Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Flip Side of Leadership │ Msg 312

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The Flip Side of Leadership │ Msg 312 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: A leader without followers is like Arturo Toscanini without an orchestra.
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Speaker 1: He may tap his baton on the music stand, lift
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Speaker 1: his hands dramatically, and drop them for the downbeat, but
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Speaker 1: let's face it, without musicians, he's merely a man waving
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Speaker 1: his hands without purpose. However, give him an orchestra to direct,
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Speaker 1: a group of followers skilled in their instruments and dedicated
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Speaker 1: to his leadership, and he's no longer a man vainly
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Speaker 1: beating the air. Arturo Toscanini is a maestro. Successful leading
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Speaker 1: depends on responsive following. We could call it the flip
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Speaker 1: side of leadership. As strong as Paul's leadership qualities were,
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Speaker 1: and he avoided, you may recall, deception, people-pleasing, greed, and authoritarianism,
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Speaker 1: while at the same time cultivating sensitivity, affection, authenticity, and affirmation,
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Speaker 1: they would all have been gestures in the wind if
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Speaker 1: the Thessalonians had chosen not to follow his leadership. And
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Speaker 1: so today it's appropriate that we talk about the qualities
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Speaker 1: of a good follower, beginning with the one characteristic for
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Speaker 1: which Paul was most thankful, gratitude. Open your Bibles, will you,
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Speaker 1: to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 We'll begin reading at verse 13,
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Speaker 1: down to the end of the chapter, 1 Thessalonians 2.13.
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Speaker 1: For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when
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Speaker 1: you receive the word of God, which you heard from us,
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Speaker 1: you accepted it, not as the word of men, but
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Speaker 1: for what it really is, the word of God, which
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Speaker 1: also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren,
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Speaker 1: became imitators of the churches of God, in Christ Jesus
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Speaker 1: that are in Judea. For you also endured the same
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Speaker 1: sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as
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Speaker 1: they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are
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Speaker 1: not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering
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Speaker 1: us from speaking to the Gentiles, so that they may
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Speaker 1: be saved. With the result, that they always fill up
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Speaker 1: the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon
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Speaker 1: them to the utmost. But we, brethren, having been taken
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Speaker 1: away from you for a short while, in person, not
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Speaker 1: in spirit, were all the more eager with great desire
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Speaker 1: to see your face. For we wanted to come to you. I, Paul,
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Speaker 1: more than once. And yet Satan hindered us. For who
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Speaker 1: is our hope or joy or crown of exaltation? Is
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Speaker 1: it not even you in the presence of our Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus at his coming? For you are our glory and joy.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't sound very spiritual to start like this, but
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Speaker 1: sometimes nothing seems to say it better than a bumper sticker.
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Speaker 1: Have you noticed that? I may not like them on
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Speaker 1: my car, but I have to confess, I read them
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Speaker 1: on other cars. Like the one that appeared on a
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Speaker 1: rusting out old jalopy that had no rear window and
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Speaker 1: it had about six different colors of paint all across it.
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Speaker 1: It had a fender that shouldn't have still been hanging on.
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Speaker 1: And a big bumper sticker on the back that said,
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Speaker 1: don't laugh lady, your daughter may be in here. I looked,
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Speaker 1: and my daughter was not in there, and so I laughed.
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Speaker 1: I was on the freeway trying to survive some time ago,
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Speaker 1: and an unusual man drove by. He was not only
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Speaker 1: absolutely bald as a billiard ball, but he had a
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Speaker 1: big smile on his face and was sort of singing,
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Speaker 1: and people like that on the freeway, I'm always a
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Speaker 1: little suspicious of to start with. And I thought, now
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Speaker 1: there's a guy with a great sense of humor. And
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Speaker 1: when he went by, he had a bumper sticker that
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Speaker 1: was absolutely unique. It said, when God made heads, he
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Speaker 1: covered up those he did not like. That's pretty good.
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Speaker 1: One of our staff members said just this past week
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Speaker 1: as we were finishing up our meeting, he said, I
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Speaker 1: was driving home the other evening and I came across
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Speaker 1: a real cute bumper sticker and She says, I'll never
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Speaker 1: forget it. It reminded me of my life. It said,
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Speaker 1: I finally got my act together, but I forgot where
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Speaker 1: I put it. You might have felt a little like
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Speaker 1: that two-liner after we finished with the early part of
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Speaker 1: 1 Thessalonians 2. You might reword yours. I finally convinced
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Speaker 1: of leadership, but there's nobody following. For what good is
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Speaker 1: a great leader without followers. What good is it if
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Speaker 1: a Hollywood Bowl is packed out with people ready for
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Speaker 1: this fabulous concert and the only person that shows up
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Speaker 1: is the conductor? It's a flop. It's a failure. What
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Speaker 1: if they called a war and only generals showed up?
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Speaker 1: Can't even fight. Certainly not very long. What good is
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Speaker 1: 12 to 15 years of postgraduate education and internship and
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Speaker 1: specialty in the medical field if you don't ever have
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Speaker 1: any people to come as patients to treat? What good
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Speaker 1: is a pulpit and a preacher if there are not parishioners?
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Speaker 1: What good is a shepherd without a flock? You could
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Speaker 1: go on and on with this. I think one of
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Speaker 1: the reasons that Paul was so in love with Thessalonica
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Speaker 1: is that the body of believers there were such great followers.
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Speaker 1: I've said all along, all through my ministry, that you
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Speaker 1: never have great leaders without finding around those leaders great followers.
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Speaker 1: I don't know that they even heard of bumper stickers
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Speaker 1: back then. They did. They were on chariots. And if
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Speaker 1: Paul had a chariot while he was riding around Corinth
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Speaker 1: while writing this letter, I think it might have had
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Speaker 1: a sticker that read, ask me about my month in Macedonia,
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Speaker 1: or I'd rather be in Thessalonica. There's something very, very
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Speaker 1: pleasant about his memory when he made that little J
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Speaker 1: in the hook of the J and back up north
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Speaker 1: from Corinth to what is known today as Thessaloniki. What
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Speaker 1: a great bunch of people. Now, in light of all
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Speaker 1: of that, I think a little review is in order. Look,
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Speaker 1: for example, at the second chapter with me of 1 Thessalonians.
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Speaker 1: Question that comes to our mind as we review this is,
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Speaker 1: why is some leadership like it is? See the way
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Speaker 1: he says it in verse one, you recall, you know, brethren,
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Speaker 1: our coming was not in vain. Not in vain. I
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Speaker 1: don't know of anything that I want to say more
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Speaker 1: at the end of my life than to say, looking
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Speaker 1: back over my shoulder, Yesterday was not in vain. Thinking
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Speaker 1: back over my ministry and thinking back through the lives
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Speaker 1: of my family and thinking back through the cultivation of
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Speaker 1: my friends, it wasn't in vain. Is there anything more
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Speaker 1: empty than to say with a sigh, in vain? I
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Speaker 1: know some heartbreaking stories that come from the lips of
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Speaker 1: embittered pastors today because they feel their ministry back then
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Speaker 1: was in vain. Now, why was his not in vain?
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Speaker 1: I'm intrigued by that. So are you. Well, remember last
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Speaker 1: time in verses two through six, he sets forth the reasons.
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Speaker 1: He left some things out of his ministry, and he
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Speaker 1: tells what those things were. And in verses 7 through 11,
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Speaker 1: he put things into his ministry, and he tells us
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Speaker 1: what those were. There are four in each. Number one,
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Speaker 1: he refused to rely on deception. Number two, he wasn't
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Speaker 1: a flatterer. Number three, he wasn't greedy. And number four,
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Speaker 1: he refused to be authoritarianistic in his leadership. Remember that.
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Speaker 1: Those things were not a part of his leadership. In
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Speaker 1: place of that, verses 7 through 11, he was sensitive
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Speaker 1: to needs. He had an affection for the followers. They
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Speaker 1: had a love affair going. There was an authenticity of life.
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Speaker 1: Remember verse 8? I hope you haven't forgotten chapter 2,
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Speaker 1: verse 8. One of the great verses is, of the
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Speaker 1: New Testament. Having thus a fond affection for you, we
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Speaker 1: were well pleased not just to give you the gospel,
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Speaker 1: but we gave you our lives. There was an authenticity
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Speaker 1: about Paul. He unveiled the truth and he let them
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Speaker 1: know Paul. They didn't push him up on some pedestal.
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Speaker 1: They had him down among them. And he delivered the goods.
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Speaker 1: He wept with them. He confessed with them. He was
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Speaker 1: broken with them. He was happy with them.
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Speaker 2: He was real.
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Speaker 1: And finally, he was enthusiastic about affirmation. Remember verse 11?
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Speaker 1: How can we ever forget verse 11? You know we
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Speaker 1: were exhorting and encouraging and imploring as a father would
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Speaker 1: his own children. I did that just this week. Two
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Speaker 1: of our four are still at home. And I'm still
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Speaker 1: encouraging and I'm still imploring and I'm certainly still exhorting
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Speaker 1: those two that are still at home. That's my job.
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Speaker 1: That's the job of the daddy. And that's what I
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Speaker 1: love to do. It's for their good. Verse 12 says,
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Speaker 1: It's to help them walk in a manner worthy of
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Speaker 1: the God who has called them. And that's what it's
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Speaker 1: all about. Now, I want to repeat, what good is
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Speaker 1: a leader without witnesses or without followers? Did you notice something?
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Speaker 1: You notice in verse 5, he said, God is the witness.
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Speaker 1: But in verse 10, he says, you are witnesses. I
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Speaker 1: thought when I read that, now that is important. Not
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Speaker 1: only does God smile at and applaud and respond to
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Speaker 1: our leadership when his people are impacted, but people themselves do.
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Speaker 1: And this drew me to the latter part of this
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Speaker 1: chapter where the tables are turned from the leader to
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Speaker 1: the following. In fact, the leader himself is following in
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Speaker 1: this section. In verses 13 to 16, The emphasis is
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Speaker 1: on the Thessalonians. In 17 to 20, it turns to Paul.
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Speaker 1: Did you see the shift as the words were read earlier?
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Speaker 1: Verse 13, for this reason, we constantly thank God that
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Speaker 1: when you receive from us the word of God's message,
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Speaker 1: you accepted it. And verse 14, for you, brethren. But
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Speaker 1: down in verse 17, but we, brethren. See the change?
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Speaker 1: When you read your Bibles, Be like a Doberman pincher
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Speaker 1: who hears footsteps out front. Ears pop up and he
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Speaker 1: starts to get ruffled inside. Be alert. Be sensitive. God
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Speaker 1: is giving us truth and he hides it in things
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Speaker 1: like verbs and nouns and particles and connecting thoughts. And
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Speaker 1: he expects us with intelligence to draw it out, to
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Speaker 1: learn from it. This isn't just a good reading from
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Speaker 1: the good book. This is life. And sometimes it's hidden
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Speaker 1: away behind the meaning of a term or the turn
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Speaker 1: of a phrase or the connecting word from verse to verse.
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Speaker 1: Don't be sloppy in your reading. Good students of the
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Speaker 1: scriptures are good students of English. Now, his reason for gratitude,
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Speaker 1: verse 13. For this reason, we constantly thank God. Now
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Speaker 1: here's the reason I'd rather be in Thessalonica than Corinth.
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Speaker 1: Here's the reason I want people to ask me about
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Speaker 1: my month in Macedonia. For this reason, we constantly thank
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Speaker 1: God that when you received from us the word of
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Speaker 1: God's message, you, allow me, welcomed it. Different terms are
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Speaker 1: used Though both of them could be translated receive. When
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Speaker 1: you receive from us God's word, you received it. But
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Speaker 1: they're different terms in the original text. The second receiving
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Speaker 1: is from a word that means to welcome. You get
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Speaker 1: two different kinds of knocks on your front door. You
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Speaker 1: want to be kind to both. One comes from a stranger.
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Speaker 1: Knocks on your door, you open the door and you
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Speaker 1: officially receive that person. You have a connection. You catch
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Speaker 1: their eyeball to eyeball contact and you hear what they
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Speaker 1: have to say and might be a solicitor, might be
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Speaker 1: a salesperson. It might be a neighbor you've not met,
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Speaker 1: but there is a somewhat warm hospitable greeting. Now there's
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Speaker 1: another kind of knock from a friend. And when you
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Speaker 1: open the door and you see your friend, you invite
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Speaker 1: them in. That's the term used here. When you received
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Speaker 1: from us the message from God, you said, come on in.
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Speaker 1: You welcomed it. F.F. Bruce has said, the word of
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Speaker 1: human beings, however wise in substance is, or eloquent in
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Speaker 1: expression cannot produce spiritual life. This is the prerogative of
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Speaker 1: the word of God. Men and women, it's very probable
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Speaker 1: that you and I are in a place where the
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Speaker 1: word of God is taught openly and frequently. You and
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Speaker 1: I have probably never been around a place that is
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Speaker 1: starving for truth. I know a pastor who somehow got
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Speaker 1: behind the curtain and somehow had on his person a
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Speaker 1: copy of the scriptures and he visited a number of
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Speaker 1: the underground church ministries in the land of Russia. he
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Speaker 1: had pastors begging him for simply a page of Scripture.
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Speaker 1: If you would just leave behind a part of the
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Speaker 1: Gospel of John. Now, I know you hear dramatic stories
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Speaker 1: like that, and I do, and you think, well, that's tragic.
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Speaker 1: I know some people are doing things about it, and
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Speaker 1: we must, we want to. But the alternative or the
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Speaker 1: other side of the coin is when you are frequently
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Speaker 1: exposed to truth, it is easy to become a bit
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Speaker 1: nonchalant about it, isn't it? Oh, we're going to be
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Speaker 1: in 1 Thessalonians today. We'll be in 1 Timothy tonight.
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Speaker 1: When that's through, we'll probably take 2 Thessalonians and Then
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Speaker 1: maybe 2 Timothy. We might throw in a little Genesis. Friends,
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Speaker 1: this is the word of God. Hearing it means nothing.
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Speaker 1: Welcoming it means everything. Everything.
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Speaker 2: Everything.
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Speaker 1: Just to hear it does you no more good than
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Speaker 1: simply hearing the paper read to you this morning. You
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Speaker 1: know that? I'm not saying it's on the level of
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Speaker 1: the newspaper. I'm saying just to hear it does nothing
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Speaker 1: for you or for me. But the secret and the
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Speaker 1: thing that makes the ministry thrive is The thing that
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Speaker 1: makes the family flourish is that you welcome it. You say,
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Speaker 1: come on in. Why? Why is that so valuable? Because
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Speaker 1: that's when it goes to work. See the latter part
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Speaker 1: of verse 13? Now we're into the response among those
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Speaker 1: that were led. When you received God's message, you welcomed it,
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Speaker 1: not as the word of men, but for what it
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Speaker 1: really is, the word of God. Don't stop reading, which
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Speaker 1: modifies the word of God. The word of God performs
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Speaker 1: its work in you who believe. Isn't that great news?
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Speaker 1: I don't read the word and then say, I'm going
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Speaker 1: to get to work. He doesn't like that. When the
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Speaker 1: word of God comes into my life and really gets rooted,
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Speaker 1: it does a work. It works well. even when I'm
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Speaker 1: not aware of it. It's like getting in touch with radium.
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Speaker 1: It's like being in a spiritual fallout. You don't suddenly
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Speaker 1: feel the fuzz. You don't have big-time tingles that occur
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Speaker 1: from Sunday to Sunday.
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Speaker 2: It's not like that.
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Speaker 1: But you plow up the soil and you prepare the
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Speaker 1: heart for the sowing of the seed and the spirit
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Speaker 1: of God drops it in the right place and covers
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Speaker 1: it over that soft soil and fertilizes it with time
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Speaker 1: and affliction and it begins to take root and you change. See,
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Speaker 1: that's the first response in attitude. It's cooperation with needed changes.
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Speaker 1: Think how impatient you would be if you had never
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Speaker 1: let the word of God take root. Think how unloving,
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Speaker 1: think how murderous we would be. Think how vicious, think
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Speaker 1: how compromising we would be in our morals and in
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Speaker 1: our finances. Think how indifferent we would be politically. Think
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Speaker 1: how unconcerned we would be for the lost. Just think
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Speaker 1: of it. If the word of God didn't take root,
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Speaker 1: think of our concern for the fields about us, those
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Speaker 1: lands beyond our bodies of water. Just think of that.
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Speaker 1: The Bible is a map, and it's pointing us in
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Speaker 1: God's direction, saying, go for it. One theologian has said
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Speaker 1: it so much better than I, the distinctive mark of
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Speaker 1: theology in our day is its dreadful ambiguity. The chaos
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Speaker 1: of American theology can be traced back to its roots
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Speaker 1: in the rejection of biblical infallibility. Preaching is not the
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Speaker 1: act of unfolding our personal convictions. It is the duty
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Speaker 1: of informing men and women of all that God has spoken.
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Speaker 1: And then this closing point where he just twists it.
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Speaker 1: To move off from the pages of scripture is to
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Speaker 1: enter into the wastelands of our own subjectivity. Who cares
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Speaker 1: what my opinion is? In the long run, it proves
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Speaker 1: nothing and it will not last. It's only my opinion.
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Speaker 1: But who cannot help but care what this book says?
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Speaker 1: By the way, that's one of the reasons I'm so
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Speaker 1: sold on this ministry here in Fullerton. You care. You
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Speaker 1: care about what the book says. Now, we're not all
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Speaker 1: doing it like we should. We never will. But at
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Speaker 1: least you care. You say, here's my life. Pour in
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Speaker 1: the truth and let's see what God will do. And
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Speaker 1: Brothers and sisters, that's what we're about. That's why we
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Speaker 1: occupy the places we do inside this building. To take
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Speaker 1: it in so we can give it out. Well, the
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Speaker 1: result is the imitation of a godly lifestyle. I don't
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Speaker 1: mean an imitated life in that wrong sense. I mean,
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Speaker 1: we begin to imitate godliness like other believers. We have
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Speaker 1: a connection. We have an identity with others. Look at
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Speaker 1: verse 14. For you, brethren... See, the for is a
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Speaker 1: connecting explanation. The word of God performs its work in
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Speaker 1: you who believe. For example is another way we could
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Speaker 1: say it. For example, fellow Christians... You became imitators of
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Speaker 1: the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. Now,
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Speaker 1: how about that? Here he is in Macedonia, which is
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Speaker 1: a continent and a half removed from where he had
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Speaker 1: been in Jerusalem. And of all things, when the word
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Speaker 1: of God took root in Thessalonica, across the Aegean, down
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Speaker 1: across the... Northeastern section of the Mediterranean to that body
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Speaker 1: of land is the church of Judea or the churches
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Speaker 1: of Judea. And up here in Macedonia, you are beginning
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Speaker 1: to look just like the saints who lived down there
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Speaker 1: in Judea.
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Speaker 2: Amazing.
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Speaker 1: And nobody in Macedonia said, we're going to meet tonight
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Speaker 1: and look at a film on how they live in Judea.
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Speaker 1: You don't have that here. The remarkable thing is that
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Speaker 1: whether you're ministering in Canada or Mexico or mid-United States
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Speaker 1: or the South Sea Islands or some part of Europe, regardless,
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Speaker 1: there is a thread of godliness in the lifestyle that connects, right?
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Speaker 1: You travel, you'll see it. It's called the spirit. Your
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Speaker 1: spirit witnesses with my spirit. I get on the plane,
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Speaker 1: I fly to some place, and en route I meet
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Speaker 1: a guy whose smile is right. I see a lady
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Speaker 1: who's got an interest in, some seems to be an
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Speaker 1: interest in spiritual things, and I discover as we get
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Speaker 1: into a conversation, we're alike and we've never met. We
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Speaker 1: are imitating the same lifestyle. It's the life of Christ.
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Speaker 1: It's remarkable. It's wonderful. It says, I'm not alone. And
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Speaker 1: that's what happened in Thessalonica. You, brethren, became imitators, and
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Speaker 1: you remind me of the way they're living down in Judea.
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Speaker 1: There is godliness that emerges. And, by the way, it's
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Speaker 1: improper or it's incomplete if we don't include a word
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Speaker 1: about suffering. I'm going to say a lot about that
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Speaker 1: next time, but please note this time, verse 14. For you, brethren,
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Speaker 1: became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus
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Speaker 1: that are in Judea. For, see, there's a further explanation.
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Speaker 1: You also endured the same sufferings at the hands of
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Speaker 1: your countrymen, even as they did. Are you tracking this?
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Speaker 1: Are you thinking now with me? We don't come to
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Speaker 1: be entertained. We come to worship and to be instructed.
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Speaker 1: We need to think together. While thinking about how they
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Speaker 1: had welcomed the word of God, he says you have
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Speaker 1: begun to cooperate with needed changes. You have begun to
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Speaker 1: imitate the godly lifestyle, just like in Judea. And third,
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Speaker 1: there is an endurance through intense sufferings. And I commend you.
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Speaker 1: That's the third. Endurance through intense suffering. Someone has said,
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Speaker 1: willingness to suffer for Christ is proof of discipleship. Suffering? Friend,
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Speaker 1: welcome to the club. You've got that in common. Success
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Speaker 1: is not in common. Affluence is not in common. Sex
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Speaker 1: is not in common. Marital status is not in common.
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Speaker 1: Suffering is in common. The one thread that can cause
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Speaker 1: all of us to be drawn together in a tight
27:11
Speaker 1: loop is the reality of suffering. And for all I know,
27:17
Speaker 1: some of you are going through it more intensely than
27:19
Speaker 1: ever in your life. You might think that means I
27:23
Speaker 1: must not be right with God. No, keep reading. Keep reading.
27:30
Speaker 1: You are suffering. You're going through the same afflictions that
27:33
Speaker 1: impacted your brothers, and it's coming from people who, verse 15,
27:39
Speaker 1: killed the Lord Jesus and murdered the prophets and drove
27:43
Speaker 1: us out. They aren't pleasing to God, but they're hostile
27:46
Speaker 1: to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles
27:50
Speaker 1: that they might be saved. With the result that they
27:54
Speaker 1: fill up the measure of their sins.
27:57
Speaker 2: Stop.
27:59
Speaker 1: What does that mean? Now that is an intriguing statement.
28:04
Speaker 1: They fill up the measure of their sins. You know something?
28:11
Speaker 1: This book is so remarkable, it gives answers to things
28:15
Speaker 1: that most books don't even address. Honest to Pete, you
28:21
Speaker 1: can have several earned doctorates and not even begin to
28:26
Speaker 1: traffic in the mysteries of God that are that are
28:32
Speaker 1: held in the deposit of God's word. Read the philosophers
28:38
Speaker 1: and you will not find answers to this 16th verse
28:42
Speaker 1: about being filled up to the measure of one's sins.
28:46
Speaker 1: You know what that means? It is a reference to
28:48
Speaker 1: the well-defined limit of sin appointed by divine decrees. In
28:59
Speaker 1: eternity past, the Trinity, in what we might call, for
29:03
Speaker 1: lack of a better expression, met in council. And they
29:08
Speaker 1: set up, or the Godhead set up, the divine decrees.
29:14
Speaker 1: It would be the way life would be ordered. And
29:18
Speaker 1: the Godhead addressed the subject of sin. And the Godhead
29:23
Speaker 1: established limits. and determine sin would operate within this category,
29:31
Speaker 1: within these limits, when those limits have been filled up
29:40
Speaker 1: divine discipline occurs. And I believe that Paul is saying
29:46
Speaker 1: these people in our day have reached the limit and
29:50
Speaker 1: wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. They are
29:55
Speaker 1: experiencing now the backwash of that. You know what that
30:00
Speaker 1: tells me too? It tells me that things are not
30:02
Speaker 1: out of control. It should tell you the same thing.
30:07
Speaker 1: They may seem as bad as they're going to ever be.
30:10
Speaker 1: Trust me. They may not be. They may get worse.
30:16
Speaker 1: But they will never go beyond the limits to which
30:18
Speaker 1: God allows. Job is an example. Have you looked on
30:24
Speaker 1: this earth? Yes, I've looked on this earth. Let me
30:27
Speaker 1: run free and I will... Finish it off. Don't touch Job,
30:33
Speaker 1: but you can take his family. And he takes his
30:35
Speaker 1: family and he's got the limit set. Satan comes back
30:39
Speaker 1: and says, ah, you curse him. Or I should say,
30:41
Speaker 1: you allow suffering to strike him and he'll curse you
30:44
Speaker 1: to your face. You may do that, but don't take
30:48
Speaker 1: his life. Another limit. And he did, but he didn't
30:52
Speaker 1: take his life. You know the story. The point is
30:56
Speaker 1: it was filled up to the limit. And it was
30:59
Speaker 1: not out of control. Doesn't solve all of the difficulties,
31:06
Speaker 1: but it does give you the peace to know that
31:08
Speaker 1: things are not out of hand. Now, this is deep water,
31:13
Speaker 1: isn't it?
31:14
Speaker 2: Tough stuff.
31:18
Speaker 1: But it's all part of responding well as followers to
31:22
Speaker 1: the word of God. Now, the leader himself, he doesn't
31:24
Speaker 1: run or she doesn't run scot-free. I mean, we're not.
31:27
Speaker 1: We're not in our own little world where we have
31:29
Speaker 1: no accountability and no response expected from us. Look at
31:33
Speaker 1: verses 17 to 20. But we, brethren, now that the
31:36
Speaker 1: scene changes, it's the other side of the coin. But we, brethren,
31:41
Speaker 1: having been bereft of you for a short while, in
31:45
Speaker 1: person but not in spirit, we're all the more eager
31:47
Speaker 1: with great desire to see your face. See the word bereft?
31:51
Speaker 1: We get our word orphaned from the Greek term translated bereft.
31:57
Speaker 1: In this particular term, there is a prefix, by the way,
32:01
Speaker 1: that intensifies it. It means literally to be torn away from.
32:10
Speaker 1: Kidnap might be a better word. Suffering came, persecution arose,
32:16
Speaker 1: and we were ripped away from you and forced to
32:19
Speaker 1: move on. Went to Athens and now come to Corinth
32:22
Speaker 1: and we're ministering here. But I remember back when we
32:25
Speaker 1: were torn from you. By the way, did you know
32:28
Speaker 1: that every day in America 60 children are taken? That's
32:36
Speaker 1: two average size elementary school classes.
32:41
Speaker 2: They disappear. Every day.
32:46
Speaker 1: Torn away from parents. Paul says, I'm like an orphan.
32:55
Speaker 1: I've been torn away from you. Now, the point is this.
32:58
Speaker 1: There was an eager expectation in spite of separation. Even
33:03
Speaker 1: though I have been torn away from you, I eagerly
33:06
Speaker 1: look forward to being back with you. What's next? Verse 18,
33:11
Speaker 1: we wanted to come to you, I, Paul, more than once.
33:15
Speaker 1: And Satan, your Bible may read, hindered us. This particular
33:19
Speaker 1: version reads, thwarted us. Second response is a constant pursuit
33:25
Speaker 1: amidst satanic opposition. Whoa. When you read something like that,
33:33
Speaker 1: take it seriously. We're living in a day in which
33:37
Speaker 1: the whole idea of Satan is sort of laughed at,
33:41
Speaker 1: sort of the inside joke of the office. Real devil,
33:45
Speaker 1: come on, get serious. Well, verse 18 is serious. Paul,
33:50
Speaker 1: the great apostle said, we wished to come more than once.
33:55
Speaker 1: And Satan stopped us. The word is end copto E
33:59
Speaker 1: N K O P T O and copto means to
34:02
Speaker 1: cut in on. It was used for digging up the
34:07
Speaker 1: soil of the road so that the vessels couldn't go
34:11
Speaker 1: over the road and get to the destination. You'll you'll
34:14
Speaker 1: appreciate this one. It was used athletically for a runner
34:17
Speaker 1: cutting in on the stride. of another runner. Does that
34:21
Speaker 1: remind anybody of anything in the 23rd Olympiad? Our lady,
34:26
Speaker 1: you know, our hope for a gold named Mary Decker
34:33
Speaker 1: got encoctoed by a runner whose name most of us
34:38
Speaker 1: can hardly remember. And Mary stumbled and fell and couldn't
34:43
Speaker 1: even finish the race. She was cut in on I
34:48
Speaker 1: am intrigued by that whole idea. I want to know more,
34:52
Speaker 1: but he doesn't tell me more. Few things said elsewhere
34:55
Speaker 1: in the scriptures, but I tell you, Bob Thomas is
35:01
Speaker 1: right over at Talbot Seminary. The real existence of a
35:05
Speaker 1: personal and supernatural devil is incontrovertible. There is an enemy
35:13
Speaker 1: at work. There are demons at work. There is another
35:17
Speaker 1: world of the unseen, and don't you ever forget it.
35:22
Speaker 1: While speaking with James Watt at a gathering where I
35:25
Speaker 1: was so honored to be a part of it, I
35:27
Speaker 1: heard him say, Chuck, I can tell every time I
35:32
Speaker 1: get on the subject or I touch the demonic realm, boom,
35:39
Speaker 1: things explode. I can deal with other things, and it's
35:43
Speaker 1: just as calm as it can be. but you move
35:45
Speaker 1: into enemy territory and the thing blows up. And so
35:51
Speaker 1: can many of you tell stories like that. There is
35:55
Speaker 1: an opposing world. There is an opposing force. There is
35:58
Speaker 1: a demonic world. And don't go to seed on that.
36:01
Speaker 1: By the way, I know a guy who says he
36:04
Speaker 1: has the demon of nail biting. Come on. Uh, the
36:11
Speaker 1: person's got the demon of overeating. Uh, Honestly, there's a
36:17
Speaker 1: place where some of that gets a little spooky. You
36:22
Speaker 1: know that. God's given you a common sense and don't
36:26
Speaker 1: go to seed on stuff that's good theology. You go
36:32
Speaker 1: to work on overeating. You go to work on nail biting.
36:34
Speaker 1: You go to work on stuff that you know you've
36:36
Speaker 1: got the controls on. Don't blame it on some force.
36:40
Speaker 1: I think demons have a lot more to be concerned
36:42
Speaker 1: about than your nails and mine. I honestly am very
36:49
Speaker 1: concerned that as a result of that kind of thinking,
36:52
Speaker 1: people who could otherwise be led to think intelligently throw
36:56
Speaker 1: it all out, baby and bathwater included, the whole bit. Now,
37:00
Speaker 1: as Paul is saying, I wanted to come more than once,
37:04
Speaker 1: and the enemy stopped me. And I don't know any
37:06
Speaker 1: more than that, except the enemy stopped him, and he
37:09
Speaker 1: sensed it was enemy territory. You will sense it too.
37:13
Speaker 1: The deeper you walk with Christ, the more you'll be
37:16
Speaker 1: able to differentiate. And I can't give you the rules.
37:20
Speaker 1: I'll just say you'll know. And you will have not
37:27
Speaker 1: a shallow fright, but you'll have a deep fear as
37:32
Speaker 1: you get into enemy territory. Are you going to operate
37:34
Speaker 1: in the power of the Spirit? Or you won't make it.
37:39
Speaker 1: Greater is he that's in us than he that's in
37:41
Speaker 1: the world. Now, the third thing I noticed in Paul's
37:46
Speaker 1: response was a joyful hope undiminished by problems. You see
37:49
Speaker 1: that in the last two verses? Who is our hope
37:52
Speaker 1: or joy or crown of exultation? Isn't it even you
37:55
Speaker 1: at the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming?
37:58
Speaker 1: When I think about the future and I think about
38:00
Speaker 1: Christ's coming and I think about being gathered up and
38:03
Speaker 1: caught up with other believers and I'll see the Thessalonians
38:07
Speaker 1: with me, I'll think that was worth it all. There
38:10
Speaker 1: is my hope. That is my happiness. That makes me laugh.
38:16
Speaker 1: That makes me rejoice. You are my Glory and joy,
38:20
Speaker 1: verse 20. Isn't that wonderful? Joyful hope, undiminished by problems.
38:28
Speaker 1: I want to warn all of us against getting grim
38:31
Speaker 1: while we fight battles, okay? Have a war on that.
38:36
Speaker 1: Don't get grim. You can be an intense fighter, but
38:41
Speaker 1: stay happy. I know when I meet someone who has
38:45
Speaker 1: lost the joy of living today, I've met someone who's
38:48
Speaker 1: starting to fight his own battles. You know what I
38:51
Speaker 1: lose when I start fighting for myself? I lose three
38:56
Speaker 1: things that start with the letter H. Just thought about
39:00
Speaker 1: this this week. I lose my hope, I lose my
39:04
Speaker 1: hunger for truth, and I lose my humor. I do,
39:08
Speaker 1: every time. I lose my hope. I think, oh, it's
39:12
Speaker 1: never going to.
39:12
Speaker 2: Get any better.
39:13
Speaker 1: You ever have that feeling? It's just awful. I'm never
39:17
Speaker 1: going to make it lose my hope, lose my hunger.
39:19
Speaker 1: I don't want to get into this book. I don't
39:21
Speaker 1: want to see what it has to say. I don't
39:22
Speaker 1: want to believe it. I don't want anybody to tell
39:24
Speaker 1: me what it says. I don't want to hear my
39:27
Speaker 1: own tapes. I just want to be left alone in
39:35
Speaker 1: my unbelief and my humor. You'd be so intense, you
39:42
Speaker 1: don't even have much tact when you win souls. You
39:46
Speaker 1: just intensely go for the scalp. It's like Donald Barnhouse
39:52
Speaker 1: in his book on the Thessalonians tells a story about
39:57
Speaker 1: a barber in Australia who heard Dr. Tory preach on
40:01
Speaker 1: soul winning and he became now intense through the night
40:05
Speaker 1: about it, could hardly sleep. And he woke up the
40:07
Speaker 1: next morning, he was so burdened and so grim and
40:10
Speaker 1: so determined that he swore the first person that goes
40:13
Speaker 1: into his chair, he's going to lead to Christ. And
40:18
Speaker 1: the dear guy comes in, get a shave and a
40:20
Speaker 1: haircut and sits down and he starts lathering him up
40:24
Speaker 1: and he works on the razor and he says to himself,
40:28
Speaker 1: I've got to do it. I've got to do it.
40:30
Speaker 1: I've got to do it. The customer noticed the guy
40:33
Speaker 1: as he was doing it and the guy raises the
40:38
Speaker 1: razor up and says to the fellow in the chair,
40:41
Speaker 1: are you prepared to die? Oh, man, not like this.
40:46
Speaker 1: I'm not prepared to die. Give me a break. You know,
40:54
Speaker 1: I think that's part of the reason I still read
40:56
Speaker 1: bumper stickers. That's part of the reason I'm glad I
40:58
Speaker 1: still have teenagers around me. Part of the reason I
41:01
Speaker 1: love having people who are fun to have lunch with
41:05
Speaker 1: on occasion. That's part of the reason I like to
41:08
Speaker 1: find things in life that lift the load. Every single
41:11
Speaker 1: thing I touch is eternal. Everything I do is serious.
41:15
Speaker 1: Every piece of counsel, you know, they just hang on it.
41:21
Speaker 1: Before long, I want to go, get me a break. Man,
41:27
Speaker 1: get me out of this. So I watch the Rams
41:35
Speaker 1: and I start laughing again. I'll have those guys meet
41:45
Speaker 1: me after this meeting, and they will corner me and
41:48
Speaker 1: scalp me, probably. I believe in them. They're a wonderful team.
41:54
Speaker 1: They're just funny at times. That's all. Now, okay, we
41:59
Speaker 1: have heard a lot of great things, and they've all
42:03
Speaker 1: been from this book. I have determined not to give
42:06
Speaker 1: you my opinion. I have determined you're going to get
42:09
Speaker 1: just what this has said. You're no better off. You
42:15
Speaker 1: are no better off because you've heard it. You know
42:21
Speaker 1: what you got to do? You got to do it.
42:25
Speaker 1: There is one thing about a bumper sticker, by the way.
42:28
Speaker 1: It kind of tells people your intentions. You notice that?
42:34
Speaker 1: All these little hearts, and I love, and that guy's
42:37
Speaker 1: got a dog on there. He's got a horse on there.
42:40
Speaker 1: That guy had his wife's picture on there. I love her.
42:44
Speaker 1: I saw one the other day that said, I hate,
42:46
Speaker 1: and his hearts were there. I hate hearts. That's guys
42:50
Speaker 1: telling you about himself. I'm suggesting we come up with
42:52
Speaker 1: some stickers. Okay. I mean it. We've heard some things.
42:58
Speaker 1: Now let's make a sticker. Let's announce our intention.
43:02
Speaker 2: Okay.
43:04
Speaker 1: What have we heard? Three things. An attitude of gratitude
43:10
Speaker 1: can be developed by welcoming the word. I've heard that.
43:16
Speaker 1: An attitude of gratitude can be developed by welcoming God's word.
43:23
Speaker 1: Let's make a sticker. And the sticker reads, I welcome
43:29
Speaker 1: the truth I hear. There's a good sticker. I welcome
43:33
Speaker 1: the truth I hear. Second, we've heard a commitment to
43:42
Speaker 1: contentment will be strengthened by accepting God's will. We've heard that.
43:50
Speaker 1: A commitment to contentment will be strengthened by accepting God's will. Okay,
43:59
Speaker 1: here's the sticker. I accept the path I walk. Some
44:07
Speaker 1: of you haven't even done that. You're still fighting it.
44:10
Speaker 1: You're still shaking your fist in the face of Almighty God.
44:14
Speaker 1: How dare you put me in this circumstance? Friend, accept it.
44:23
Speaker 1: It's the secret of contentment. Not where I'm going to be,
44:28
Speaker 1: but where I am. I accept the path I walk. Now,
44:35
Speaker 1: I'm not through, but right now I'm here.
44:38
Speaker 2: I accept.
44:40
Speaker 1: Three, I've heard, a happiness amidst heaviness must be cultivated
44:46
Speaker 1: by affirming God's people. A happiness amidst heaviness must be
44:53
Speaker 1: cultivated by affirming God's people. Remember what he said? You
44:56
Speaker 1: are our hope and glory and joy. That's affirmation. Thessalonians,
45:00
Speaker 1: I remember you. Ask me about my month. I love it.
45:07
Speaker 1: I affirm you. Sticker says... I affirm the people I love.
45:13
Speaker 1: You say, well, I think we ought to affirm everybody.
45:15
Speaker 1: Why don't you start with the people you love? You know,
45:19
Speaker 1: it's easier times for me to affirm a stranger than
45:22
Speaker 1: my own wife. Isn't that weird? Isn't that wrong? I
45:30
Speaker 1: can dump affirmation all over this pulpit and you leave
45:35
Speaker 1: thrilled to death. And my wife could spend weeks in
45:41
Speaker 1: any given pressurized period of my life and not hear
45:44
Speaker 1: a statement of affirmation from my lips. I say to
45:48
Speaker 1: my shame, just start with the people you love. How
45:55
Speaker 1: about a teenager? Just start with your teenagers. That'll keep
46:00
Speaker 1: you busy. You say, Chuck, good night. I had a
46:06
Speaker 1: businessman say to me after a service, You know, I
46:09
Speaker 1: get all my ducks in a row. I get my
46:11
Speaker 1: life all going. It's carnal, but I get it rolling
46:15
Speaker 1: and I show up on Sunday. You blow the thing
46:18
Speaker 1: out of the water and I got to start all over.
46:20
Speaker 1: He says, would you take it easy on us? I
46:25
Speaker 1: can't take it easy. That's not my job. This book doesn't.
46:34
Speaker 2: Take it easy.
46:38
Speaker 1: People who take it easy go to hell. They live
46:44
Speaker 1: like hell. People who get their souls fed by this
46:52
Speaker 1: book and do it go to heaven. They live differently.
47:01
Speaker 1: Admiral Hyman Rickover, was the head of the United States
47:07
Speaker 1: Nuclear Navy for a period of time. And his admirers
47:12
Speaker 1: and his critics held strongly divergent views concerning Rickover's interviews
47:19
Speaker 1: as he would interview the officers who were to be
47:21
Speaker 1: a part of the Nuclear Navy. Ooh, those interviews were tough.
47:25
Speaker 1: You would be quaking with fear and anger and total
47:29
Speaker 1: intimidation when Rickover finished with you. One young Naval officer
47:34
Speaker 1: sat in the room with Rickover on one occasion and
47:36
Speaker 1: recorded his experience. It was the first time I met
47:40
Speaker 1: Admiral Rickover and we sat in a large room by
47:42
Speaker 1: ourselves for more than two hours. He let me choose
47:46
Speaker 1: any subject I wished to discuss very carefully. I chose
47:49
Speaker 1: those about which I knew most at that time. Current events, seamanship, music, literature,
47:53
Speaker 1: naval tactics, and so on. In each instance, he soon
48:04
Speaker 1: proved that I knew relatively little about the subject I
48:06
Speaker 1: had chosen as he asked me a series of increasingly
48:10
Speaker 1: more difficult questions. Finally, he said a question that I
48:14
Speaker 1: thought would redeem myself. How did you stand in your
48:18
Speaker 1: class at the Naval Academy? Since I had completed my
48:22
Speaker 1: sophomore year at Georgia Tech before entering Annapolis as a plebe,
48:27
Speaker 1: I had done very well, and I swelled my chest
48:29
Speaker 1: with pride and said, 59th in a class of 820, sir.
48:35
Speaker 1: I did well. He had another question. Did you do
48:41
Speaker 1: your best? I started to say yes, sir, but I
48:46
Speaker 1: remembered who this was. And I recall several of the
48:50
Speaker 1: many times at the Academy when I could have learned
48:52
Speaker 1: more about our allies and enemies and weaponry and strategy.
48:56
Speaker 1: And I was just human. I finally gulped and said, no, sir,
48:59
Speaker 1: I did not always do my best. He looked at
49:03
Speaker 1: me for a long time, turned his chair around to
49:05
Speaker 1: end the interview, and asked one final question which I
49:08
Speaker 1: have never been able to forget or to answer. Why not?
49:19
Speaker 1: The young naval officer's name is Jimmy Carter. We will
49:32
Speaker 1: stand before our Savior as his children by grace entering
49:36
Speaker 1: into his kingdom. And I have the feeling we will
49:40
Speaker 1: be haunted by the question, did you do your best?
49:48
Speaker 1: Why not? Let's bow together. Life isn't a bowl of cherries.
50:01
Speaker 1: It isn't chuckling over a few little silly bumper stickers.
50:06
Speaker 1: Life is tough stuff. It's eternal. Only two things in
50:14
Speaker 1: this old world are eternal, and that's God's book and people,
50:19
Speaker 1: saved or lost. God's book and people. My world revolves
50:29
Speaker 1: around both. I want yours too also. You want to
50:35
Speaker 1: do your best? Yeah, I think most of us do.
50:39
Speaker 1: Start with believing what's right. God loved the world so
50:45
Speaker 1: much he gave his son that whoever believed in him
50:50
Speaker 1: would never perish. Believe in God's son, you never perish.
50:59
Speaker 1: Do that first.
51:04
Speaker 2: Do it.
51:06
Speaker 1: Don't make a bumper sticker about it.
51:08
Speaker 2: Just do it.
51:11
Speaker 1: Don't announce to the world yet. Just do it now.
51:16
Speaker 1: Believe in his son.
51:19
Speaker 2: You say, I.
51:20
Speaker 1: Believe in his son. I'm already there. Then do his word.
51:25
Speaker 1: His spirit will come to your assistance. Heavenly Father, thank
51:33
Speaker 1: you for giving us truth today. Thank you for saying
51:37
Speaker 1: it straight. Thank you for making it stick. In Jesus' name, amen.
51:50
Speaker 2: The preceding message, The Flipside of Leadership, was copyrighted in 1984, 1985, 1993, 2003,
51:54
Speaker 2: and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024
51:56
Speaker 2: by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc., All rights are reserved worldwide.
52:08
Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.