Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / 1 Timothy 3:14-16 - The Gospel and the Family of God

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1 Timothy 3:14-16 - The Gospel and the Family of God · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle talk. Today we are finally out of, if
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  you will, we're out of the thick of it for a little bit.
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  And the past several episodes have been really chunky.
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  And some of you have told me about that fact.
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  And I'd say I'm sorry, but truth be told, I'm not sorry.
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  Those are some of the most important passages in the New
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  Testament as it relates to the local church.
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  And so as I'm a pastor, that's that's my mission is to help
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  people know, as we'll see today, how they ought to behave
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  themselves in the family of God. And so today we are just going
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  over 3 verses. This is First Timothy 3/14/15
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  and 16. And so we're going to read
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  through this. This is Paul writing to Timothy,
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  and he says this in verse #14 I write these things to you,
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  hoping to come to you soon. But if I should be delayed, I've
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  written so that you will know how people ought to conduct
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  themselves in God's household, which is the Church of the
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  living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
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  And most certainly the mystery of godliness is great.
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  He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the spirit, seen
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  by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the
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  world, taken up in glory. I love verse 16.
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  I'm going to try and make a beeline best I can towards that
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  end. So verse number 14, Paul goes,
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  hey, I'm writing this stuff. I'm hoping to be there like
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  reunited with you there in Ephesus super soon.
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  He says, but if I am going to take a while to do so, he says,
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  I've written so this book is so that you will know how people
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  ought to conduct themselves in God's household.
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  So he says the purpose of this letter of first Timothy is so
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  people will know how to conduct themselves in the family of God.
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  Many of us hopefully grew up in some families that had some
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  house rules. There were things that we did.
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  We were assigned chores. There was an expectation that we
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  would treat our sisters in a certain way or our brothers in a
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  specific way, that we'd have a certain amount of respect for
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  Mom or for Dad. When they said to do something,
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  we obey and we do it right away. Perhaps even, hey, if you get
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  all your chores done, you can have this amount of play time,
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  You get an allowance, you get, you know, whatever the case
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  might have been. But having some boundaries,
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  having some rules, having some ways in which your family
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  operates is a good thing. And God has told us how we are
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  to operate, how we're supposed to behave or conduct ourselves
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  within His family. And that's a super, super
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  important thing to remember within the local church, that we
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  are not people that are gathered together for a program.
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  If you know, right now I lead the the music at Tabernacle with
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  a great team. But if the music switched up
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  tomorrow, all of our, you know, vocalists all lost their vocal
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  cords and, you know, all of our instrumentalists, you know, we
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  all lost our hands. And so the only thing that we
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  could do is play, you know, multi tracks or, you know, kind
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  of the, the in its worst way people phrase it like, you know,
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  karaoke tracks of the gospel. Or if all we could do is sing
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  acapella, just sing with only our voices to the Lord.
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  That should never be a reason for someone to leave the church
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  that they go, oh man, I was here for the music.
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  I preach at Tabernacle. But if a day ever comes when I
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  am no longer the one that is preaching at Tabernacle, I would
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  never want someone to go. Oh, well, I was here for Brian's
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  preaching and so now I'm going to leave the church.
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  Or in kind of, you know, worst case scenario, as I've heard
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  through the years, you know, someone switches up the carpet.
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  You know, they they pick blue carpet instead of red carpet.
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  You know, a unspiritual ungodly person would go, I'm leaving the
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  church over that. An ungodly person says some, you
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  know, random aspect of this church has changed.
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  And so therefore it's no longer the church for me.
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  That is an ungodly and wicked way to behave.
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  Why? Because the church is not Burger
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  King. The church is not something that
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  you put together the program that you most enjoy with all of
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  your favorite like ministries and hobbies and that's the
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  reason you attend a church. No, you are part of a local
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  church because it is God's family and you do not abandon
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  and leave your family. Now, if a church goes, hey, we
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  don't believe this thing that the Bible says like the Bible
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  says, you know, it's very much in the cultural zeitgeist right
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  now. We believe, quote UN quote, love
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  is love. And so it doesn't matter what
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  the gender is because gender is just a social construct anyway.
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  You can just be with whoever you want to be and that's totally
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  fine. We would say from scripture, no.
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  God has outlined literally from Genesis to Revelation what
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  marriage looks like and it is male and female, one in one
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  together for one life. And all throughout Scripture
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  that is what it tells us. So if a quote UN quote church
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  were to say, well, no, we we don't believe that that is not a
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  church that is not a part of God's family because it's not
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  defined by what God says. It's defined by what it wants to
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  say or how it wants to be perceived in our world today.
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  So because it's God's family and because we purport to be a part
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  of God's family, we stick it out.
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  And not only do we stick it out, but we love one another because
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  that's what we are called to do. That's what we're supposed to
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  do. We are the forgiven people.
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  We're the adopted people. We are the loved and the chosen
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  people. And so we ought to be those that
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  love and adopt and choose and care for each other.
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  And so I want to encourage you, don't be a selfish Burger King.
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  Have it your way type Christian. Yeah, that that is a despicable,
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  awful thing to to be and to do. Don't turn your back on the
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  people of God over preferences and not over Jesus died so that
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  I would be unified with you. And so I'm going to be unified
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  with you. I'm going to care about you.
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  I'm going to stick it out through thick and through thin.
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  I'm going to do my part. I'm going to serve, I'm going to
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  love, I'm going to give. I'm going to be involved because
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  Jesus is the one that has put this family together.
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  So he says, I've written this so that people will know how to
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  conduct themselves in God's household.
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  And just in case we're not clear of like, OK, well is that just
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  like the family of God at large? He then specifically says, which
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  is the Church of the living God. If you want to be a part of
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  God's family, then you need to love and be a part of the local
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  church. The church is the family of God.
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  There is no such thing as a Christian without a church.
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  Now, there may be a Christian who is not attending, who is not
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  a part of a local assembly of believers, but that person is in
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  danger, like their soul might be in danger if they're saying no.
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  I, I hate that family because if you, you know, if you hate B or
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  EV, if you hate Samantha, you aren't having a relationship
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  with me. Like to love me means you love
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  my family because they are what is most important to me.
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  And we're told in Ephesians 5 that Jesus died for the church.
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  He gave his life for her. And so we have a responsibility
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  then as individual parts of the body of Christ to love the
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  church, to love the family of God.
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  And he even says the Church of the living God is the pillar and
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  foundation of the truth. There was an individual I talked
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  to several years ago who though they had served in various
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  ministries over many years, they did not view church as
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  important. They would not encourage others
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  to be a part of the church. And they were shocked to hear me
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  once quote this, that the church is the pillar and foundation of
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  the truth. And so if we are going to build
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  our lives on the truth of God's Word, then it means that we must
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  have a love for the local church.
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  Now you might be saying, all right, well, Brian, you're just
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  saying that because you're the pastor of a local church.
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  I don't care if you go to Tabernacle.
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  There are so many wonderful, godly, amazing gospel preaching
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  churches, even just in my little area of the world.
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  And I'd be thrilled to death for you to sit and and sit under the
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  preaching of some godly guys that I know.
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  I think of Freedom Church, Hazelwood with some amazing
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  pastors, Bethlehem Church with several of my friends over in
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  Bowley's quarters, John Manry at Middle River Baptist.
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  He's a good godly guy. Love, love him.
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  And and the times that I've gotten to spend with him, so
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  many faithful gospel preaching brothers all across my area.
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  I just want you to be in church because it is the best thing.
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  It is God's plan A and there is no Plan B.
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  All right, Michael, all right, Brian, you were, you were pretty
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  fired up. I know, I know, I know.
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  Let's dive in now to verse 16. This is where I really wanted to
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  get to says and most certainly talking about the pillar and
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  foundation of the truth. He says most certainly the
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  mystery of godliness is great. He, this is obviously Jesus, was
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  manifested in the flesh, that Jesus was not always walking in
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  and among us in flesh and blood like we have, but he came into
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  time and space, into the virgin womb of Mary and God within
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  Mary's womb. Through the power of the Holy
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  Spirit, He conceived Christ and knit him together just as He
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  knits every infant and he put together his arms and his
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  fingers, His eyes. This God that saw all of
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  creation, the one that had seen the galaxies and the stars, was
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  now given eyes that would sit in darkness for a couple of months
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  before he was born. He, the one that, as has God,
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  hovered over the face of the waters in Genesis 1, was given
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  legs that would one day walk on the waters.
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  God crafted the hands that would be pierced with the nails he he
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  made the side and the organs that would be pierced with the
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  Roman spear. He made the head that would be
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  crowned with thorns and the chin that would one day grow hairs
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  with a beard that would be plucked out by the Roman
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  soldiers. Jesus was manifest in the flesh.
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  What a thought that God became man.
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  It says he was manifested in the flesh.
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  He was vindicated in the Spirit. You can think of Jesus as he's
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  baptized by John the Baptizer, and as he's brought up out of
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  the water, the Holy Spirit descends on him like a dove, if
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  you will. It's the manner in which the
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  Holy Spirit came down on him. It's not that there was a
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  literal physical dove. The Holy Spirit isn't a dove,
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  though he's often pictured because he's a spirit.
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  That's like wind breath. We don't have a way to conceive
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  of that and so Scripture gives us the picture of a dove.
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  So Holy Spirit comes down like a dove on to him, if you will,
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  anointing him. I'm putting that in quotes.
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  Jesus was always the Son of God. He was always the Messiah.
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  He was always the Christ. But in that moment in
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  particular, as others saw, they went, oh man, the Holy Spirit
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  has come on to this individual and the voice from heaven
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  declares, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
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  So Jesus was manifested in the flesh.
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  He was vindicated in the Spirit that the Spirit gave, if you
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  will, the yes, this is a, this is the Christ.
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  And so you should listen to him says he was seen by angels over
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  and over again throughout Jesus's ministry.
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  You have the angels showing up. So after Satan tempts him in the
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  wilderness, the angels come and they minister to him.
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  You can think of even on the mount of Transfiguration as
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  Jesus is transformed, some of his glory shines out and there
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  he sees Moses and he sees Elijah and he's conversing with them.
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  And you can think about, you know, the angelic host that
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  would no doubt have been around that spot as you have heaven and
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  earth there overlapping that these Saints from the presence
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  of God interacting with God the Son there.
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  You can think about the Garden of Gethsemane where the angels
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  ministered to Jesus spirit even as he was in deep anguish and
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  crying out for God that the angels ministered to him all
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  along the way. That's so cool to me because if
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  the angels even helped God the Son while he was here on earth,
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  then the angels can be helping me.
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  The angels can be ministering to my soul when I'm going through
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  grief or when I'm going through temptation or when I'm
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  struggling with anxiety like God's angels can be right there
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  around me. And what a joyous thought that
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  that is that it happens because of the love of my Jesus.
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  So Jesus, he was manifested in the flesh and vindicated in the
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  Spirit. So if you will, the earth's side
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  of things, the flesh, and the heavenly side of things, the
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  Spirit, He was seen by angels. That's a, you know, kind of
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  heavenly thing. And then it also says he was
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  preached among the nations. So the kind of, if you will, the
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  opposite of heaven's inhabitants, the angels, is the
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  nations, which is the earth's inhabitants.
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  And Jesus was preached among the nations that whether it was
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  Israel or Egypt or Samaria or even in Rome, as he was declared
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  at various times. And the Greeks that came and
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  visited Jesus and the disciples even during right after that
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  triumphal entry, that some of the Greeks wanted to converse
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  with Jesus, that Jesus was preached among the nations.
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  And then it says he was believed on in the world and taken up in
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  glory, that Jesus is Lord of both heaven and earth.
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  So he was manifested down here in the flesh.
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  He was vindicated in the spirit from up there.
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  He was seen by angels who inhabit the up there.
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  He was preached among the nations which are down here and
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  who inhabit down here. He was believed on in the world
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  the down here and he was taken up in glory to the up there.
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  So you can think again Genesis one in the beginning God created
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  the heavens, the skies and the earth, the land.
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  And so first Timothy 316 walks through all of that that Jesus
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  is Lord of everything and so we ought to worship and follow and
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  love him. That is the gospel message that
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  we proclaim. The gospel message is not,
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  here's all of the ways in which all of your problems can go
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  away. The gospel message is not here's
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  the superiority of men over women.
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  The gospel message is not, here's the way that you can have
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  the most financially prosperous nation or the most ethnically
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  homogeneous nation, as I've seen some people despicably work to
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  put together. None of those things are the
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  gospel. The gospel is not how righteous
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  are we. The gospel is the story of
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  Jesus. The gospel is the Son of God was
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  manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit.
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  He was seen by angels. He was preached.
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  He was preached among the world, among the nations that he was
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  believed on in the world, and he was received up into glory.
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  And so if you're looking for a great verse to memorize, First
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  Timothy 316 is a short one. It's got all of those little
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  parallels that you can learn, and it can help you to know the
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  gospel message to be able to share it with others.
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  Thank you for watching this episode today.
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  Tomorrow we begin chapter 4 and looking forward to it with you.