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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – The Flip Side of Leaders... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Ever wondered why some ministries thrive while others merely survive.
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  Speaker 1: What's the major factor that separates idle churches from dynamic ones, Well,
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  Speaker 1: Chuck Swindahl says, it's not just about great leadership, it's
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  Speaker 1: great followership that makes the difference. And today, on inside
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  Speaker 1: for a living, Chuck invites us to look at first Thessalonians,
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  Speaker 1: where you'll discover how to actively contribute to the success
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  Speaker 1: of your church leaders. It begins with embracing the truth
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  Speaker 1: of God's word without reservation. From his series called Contagious Christianity,
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  Speaker 1: Chuck titled today's message the flip side of leadership.
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  Speaker 2: A leader without followers is like Arturo Tuscanini. Without an orchestra,
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  Speaker 2: he may tap his baton on the extent, lift his
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  Speaker 2: hands dramatically, and drop them for the downbeat. But let's
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  Speaker 2: face it, without musicians, he's merely a man waving his
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  Speaker 2: hands without purpose. However, give him an orchestra to direct,
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  Speaker 2: a group of followers, skilled in their instruments and dedicated
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  Speaker 2: to his leadership, and he's no longer a man vainly
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  Speaker 2: beating the air. Arturo Toscanini is a maestro. Successful leading
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  Speaker 2: depends on responsive following. We could call it the flip
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  Speaker 2: side of leadership. As strong as Paul's leadership qualities were
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  Speaker 2: and he avoided, you may recall deception, people pleasing greed
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  Speaker 2: and authoritarianism, while at the same time cultivating sensitivity, affection, authenticity,
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  Speaker 2: and affirmation. They would all have been gestures in the
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  Speaker 2: wind if the Thessalonians had chosen not to follow his leadership.
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  Speaker 2: And so today it's appropriate that we talk about the
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  Speaker 2: qualities of a good follower, beginning with the one characteristic
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  Speaker 2: for which Paul was most thankful, gratitude. Open your bibles,
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  Speaker 2: will you to First Thessalonians, chapter two. We'll begin reading
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  Speaker 2: at verse thirteen down to the end of the chapter
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  Speaker 2: First Thessalonians two thirteen. For this reason, we also constantly
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  Speaker 2: thank God that when you receive the word of God
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  Speaker 2: which you heard from us, you accepted it not as
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  Speaker 2: the word of men, but for what it really is,
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  Speaker 2: the Word of God, which also performs its work in
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  Speaker 2: you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the
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  Speaker 2: churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.
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  Speaker 2: For you also endured the same sufferings at the hands
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  Speaker 2: of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,
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  Speaker 2: who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and
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  Speaker 2: drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but
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  Speaker 2: hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the
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  Speaker 2: gentiles so that they may be saved, with the result
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  Speaker 2: that they always fill up the measure of their sins.
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  Speaker 2: But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. But
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  Speaker 2: we brethren, having been taken away from you for a
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  Speaker 2: short while in person, not in spirit, were all the
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  Speaker 2: more eager with great desire to see your face. For
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  Speaker 2: we wanted to come to you, I Paul, more than once,
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  Speaker 2: And yet Satan hindered us. For who is our hope
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  Speaker 2: or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you?
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  Speaker 2: In the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming?
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  Speaker 2: You are our glory and joy.
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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Insight for living to dig deeper into
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  Speaker 1: first Thessalonians on your own. Be sure to purchase our
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  Speaker 1: Searching the Scripture's Bible Study workbook by going to Insight
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  Speaker 1: dot org. Slash offer Chuck titled today's message the Flip
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  Speaker 1: Side of Leadership.
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  Speaker 2: Doesn't sound very spiritual. To start like this but sometimes
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  Speaker 2: nothing seems to say it better than a bumper sticker.
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  Speaker 2: Have you noticed that. I may not like them on
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  Speaker 2: my car, but I have to confess I read them
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  Speaker 2: on other cars, like the one that appeared on a
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  Speaker 2: rusting out old Jalopi that had no rear window, and
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  Speaker 2: it had about six different colors of paint all across it.
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  Speaker 2: It had a fender that shouldn't have still been hanging on,
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  Speaker 2: a big bumper sticker on the back that said, don't laugh, lady,
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  Speaker 2: your daughter may be in here. I looked, and my
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  Speaker 2: daughter was not in there, and so I laughed. I
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  Speaker 2: was on the freeway trying to survive sometime ago, and
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  Speaker 2: an unusual man drove by. He was not only absolutely
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  Speaker 2: bald as a billiard ball, but he had a big
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  Speaker 2: smile on his face and was sort of singing. And
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  Speaker 2: people like that on the freeway I'm always a little
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  Speaker 2: suspicious of to start with. And I thought, now there's
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  Speaker 2: a guy with a great sense of humor. And when
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  Speaker 2: he went by, he had a bumper sticker that was
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  Speaker 2: absolutely unique. It said when God made heads, he covered
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  Speaker 2: up those he did not like. That's pretty good. One
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  Speaker 2: of our staff members said, just this past week, as
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  Speaker 2: we were finishing up meeting, he said, I was driving
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  Speaker 2: home the other evening and I came across a real
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  Speaker 2: cute bumper sticker and says, I'll never forget it. It reminded
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  Speaker 2: me of my life. It said, I finally got my
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  Speaker 2: act together, but I forgot where I put it. You
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  Speaker 2: might have felt a little like that two liner after
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  Speaker 2: we finished with the early part of First Thessalonians Chapter two.
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  Speaker 2: You might reword yours. I finally convinced of leadership, but
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  Speaker 2: there's nobody following. For What good is a great leader
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  Speaker 2: without followers? What good is it if a Hollywood Bowl
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  Speaker 2: is packed out with people ready for this fabulous concert
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  Speaker 2: and the only person that shows up is the conductor.
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  Speaker 2: It's a flop. It's a failure. What if they called
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  Speaker 2: the war and only generals showed up? Can't even fight?
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  Speaker 2: Certainly not very long? What good is twelve to fifteen
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  Speaker 2: years of postgraduate education and internship and specialty in the
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  Speaker 2: medical field if you don't ever have any people to
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  Speaker 2: come as patients to treat. What good is a pulpit
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  Speaker 2: and a preacher if there are not parishioners? Good's a
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  Speaker 2: shepherd without a flock. You could go on and on
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  Speaker 2: with this. I think one of the reasons that Paul
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  Speaker 2: was so in love with essel and Ika is that
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  Speaker 2: the body of believers there were such great followers. I've
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  Speaker 2: said all along, all through my ministry, that you never
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  Speaker 2: have great leaders without finding around those leaders great followers.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know that they even heard of bumper stickers
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  Speaker 2: back then. They did, they were on chariots. And if
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  Speaker 2: Paul had a chariot while he was writing around Corinth
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  Speaker 2: while writing this letter, I think it might have had
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  Speaker 2: a sticker that read, asked me about my month in
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  Speaker 2: Macedonia or I'd rather be in Thessalonika. There's something very
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  Speaker 2: very pleasant about his memory when he made that little
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  Speaker 2: j in the hook of the j and back up
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  Speaker 2: north from Corinth to what is known today as Thessaloniki.
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  Speaker 2: What a great bunch of people. Now, in light of
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  Speaker 2: all of that, I think a little review is in order.
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  Speaker 2: Look for example, at the second chapter with me of
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  Speaker 2: first Thessalonians. Question that comes to our mind as we
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  Speaker 2: review this is why is some leadership like it is?
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  Speaker 2: See the way he says it in verse one. You recall,
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  Speaker 2: you know, brethren, our coming was not in vain. It's
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  Speaker 2: not in vain. I don't know of anything that I
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  Speaker 2: want to say more at the end of my life
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  Speaker 2: than to say, looking back over my shoulder yesterday was
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  Speaker 2: not in vain, thinking back over my ministry, and thinking
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  Speaker 2: back through the lives of my family, and thinking back
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  Speaker 2: through the cultivation of my friends, it wasn't in vain.
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  Speaker 2: Is there anything more empty than to say, with a sigh,
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  Speaker 2: in vain? I know some heart breaking stories that come
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  Speaker 2: from the lips of embittered pastors today because they feel
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  Speaker 2: their ministry back then was in vain. Now why was
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  Speaker 2: his not in vain? I'm intrigued by that? So were you? Well?
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  Speaker 2: Remember last time? In verses two through he sets forth
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  Speaker 2: the reasons he left some things out of his ministry,
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  Speaker 2: and he tells what those things were. And in verses
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  Speaker 2: seven through eleven, he put things into his ministry, and
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  Speaker 2: he tells us what those were. They're four in each.
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  Speaker 2: Number one he refused to rely on deception. Number two,
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  Speaker 2: he wasn't a flatterer. Number three he wasn't greedy, And
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  Speaker 2: number four he refused to be authoritarianistic in his leadership.
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  Speaker 2: Remember that those things were not a part of his
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  Speaker 2: leadership in place of that Verses seven through eleven. He
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  Speaker 2: was sensitive to needs that he had an affection for
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  Speaker 2: the followers. They had a love affair going. There was
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  Speaker 2: an authenticity of life. Remember verse eight. I hope you
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  Speaker 2: haven't forgotten Chapter two, Verse eight, one of the great
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  Speaker 2: verses of the New Testament. Having thus a fond affection
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  Speaker 2: for you, we were well pleased, not just to give
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  Speaker 2: you the gospel, but we gave you our lives. There
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  Speaker 2: was an authenticity about Paul. He unveiled the truth and
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  Speaker 2: he let them know Paul. They didn't push him up
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  Speaker 2: on some pedestal. They had him down among them, and
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  Speaker 2: he delivered the goods. He wept with them, he confessed
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  Speaker 2: with them, he was broken with them, he was happy
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  Speaker 2: with them. He was real. And finally he was enthusiastic
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  Speaker 2: about affirmation. Remember verse eleven. How can we ever forget
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  Speaker 2: verse eleven. You know we were exhorting and encouraging and
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  Speaker 2: imploring as a father would his own children. I did
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  Speaker 2: that just this week. Two of our four are still
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  Speaker 2: at home, and I'm still encouraging, and I'm still imploring,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm certainly still exhorting those two that are still
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  Speaker 2: at home. That's my job. That's the job of the daddy,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what I love to do. It's for their
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  Speaker 2: good verse twelve. It's to help them walk in a
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  Speaker 2: manner worthy of the God who has called them. And
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  Speaker 2: that's what it's all about. Now, I want to repeat,
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  Speaker 2: what good is a leader without witnesses or without followers?
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  Speaker 2: Did you notice something you notice? In verse five he
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  Speaker 2: said God is the witness, But in verse ten he
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  Speaker 2: says you are witnesses. I thought when I read that,
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  Speaker 2: now that is important. Not only does God smile at
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  Speaker 2: an applaud and respond to our leadership when his people
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  Speaker 2: are impacted, but people themselves do. And this drew me
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  Speaker 2: to the latter part of this chapter, where the tables
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  Speaker 2: are turned from the leader to the following. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: the leader himself is following. In this section. In verses
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  Speaker 2: thirteen to sixteen, the emphasis is on the Thessalonians. In
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  Speaker 2: seventeen to twenty, it turns to Paul, did you see
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  Speaker 2: the shift as the words were read earlier? Verse thirteen.
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  Speaker 2: For this reason, we constantly thank God that when you
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  Speaker 2: received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it.
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  Speaker 2: In Verse fourteen for you brethren, But down in verse seventeen.
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  Speaker 2: But we brethren, see the change when you read your Bible.
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  Speaker 2: Be like a Doberman pincher who hears footsteps out front,
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  Speaker 2: ears pop up, and he starts to get ruffled inside.
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  Speaker 2: Be alert, be sensitive. God is giving us truth, and
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  Speaker 2: he hides it in things like verbs and nouns and
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  Speaker 2: particles and connecting thoughts, and he expects us with intelligence
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  Speaker 2: to draw it out to learn from it. This isn't
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  Speaker 2: just a good reading from the good book. This is life,
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  Speaker 2: and sometime it's hidden away behind the meaning of a term,
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  Speaker 2: or the turn of a phrase, or the connecting word
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  Speaker 2: from verse to verse. Don't be slopping in your reading.
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  Speaker 2: Good students, sir, of the scriptures, are good students of English.
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  Speaker 2: Now his reason for gratitude verse thirteen. For this reason,
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  Speaker 2: we constantly thank God. Now, here's the reason I'd rather
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  Speaker 2: be in Thessalonika than Corinth. Here's the reason I want
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  Speaker 2: people to ask me about my month in Macedonia. For
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  Speaker 2: this reason, we constantly thank God that when you received
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  Speaker 2: from us the word of God's message, you allow me
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  Speaker 2: welcomed it. Different terms are used, though both of them
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  Speaker 2: could be translated receive when you receive from us God's word.
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  Speaker 2: You received it, But there are different terms in the
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  Speaker 2: original text. The second receiving is from a word that
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  Speaker 2: means to welcome. You get two different kinds of knocks
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  Speaker 2: on your front door. You want to be kind to both.
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  Speaker 2: One comes from a stranger knocks on your door. You
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  Speaker 2: open the door and you officially receive that person. You
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  Speaker 2: have a connection. You catch their eyeball to eyeball contact
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  Speaker 2: and you hear what they have to say. And might
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  Speaker 2: be a solicitor, might be a salesperson. It might be
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  Speaker 2: a neighbor you've not met, but there is a somewhat warm,
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  Speaker 2: hospitable greeting. Now there's another kind of knock from a friend.
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  Speaker 2: And when you open the door and you see your friend,
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  Speaker 2: you invite them in. That's the term used here. When
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  Speaker 2: you received from us the message from God, you said,
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  Speaker 2: come on in. You welcomed it. F. F. Bruce has said,
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  Speaker 2: the word of human beings, however wise in substance or
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  Speaker 2: eloquent in expression, cannot produce spiritual life. This is the
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  Speaker 2: prerogative of the word of God. Men and women. It's
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  Speaker 2: very probable that you and I are in a place
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  Speaker 2: where the word of God is taught openly and frequently.
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  Speaker 2: You and I have probably never been around a place
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  Speaker 2: that is starving for truth. I know a pastor who
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  Speaker 2: somehow got behind the curtain and somehow had on his
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  Speaker 2: person a copy of the Scriptures, and he visited a
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  Speaker 2: number of the underground church ministries in the land of Russia.
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  Speaker 2: He had pastors begging him for simply a page of scripture,
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  Speaker 2: if you would just leave behind a part of the
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  Speaker 2: Gospel of John. Now, I know you hear dramatic stories
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  Speaker 2: like that, and I do, and you think, well, it's tragic.
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  Speaker 2: I know some people are doing things about it, and
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  Speaker 2: we must, we want to. But the alternative, or the
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  Speaker 2: other side of the coin, is when you are frequently
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  Speaker 2: exposed truth, it is easy to become a bit nonchalant
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  Speaker 2: about it, isn't it. Oh, we're going to be in
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  Speaker 2: first Thessalonians today, we'll be in one Timothy tonight. We'll
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  Speaker 2: when that's true, we'll probably take second Thessalonians, and then
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  Speaker 2: maybe sewod Timothy, and we might throw in little Genesis
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  Speaker 2: and friends. This is the word of God. Hearing it
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  Speaker 2: means nothing, Welcoming, it means everything everything. Just to hear
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  Speaker 2: it is does you no more good than simply hearing
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  Speaker 2: the paper read to you this morning. You know that
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  Speaker 2: I am not saying it's on the level of the newspaper.
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  Speaker 2: I'm saying just to hear it does nothing for you
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  Speaker 2: or for me. But the secret and the thing that
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  Speaker 2: makes the ministry thrive, the thing that makes the family flourish,
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  Speaker 2: is that you welcome it. You say, come on in,
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  Speaker 2: Why why is that so valuable? Because that's when it
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  Speaker 2: goes to work. See the latter part of verse thirteen.
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  Speaker 2: Now we're into the response among those that were led.
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  Speaker 2: When you received God's message, you welcomed it not as
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  Speaker 2: the word of men, but for what it really is,
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  Speaker 2: the Word of God. Don't stop reading, which modifies the
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  Speaker 2: Word of God. The Word of God performs its work
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  Speaker 2: in you who believe. Isn't that great news. I don't
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  Speaker 2: read the Word and then say I'm going to get
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  Speaker 2: to work. He doesn't like that. When the Word of
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  Speaker 2: God comes into my life and really gets rooted, it
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  Speaker 2: doesn't work. It works even when I'm not aware of it.
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  Speaker 2: It's like getting in touch with radium. It's like being
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  Speaker 2: in a spiritual fallout. You don't suddenly feel the fuzz.
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  Speaker 2: You don't have big time tingles that occur from Sunday
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  Speaker 2: to Sunday. It's not like that. But you plow up
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  Speaker 2: the soil and you prepare the heart for the sowing
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  Speaker 2: of the seed, and the spirit of God drops it
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  Speaker 2: in the right place and covers it over that soft
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  Speaker 2: soil and fertilizes it with time and affliction, and it
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  Speaker 2: begins to take root, and you change. See that's the
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  Speaker 2: first response in attitude. It's cooperation with needed changes. Think
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  Speaker 2: how impatient you would be if you had never let
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  Speaker 2: the word of God take root. Think how unloving, Think
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  Speaker 2: how murderous we would be. Think how vicious, Think how
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  Speaker 2: compromising we would be in our morals and in our finances.
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  Speaker 2: Think how indifferent we would be politically. Think how unconcerned
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  Speaker 2: we would be for the lost. Just think of it
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  Speaker 2: if the word of God didn't take root. Think of
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  Speaker 2: our concern for the fields about us, those lands beyond
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  Speaker 2: our bodies of water. Just think of that. The Bible
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  Speaker 2: is a map, and it's pointing us in God's directions,
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  Speaker 2: saying go for it. One theologian has said it so
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  Speaker 2: much better than I. The distinctive mark of theology in
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  Speaker 2: our day is its dreadful ambiguity. The chaos of American
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  Speaker 2: theology can be traced back to its roots in the
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  Speaker 2: rejection of biblical infallibility. Preaching is not the act of
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  Speaker 2: unfolding our personal convictions. It is the duty of informing
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  Speaker 2: men and women of all that God has spoken, and
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  Speaker 2: then this closing point where He just twists it. To
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  Speaker 2: move off from the pages of scripture is to enter
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  Speaker 2: into the wastelands of our own subjectivity. Who cares what
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  Speaker 2: my opinion is In the long run, it proves nothing,
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  Speaker 2: and it will not last. It's only my opinion. But
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  Speaker 2: who cannot help but care what this book says. By
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  Speaker 2: the way, that's one of the reasons I am so
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  Speaker 2: sold on this ministry. You care, You care about what
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  Speaker 2: the book says. Now, we're not all doing it like
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  Speaker 2: we should, we never will, but at least you care.
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  Speaker 2: You say, here's my life, pour in the truth and
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  Speaker 2: let's see what God will do. And brothers and sisters,
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  Speaker 2: that's what we're about. That's why we occupy the places
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  Speaker 2: we do inside this building to take it in so
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  Speaker 2: we can give it out well. The result is the
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  Speaker 2: imitation of a godly lifestyle. I don't mean an imitated
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  Speaker 2: life in that wrong sense. I mean we begin to
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  Speaker 2: imitate Godliness like other believers. We have a connection, we
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  Speaker 2: have an identity with others. Look at verse fourteen for you, brethren,
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  Speaker 2: see the four is a connecting explanation. The Word of
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  Speaker 2: God performs its work in you who believe, for example,
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  Speaker 2: is another way we could say it. For example, fellow Christians,
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  Speaker 2: you became imitators of the churches of God in Christ
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  Speaker 2: Jesus that are in Judea. Now about that, here he
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  Speaker 2: is in Macedonia, which is a continent a half removed
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  Speaker 2: from where he had been in Jerusalem. And of all things,
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  Speaker 2: when the word of God took root in thessal and
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  Speaker 2: Naika across the Aegean, down across the northeastern section of
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  Speaker 2: the Mediterranean to that body of land, is the Church
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  Speaker 2: of Judea, or the churches of Judea. And up here
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  Speaker 2: in Macedonia you are beginning to look just like the
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  Speaker 2: saints who live down there in Judea. Mazing, And nobody
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  Speaker 2: in Macedonia said we're going to meet tonight and look
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  Speaker 2: at a film on how they live in Judea. You
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: don't have that here. The remarkable thing is that whether
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: you're ministering in Canada or Mexico, or mid United States,
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: or the South Sea Islands or some part of Europe, regardless,
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: there is a thread of Godliness in the lifestyle that connects.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: Right you travel, you'll see it. It's called the spirit.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Your spirit witnesses with my spirit. I get on the plane,
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: I fly to some place, and en route, I meet
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: a guy whose smile is right. I see a lady
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: who's got an interest in some seems to be an
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: interest in spiritual things. And I discover as we get
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: into a conversation, we're alike, and we've never met. We
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: are imitating the same lifestyle. It's the life of Christ.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Chuckswundahl is defining what he calls the flip side of leadership,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: and he's just getting started. So stay with us. This
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: is message number three in a twelve part series called
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Contagious Christianity. To fully engage with all twelve messages, Insight
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: for Living is put together a printed Bible study workbook
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: that lets you linger over the Book of First Thessalonians
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: at your own pace. It's a spiral bound resource that
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: guides you through Paul's letter and leaves plenty of room
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: for making personal notes and observations. Look for the searching
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the scripture study titled Contagious Christianity at insight dot org
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: slash offer. If you're an audio learner, take advantage of
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: our convenient Insight Mobile app, where you can download and
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: listen to all twelve studies for free. As a compliment
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: to this series from Chuck, you're invited to request his
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: very popular book called Laugh Again. I'm sure you'd agree.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Our troubled world is good at stealing our smiles right,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: bad news, setbacks, worries that keep us up at night.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: But God intends for his children to experience a level
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: of peace and joy that this world can't deliver. In
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: the book called Laugh Again, Chuck explains how that's possible.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Spoiler alert. It's not about pretending everything's fine. It's about
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: knowing who holds our future. So in addition to the
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: teaching series on Contagious Christianity, you can request a copy
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: of Chuck's book Laugh Again. It's yours when you give
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: a gift to support the Ministry of Insight for Living
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: call us at eight hundred seven seven to two eighty eight
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: eighty eight or visit insight dot org slash offer thank
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: you so much for giving generously. It's your voluntary gifts
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: that make Chuck Swndall's teaching available on radio and all
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: the other platforms that carry Inside for Living. As a result,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: men and women all around the world world are learning
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: how to receive God's grace and share his grace with others.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: That wouldn't be possible without supportive friends like you. Once
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: more for the book Laugh Again, call us at eight
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: hundred seven seven to two eighty eight eighty eight, or
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: visit insight dot org slash offer. I'm Bill Meyer inviting
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: you to join us when Chucks Wendall continues his message
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: called The Flip Side of Leadership Tuesday on Insight for Living.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: The preceding message, The Flip Side of Leadership was copyrighted
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty four, nineteen eighty five, nineteen ninety three,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: two thousand and three, and twenty twenty four, and the
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by Charles R.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Swindall Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: material for commercial use is brickly prohibited.