically of Stephanus's house as having devoted themselves to the services of the

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Saints So, why is it that Paul was refreshed by them? Well Stephanus's house had devoted themselves to the service of the

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Saints. This was refreshing thing for him to see 2nd Timothy 1 16 May the

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Lord grant mercy to the household of a Ness for us for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains

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So Ness for us has visited Paul. He's not been ashamed of his chains and Paul says of him and you know, you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus Once again, the connection between service and refreshment is through one's sincere obedience that other workers are refreshed

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Now, what is what is the spiritual refreshment? How does it take place?

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You know, what what is it? First of all, very simply it is not the same thing physical refreshment

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Okay, there is a there is a physical refreshment this word refreshment

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If I were to try to construct it for you etymologically, you know etymologically being like with the with the root words it would be something like Receasing it has the notion of ceasing from work in it

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This is how people physically when they are refreshed are refreshed right is a you're working.

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You're tired. What do you do? You stop working Most You know quintessentially you sleep right?

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That is the primary way of resting is to sleep So the way to be refreshed physically is to cease working

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This is not the case spiritually a lot of people make this assumption, but it is not true the way to be refreshed

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Spiritually is not to cease working now There can be times because man is composed man is both body and soul

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He is both body in spirit. There is a connection between the two and there in in man's spiritual efforts

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There is also a bodily effort and that bodily effort that work will require some kind of rest

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So that there would be a connection between the two and yes, it is good to rest if you are bodily weary Maybe someone is involved in serious ministry efforts that have made them

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Bodily weary and so they will rest and that'll be important to them. There's a connection between the two

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Psalm 127 to So this is vain that you rise up early and go late to rest eating the bread of anxious toil for he gives to his beloved

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Sleep a sleep is a good thing for for bodily weariness But the fact that there may be a connection between those two and often are does not mean that they should be conflated

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You should not Conflate the two as being identical and you see people do this all the time even outside of any kind of Distinct notion of ministry a lot of times people will do that with vacations now

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There's all kinds of great reasons to take vacations. Okay, there is the the bodily rest. There's building up family

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There's enjoying God's creation There's all kinds of reasons But a lot of times people will throw in the notion of rest for other things other than body

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All right, and they're talking about needing some kind of you know Psychological right the words suki meaning soul right a psychological rest or a spiritual rest and what happens when people?

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Beyond those legitimate reasons I've described Engage in some kind of long -term rest

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For other reasons beyond bodily refreshment beyond enjoying God's creation beyond building up family. What usually happens do they come back from that?

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More refreshed and my experience know when I engage in that kind of thing. I come back not wanting to work

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I come back lazier now A lot of people will say that they feel refreshed meaning they enjoyed it because that's the thing you're supposed to say, but they come back sluggish often which is the opposite of what some kind of rest is supposed to do and this is and you see people do this just over this notion of a psychological need for rest

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But how much more is it true in many spiritual circumstances, you know There are a lot of times that Churches will have a retreat or pastors will have a sabbatical where the same sort of things happens once again

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You know, there can be all kinds of good reasons for a retreat all kinds of good reasons for a sabbatical

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I'm a fan of the notion of a working sabbatical that a pastor would take a lot of time to work on a project That he wouldn't have time to work on otherwise or maybe he's far away from his family

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Needs to go spend time with family his extended family things like that There are all kinds of good reasons for that But a lot of times people get the notion that this man is weary and discouraged in ministry in doing particular work from the

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Lord that goes beyond just the weariness of his body and the what right way to Refresh him is for him to stop doing any of that and that he'll come back feeling refreshed

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Do we have any indication in Scripture that that is the way spiritual refreshment work? Yes, that's the way the body works

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This is not the way the spirit works and I don't claim to have some long history of observations about this

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But in the few times I have seen it where someone has where a minister has taken that sort of rest that sort of sabbatical that goes beyond the legitimate reasons that you would have it to build up family to you know,

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I You had to spend time with your extended family that you don't get to see to work on some other project, etc Beyond those things what

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I've found is even though they say the thing that they're supposed to say at the end that yes They feel refreshed. Yes, they're ready to go back to work

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It often is Whatever whatever effort they put in to show that they appreciate it often very short -lived and often

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There's a discouragement that extends beyond that and the few examples that I'm aware of that is what

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I have observed But just speaking biblically we have no indication that you can gain a spiritual refreshment

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By ceasing from the spiritual things that God has called you to when they are combined with physical things.

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Yes, you need rest to To restore your body, but this is just not how the soul works.

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God has called us to Spiritual activity we don't refresh the spirit by ceasing from those things

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This is I believe this is a very important concept because I think all kinds of All kinds of shenanigans happen

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Under the skies, you know, I recently saw a post from some church Decided and I know there's a lot going on here with a different kind of understanding of what the

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Sabbath is But maybe you've seen this before to a church that's deciding they're going to take a Sabbath and that means that they skip church that Sunday So that everyone can rest

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That's that's the idea they have in mind, you know to really rest is to abstain from spiritual things.

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That's a real spiritual rest And a lot of people will emphasize that and they won't understand the

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Reformed Notion of the Sabbath which is to actually spend a lot of time in worship, you know the catechism talks about I forget if it's the

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I think it's the larger catechism Westminster larger catechism talks about idleness as being a

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Being something that's forbidden on the Sabbath, but that's what a lot of people think that the Sabbath is supposed to be It's supposed to be idleness, right?

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Because that's how you spiritually restore yourself I has a very different notion of spiritual rest than the

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Than the Bible presents for us. It presents something very different here. And how is

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Titus restored? he's restored by making a difficult trip to the Corinthians and Seeing God at work in them

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That is how he is restored Okay, so why? Why does it

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Why does it restore I can think of three categories of reasons? Okay one is

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If remember if encouragement is an increased confidence in the value of faithfulness

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You see that first of all in those that are doing the good work, right?

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you see that they are working and it renews a Confidence that Others are working on the same task that you are and that you have aid in it, right?

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If we are working on the same kingdom others Working on it is an encouragement and moreover

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It is not a like I mentioned false brothers in the beginning yeah, there are many false brothers in the world and Seeing someone labor seeing

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God work in them gives you confidence that they are indeed true brothers who are working on the same kingdom rather than false brothers who would be

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You know secret enemies of the kingdom so if you consider the

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Corinthians themselves, what is the case here? Paul had said

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In verse 9 as it is I rejoice not because you were grieved but because you were grieved into repenting

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For you felt a godly grief. Do you suffered no loss through us? So they have what is the obedience that Paul describes later?

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He uses the word obedience. What is that obedience? It's an obedience of repentance. It is demonstrating

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Demonstrating their identity as True believers he had said in 5 5 verse 20 therefore we are ambassadors for Christ God making his appeal through us

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We implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God a lot of people think of that versus You know ministers of reconciliation etc as referring to Those out in the world

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Paul's using it referring to those in the church that they need Reconciliation to God and so as that reconciliation is demonstrated.

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There's a greater confidence in others being true brothers and others Engaging in the same labor that you are and is a it's a good

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Is a good Encouragement to see that it's otherwise you feel that you're alone. Otherwise you feel that there are people against you

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There are and then secondly the next category would be an increased confidence in the value of faithfulness by having an increased confidence in The The commendations of others the boasts of others right

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Paul had boasted and the Corinthians He had said these are good brothers etc.

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It's easy to be skeptical about these kinds of things especially the longer you're in the faith It is very easy to be skeptical when people praise

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Something is being very righteous. You know people praise all kinds of spiritual movements that are just You know, they're harmful to the faith even oftentimes can be very easy to be skeptical of those things.

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But if you see a Good Yeah, true repentance.

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It's easy to be confident in those things. How many times have you heard someone tell you that that a there was someone who converted and they came to the faith and You are very easily able to rejoice.

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I struggle with this all the time, right? I know that the angels rejoice in heaven when one sinner repents, but then

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I hear about a repentant sinner and Because I don't know Whether or not they really are a repentant sinner and I've been burned so many times on that It is hard for me to rejoice when

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I hear that kind of report but if you do see it often that Encourages you because you see confidence that hey, sometimes those reports are true

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Sometimes this is God really is working in all this And so it increases

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Your confidence in the reports of others Then also it increases your confidence in God that God is at work in others is at work in The kingdom he is accomplishing things.

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Otherwise, you feel like you're laboring under a hard master You're laboring under Pharaoh who's giving you bricks to make it's giving you clay, but no straw

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You've got to make the bricks, but he's not giving you the straw to make it and it's all just hopeless Okay, that is the way it often feels without them now.

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There are Of course other ways to be spiritually refreshed other ways to gain a confidence in the work that God is doing

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Gaining confidence in the value of faithfulness. You can see that by going to God's Word. You can be encouraged in prayer

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There are all kinds of other ways So I'm not trying to suggest that you are a victim of those believers around you who would either encourage you or not

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You can despite all those around you still be faithful My point is to you who would be the ones around that worker to be faithful in Order that they would have a greater confidence in the value of faithfulness consider

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Paul's words in Philemon Philemon 7 he says for I have derived much joy and comfort from your love my brother because the hearts of the

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Saints have been Refreshed through you. So not only are The Saints refreshed not only our workers refreshed but then others rejoice this is what

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Paul said in 2nd Corinthians, right? He said not only Excuse me and Besides our own comfort.

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We rejoice still more at the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed So what was the effect of the

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Corinthians sincere obedience? It was not just a refreshment of Titus It was the joy the rejoicing of Paul and so there's a cascading effect from all that Philemon 120 he says yes, brother

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I want some benefit from you in the Lord refresh my heart in Christ and after this he speaks of being confident of his

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Obedience, how is he to be refreshed? He's going to come to Philemon and he's expecting

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Philemon's obedience in the matter that he has written about That is how he's going to be refreshed by Philemon Okay, so this is what?

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This is how Refreshment takes place through obedience through that is how it takes place through good works.

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Now as you are Serving the Lord with sincere obedience doing good works with the idea of accomplishing this purpose of encouraging people in In their work, what ought you to have in mind about the kind of obedience?

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This is necessary to do that Primarily as we've defined good works is sincere obedience.

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That is the important thing. It is sincerity What was it that encouraged

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Titus so much in verse 15? And his affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all how you received him with fear and trembling

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With real gravity with real sincerity fear and trembling now

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What does that mean for the kind of obedience that you would have that would encourage others does it actually need to be a significant large

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Good work because that's what a lot of people have in mind when they see the term good work, right as they think oh, that's like big donation or a

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Or some kind of like really huge sacrifice that someone make with their time and energy all kinds of things

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You know, maybe those are only things for those with who are especially gifted sometimes the most encouraging

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Acts of sincere obedience sometimes the way workers are most encouraged are from the smallest acts from those who are the least

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Gifted, you know, one of the most striking scenes in the Bible is the widow and her mites, right that she gives these two mites

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But because it's sincere obedience People look at that and they are really encouraged by seeing that You know back when

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I was in high school, I don't really listen to the radio anymore so I don't know if the song is played as much anymore, but Back in high school, they would play constantly and I would just get so sick of it that song about Christmas shoes

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Now now, you know what I'm talking about? No, but why why is it that song about this boy who? Try he's poor boy trying to buy shoes for his dying mother

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Why is that? So why do people love that song so much? Why is it pull out their heartstrings and encourage them?

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Is it because the greatness of the thing kid is trying to do he's trying to buy shoes his mom probably doesn't even want the Shoes, you know, she doesn't care about shoes it's the sincerity of the boys obedience that really tugs at people's heartstrings and really

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I suppose encourages them but if you but in real life in the

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Real kingdom of God cease and seer obedience even if it's small even if it's from the least

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Gifted of God's people it can be incredibly encouraging and sometimes those are the most encouraging things so do not think that because God has gifted you with less or because you have less ability that that would mean that your good works would be less of Encouragement sometimes you have more capacity to as people see the sincerity of your obedience

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Working with what God has given you when it's only been very little second not only

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Would God bless small obedience in this, you know small obedience small small works. Whatever you would term that He also

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Blesses corrective obedience my corrective obedience. I mean repentance Repentance just like we've seen here in 2nd

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Corinthians. Why was this so encouraging Titus sees God working in them? Repentance now a lot of people have different ideas about repentance, right?

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They think that there are acts of repentance as they confess their sins and bring attention to the end them

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The only thing they could bring from others the only kind of emotions Primarily shame primarily bitterness as people think about their sin, but they don't anticipate forgiveness from the

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Lord And they don't anticipate forgiveness from others well God has made his people like him and he is a forgiving God and he has made his people forgiving and They and forgiving are encouraged

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Frequently by acts of repentance sometimes once again, these are the most encouraging things you know, there's a question that People have they look and they see that all things were ordained by God including sin has been ordained by God Why does he permit his own people to sin if you go and you read our confession?

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You'll see that there's there's a whole Paragraph that speaks to this and it lists a bunch of reasons why God would permit his own people to fall into sin if he's

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In control of all this and he has reasons now Among those reasons is not listed one that I believe we see here

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Which is for the encouragement of others as they see obedience and repentance

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Sometimes that is more encouraging than having seen consistent obedience without any kind of fall and repentance

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You consider the person who has loved and then lost, you know, they're far more heartbroken than if they had never loved at all

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Right the person who has great wealth and loses it While they should have self -control and be thankful to God the temptation in those situations is to be incredibly distraught compared to the one who never had anything to begin with right so people who have and then lose it's very

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Very taxing on them to have experienced that kind of loss. The same is true with spiritual failure and repentance with sin and repentance

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Often sin and repentance brings greater joy than Consistent obedience does in fact, that's the case for the whole

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Christian life whole Christian life. We have fallen into sin We are restored and repentance.

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God has saved us and that produces more joy in our souls Than we would otherwise have this is why

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God has permitted it same thing is True as you look to the angels the angels long to look into the grace we have received

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Why because there is something special about God having ordained it such that we would need to be raised from low depths and this is a

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This is a wonderful joy to experience for yourself. God restoring you but it is also encouraging to workers who would watch

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Okay, this is encouraging to Titus. He sees their sincere repentance and this is very encouraging to him.

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Perhaps it is even more encouraging That work that the Lord has done and permitting them to fall and be restored then if they had simply

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Consistently obeyed now, of course We have to ask Paul's question Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound may it ever be right?

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There are all kinds of reasons that we wouldn't do that. We have been set free, but the Lord has accomplished great things in Permitting his own people to sin nor that they may be restored and repentance.

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So do not believe the lie that your repentance would only bring Discouragement to others as you call attention to your own sin rather sometimes it can be the most encouraging

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I'm I think of the those good works those acts of sincere obedience that have most encouraged me over the past months and they are primarily acts of repentance rather than acts of great

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You know great Great things that one wouldn't label as repentance, right? Okay Now additionally this produces unity consider first 15

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Says and his affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you And how you received him with fear and trembling he remembers their obedience

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Okay, there's there is a remembrance that happens when you see the good works of others when you see someone else obeying sincerely

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You will call that to mind at later times one of the most memorable times in my church life

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It's been one time when I was visiting a church in the Philippines and got to sit in on a members meeting Where there was a brother who was being restored after having been put out of the church for his sin

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And after 10 years, he was being restored That's just very memorable to see God working in that way

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And I feel more united to them having seen that then I would if I had not

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God used that to increase that sense of unity Now in addition to this in verse 15, it says his affection for you is even greater

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So Titus has grown in his love for the Corinthians because of their obedience

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Why would that be? Well Christians love God the more they see

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God in others the more they would be excited to love that one who

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Is becoming more and more God -like. You see this described also in 1st John. 1st John explains this dynamic

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That's why it says the one who says he loves God doesn't love his brother is lying Is because if you love

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God and you see God in your brother Naturally you would love him You say that and you can't see

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God, but you can see your brother The point is not that visible things are easier to love than than invisible things or sorry harder to love

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Sometimes it's the other way around But the point is rather that in seeing them you are supposed to be able to see

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God in some kind of tangible way Him being invisible, but him working in someone else that would stir up your affection stir up your love

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So there is so there's remembrance. There's affection and then there's also also solidarity, of course

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All right. There's the notion of solidarity. We are all engaged in the same battle together to See others suffering together for the sake of the gospel to see others bleeding to see others

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Engage in that, you know these these acts of Obedience are often not even acts that are individual.

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A lot of times they are acts together which really increases that unity 2nd Corinthians 1 7 our hope for you is unshaken for we know that as you share in our sufferings

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So you will also share in our comfort This is what paul says from the very beginning as you share in our sufferings.

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You will share in our comfort As they are brought together in suffering they are brought together in joy this is true because Of the unity that we have in jesus christ

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What christ has accomplished? In part through his work of salvation. There are many things he accomplished

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But one of those things is building a people for him creating a people for himself Uniting them

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To him and therefore by uniting them to him and communion with him uniting them to each other

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So we have a communion with one another we share things with one another we are unified in that way

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And the more we experience a union with him The more we experience that union with each other the more we commune with him the more we commune with one another and this is

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This is what is accomplished and what is sensed and what is uh, the encouragement that happens through these acts of obedience hebrews 2 10 through 11 says for it was fitting that he

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For whom and by whom all things exist and bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering

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For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers you know suffering

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It can particularly mean those very difficult Acts of obedience like christ suffering on the cross has a very difficult act of obedience

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But any kind of obedience where you are denying yourself and you are serving god is a form of suffering and this suffering

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It is fitting that god would make the founder of our salvation perfect through suffering why

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For he who sanctifies and those who sank are sanctified all have one source now In greek in that verse in hebrews 2

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Uh, it doesn't actually say source it says they are all of one And a lot of translations put in different things, you know, some will say father

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Oh, that's why he's not ashamed to call them brothers. They all have one father some say source which is Kind of abstract, but I think still somewhat interpretive

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Believe the emphasis here is in one suffering that they share one suffering together and that is why

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He is not ashamed to call them brothers that unity that we have happens

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Not only in the legal status that we have under christ as our head

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But also happens as christ works in us us together in the vine

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Growing in similar ways working in the kingdom in our various capacities

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Uh suffering together for the sake of the same goal. These are the things that that are encouraging to believers because it's not found in something that's merely, uh,

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I say merely, uh, Merely psychological now if you are taking the notion of psychology

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Etymologically once again, you know from the word root word suke meaning soul There is something real going on in the soul, but it's not just In ideas, it's not just thoughts and and hopes that are unfounded in some real spiritual reality

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There's a spiritual reality to us being connected together And as we are in the vine as we are growing in the vine, it increases the health of one another

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There's something organic that is happening through this encouragement. It's not just a a

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Purely mental thing not rooted in some kind of real spiritual reality It is because christ

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Through his work of salvation has united us together in a real organic way

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So how ought you to live in this world given these truths? First of all, you must believe, you know, if this if this encouragement for one another is a

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Organic is an organic thing. It's something that really requires us being united in christ It's not something where uh, you see someone do this and then because You see it

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And it's encouraging you might you might feel encouraged but there will be a

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Spiritual lack there if there's not an actual organic unity in the vine There must be a real unity for this to take place

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You must be in the vine if you want to be encouraged by others if you want to encourage others Otherwise, you will just die. You will just die outside the vine.

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You must turn to the lord. You must be in jesus christ Uh, there's no real unity outside that you can have feelings of unity, but that's all they are

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It would just be feelings. They would not be real unity And you should serve the lord with the mindset knowing all the ways that you can that uh

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That there are good results from your good works. You know, we've talked about how god has enabled us for good works.

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So you should Obey with an encouragement that he has equips you with everything you need

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But you should also obey knowing the effects that it has on your neighbors You should there are people who are in great need of rejoicing you see

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Great workers in god's kingdom. They are in need of refreshment they Others who would see that see their refreshment and rejoice they are in need of joy

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Do not come to church with the consumer mindset that you are here to get things Because what happens when there are people in god's kingdom who aren't engaged?

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It's not just a Neutral thing that it has no effect as opposed to being an encouragement.

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It's actively a discouragement to See those who would not be engaged in the work of the kingdom and yet part of the church

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So don't come with uh, some kind of consumer mindset because this is more of a yeah, this is a discouragement

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It's not even just a neutral thing And you should ask yourself a very good thing to ask yourself week by week is

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Would have if a visitor came here and they saw our obedience if they saw our love for the lord

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Would they be encouraged by that or would they be discouraged in coming here? A lot of people think about a visitor's encouragement solely being based on the message that's given

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Oh, is that a good message? Would that have encouraged them think about how they would how they would respond even seeing you even seeing the the nature of the body they should be like titus encouraged to see the

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Sincere obedience the heart of real zeal for the lord here And obey obey boldly doesn't matter how small your obedience is doesn't matter how

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Lacking you are in gifts doesn't matter if it's repentance versus some other act you

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Yeah, obey boldly obey boldly knowing that god will forgive knowing that he'll bring great results

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From whatever it is that you set your hand to if it is truly in the lord's will Then additionally admonish one another admonish one another towards good works with this in mind not just your um,

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Not just their good not just the good of the church in some kind of abstract way But knowing that there would be an encouragement a refreshment of workers as others engage in good works

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Now it might seem kind of selfish because you would be one of the ones refreshed And so if you tell someone else

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Hey, you should obey the lord's in these ways because that would refresh me Does that seem does that seem too selfish to say paul was willing to say it?

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Right. I already read uh philemon 120 I want some benefit from you in the lord refresh my heart in christ.

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I am confident of your obedience, right? He's willing to just point blank say that I want this thing. I want this benefit from you refresh my heart obey the lord

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Uh, you should you should be willing to say in a different capacity because paul has he's operating with a level of authority

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That we don't have Uh, so there might be different ways that you would frame it in words you would use but you should feel comfortable

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Encouraging others toward obedience with in mind the refreshment that you would receive in the refreshment That others would receive and for those who would be leaders of any kind of capacity

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Whether it be just spiritual leader in your own home as a father or a mother or as a husband any kind of capacity learn there's some value in In delegation for the encouragement of the whole group

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A lot of times people will think well the best way of getting things done is just to do it yourself And they're primarily worried about getting things done rather than some of the effects

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That it can have to for others to do those things when I Come home or uh, you know enter the kitchen and see the whole family cleaning that Encourages me so much more than just seeing the clean kitchen, right?

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Knowing that all the kids are participating in that that that makes me so much happier than just the clean kitchen part right

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So it is in the body of christ. It's not so much about the the thing that would be accomplished

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God will produce that we can water we can We can plant but only god can give the growth.

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He will bring about whatever result he wants to bring about But as far as you and I are concerned with the watering with the planting

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We should know that What our goal is is not the result that only god can provide but the aspects that we have control over Our own our own obedience before the lord that thing that we are responsible for we are not responsible for the ultimate result for the ultimate growth

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But we are responsible For our own obedience and so if you are a leader in any kind of capacity

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And there are things that need to be done around the home, etc don't just uh don't just make sure they get done think about ways that you can be

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Delegating in order for the encouragement of others now all these things

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Are blessings to us many people think of obedience many people think of good works as being something that is far outside of The value of the gospel right good works are law gospel is gospel right but In jesus christ.

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We are he has made a people for his own possession zealous for good works as it says in titus 2 14

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This is one of the benefits of the gospel is how we are in the vine growing god doing great and wonderful things through us

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And encouraging one another building up our unity in jesus christ increasing this fellowship increasing the joy increasing the refreshment and rejoicing

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May it be the case here. May it be the case in the name of the lord. Jesus. Amen dear heavenly father we thank you for the

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Wonderful way that you have created your church in jesus christ We thank you for the unity that we have with him and the unity that we have in him with each other

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We ask that you would build up that unity even further through Uh Through your people we ask you would move in our hearts to make us zealous For your word to make us zealous to follow you in sincere obedience

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And we ask that would lead to the refreshment of workers and to the rejoicing of others in jesus name.