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Amen. All right, we're in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, and so just a brief little overview. The title

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of the sermon tonight is The Just Desserts of the Wicked, but before we get into that,

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there's a couple points before that, and I just want to do just like a brief overview of the book.

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And, of course, the themes still kind of continue the same as they did from 1 Thessalonians,

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which are the end times Bible prophecy, the rapture, the judgment of the wicked is also

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a theme in this book, just like it was in the last one, and then

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Christian conduct is kind of brought up with the drive-by shooting style of Paul,

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where he just kind of hits on some things, and he really goes hard after lazy people in chapter

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number three. And because Paul does in chapter number three, I'm going to go really hard on it,

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on chapter number three also. So, but tonight we're in the first chapter here, and there's only

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three chapters in this book, so it's going to go pretty quickly. The book of 2 Thessalonians is

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thought to be written in the time frame around 50 to 52 AD. I don't know where they get that date,

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but I have no reason to deny that that might be the case. I'm not 100% sure, though. Either

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that's just what they think. So, and then, and really what different differences that make,

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but unless they want to put a later time on it, of course, which they like to try to do that to

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make it seem like Paul didn't really write the book or something like that, which, of course,

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that's what liberal scholars like to do, which they like to do. It's weird that people are

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scholars that don't even believe the Word of God, and yet they're called scholars. But anyway,

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that's out of the scope of this sermon, but it's definitely something to mention briefly.

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And so this is, of course, sometime in the second missionary journey, possibly the third,

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but we know it's not the first because the first missionary journey he was not with

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Sil, he was not with Silvanus and Timotheus. That was the second missionary journey.

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So Timothy didn't join Paul until Acts chapter 16, and I think it was in Acts chapter 14 at the

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very end where Barnabas and Saul have the split, and then he picks up Silas as a partner at that

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point. That's the second missionary journey. So Acts 17 is when the church at Thessalonica

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is founded, and of course we already have the first book of Thessalonians, so this is the second

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one. And just something to say real quickly also is that just because there's first and second

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Thessalonians, it doesn't mean that's the only letters that were ever written to these churches.

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So because Paul in 2 Corinthians mentions other epistles that he had written, and there's only

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1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians in Scripture, but obviously some of the letters that were written,

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God deemed to put those into the Word of God, and were counted as Holy Scripture. And so

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that's the brief overview of 2 Thessalonians. And so let's continue on with the first point,

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and just briefly want to talk about Paul's common salutations. Look at verse number one where the

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Bible reads, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, under the church of the Thessalonians, in God

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our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord

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Jesus Christ. So this is a common way that Paul introduces himself in his letters, in his epistles,

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and I was thinking about why he does that, and I just kind of came up with a few things. There

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might be more that you think of, but one of the things I think of about a leader like Paul

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is that consistency from leadership is important. The reason why he does it the same way every time,

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I think, is so he can be consistent, and so people know what to expect from Paul

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when he's writing them a letter. And it kind of helps with also knowing who is writing the letter,

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because there was a lot of phonies and fakes at that time, and even after Paul left there was even

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more. He warned about that, but it's important to know who the letter's from, and so he addresses it

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as he did in First Thessalonians as the writer along with Silvanus and Timotheus. So same three

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guys are writing the same letter to the church at Thessalonica. And so he starts out the first

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letter like that, starts out the second letter like that, and pretty much all of his letters he

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starts out with some kind of salutation, and he also ends in some kind of salutation to them at

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the end where it's pretty obvious that it's the Apostle Paul. So the way that the Apostle Paul

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writes, even though he might say the same thing in different ways, you can tell the way Paul writes,

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and he has his own style. We've studied enough about the books of Paul to see how Paul has a

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certain writing style that he writes with, even with the list and all that stuff, and how he introduces

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his letters, how he ends them, the way he talks, the certain things that he brings up, and the only

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letter that he doesn't really do that with is Hebrews. And my theory on that, of course, is that

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he didn't want the Jews of Oregon to be offended the moment he said Paul. They would just stop

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reading the letter, I think. And I think that's the only reason why he did that, but I think that

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the way Hebrews is written, I think it's very obvious that Paul is the writer of it. A lot of

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the same things are said that he says in other epistles, and he also, Peter alludes to him saying

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some things that are hard to be understood, and that might have been the epistle that Peter was

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talking about, because there's a lot of complicated stuff in the book of Hebrews. So, anyway, so,

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and, you know, he kind of codes it in a way so that you can kind of see the authenticity of who

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the author is. There's a lot of things that authenticity is really important these days, like,

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you know, baseball cards or paintings, famous paintings, famous things that are signed off.

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You know, people will try to fake things and make it seem like it's an authentic thing,

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and sometimes even signatures from famous, you know, people in nowadays like sports players or

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rock stars or whatever. I think some people give out, like, a certificate of authenticity,

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right? Do they do it with coins too? Yeah? Okay, so they're easier to fake. So, but yeah, I mean,

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so Paul's, the way Paul writes his epistles, I think, is kind of like his authenticity that he

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wrote it, so to speak. So, and so kind of coded in the way that he signs on and signs off so that

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they kind of know who they're dealing with, because I'm sure that there was people that

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were trying to infiltrate in so many different ways that what easier way to do it but to write

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a fake letter to the church saying this, you know, so-and-so, let's receive so-and-so, and let's

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do this, and let's keep this commandment. And, you know, I mean, you had, you know, fake

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Christians coming down saying you have to, you know, be circumcised and keep the law of Moses

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to be saved and just all kinds of bizarre things were going on. There's a lot of attack and a lot

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of persecution going on. So, I think, you know, the way that Paul, his common salutations are

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important for us to pay attention to because it gives authenticity and lets us know who exactly

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it is that's writing to us. And, you know, why does it matter though? Well, it's the Word of God.

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That's why it matters. And it's important to distinguish that which is, you know, scripture

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and that which is not scripture. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 17, I won't have you turn there,

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but it says, For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity and as of God

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in the sight of God speak we in Christ. So, Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians that there's many that

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corrupt the Word of God. And I'm sure they would corrupt the Word of God in just their prophecies

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and things that they would preach in front of people, but also we know that people have

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tampered with the manuscripts. And so, you know, people argue about what should be in the Bible

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and what shouldn't be in the Bible all the time. And what's the number one thing that people say

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should be in the Bible? Survey says what? The Apocrypha. But what specific book do you always

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hear about? The book of Enoch. It does not belong in the scriptures. But yeah, the Apocrypha is

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another thing. Yeah, the Catholics, you know, count that as Holy Scripture, but it's not.

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And we have everything that we have in here because God made sure that it's in here. You know,

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we can go through all kinds of scientific studies and all this and that, but I believe that God is

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going to pass down and preserve His Word from this generation forever. And so I believe that

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there is a perfect Word of God somewhere, and I believe that it's the King James Bible. So

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these people that want to corrupt God's Word are, you know, these people are the most evil people

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you can possibly think of. As a matter of fact, the Bible says if you tamper with God's Word

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that your name is going to be blotted out of the Book of Life. So that's how big of a deal it is.

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So if you've got people that are such scum that God says, hey, if they tamper with my Word,

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I'm going to blot them out of the book, that means they're the worst, vile kind of human being scum

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that there is. So it is important what is in here and what is not. And some people try to just

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dismiss what Paul said, or they'll even dismiss what Jesus said and say that we have to go with

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what Paul says over what Jesus says. Paul learned from Jesus. Like, what are you talking about?

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All the apostles learned from Jesus. What do you mean by that? Like, it's the same author,

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which is God. There isn't some confusion. There isn't 16 different ways to get saved in the Book

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of Acts and all this other trash that you hear. We got what we need, and we're not as many which

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corrupt the Word of God. Paul wasn't one that would corrupt the Word of God, and that's why I

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feel like in his salutations and the common things that he says is a key to understanding

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who it is that's writing to you. I mean, he wrote half the New Testament. It's pretty important

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so that we get it right, but it is right because, you know, ultimately people could say whatever

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they want. But here's what I'll say. I believe God when He said He's going to preserve His Word,

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when He says He's going to pass it on from this generation to the next generation,

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and that everything that is written in heaven is given to us here, everything that we need

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is given to us, and I don't need to worry about all these different little scholars and

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all the little nuances that they want to talk about, the Greek and the Hebrew and going back

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to this and that and what Church Father so-and-so said about this and what some Catholic

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dress-wearing pedophile says about my Bible. I don't care what they have to say. The minute

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they appear on any kind of screen and they're wearing a dress with a backwards collar,

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I already know they're a pedophile, and I know that they're wrong about this book.

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That's what I know. So you know what? I'm going to go with the King James. I'm going to go with

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the book that has a bloody history because people want to destroy this book for many, many years,

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and nobody tried to blow up the Westcott and Hort Greek committee, did they? No, they tried to blow

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up King James. They tried to blow up the people in Parliament to ruin this book and to not make

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it happen, to supplant that king with his daughter and make her a Catholic puppet. That's the history

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of this book and the fact that William Tyndale dared to translate it into English, and they

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burned him at the stake for it. Who burned at the stake to get you the NIV? Who boiled an oil

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to get you the NASB? Whose house was blown up to get you the Jehovah's Witness Bible? Nobody,

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because you know what? Satan wants those versions to be pumped out. He doesn't care about those

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versions, but you know what's always had adversity? This book here. This book has always had adversity.

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The actual Texas Receptus, the received text that's been translated into all these different

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languages, that's the one that people want to mess with. That's the one that people want to downgrade.

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That's the one they want to say, well, King James is a homosexual, so what do you think about that?

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No, he wasn't. He was not a homosexual. You're a homosexual for even saying that, so how about

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that? Anyway, number two tonight. I don't want to get too deep into the woods on that because I'm

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going to preach more about that on Sunday, but number two tonight. Christian growth should happen

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in a healthy church. Christian growth should happen in a healthy church. Look at verse number

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three. The Bible says, we are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meat, because

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that your faith groweth exceedingly. So why is he thanking God? Because their faith is growing

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exceedingly. Isn't that a good thing to happen in a church? So he's writing this second letter

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to the Thessalonians. He's like, hey, one good thing that I want to say is that we're always

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going to thank God because your faith groweth exceedingly. And in a healthy church, that is

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what's going to happen. Your faith is going to grow. Your life is going to get better in some

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ways. You're going to probably get rid of some of the wickedness in your life and have some

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separation. It says in that the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth. What

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is a way that Jesus would know or people would know that we're Jesus' disciples? Our love one

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to another. And so Paul's talking about their faith growing, good thing, right? And it's growing

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toward each other and aboundeth. So what does that mean? That it's great. It's getting greater.

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It's getting bigger. And so as we attend church and go from being baby Christians to mature

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Christians, we should expect some growth to be happening in our lives. And if it's a good church,

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those are the signs that you'll see in that church. Now, that doesn't automatically happen,

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though. You do have to apply yourself to these things. You can't just show up once every once

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in a while and think, oh, well, I don't understand why I'm not growing. Well, we need to be

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consistent. We need to want to grow. There's a lot of people that we get saved. Those four people

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that got saved today didn't come to church. Does that mean they're not saved? No. It just means

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that maybe they just don't know. I didn't go to church for like six months after I got saved.

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Did I know I should be going to church? Yeah, but I didn't really know what church I should

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be going to. I kind of got led to the Baptist church because of like watching Kent Hovind,

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and I was already King James only, but he kind of helped me in my growth towards being more

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King James only. Of course, he has a lot of rabbit trail teachings that I would not recommend his

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seminars for. If he would just cut out all that trash and maybe stick with one wife,

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I would be more akin to be listening to him, but I will give credit to where credit's due.

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He did help me choose what kind of church I was going to go to. I was already kind of on that road,

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and I was already King James only, so when I realized that Baptists are the only ones that

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are pretty much King James only, it was pretty much a no-brainer at that point.

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So I believe God used that to direct me at what kind of church I needed to be going to.

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Led me in the right direction. But I had to want it. You have to want to grow. You're not just

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going to automatically grow. There are steps to growing in the Christian faith, but you should

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see Christian growth happening in a healthy church. This is what Paul is seeing in the

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church at Thessalonica, and what is the big thing that Paul talks about with this church? That

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they're going through a lot of persecution. Now, we don't know exactly what kind of persecution

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they're going through, but we know from the start of the church that they already kind of had some

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adversity from the Jews. But here's some things that might help you to grow in a church. You can't

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just depend on the people around you and the pastor and the church itself to help you grow,

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but if you're in a good church, then you have to make the steps to grow yourself. You have to

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want to grow. So when you get saved, you're really rough around the edges in a lot of different

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areas. You probably need a lot of help in your life, things that you need to change, things you

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need to cut out of your life. I was like that. I was really rough around the edges. Wearing

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basketball shorts and a tank top to church, smelling like a Marlboro man. I mean, I was

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pretty rough. I'm asking the pastor questions in the first church service I ever go to.

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I was just like, I kept interrupting him and raising my hand. Like, I thought it was like

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question and answer time or something. Because it was like a prophecy conference, right? But I

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didn't realize at a Baptist prophecy conference that the Baptist preacher is talking, and you're

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just listening and taking notes or whatever. But I'm just like, what about this? What about this?

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I mean, you just don't know. And then I'm asking the pastor after church,

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do you believe that Christians can cast devils out of people? Because I was kind of into that

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at that time. I was reading this book about exorcism or something. I mean, if you don't

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go to church, you're going to have a lot of weird, maybe outlying things that you believe.

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And church is going to ground you and help you get past some of those little more fringe things that

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you might be holding on to because you watched some YouTube videos or something. Now, this is

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before YouTube, okay? But there were still books back then, and there were still a lot of

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controversial subjects, and the whole should we celebrate Christmas stuff was all around.

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I mean, there was just all, is Christmas trees a pagan ritual? All this other stuff. I mean,

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all that stuff existed when I became a Christian. It was just you'd have to find out stuff in book

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form because the internet wasn't a big deal at that time. I mean, that dates me a little bit.

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But all I'm saying is that when we first get saved, we have a lot of things that we need to

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get out of our life. And the best thing to do is to, when you come to church, be ready to listen

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and apply the preaching and show up ready to listen and turn to the Bible verses. I'll tell

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you what, the thing that made me learn the Bible the fastest was every time the pastor turned to a

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verse, I turned there. And eventually, after you turn to a lot of Bible verses, you're going to

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start to know where everything is. You're not going to have to go to the table of contents

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anymore and like, where's Jeremiah? And by the time you get there, then pastors on to

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like four other verses are like, I can't keep up. But just stick with it. Don't just sit there like

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a zombie and not, you know, be involved in the services, be involved in the preaching, show up

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ready to listen, turn to the Bible verses, take notes if you have to. If you're tired, stand up and

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go stand against the wall or something like that. And B, you don't, you don't show up for the service,

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if you don't show up for the services consistently, then you're not going to get everything that you

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need to keep growing. You're going to like, say one person, two people come, they just get saved

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the same day, they both get baptized the same day, and one only comes to church once a week,

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and one comes to church three times a week. Who do you think is going to grow faster if they're

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paying attention to the services? It's the one that comes three times a week. And look, it takes

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character and consistency to be this way. And I can't say that I was always three to thrive

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when I first got saved. I thought it was crazy to go to church three times a week. I was like,

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whatever. Like, I got basketball games to watch and, you know. So it takes time to get that

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mentality. Once you get that mentality, don't lose it. Because your family, especially men,

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your family is counting on you to be the spiritual leader. And when you don't care about the things

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of the Spirit, you don't care about the kingdom of God, you don't care about showing up for church,

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and guess what? Your wife's not going to care either. And you know what? Your kids aren't

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going to either. And they're going to come to church and go, this is boring. We need to go to

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Spring Creek Church. We need to go to Amazing Church or some other kind of church that like

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wets the whistle and has all the fun activities and they got an Easter egg hunt and whatever.

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But you know, is that what it's really all about? Can't you have fun outside of these walls whenever

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you want with your kids? I mean, I think church is fun. I think your kids think church is fun.

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I think when you're dragging your kids out and they're like, bye, and hugging their friends and

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all this other stuff, like they love it here. They love their friends. So bring them here so

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they can get, you know, and maybe they're not the most spiritual creatures right now yet,

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but they're children. They're going to grow up and get more spiritual and they're going to pay

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attention and they're going to want to serve the Lord because you want to. And it does take

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character, but when you're not consistent, it shows a lack of character. And really, man,

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it shouldn't even be a question. It shouldn't be a question, Dad, are we going to church today?

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They should already know the answer. You know what the answer is? Yes, we are. You know,

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it kind of comes to the point where your kids are just getting dressed before the service on their

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own and then they'll be coming to you. Why aren't you ready to get up and go yet? They will do that

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and they'll be like, come on, let's go, you know. And so instead of you dragging them, eventually

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they're trying to drag you, which shouldn't be how it is, but it is because, you know,

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kids love church and you should love church. And as a man, you should be leading your family in

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that way. And as a wife, you should be leading your family that way. Don't make your husband

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drag you to church. You should want to go to church and when your husband isn't here,

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then you should come here. Maybe he's being a spiritual milquetoast at the time, but you know

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what? You can be an example to him and then, you know, if, you know, I'll just say this, shame them

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into coming to church because it does make them ashamed if you're always here and they're never

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here. It's a shame, guys. Don't be ashamed to your family. Don't be ashamed to your family and just

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make your wife lead in the things that are spiritual. Because, but don't, ladies, don't

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just give up your spiritual life because your husband, your leader, isn't doing it. Help him.

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You know, the Bible says that we're supposed, they're supposed to be a help meet. Help them.

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Help them be spiritual. If they don't, you know, we need to help each other. If both people are

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like, yeah, let's just go ahead and miss church, then you're really screwed. You're really having

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a hard time. You know, we should be challenging each other and making sure that each other are

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accountable to be here and to be involved. Now see, if you live a worldly double life outside

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of church and lack biblical separation from the old haunts, the old friends, the old habits,

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the old hobbies that keep you from being spiritual, it will pull you from being spiritual

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and keep you in the flesh. And so when you walk into this room, you're already in the flesh.

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You're already bored. You're already missing your Nintendo. You're already missing your movies or

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whatever it is that you're into. And your mind is someplace else instead of where it ought to be,

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which is here. And that's why we're supposed to be separated. You know, and I'm not saying don't have

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hobbies. I'm not saying don't enjoy things outside of church. But when your enjoyment's outside of

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church, infringe on your spiritual life, then you got a problem. And then you got to do some

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self-assessment and just say, hey, you know, I'm lacking in spirituality. Maybe I need to cut some

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things out of my life. Maybe I got, as the man of the house, maybe you ought to cut some things

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out of your family's life. You know, sometimes, you know, that's why we're leaders. Because

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sometimes we have to just drop the law down and be like, hey, we're cutting this crap out. It's over.

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You know, cry for your Nintendo. Cry for your Xbox or whatever it is. And, you know, weep and howl

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for those things. But they're going tonight. You know, I'm not saying you have to do that. I'm just

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saying, I'm just giving an example. Whatever it is that you feel like is holding up your family

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and holding up the spiritual part of yourself, then get rid of that stuff if you can. So,

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and then if you don't pray, you're not going to be spiritual. And again, that's a lack of character.

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It's a lack of discipline. It's laziness. And if you need to get back on task, Junior,

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start setting an alarm for your prayer time. Start setting an alarm for your Bible reading. And then

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every time 930 at night rolls around and you know it's time and you haven't read your Bible as much

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as you planned on reading for that day and you're sitting there doing something else that doesn't

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really matter, maybe you'll feel guilty about the fact that you haven't read your Bible and you'll

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get your face in that Bible and you'll read what else you have to do. And you know what? That takes

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character. It takes character to find the time to get on your knees and pray or to just stop

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what you're doing and pray for a few minutes to the God that you owe everything to.

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So, those things will help you get spiritual. It's not just being in a good church, but you

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kind of have to play your part in the role. Because really it's not going to be a great church

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if the people in it aren't spiritual. So you have to be spiritual and your spiritual

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self rubs off on other people's spiritual selves, right? And so if you're not involved in fellowship

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after church, you just hit the bricks as soon as the service is over or you don't come early and

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visit with people, you're in late and then you're out the first, that just shows everybody really

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where you're at. It really does. If that's you constantly, you never stay, you never fellowship,

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and look I'm not going to start keeping a timer on you, okay? And you're like, you're like,

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pastor are you watching to see what time? No, I'm just saying that I know. I'm the pastor. I'm

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supposed to know these things. So stay in fellowship and if you want to feel part of

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this church, if you want to feel plugged in, then be plugged in. But if you just pull the

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cord out every time, as soon as the church service is over, then you're not really

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fellowshipping, are you? Come early or leave late, at least sometimes, and come to the church

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activities. I'm not saying come to everyone. Maybe not everything's your cup of tea. That's fine,

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but come to something. Go soul winning. It's a commandment. It's exercise. It's commitment.

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It's learning. You're going to learn from each other. It can help you make friends. Are you

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having a hard time making friends? Someone has to tie a pork chop to you to let the dog play with

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you? I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to make friends. We're Christians here. Some people are

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a little more inward than others. I get that. But in Proverbs 27 verse 17, the Bible says,

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iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. But if you're not there

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to sharpen each other, then how are you going to get sharp? And I was just thinking about this,

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like some of the times when I talk to my pastor friends or even just other church members,

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I get sharpened by the things that they say. Because you know what? We only have so much

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imagination in our own minds. We only have so much knowledge in our own minds. And sometimes

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it takes something from somebody else to go, hey, I never really thought of it that way.

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I didn't get excited about something until somebody brought that up to me before.

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I get interested in things based upon conversations that I have, and I'll write

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whole sermons based upon those things. I can't help it. I'm just like a dog on a bone. I just

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have to not until it's down to all the meats off of it, and then I'll study that thing and

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study it and study it. Maybe I'll preach a sermon on it. Maybe I won't. But that's how I like to

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learn that way. And you know how I get that way is sharpening myself with other people in this

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church, with the men of God that I talk to on a regular basis, and my friends that I talk to

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on a regular basis. And they help me to think outside the box that I would normally think of.

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Because again, whatever we read, whatever we take in, that's whatever we have to offer.

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And some people have other studies and other things and other thoughts on things, and those

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things sharpen you up, and they make you better. Because maybe your idea is wrong, or maybe it's

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just not perfected, or some scripture, some interpretation that you have is not completely

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right. And then it helps you to study the Bible line upon line, precept upon precept, here a

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little, there a little, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things, and then you get a better

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grip on the doctrine that you're learning. These things are important. And you know how you get

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that? By sharpening each other. And look, if the other sharpener's not there, then it's hard to

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stay sharp, right? So we need to sharpen each other. And if you want to make friends, the Bible

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says in Proverbs 18, 24, a man that hath friends must show himself friendly. So, if you're just

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like, as soon as the service is up, you're just like, okay, let's go, we need to take off, then

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how are you showing yourself friendly? If you don't show up early to fellowship, you know, maybe

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some people do that, that's fine, whatever. I'm not commanding you to fellowship, I'm just saying

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that it's going to make you more plugged into this church, it's going to get you more friends,

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and you know, I mean, most people want to have friends, and if you're like, well, I don't want

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to have friends at church, well, then you're weird, then why are you here? I was like, you want to have

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friends outside of church only? Like, what about the people here that you're with all the time, in

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the trenches, out soloing, battling, praying together, listening to sermons together, you know,

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and then we're just fellowshipping together, we're breaking bread together, we're doing, you know,

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the Lord's Supper together, things that make us close, and we should want to be close with the

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people. Look, Paul's saying in this passage, you know, that your love is abounding more,

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your love towards each other, and he's like saying, that's a good thing.

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It's a, what does the verse say? It says that your faith groweth exceedingly, verse three,

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and that the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth, and that's really,

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that's a big portion of what it's all about in the Christian life, our faith to increase.

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And when our faith increases, we believe the Bible more, because how do we get faith?

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By the Word of God, and hearing the Word of God, and reading the Word of God,

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and sharpening each other with the counsel of our friendship and our fellowship,

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and you know, then we grow to love each other more. So maybe that person that you thought just

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gives you a stink eye all the time, maybe if you went soloing with them once in a while,

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maybe you developed some sort of a friendship with them. I don't want this church to be clicky,

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we should all be friends for the most part. I'm not saying you have to be, I'm just saying that

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we should be, like we have a common ground, you know what we have that's in common? That we're

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going to have to deal with each other for all eternity, so you might as well get used to it

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right now. You're like, really? Yeah, so you better find something you like about them,

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you know what I mean? Again, I always say this, but I might not see you for 10,000 years, but

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eventually I'll come around again. Anyway, I'm kidding. So let's look at 2 Thessalonians 1.4,

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it says, so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith

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and all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure. So he's also talking about how that

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they glory, what are they glorying in? In the churches of God. When they go and visit other

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churches, they're like, this church is growing, this church is doing well, even though they're

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being persecuted, even though they're going through hard times, you know what? They're

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getting better and better, not worse and worse. So it's funny how people judge churches like ours

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and they think of the things that we go through and the hardships and the sodomites raging against

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us and people hating us, it's like, that's kind of what we want though. I mean, I'm not trying

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to get people to hate me, but if they do, then I feel like that's a good thing, right? And it

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doesn't feel good necessarily to have people hate you, but when you put it in perspective is that

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God loves you and it just shows that you're doing something right. You're part of something great.

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You're part of something that Satan is attacking you for. Have you ever noticed how much Satan

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wants to attack churches like this? He does it in all different ways. It's just a constant

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bombardment. It's kind of like radiation or something. It's just constantly just trying to

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get in here and poison us and spread cancer and cause destruction. And when we get persecuted,

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people think, everybody hates you just because you're this and you're that and you hate these

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people and you hate those people. It's just like, but if we just stop preaching about that stuff

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and all we did is preach the gospel, do you think people would still hate us? Of course they would.

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They hate us every day. Every week we go out so many, they hate us. Somebody hates you when you

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go out so many. They might not even say it, but sometimes you can just tell by the look on their

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face and they give you that kind of that Washingtonian kind of Texas thing. It's the

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Texas bless your heart thing, but have a nice day. They look at you all condescending and they

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might not even slam the door in your face, but you know that they hate your guts. But you know what?

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The more we get treated like that, the more blessings we really have. And it's a glory to us

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in the eyes. I think about Steadfast Baptist Church as an inspiration to me and I will glory

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in them in this church and I have many times because I feel like they've suffered so much,

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but look at how much they've been able to accomplish even through that. I mean,

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Pastor Shelley's like making movies and doing all these events and it's just like

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through all this persecution, I mean, we haven't had to deal with an inkling of what they've had

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to deal with. In reality, I mean, for years there's been people surrounding them and harassing them

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and taking pictures of their license plates and following them and driving by their house. I mean,

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you've seen the movie. If you've seen the movie, you've seen just what Dylan has gone through.

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I mean, throwing hardware in front of his driveway, trying to pop his tires. I mean,

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just all kinds of crazy people threatening their lives all the time, getting fired from their jobs,

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being sued and all these different things and it's like they just keep on rolling.

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You know, their church is packed. Everybody's showing up. The parking lot's full

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and you know what? That's just because it's because God's blessing is upon that church

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and they're dealing with it in the right way and maybe because they're called steadfast or whatever

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like the devil resists them that are steadfast, I guess, and the devil's like a roaring lion seeking

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whom he may devour and I'm not saying he's not tried to devour this church. Of course he has.

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We've had our own battles, but you know, I'm just saying that we can look at that church

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as an example of churches that have really gone through it and they're better for it,

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which is just, you know, all these people I just kind of was looking back on some old like post of

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you know, stuff like Pastor Shelley's going to prison. Pastor Topps is going to prison.

37:25.840 --> 37:29.280
Yeah, they're going to this. They're going to that. Their church is destroyed,

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you know, whatever and it's just like, no, we won. You lost. Go crawl back under the

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hole and come up with another scheme that's going to fail too because that's really how it is.

37:41.440 --> 37:42.560
Turn to Exodus chapter one.

37:51.920 --> 37:55.680
So Paul's talking about how he's glorying about how they're growing

37:56.640 --> 38:00.640
and then the fact that they're going through these tribulations and these persecutions and look,

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we might not have seen the worst persecution, you know. It could get worse. It could get way worse.

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It could get worse in our personal lives. It could get worse in our work lives. It can get worse in

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our church, you know. We haven't had to deal with somebody messing with us every time we walk through

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the door. That would get old. It would. Look at Exodus 1 8. It says, Now there rose up a new king

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over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto the people, Behold, the people of the children

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of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them lest they multiply.

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And it come to pass that when they fall without any war, they join also unto our enemies and

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fight against us. And so get them up out of the land. Therefore, they did set over them task

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masters to afflict them with burdens. So, I mean, if you think about it, Egypt's like the world

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and they are attacking the people of God. They're attacking the children of Israel

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and they're afflicting them with burdens. See, when we do great things for God,

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the task masters are going to come. The people that want to afflict us are going to come.

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And it says, And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Python and Ramses. But the more they

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afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And so that's kind of what you see happening when

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churches get persecuted is that they grow and they multiply. You know, if this happened, if like

39:31.920 --> 39:36.720
some of the things that have happened to them or to our church happened at some regular Baptist

39:36.720 --> 39:41.920
church in this city, people would freak out and lose their mind and quit their church. They would.

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I've been to old IFP churches for a long time. I went to old IFP churches and I know that the

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first thing they'd be saying is, Pastor, how dare you preach something like that? We're supposed to

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love everybody. You know, that's exactly what would happen. That's exactly what they do right now.

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You know, and it says the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew and they

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were grieved because of the children of Israel. So, you know, they just, the world hates us and

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they want to attack us. And when they afflict us, they don't realize what they're doing is they're

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actually helping us. It might seem like they're beating us. It might seem like they're winning

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or something, but they're really not. It says the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve

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with rigor and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage and mortar and in brick and all

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manner of service in the field. All their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. So

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basically the world and the enemy is going to try to make us, whatever we do for God, is going to be

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harder because of who we are. Because we are the children of God and when we rise up to do great

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works, the devil's going to resist us. He's going to be at our right hand trying to resist us,

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trying to destroy our church, trying to make our people afraid. And that's what the devil really

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likes to make people afraid and he likes to make our work harder. But when we go through hard

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times, it makes us tougher, it makes us more patient, and it makes us better for going through

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that hardship. Going through hardship, you know, growth comes through that. Maturity grows through

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that and it separates the soldiers from the cowards and the weak from the strong. Because

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you will lose people sometimes when you go through tribulations like that. When Verity went through

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that, they lost a lot of people and Pastor Anderson's had that same thing happen to him.

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But ultimately the hardened soldiers stay and they get through it and they move on to the next

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battle. And so it's kind of a lot of good things happen because of persecution. And it sounds like

41:50.800 --> 41:55.600
from what Paul is saying, what he said in the last whole book about them is that they had a lot of

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great character and a lot of great quality and their church was high quality because of the fact

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that they were constantly going through this affliction.

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Now number three, this is the last point, is the judgment that comes at Christ's coming. The

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judgment that comes at Christ's coming. Now the sermon I didn't preach was about the day of the

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Lord. And the day of the Lord starts, the day of Christ is the day that we get raptured and

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we're rescued from the great tribulation. And Jesus comes in the clouds. He raises up the dead

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in Christ. Those that are alive and remain are caught up and go to the Lord forever.

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But it's bad news for the rest of humanity. And so when he comes back, look at verse number five

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in our text. It says, it says, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you

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may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. So what is a token? A token

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is a thing serving as a visible or tangible representation of a fact. So what is it talking

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about here? Well it's talking about the persecution that they've been going through. And Paul is

43:14.400 --> 43:19.120
saying it's a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God. Well what does that mean?

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It says that they may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer. So why

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are we suffering? Why does God allow us to suffer? Why does God allow tribulation to happen? Well

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those people that are doing those things to us are going to get what's coming to them. And that,

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you know, people say, well why would you think that that's cool or whatever? Well I don't

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necessarily think that's cool or whatever, but I do think that the fact that God is going to

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avenge us for all the things that we've had to go through and the things that people in times past

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have gone through that are way worse than anything we've had to go through, but think about the

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people that actually live through the tribulation, which could be us, could be, they're asking

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questions like, how long oh Lord? You know, he's like, when are you going to avenge us?

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When are you going to make this right? Because everybody has a sense of justice,

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and when you're persecuted, and when you're afflicted, you know, you kind of want to see

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that person pay for what they've done. It's a natural feeling, and you know what, it's something

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that God feels, and I think it's so weird when people think that they're more holy than God,

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they're more righteous than God, they're better than God, and we should never think that someone

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gets what they deserve. Well, God says here that it's a manifest token of the righteous judgment

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of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer, and we

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suffer because of what? Because of the kingdom, because of Jesus, because of the things that he

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has suffered for us. Also, we're going to suffer with him, and when we suffer with him, we should

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count it joy, and we should count it that we're going to get rewarded for these things.

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We're not just suffering for nothing, it's the price we pay for standing up for the Lord

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and the kingdom that we belong to. You know what, we belong to the greatest kingdom this place will

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ever see, and we belong to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the best government that we

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could put. It's better than Donald Trump, believe it or not. It's better than all these presidents

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and whatever other world system. Look, when Jesus, the picture of Jesus coming down out of the

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mountain and crushing the statue that has Nebuchadnezzar and all these other world systems that

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everybody thinks are so great, they're still studying these Greek homos and all their

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philosophies and all this other stuff, but you know what, Jesus is way better than that, and you know

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what, we're part of his kingdom, and you know what, I don't mind suffering for his kingdom because

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he's worthy to be suffered for, and you know, we're part of the greatest sin, we're going to be part of

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the, you know, the kingdom of God has already come, but it's the reckoning of everything else

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that's going to happen. It hasn't all happened yet, has it? But there will be a reckoning, there will be

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a reaping of the whirlwind that's going to happen to the world, and you know what, it's not going to

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be something that we're upset about. We're going to be like, finally they get what they deserve,

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because you know what, we're supposed to not avenge ourselves, and that's really hard, but Jesus

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didn't avenge himself either, did he? Jesus took it, he took the spit, he took the shame, he took the whips,

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he took the nails in his hands and in his feet, he took everything for us, and you know what, we're

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going to take everything that we take because of him, and we're going to suffer shame

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because of him, but you know what, I would gladly suffer for him in those ways. You know, we might

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suffer adversity in this life, we might, again, we might suffer it in our church, we might suffer it

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in our personal lives and with our families and friends, we might suffer it in our workplaces,

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we might even suffer it in our own home, because Jesus came to divide, you know, he's the prince of

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peace, but he also came to cause division, he came to bring a sword, and sometimes that is within

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your own family structure, and you know what's better is to have all your family members get saved,

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that's not always the case, is it? Now look at verse six in our text, it says, seeing it as a righteous

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thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. It's a righteous thing, and so

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when people sit there and say, well, you know, you that you shouldn't feel that way, well, it's a

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righteous thing, so if God feels that way, is it okay for us to feel that way too? If God wants

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retribution against somebody for that those types of things, shouldn't we want that too? Now I'm not

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talking about people that are just genuine sinners, I'm talking about people that are just like

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regular sinners that die and they go to hell because they never received Christ, I'm talking

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about these evil scumbag false prophets, pedophiles, homos, you know, politicians,

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and all these other scum that are going to get what's coming to them. I mean, just, I mean, just

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the way that all of our systems, I mean, at some point there's going to be a reprobate army of the

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Antichrist, and he's going to be in every institution of government, in every institution and hospital,

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in every law enforcement, in every military, you're not going to be able to work in this world

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unless you take that mark. So every system will be infiltrated with these people, and you know what,

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we're going to be happy when we get, when they get recompensed for the tribulation of them that

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troubled us to begin with. And did the person, did the angel say, well, you shouldn't think that way,

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brother, to the person that got, you know, how long until we get the revenge, Lord?

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And he's like, tell your servants, your fellow servants to get their heads chopped off, basically,

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until they go through tribulation. And then they're going to get what's coming to them.

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He didn't say, don't think that way, brother, you should just pray for them.

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Shut up. They're murdering people. They're probably raping, murdering, doing all kinds of

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really sick things. But I'll just stick with this, though. Seeing is a righteous thing with God to

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recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. It's a righteous thing. So shut up and quit being

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a big, holier than thou, smoking God's nose about it. Look at verse 7. And to you who are troubled

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rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.

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And what does it say? In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that

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obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So how's he coming? It's not going to be in a flood.

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It's going to be in flaming fire. That's how the world's ending, folks. Jesus Christ taking

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vengeance. So what does that mean? He's going to kill a lot of people, right? That obey not the

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gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, you're like, well, you're supposed to obey to be saved?

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Yeah, obey the gospel. It means get saved. It's still a commandment to get saved. But God, you

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know, God still gives you the choice. But if you choose the wrong thing, you're going to get

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destroyed. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord?

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And that's a long time, isn't it? It's everlasting. And from the glory of his power when he shall come

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to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe. Because our testimony

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among you was believed in that day. So he, and he's basically talking about the day you got saved,

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you know, you're going to be one of those saints that are glorified, you know, that are going to

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glorify Christ when he comes. I mean, we are with numero uno. We are with the man. We are with the

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winning side. I mean, sometimes I think that maybe we take that kind of stuff for granted, but

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that's where we're at. We get to be with Jesus and he wins. And that's great. Revelation 1

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7 says, Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him

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and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. And Amen. So, and that's

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not Jesus saying that, that's John saying that. He said, even so, even if they're going to wail,

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that means they're going to be crying and screaming and snot-nosed and slow walking and

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all that stuff. And they're done. Because the Alpha and Omega is coming back. Look at Isaiah 66.

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Isaiah 66. See, because once Christ comes back, the wrath of God is going to be poured out,

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which we don't have to go through. And all these people are like, is God going to beat his bride

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before he takes him back to heaven or whatever? God doesn't beat his bride. The devil beats his

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bride. And then he comes and rescues us and puts a whooping on them, right? Look at Isaiah 66

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verse 14. The Bible says, And when you see this, your heart shall rejoice and your bones shall

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flourish like an herb. And the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants and his

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indignation toward his enemies. For behold, the Lord will come with fire and with the chariots

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like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire

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and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many.

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So there's not going to be a whole lot of people left over to go into the millennial reign.

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It's going to be the people on this earth are left over that go into the millennium are going to be

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saved people like us. And then there's going to be probably a remnant of people saved and unsaved

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that go into the millennial reign. But it says it'll be precious. The life at that time will

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be precious like the gold of Ophir, which is a precious gold mentioned in the Old Testament.

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So it kind of means it's a rare gold. It's going to be a rare thing to be alive during that time.

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And then the world will get repopulated and so on and so forth. But it says, For by fire

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and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many.

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They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst

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eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouth shall be consumed together,

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sayeth the Lord. For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall come that I will

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gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and see my glory. Now skip down to verse

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24 it says, And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed

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against me. For their worms shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they

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shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. So it's something that is going to last forever. This is

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quoted in Mark chapter number nine talking about where the worm dieth not and the fire is not

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quenched. It's hell forever last. See we get glory. We get to be glorified with God. We get

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to be glorified with the Lord Jesus Christ and the enemies get nothing. They get destruction

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and you know that's not going to be so funny anymore. You know all their little

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atheist humor and their mocking of Christians and all this stuff and all the things the nasty

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things that they say about our Lord and Savior. They're going to be ruining the day that they ever

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said those things and they will bow their knees whether they like it or not. Every knee shall bow

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and every tongue shall confess. So it's funny they just they want they they want to be without

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Christ but they're not going to be without Christ. They're going to be punished in the presence of

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the Lord and then you know they they they refuse to bow in this life but in the next life right

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before they go to hell they're going to bow their knee and they're going to confess that he's Lord

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and when I say that to people they get really mad. One day you're going to bow whether you

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like it or not. No I won't. I'll never bow. Yes yes you will. The Bible says you will.

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Psalm chapter 21. Psalm chapter 21. We're almost done here. Verse number eight. The Bible says

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thine hands shall find out all thine enemies. Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.

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Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow

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them up in his wrath and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shall thou destroy from the

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earth. Their seed from among the children of men for they intended evil against thee. They imagine

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the mischievous device which they are not able to perform. No matter how hard they try they can't

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destroy us. They can't destroy Christianity. They can't destroy this book. They can't destroy our

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God. When Jesus comes back he's going to flick them into the lake of fire. It's going to be like

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nothing. It's just like you know when you're reading in Revelation chapter 21 it's talking

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about that it's just like yeah and then the beast and the false prophet were thrown into it's just

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like like they didn't have a chance. They came. They raged. They probably have their BLM and

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antifa flags with them and then they're flicked and thrown into the lake of fire for all eternity.

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So let's turn to 1 Thessalonians 5. I'm going to read Jude 1 14. It says in Jude 1 14

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and Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying behold the Lord cometh with ten

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thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among

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them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and all of their hard speeches

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which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. They're going to eat their own words. They're not

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going to like it but it's going to happen. Now in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 1 the Bible says

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but of these times and seasons brethren you have no need that I write for unto you for you for

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yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night for when they

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shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with

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child and they shall not escape. They're not going to escape. They're going to be destroyed. They

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think that they're all in peace and safety but they're living in delusions. You know the Lord's

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going to bring strong delusion upon them. I think that is going to be talked about in the next

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chapter that we study but it says but brethren you're not in darkness that that day should

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overtake you as a thief so we can't be surprised by these things. You know we're not going to be

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fooled by the antichrist. We're not going to be fooled by the false prophets. We're not walking

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in darkness. We're walking in the light. We're children of the light and so this these things

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aren't going to overtake us. It's not going to overtake us like a thief. It's going to overtake

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them like a thief and it says you're the children of light and the children of day. We are not of

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the night nor the darkness therefore let us not sleep as others do but let us watch and be sober.

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So this is an admonition to us as Christians. Don't fall asleep in this life. Don't just you know

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don't just coast through your Christian life. Hey he wants us to to get out of the sleep and to

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be in the light and be paying attention to what's going on around us because if we're just our head

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just always in the sand and we're not paying attention you know that's not that's not watching.

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It says let us not sleep as others do but let us watch and be sober for they that sleep sleep in

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the night and they that be drunken are drunken in the night but let us who are of the day be sober

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putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for in helmet the hope of salvation. So faith and

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love that goes back to point two. This is what Christ wants us to do. He wants us to grow in grace

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grow in faith grow in love towards each other and towards people that are without and that we're

01:00:03.280 --> 01:00:10.000
hoping for our salvation. What does that mean? Well we're saved but the salvation itself is

01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:17.200
going to be when Christ comes back and takes us out of here. That's when salvation is fulfilled

01:00:17.200 --> 01:00:23.920
totally for us and so shall we ever be with the Lord. It says for God hath not appointed us to

01:00:23.920 --> 01:00:31.680
wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. So our days of suffering will be over and

01:00:31.680 --> 01:00:39.120
the recompense and the righteous judgment of God will be upon this world and we get to escape that

01:00:39.120 --> 01:00:45.200
because we're his. It says who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together

01:00:45.200 --> 01:00:52.800
with him wherefore comfort yourself together and edify one another even as also ye do. So let's

01:00:52.800 --> 01:00:59.280
finish up in our in second Thessalonians chapter one verse 11 it says wherefore also we pray always

01:01:00.240 --> 01:01:05.840
for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure

01:01:05.840 --> 01:01:12.960
of his goodness and the work of faith with power that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be

01:01:12.960 --> 01:01:17.760
glorified and that's what we want to do. We want to make sure that the name of our Lord Jesus

01:01:17.760 --> 01:01:23.680
Christ is glorified in this world. It's glorified in this church. It's glorified in your home. It's

01:01:23.680 --> 01:01:28.800
glorified when you go into the workplace. It's glorified when we're around our extended family

01:01:28.800 --> 01:01:37.200
and we don't want to bring reproach and you know get our Savior all dirty because of how we

01:01:37.840 --> 01:01:41.360
uh of how we perceive you know people perceive Christianity through us.

01:01:42.640 --> 01:01:49.040
So it says in him and ye in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He's

01:01:49.040 --> 01:01:54.960
going to give us the grace but you know we do kind of have to step through we have to be people that

01:01:54.960 --> 01:02:01.280
are people of action people of activity and we can't just be lulled to sleep by the world's

01:02:01.280 --> 01:02:07.680
devices and the things and the allure the lures of this world that you know they're just there's

01:02:07.680 --> 01:02:12.800
so much there's screens there's you know screens are like the big thing right now and they will

01:02:12.800 --> 01:02:17.280
take your time they'll suck your time away like what how have I been watching shorts for two

01:02:17.280 --> 01:02:24.560
hours like what happened we all can fall into those traps right so um but to recap the sermon

01:02:25.440 --> 01:02:30.800
Paul's common salutations number one was Paul's common salutations and their purposes

01:02:31.360 --> 01:02:34.800
and number two christian growth should be happening at a healthy church

01:02:35.600 --> 01:02:40.320
and number three the Lord's wrath against the wicked in our protection and salvation

01:02:40.320 --> 01:02:45.280
so that's first or second Thessalonians chapter one let's pray Lord we thank you so much for the

01:02:45.280 --> 01:02:51.360
scriptures and just how you just pack so much in there for us and we're so thankful for the fact

01:02:51.360 --> 01:02:57.360
that we're on the winning side and that we get to bypass your wrath and that Lord you've chosen us

01:02:57.920 --> 01:03:02.320
for salvation because we you know you we chose you because you first chose us and

01:03:02.880 --> 01:03:05.840
and we love you Lord and we thank you for all the blessings in our life please

01:03:06.480 --> 01:03:11.360
take us home safely tonight as we go home in our separate ways in Jesus name we pray amen