Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / 1 Timothy 4:11-16 - The Mission of a Pastor and All Christians

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1 Timothy 4:11-16 - The Mission of a Pastor and All Christians · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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others. Let's dive right in.
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Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today.
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I got to be honest with you guys.
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This is a little bit of a selfish episode and you might
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say what in the world do you mean a selfish episode Today in
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these verses, which is first Timothy 4 verses 11 through 16,
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we're going to be looking at the mission of a pastor.
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So the mission of a pastor as Paul a a pastor at various times
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throughout his ministry himself as well as a church planter and
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an apostle, one that had authority given to him from
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Jesus over all of the churches as a result of his teaching that
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he heard from Christ and from the other apostles.
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Paul tells Timothy, while you are pastoring, they are in the
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church at Ephesus. Here's what you need to be
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doing. Here's what you need to be
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learning. Here's the mindset that you need
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to have and here's how your interactions with the other
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believers there in the church at Ephesus.
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Here's how that should be. So this, these truths are the
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same types of things that go for every believer.
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So if you're like, oh man, I'm not a pastor is is this episode
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going to do anything for me? Absolutely.
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There is nothing that I do as a pastor that is materially
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different from what every single Christian believer ought to be
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doing in some realm of their life.
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I, I mention it when we were in chapter 3, a pastor over the
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entire church does what he does in his home.
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So if you will, he, he shepherds his home and then he shepherds
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the church at large. And actually the training at
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home trains him for what he does within the church.
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And like what I do in telling other people about the gospel or
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about Scripture, what I do in helping to like pray, work with
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people and trying to help them, you know, disciple them towards
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Christ likeness, all of that, all of those things are things
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that every single one of us as Christians should be doing.
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And very unfortunately, many of us just totally abdicate any
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spiritual responsibility off to pastors or paid individuals.
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And we say, OK, well, they will be the spiritual ones and
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they'll do all the spiritual stuff.
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And maybe I'll bankroll, you know, the church a little bit
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and, and that'll be fine. I'll attend sometimes and, and
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that'll do it. No, my friend, each one of us
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have been called to be a priest in Christ priesthood.
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And that involves things that we'll see today.
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But the most direct application of this passage is that Paul is
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saying to Timothy, here's what you need to be doing as a
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pastor. So if you have a pastor be
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listening be be praying for your pastor is he's seeking to do
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these things. If you find as you're listening
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through man, I I don't really know that my pastor is able to
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be doing some of this stuff because he has this or this or
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that on his plate. I maybe God might be moving in
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your heart that you would be able to take some things off of
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his plate that aren't these things that you might be like
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those initial deacons that we read about in Acts 6 that were
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able to free up the apostles to be able to dedicate themselves
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to prayer and the ministry of the Word.
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So just be listening through. Be sensitive to however God
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would use you even today. Let's read through command and
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teach these things. So that's everything we've been
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looking about, about warning against false teachers not
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getting involved in in pointless arguments or myths about not
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listening to people that have as like emphatic rules, things that
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God has not said. And instead like give yourself
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to godliness to exhibiting Christ characteristics in your
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life. He says command and teach these
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things. Don't let anyone despise your
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youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in
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conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
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Until I come, give your attention to public reading,
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exhortation and teaching. Don't neglect the gift that is
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in you. It was given to you through the
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through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the Council of
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Elders. Practice these things, be
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committed to them so that your progress may be evident to all
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ay close attention to your life and your teaching.
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Persevere in these things, for in doing this, you will save
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both yourself and your hearers. I love these verses.
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Let's look first at verse #12 if you want a little more detailed
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talk on verse 12 that I'm going to give today, you can look back
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at the verse of the day that I did from First Timothy 412.
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You can visit tbces.sex.com/one Dash Timothy.
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So that's our church website, tbces.sex.com/andthenone Dash
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Timothy, and you can find that episode there.
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I've also linked it in the show notes as well.
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He says don't let anyone despise your youth.
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I identify with this big time. Timothy was a younger pastor.
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I'm a younger pastor. And he says, Timothy, your youth
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could be a distraction from the ministry.
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Don't let anyone look down on you as a result of the fact that
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you are young, he says. Your ability to pastor, to
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preach, to teach, to lead is not as a result of like human
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experience. It is as a result of the fact
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that you have been commissioned by Christ and by his people.
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He mentions there in verse #14 that there were elders and
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apostles that said, yes, we recognize that Timothy has been
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set apart by the Holy Spirit for this purpose.
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This is what he's supposed to be doing.
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And we can see the evidence of that both in his his life, his
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behavior, his character, and in his teaching.
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And so we believe in him. And so we are placing him in
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this position for myself, whether it's, you know, the the
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pulpit search committee that brought me here, the
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congregation at large of Tabernacle that voted me in, my
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elders here at the church, my elders, my pastors back in
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Washington, the pastors I at my Bible College in California, and
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even my my pastor in, in Colorado that have all said at
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various points throughout my life, yes, we believe that Brian
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has been set aside for the gospel ministry by the Holy
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Spirit. And so even though at the time
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this episode drops, I am one day away.
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When this episode drops on March 11th, I am one day away from
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turning 29 years old, though I am only 29, the youngest male
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member at Tabernacle Baptist Church.
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God has set me here for a purpose, and it's for the
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purpose of pastoring, of shepherding, of guiding and
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leading, encouraging, feeding God's people.
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And so I have a command here from God's Word.
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Don't let people look down on me just because I'm young.
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Most months that go by, I, I often get the comments as people
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hear about what my age is. They go, man, you're a baby
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because very often it's, you know, I, I'm the same age as
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someone's grandkids or sometimes, you know, they're,
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they're great grandkids or something.
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I get, Oh man, you're just a baby.
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And though I, I understand why people make those comments, I
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want to make sure that the, the way that I live my life, the way
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that I talk, that I am able to be a respectful and respectable
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person. I know that I can be energetic.
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I, I can be jovial. I hope that comes through even
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on the podcast as you guys have been listening.
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But I want to do everything that I do in recognition of the fact
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that I've been given a mission by God.
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And so I should not allow anyone to despise my youth.
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But I need to set an example. If I was flippant, if I'm crass,
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if I am lazy, that would not be something that then I could tell
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other people, hey, I know I'm young, but you know, here's some
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good things or here's the way in which I do conduct my life here,
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He says if you want people to not despise your youth, set an
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example. There are plenty of young people
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that do boneheaded things that are ungodly.
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That if everyone in a church behaved like those young people
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behave, the the church would be instantly running to the ground.
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I want to be an exemplary Christian in the way that I live
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my life here among the people of Tabernacle.
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That if everyone at Tabernacle talked like me, submitted like
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me, evangelized like me, gave like me.
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My prayer is that our church would be in good shape if
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everyone at church was like me. Can I ask you, if everyone at
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your church was like you, what state would your church be in?
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Can I encourage you? Hear the instruction goes out to
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you as well. Don't let anyone despise either
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your, your youth, your old age. Don't let anyone despise if you
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will, don't let anyone despise your gender, but be but set an
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example. Be an example to other people of
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what you wish that the entire church was.
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And here Paul gives the specific examples of what Timothy should
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be an example for the believers in.
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He says be an example. Set an example for the believers
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in speech in the way that you talk, your vocabulary, your
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language, the appropriateness with which you're talking with
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other people. Like be appropriate in your
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speech. Be kind to other people in your
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speech. Don't be a gossip, don't be a
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slanderer. Don't be cruel or biting,
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constantly dragging down other people through your words like
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be excited. Have good things that you want
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to talk about, whether it's from the word things in life or
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politics or sports that you love that you want to see more of.
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Speak more of what you love in the world rather than all the
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things that you hate. That's something, frankly, as I
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record lots of Tabernacle talks that I need to constantly be
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guarding myself in. Is am I putting more emphasis
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on, like, what is good and what we ought to exemplify, or am I
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just spending a bunch of my time going, well, I don't like this
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and I don't like that because it can be very easy to fall into
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that trap. But I need to set an example for
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others in the way that I talk, he says.
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Set an example for the believers in speech and conduct.
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That's the way that I behave. A lot of pastors have conducted
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themselves in phenomenally bad ways.
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And my prayer would be that I'm not ever be one of those people
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that if everyone treated women the way that I treat women,
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yeah, we would be in great shape as a congregation.
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If everyone interacted with money or finances in the way
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that I interact with money and finances, yes.
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Like, homes would be good. You know, there wouldn't be
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gambling. There would be trustworthiness
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and openness, transparency and honesty in in the way that all
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of that happens. May we conduct ourselves well,
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he says. In love, be an example of what
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it looks like to love other people.
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And I, I hope that I do this. This is my prayer.
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This is what I want to happen. Like whether or not someone
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particularly cares for me or not, I want them to know that I
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love them deeply from the heart. That's not a front.
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It's Jesus has loved me and Jesus loves you.
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And therefore because I love him, I love you.
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And I can see the image of God in you.
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I can see the things that you have that are like God.
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Maybe you are detailed like my God is detailed.
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Maybe you have a love for other people, or you have a love for
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generosity or care for the poor. You have a love for music or
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whatever it might be. I want to see the good in you
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that reflects my God, and I want to love that in you.
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So he says, set an example in speech, in conduct, in love.
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He says, in faith, my belief in what God can do.
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I don't want to be someone that's like, oh, man, well, I
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guess I've been here for 2 1/2 years and the church hasn't
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doubled in size. And so I don't know that this is
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all worth it. And we're probably just going to
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go into the ground in 15 in the 20 years.
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No, I want to have bold faith that says I believe that God can
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move in his people, that God can move in this next generation,
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That God can move in this neighborhood in Middlesex or
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that God can move in in my neighborhood in Essex or over in
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Middle River or in Bullies Quarters or in 1000 different
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places that our church family is from and where they live and
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where they go to work. I believe that God can do
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incredible things. And so I want to believe and I
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want to have faith and I want to set the example for other people
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that other people can go, yeah, I, I believe that God can work
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because, well, I, I don't, you know, maybe see all the details
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yet, But Brian is full of faith. He believes that God can do it.
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And so I believe that God can do it too.
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That would be an amazing thing. And I want to have that kind of
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prayer and faith. It says and in purity, a, a
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sincerity in the way that I live and that I talk.
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I, I've had man over the past seven years or so since I, yeah,
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it's seven years since I graduated from, from Bible
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college that I've seen, unfortunately, several people
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that I attended Bible college with that have ended up with
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broken marriages, some that have even ended up in prison because
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they did not have a care for the purity, the sincerity of their
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mission. And so I want to encourage you,
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like you and your, you and your sincerity, your, your purity.
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I, I know that many times people equate purity with strictly
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sexual purity or sexual immorality, which that's totally
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fair. Be sexually pure.
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That's something that we ought to pursue as the people of God
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that we, if we're married, we give ourselves entirely and only
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to our spouse that we're married to.
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And we, if we are not yet married, we reserve that action
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and that intimacy for our marriage.
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That ought to be something that we pursue.
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But your purity in all areas of life, like don't allow this
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world to pollute you, that you become a bitter person, you
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become an unforgiving person. You become cynical.
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Like just have a sincerity, a a simpleness of your life that
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it's you, it's God, it's the Word, it is Christ's body, the
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church that you are a part of and that you are just sincere in
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the way that you interact with others.
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He says in verse 13, until I come, give your attention to
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public reading, exhortation, and teaching.
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So these are the big things. And here even as I read verse
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#13 knowing this comes from, I guess, Paul, but from the Holy
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Spirit that he says, until I come, I think about until Jesus
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comes, here's the main things that I need to be focusing on as
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a pastor as I'm trying to live this good life that I'm supposed
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to. He says, give your attention to
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public reading. That's the word of God, that we
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ought to read the word of God together.
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He says exhortation. That's encouraging other people,
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encouraging them to good works, encouraging them to faithfulness
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in Christ, encouraging them to unity with other brothers and
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sisters in the Lord. I view that as a really
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important part of what I do. So the the word, the formal
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preaching of the word of God and also reading the word of God to
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people. That's a huge part of why I do
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Tabernacle talk is not because I'm just like, oh, I have
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nothing to do with my time. I guess I'll record a weekday
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podcast. No, it's because I firmly
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believe that as I publicly read the word and walk through it
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with you guys each and every weekday, I believe that I'm
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fulfilling part of this mission. So public reading, exhortation,
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encouraging people that's someone on one ministry and
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teaching. And so I love, I love teaching.
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Right now I'm walking through the book of job with a group on
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Sunday nights at 5:30 PM and I have that study is on the
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Tabernacle Baptist Essex Sermon Podcast.
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So that's Tabernacle Baptist Essex Sermon podcast and you can
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look that up. I'm walking through that.
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I love that time of just getting to teach through Scripture.
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It's, it's a lot like what I'm doing right now, but there's
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actual people there and not just this phone camera that I'm
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talking to at the Tabernacle talk.
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And so I love that. But I want to give myself to
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these things. I could do lots of different
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things with my life, but here, this is what Scripture commands
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for me to do. And I want to encourage you be
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reading through the Word of God, be encouraging, exhorting other
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people and be learning the word of God so you can teach whether
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it's your spouse, your kids, your neighbor, someone else
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within the church, maybe that's newer to their faith.
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These are all things that you can do as well.
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He says. This is what you need to give
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your attention to. He says don't neglect the gift
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that is in you. It was given to you through
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prophecy. It's the declaring over this
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person of what others see in you that God has given you.
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He says it was given to you through prophecy with the laying
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on of hands by the council of elders.
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This would be the older word, Presbyterian.
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So when you hear Presbyterian, it would come from this kind of
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thought of a council of elders from a local church that all lay
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hands on someone. You might have heard before of
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like an ordination council. It's that same type of thought
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that a group of godly pastors, elders.
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They, they lay hands on a person.
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They say, we see that God has set you aside for the gospel
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ministry. And so they commissioned them to
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that work. So like I mentioned in chapter 1
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Timothy, you didn't start this thing like you didn't go to
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Ephesus. You didn't become a pastor out
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of your own volition like other people saw this in you and they
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commissioned you to this work. And so don't neglect your, your
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gift of teaching, of preaching, of pastoring.
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That is something that God has given to you that others have
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seen and affirmed. And so stand strong in that.
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And I got to tell you guys, I need that encouragement
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constantly from the Lord to say, you know, I, I get to see many
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wonderful pastors and preachers in our area and all across the
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nation as a result of social media.
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And sometimes I can be like, man, if only so and so was the
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pastor here, I bet Tabernacle would be like 10 steps beyond
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where I am with it. But the truth is that God hasn't
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given Tabernacle other pastors or elders than the ones that we
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have. He, he's given them me.
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He's given them Ron and Myron and Jim and Owen.
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And so God wants for this church what these pastors have, and all
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of us have been affirmed by the congregation and by the existing
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like elders, pastors, leaders at the church to say, yes, we have
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seen in you what God is doing. We know that the Holy Spirit is
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at work in you. And so we believe in you and the
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mission that God has for you. And like I told you guys before,
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wherever God has you, he has you there for a purpose.
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And so live out your life. Don't neglect the gift that God
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has given you in whatever place he's placed you, whether that's
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in your family, in your neighborhood, in your workplace,
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like use that for the glory of God.
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Verse 15, He says, practice these things, be committed to
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them so that your progress may be evident to all.
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My hope is in four years and five years that people at
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Tabernacle would be like, man, Brian is not the same person
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that he was four or five years ago.
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Like God has been doing an amazing work in him
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transparently, because I'm almost at the end of the episode
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now. Even my wife saying from time to
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time, like I know you're not perfect, but I have seen like
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great progress in you, even from you know, when we left
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Washington and when we came here like it's so cool seeing what
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God is doing in you. And that means the world to me
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to hear that from her. I want to, I, I know I'm never
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going to be perfect, but I want to make progress and you can
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make progress in your Christian faith that it, it won't be in
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five years, you know, you become Sister Teresa or oh, sorry, it's
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Mother Teresa. We, we, those of you that are at
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Tabernacle know we, we do have Sister Teresa with the purple
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hair. You won't be Mother Teresa in
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five years. And, and just this bastion of,
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of great care for the needy and, you know, so holy and, and
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perfect in, in so many things that that won't often be the way
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that we find ourselves to be just this perfect, ideal person.
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But we can have progress that we can be different than we used to
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be as a result of the Holy Spirit living in us.
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But that takes a commitment every day to go.
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I'm not going to be the person today that I was yesterday.
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Yesterday I snapped at my spouse.
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Today. I'm not going to snap at my
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spouse Yesterday. I flipped that person off when
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they cut me off in traffic. Today.
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I'm not going to flip off anyone that cuts me off in traffic.
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I used to complain about this or that.
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Now today I'm not going to complain about that.
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Have an intention to say I'm I'm going to practice.
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I'm going to train so that I'm no longer the person that I used
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to be. Verse #16 Pay close attention to
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your life and your teaching. Persevere in these things, for
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in doing this you will save both yourself and your hears.
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My primary ministry as a pastor, your primary ministry is to
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yourself that you would, if you will be you be your first pastor
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that you care about your walk with God.
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You care about where you're at spiritually because when you
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care for your spiritual state and when you care about your
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teaching, about what you are learning and knowing and
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understanding from the Word of God, when you care about that,
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you both like protect, safeguard, save your soul and
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you hope to protect those around you.
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So I'm a pastor. If I fail in my walk, it will
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damage a whole bunch of people in my radius, primarily Samantha
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and Bee and EV, but then all the rest of my Tabernacle family as
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well, as well as many of my friends in the ministry and
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those that aren't in the ministry.
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And I don't want to do that to them.
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And so my most important ministry is to Brian, that my
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soul is OK. Because if my soul is OK and I
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am like learning and teaching good doctrine, like faithful
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things in accordance with the gospel, then a good life and
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good doctrine that will minister to me, my soul will flourish and
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the souls of those around will flourish.
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That your walk with God doesn't just affect you.
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Your walk with God affects your family and those around you.
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So pay pay careful attention to that.
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Again, there's been a little bit longer episode.
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This is what you get when it's something Brian is super, super
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passionate about. So take that.
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Love you guys very much. And I thank you for being a part
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of Tabernacle Talk. Tomorrow we start chapter #5
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tomorrow is my birthday. So looking forward to that and
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what should the church support? And we're looking at widows
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financial programs of the church, which the New Testament
26:24
doesn't talk a lot about, but next episode does talk about.
26:27
Looking forward to that with you.
26:28
Have a wonderful day.