Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Hebrews 13:1-6 - Choosing Love in Spite of Anger or Bitterness

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Hebrews 13:1-6 - Choosing Love in Spite of Anger or Bitterness · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hi there, faithful listeners, Welcome to the Bible
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  Speaker 1: Explain podcast. This morning, we're in the last chapter of
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  Speaker 1: Hebrews today, Hebrews thirteen, and we are going to talk
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  Speaker 1: about a concept that I think is so difficult for
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  Speaker 1: every single Christian to do, myself included. I just get
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  Speaker 1: the irritation that Christians have about this topic and I
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  Speaker 1: get why it is so difficult to do. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to talk about that, but first I want to introduce
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  Speaker 1: you guys to a sponsor who's going to play a
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  Speaker 1: message for all of you guys, and then we'll be
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  Speaker 1: in Hebrews thirteen right after that. Okay, so grab your
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  Speaker 1: delicious cups of coffee and also your cup of tea
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  Speaker 1: for those of you crazy tea drinkers out there that
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  Speaker 1: prefer the tea over the coffee. Let's go ahead and
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  Speaker 1: read Hebrews thirteen one through six and talk about to
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  Speaker 1: this concept of love and how us Christians need to
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  Speaker 1: find more love and this is how we do it.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the world doesn't have the right definition of love,
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  Speaker 1: so we're going to talk about how do we really
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  Speaker 1: show true love to other people? So let's talk about that.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be reading from the World English Bible today or
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  Speaker 1: the web. Feel free to grab the version of the
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  Speaker 1: Bible that you prefer. Let's read Hebrews thirteen one through
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  Speaker 1: six together. Let brotherly love continue. Don't forget to show
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  Speaker 1: hospitality to strangers, for in doing so some have entertained
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  Speaker 1: angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in bonds
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  Speaker 1: as bound with them, and those who are ill treated.
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  Speaker 1: Since you are also in the body, let marriage be
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  Speaker 1: held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled.
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  Speaker 1: But God will judge the sexually immoral, and the adulterers
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  Speaker 1: be free from the love of money, content with such
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  Speaker 1: things as you have, for He has said, I will
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  Speaker 1: in no way leave you, neither will I in any
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  Speaker 1: way forsake you, so that with good courage we say,
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  Speaker 1: the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what
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  Speaker 1: can man do to me. There are a lot of
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  Speaker 1: Christians out there who have become very jaded with the world.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure you've seen it. Maybe you are one of
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  Speaker 1: those Christians where you have a very difficult time loving
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  Speaker 1: other people because you've been burned so many times. You
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  Speaker 1: become bitter over the years, and you're critical, maybe of
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  Speaker 1: certain people and if I'm being honest, I completely get
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  Speaker 1: where you're coming from. Sometimes Christians act terribly and it's
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  Speaker 1: really really hard to show love for them, especially when
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  Speaker 1: we see injustices happening in the church, or somebody being hurt,
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  Speaker 1: or these things have happened to yourself. It is so
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  Speaker 1: difficult to find that love once again. But there's a
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  Speaker 1: warning about that in Revelation two, verses two through seven.
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  Speaker 1: This is God speaking to the church in ephesis. Here's
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  Speaker 1: what it says. I know your deeds, your hard work,
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  Speaker 1: and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people.
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  Speaker 1: That You've tested those who claim to be apostles but
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  Speaker 1: are not, and have found them false. You've persevered and
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  Speaker 1: have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary.
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  Speaker 1: Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken the
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  Speaker 1: love you had it first, consider how far you have fallen.
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  Speaker 1: Repent and do the things you did at first. If
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  Speaker 1: you do not repent, I will come to you and
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  Speaker 1: remove your lamp stand from its place. But you have
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  Speaker 1: this in your favor. You hate the practices of the nickelatins,
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  Speaker 1: which I also hate. Whoever has ears, let them hear
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  Speaker 1: what the spirit says to the churches, to the one
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  Speaker 1: who is victorious, I will give the right to eat
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  Speaker 1: from the tree of life, which is in the paradise
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  Speaker 1: of God. So that's a warning to the church, you
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  Speaker 1: know that. You can see here the Church of Ephesus
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  Speaker 1: was doing a lot of really good things. They were
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  Speaker 1: not tolerating bad theology coming into their church. They were
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  Speaker 1: testing all of these different prophets. They weren't tolerating sin.
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  Speaker 1: They were persevering through extreme persecution and enduring hardships for
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  Speaker 1: Jesus's name. And they didn't even give up throughout all that.
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  Speaker 1: But they lost the love that they had because all
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  Speaker 1: of these hardships and all of this wickedness that they
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  Speaker 1: kept seeing in the world, I suppose was making them
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  Speaker 1: bitter towards other people. So they were losing that first
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  Speaker 1: love that Jesus talks about here. And what does Jesus
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  Speaker 1: say is going to happen if this church doesn't repent
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  Speaker 1: of their unloving behavior towards other people. He says, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to remove your lampstand from its place. So this
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  Speaker 1: church had a serious issue, and unfortunately, we kind of
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  Speaker 1: see a lot of Christians going down the same path
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  Speaker 1: that the Ephesians did. Yes, they are very focused on
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  Speaker 1: making sure that things are done correctly, things are done right,
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  Speaker 1: but they lost the love that they once had. Yet
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  Speaker 1: in Hebrew thirteen, verse one, it says, let brotherly love continue.
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  Speaker 1: So not just any kind of love, but brotherly love.
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  Speaker 1: And what does that mean brotherly love? Well, when you
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  Speaker 1: have a sibling that you really really love. That is
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  Speaker 1: what this is talking about, almost like a familial bond,
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  Speaker 1: a familial love. And the author of Hebrews goes into
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  Speaker 1: how we can show this brotherly love in eight different ways,
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  Speaker 1: the first way in verse two being don't forget to
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  Speaker 1: show hospitality to strangers, for in doing so, some have
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  Speaker 1: entertained angels without knowing it. So this verse doesn't mean
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  Speaker 1: that we necessarily invite any stranger off the street to
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  Speaker 1: come and live with us, because that can be very dangerous.
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  Speaker 1: But what this is talking about are traveling Christians that
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  Speaker 1: may not have a place to stay. We are to
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  Speaker 1: treat them as family, as brothers. If they don't have
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  Speaker 1: a place to stay, then we invite them in our
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  Speaker 1: home if we have room to give them. Some have
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  Speaker 1: entertained angels without knowing it, So open up your doors,
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  Speaker 1: because something special could actually happen if you allow one
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  Speaker 1: of these Christian strangers to come through your doors and
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  Speaker 1: stay the evening with you. Now, whether or not this
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  Speaker 1: is talking about an angelic being, there is some debate
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  Speaker 1: on that. It very well could be, because we do
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  Speaker 1: know that there were angels in the Old Testament that
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  Speaker 1: walked around and received meals from people. You think of
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  Speaker 1: Abraham when he entertained the angels. But also the Greek
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  Speaker 1: word for angel does not always mean an angelic being,
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  Speaker 1: because the word really comes down to messenger, and sometimes
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  Speaker 1: messenger does not mean angel. Actually, for example, in Revelation two,
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  Speaker 1: verse one, which I didn't read this verse, but it's
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  Speaker 1: the same passage talking about the Church of Ephesus to
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  Speaker 1: the Angel of the Church in Ephesus right now, that
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  Speaker 1: angel is probably not an angelic being. It could be,
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  Speaker 1: but most likely it's talking about a messenger of the
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  Speaker 1: Church in Ephesus. But really it doesn't matter if it's
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  Speaker 1: an angelic being or just an ordinary human messenger from God.
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  Speaker 1: We could be inviting somebody into our home that gives
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  Speaker 1: us a lot of encouragement, which is exactly what we
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  Speaker 1: need in the moment. And I don't know if you've
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  Speaker 1: ever had family come into town and you're just like, oh, man,
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  Speaker 1: they have to stay at my house for a while.
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  Speaker 1: I gotta clean everything. I got to make sure everything
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  Speaker 1: is good. I got You know, it's a lot of pressure,
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  Speaker 1: and sometimes we don't want to do it because it's
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  Speaker 1: so much pressure. But if we forget about the implications
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  Speaker 1: for us for a moment and really have brotherly love
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  Speaker 1: for other people, this friendship that you make through this
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  Speaker 1: hospitality can sometimes be exactly what you need. The second
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  Speaker 1: way that we show brotherly love is in verse three.
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  Speaker 1: We remember those who are in bonds as bound with them.
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  Speaker 1: So we remember people who have been thrown into prison.
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  Speaker 1: Most likely this is talking about persecution. You know, if
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  Speaker 1: this was happening to your family member, like someone in
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  Speaker 1: your family was thrown into prison so unjustly, because that
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  Speaker 1: person is your sibling, would you not feel just absolute
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  Speaker 1: distress over what happened to him or her. You would
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  Speaker 1: be praying for them every day. You'd be visiting that
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  Speaker 1: prison as often as you could. You'd be bringing them
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  Speaker 1: food if they needed it. You'd be basically just suffering
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  Speaker 1: right alongside them. That is what brotherly love means. If
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  Speaker 1: a fellow Christian is going through such extreme persecution that
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  Speaker 1: they are in prison, we need to remember them as
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  Speaker 1: if they are one of our own brothers or sisters,
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  Speaker 1: because a lot of times, once they are in prison,
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  Speaker 1: people just have a tendency to forget about them or
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  Speaker 1: to leave them in the dust, kind of like what
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  Speaker 1: happened to Paul at the end of his life. He
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  Speaker 1: only had Luke with him. The first time he was
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  Speaker 1: in prison, he had a lot more friends, a lot
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  Speaker 1: more companionship. But the second time, that was when persecution
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  Speaker 1: really started to ramp up under Nero, and the Christians
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  Speaker 1: abandoned Paul except for Luke, he was basically the only one,
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  Speaker 1: and Timothy as well who did not abandon Paul at
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  Speaker 1: the very end of his life. So we remember those
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  Speaker 1: who are in prison. That is the second way we
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  Speaker 1: show love to somebody. The third way is by remembering
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  Speaker 1: those who are ill treated, since you are also in
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  Speaker 1: the body again that is verse three. So not only
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  Speaker 1: to remember the people in prison, but anybody that has
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  Speaker 1: been ill treated. We are to remember these people to
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  Speaker 1: come alongside them and to pray for them whatever they
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  Speaker 1: might be going through, and especially if that ill treatment
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  Speaker 1: is coming from inside the church. That is something that
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  Speaker 1: we do not ignore. We do not just sweep it
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  Speaker 1: under the rug and play politics because we don't want
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  Speaker 1: to address something that a leader did to another individual,
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  Speaker 1: or maybe just ignore the problem and hope it goes away. No,
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  Speaker 1: we're supposed to remember those who are ill treated and
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  Speaker 1: come alongside them. I believe it's one Corinthians fourteen if
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  Speaker 1: I'm remembering correctly, where Paul talks about how if one
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  Speaker 1: member of the body of Christ suffers kind of like
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  Speaker 1: your own body. Right. For example, if you get a
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  Speaker 1: paper cut, you know, and you get some salt in
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  Speaker 1: that paper cut, your entire body knows that you got
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  Speaker 1: salt in that paper cut, no matter how small of
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  Speaker 1: a little cut that it is. Your entire body is like,
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  Speaker 1: oh man, that is irritating. And then there's things that
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  Speaker 1: are way worse than that, like headaches and toothaches and
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  Speaker 1: stomach aches and cancer and other issues like that. If
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  Speaker 1: one member of your body suffers, the hire body suffers.
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  Speaker 1: But unfortunately, in the church a lot of times one
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  Speaker 1: member will suffer and the rest of the members just
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  Speaker 1: kind of sweep it under the rug and don't think
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  Speaker 1: about it. That is wrong. We have to remember our
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  Speaker 1: brothers and sisters who are hurting. We have to pray
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  Speaker 1: for them and come alongside them, just as you would
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  Speaker 1: do for a sibling who is being hurt and mistreated.
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  Speaker 1: You wouldn't be letting these things go. If somebody you
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  Speaker 1: love is being hurt like that, you'd be fighting for
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  Speaker 1: them and praying for them. That is what we need
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  Speaker 1: to do for our fellow brothers and sisters. So that's
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  Speaker 1: the fourth way. The fifth way, it says in verse four,
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  Speaker 1: it actually switches over to the individual family, not the
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  Speaker 1: family of Christ, but the individual marriage union. It says,
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  Speaker 1: let marriage be held in honor among all you know
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  Speaker 1: as some of the worst advice I've ever gotten is
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  Speaker 1: marriage advice. There's a lot of hurt individuals in the church,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of hurt women, a lot of hurt men
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  Speaker 1: who I don't understand what biblical marriage is supposed to
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  Speaker 1: look like because they've never been able to live it themselves,
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  Speaker 1: either because of their own issues or the issues of
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  Speaker 1: other people who have hurt them very deeply. And sometimes
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  Speaker 1: these people who've been hurt just want to dishonor the
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  Speaker 1: unity and goodness that marriage really is. As Christians, we
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  Speaker 1: are not supposed to do that. We are supposed to
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  Speaker 1: honor other people's marriages, not give them bad advice, not
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  Speaker 1: encourage them to leave their spouse, not tell them that
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  Speaker 1: their spouse is awful or so doubt in their minds,
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  Speaker 1: or insult or mistreat their spouse. And someone who's doing
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  Speaker 1: that might think they're doing it out of love. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: I have her best interest in heart, and that guy
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  Speaker 1: that she married is just absolutely awful for her. No,
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  Speaker 1: as Christian's, marriage is something that should be honored, and
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  Speaker 1: this is something I take very very seriously myself. I
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  Speaker 1: will never dishonor somebody else's spouse. I can't do it
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  Speaker 1: because I think marriage is good. I think it's an
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  Speaker 1: inherent good. I know that there are really bad marriages
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  Speaker 1: out there. I know that people can be very selfish.
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  Speaker 1: I know that marriage is difficult. I know it. I've
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  Speaker 1: been through problems in my own marriage that my husband
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  Speaker 1: and I have had to work through. But thank God,
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  Speaker 1: thank god, I had a family who did not talk
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  Speaker 1: Garrett down the entire time, but honored the institution that
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  Speaker 1: is my marriage. And a lot of times my family
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  Speaker 1: would tell me the truth and they'd say, Jen, are
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  Speaker 1: you looking at that correctly, Like, sure, Garrett was not
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  Speaker 1: the best in this situation, but how did you handle yourself?
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  Speaker 1: Was that really loving? What you did in retaliation? Was
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  Speaker 1: that really kind? How you treated him, how you yelled
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  Speaker 1: at him like that? Was that good? And I am
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  Speaker 1: so thankful my family did that, because I think that
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  Speaker 1: if I had a family who dishonored marriage, that Garrett
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  Speaker 1: and I would be a lot worse. So now you know,
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  Speaker 1: I'm thankful that that kind of stumbling block was not
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  Speaker 1: put in my path when my husband and I did
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  Speaker 1: have to work stuff out, And man, I am so
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  Speaker 1: glad we work stuff out and that our marriage got
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  Speaker 1: so much healthier. Because now when my husband and I
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  Speaker 1: are in sync with each other, I can just see
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  Speaker 1: how good God is and how good marriage is supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be. And the picture of marriage really is the
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  Speaker 1: picture of Christ in the church. I can see that,
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  Speaker 1: and I absolutely love that, and I want other people
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  Speaker 1: to experience that as well, to experience a really wonderful marriage.
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  Speaker 1: I actually just the other day got a wonderful compliment
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  Speaker 1: from a friend. She texted me and she said, Jen,
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  Speaker 1: You're very different from my other friends when I talk
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  Speaker 1: to you about my marriage because you're not just pro me,
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  Speaker 1: you're pro me and my husband and I was really
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  Speaker 1: complimented by that compliment. And that is something I am
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  Speaker 1: always going to be. If anyone reaches out to me
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  Speaker 1: with marriage problems, I'm not going to say I have
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  Speaker 1: all the answers, and I know what they're going through
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  Speaker 1: and I know how difficult their spouse is. But i
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  Speaker 1: am going to say to them, I'm going to pray
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  Speaker 1: for you, and I'm going to pray for your spouse,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm going to pray that you guys understand how
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  Speaker 1: beautiful marriage can be. And I'm going to pray for
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  Speaker 1: change of hearts. So, yes, marriage is a wonderful, wonderful
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  Speaker 1: thing and it should be something that is honored by everybody.
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  Speaker 1: And here's the thing for people who have been hurt
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  Speaker 1: and divorced and mistreated in the past. God does give
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  Speaker 1: second chances, and he's very loving and he's very kind,
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  Speaker 1: and he does understand issues in marriage. I mean, we
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  Speaker 1: talked about that not too long ago at the very
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  Speaker 1: end of Ezra, where Ezra was forcing all of the
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  Speaker 1: men to get divorced from their pagan wives. Ezra was
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  Speaker 1: not honoring marriage. He was doing the opposite of honoring marriage.
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  Speaker 1: He was breaking marriages apart. But God honors marriage. He
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  Speaker 1: honors it, and he wants us to honor it as well.
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  Speaker 1: And that also includes for the individual spouses, not for
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  Speaker 1: just us looking at somebody else's marriage, but for the
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  Speaker 1: spouses themselves. Here's how you can show brotherly love to
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  Speaker 1: your spouse by keeping the marriage bed undefiled, because God
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  Speaker 1: will judge the sexually immoral and the adulterers. God is
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  Speaker 1: going to judge anybody that mistreats their husband or their
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  Speaker 1: wife through the act of adultery because that is a
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  Speaker 1: breaking a part of the marriage union. That is the
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  Speaker 1: most dishonoring thing you can do to your spouse is
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  Speaker 1: to cheat on them. And as Christians, we are considered
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  Speaker 1: to be the bride of Christ. Our marriage in a
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  Speaker 1: lot of ways is a picture of the Bride of
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  Speaker 1: Christ to the rest of the world. We can actually
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  Speaker 1: shine a light through the marriage relationship that we have
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  Speaker 1: with our spouses. Can you imagine a couple that is
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  Speaker 1: struggling looking at a Christian marriage and saying, what are
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  Speaker 1: they doing to make their marriage so good and so
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  Speaker 1: healthy that me and my spouse are just not doing?
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  Speaker 1: Marriage can be a powerful testimony to other people, because
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  Speaker 1: everybody wants to be loved, Everyone wants to experience love.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of people want to have marriage relationships. Not everybody,
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  Speaker 1: but I'd say the majority do. And if somebody is
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  Speaker 1: desiring this marriage relationship and they see a Christian marriage
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  Speaker 1: just really thriving, then that is an excellent testimony for
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  Speaker 1: anybody outside looking in. But this is also a way
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  Speaker 1: we show brotherly love to our spouses as well, by
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  Speaker 1: honoring them, treating them with honor, and not dishonoring marriage
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  Speaker 1: by cheating on them, or by thinking that somebody else
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  Speaker 1: is more handsome or more beautiful than the husband or
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  Speaker 1: wife that God gave them. So now the sixth way,
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  Speaker 1: I think I'm on the sixth point, I'm actually not sure.
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  Speaker 1: But to the sixth way that we show brotherly love
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  Speaker 1: to a people is by being free from the love
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  Speaker 1: of money. You know, they say that the two things
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  Speaker 1: that always cause divorce is cheating and financial distress, and
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  Speaker 1: so those are the two things that usually break a
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  Speaker 1: marriage apart. If you have the love of money, sometimes
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  Speaker 1: you can start loving money more than you love your
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  Speaker 1: own family, more than you love your church, and you
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  Speaker 1: start focusing more on that than anything else. Maybe you
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  Speaker 1: start working more often and missing out on things that
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  Speaker 1: you could do with your family. Maybe you start trying
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  Speaker 1: to get money through dishonest means because you have a
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  Speaker 1: love for money. Some of the other ways I've seen
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  Speaker 1: people being unloving with money is by refusing to pay
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  Speaker 1: pastors or any other leader that's in the church, just
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  Speaker 1: refusing outright to pay them. Pastors and teachers should be
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  Speaker 1: financially benefited for what they are doing, because it really
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  Speaker 1: is a difficult job in a lot of ways. But
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  Speaker 1: then there's also the problem of somebody being unwilling to
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  Speaker 1: give financially because they care more about their finances than
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  Speaker 1: maybe somebody they see who is really struggling or really hurting.
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  Speaker 1: That's another thing. Paul says. If God gave it to you,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: obviously he's sharing it with you because it doesn't really
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: belong to you in the first place. It belongs to God.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: So you should have enough courtesy to share it. Not
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: all of it. Obviously you need it for yourself too
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: in your family, but share some of it with a
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: fellow Christian or your church that might be in need
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: of some of these finances. God says, if you a
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: refresh other people, you yourself will be refreshed. So we
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: have to move past that love of money in order
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: to really serve God to the fool's capacity that we can.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: And a love for money can even go above our
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: love for God in a lot of ways. What does
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Jesus say? He says, you cannot serve two masters because
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: you will either hate one and love the other. So
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: you cannot serve both God and money. You have to
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: have one above the other. Now, money obviously pays for
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: many of the things that we do, and we need
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: it just as we need food and water. We need
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: money in order to survive in this life. And God
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: understands that, which is why he gives it to us.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: But we cannot love it. That's when the problem starts
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: to come in and we start putting money above other
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: people and rejecting the brotherly love that we could have
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: for our fellow Christians and our families as well. And
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: now the seventh way that we can show brotherly love
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: verse five, we need to be content with the things
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: that we have, so, in other words, showing thankfulness for
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: the things that have already been given to us. Because
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: if you are not content with the things you own,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: you are going to constantly want more. Like I've seen
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: families get broken apart because parents were not content with
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: the things that they were given from God. They weren't
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: content with their families, they weren't content with their home,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: they weren't content with where God put them in life,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: and all of these things were breaking up their family unit.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: This can also affect the church. If a pastor is
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: not content with the congregation that God gave him, and
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: he's always wanting more, always searching after more people to
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: come into the congregation, then that is not brotherly love,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: and that can ruin congregations pastors and elders being uncontent
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: with the things that God gave them. So you must
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: be thankful for what God has put in front of you.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: There's a verse that says if you are not faithful
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: in the little things, you're not going to be faithful
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: in the big things. So if you're not content with
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the little things that God gives you, then you're not
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: going to be content with the big things that God
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: gives you either. You've got to learn contentment with the
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: little stuff first. Then the last way that we can
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: show brotherly love to other people is found again in
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: verses five and six, for he has said, I will
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: in no way leave you, neither will I in any
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: way forsake you. So that with good courage we say,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: can man do to me? In order to show true
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: brotherly love to other people, we have to get rid
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: of the anxiety that we oftentimes feel, understanding that God
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: is always with us, Understanding that God is our helper,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: that we will not fear because what can mirror men
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: do to us. I'm sure many of you understand how
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: anxiety just kind of ruins your entire demeanor. You have
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: a really hard time not focusing on this thing that's
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: making you anxious. You have a really hard time stepping
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: out and doing something that isn't scary. You kind of
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: want to stay home and sit in your bubble and
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: just play animal crossing all day instead of going out
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: in boldness and helping other people. Anxiety can really cause
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: you to forsake the brotherly love. I saw this big
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: time during COVID. I mean, the way people treated each
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: other during COVID was really awful, you know, acting as
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: if everybody is sick and vile and disgusting. Don't come
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: near me, don't touch me, don't do this, don't do that,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: And meanwhile people are being hurt. I heard about family
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: members where their grandparents just died in solitary confinement during COVID.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: How is that loving? To allow somebody who is old
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: and sad and lonely to die alone. That is not loving.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: That is terrible. So we have to move past this
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: anxiety as Christians and step out in boldness, in faith
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: and in love to love other people in this brotherly
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: type of affection. Just as you wouldn't want to see
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: your grandmother or your sister, or your brother, or your
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: dad or your mom suffering in misery and nobody helping them,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: just as you would be praying for them and going
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: to them every single day and wishing for their success,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: wishing that they are okay. We have to treat our
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: brothers and sisters in Christ like this as well, treating
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: them as if they are truly our family, because ultimately
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: they kind of are. You know, we don't really think
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: about it that way. We always say, yes, of course,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: we're the adopted children of God. We are all sort
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: of related, you know, we're the body of Christ. But
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: we really don't think about the impact of that statement
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: that we are the children of God, that someday we
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: are going to live together with all of the children
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: of God, and we're going to be in the presence
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: of our brothers and sisters. And I bet you there's
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: going to be a familial bond that we can't quite
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: understand right now, but someday we will. So if this
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: is going to happen in the future, we might as
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: well start now by showing brotherly love to the brothers
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: and sisters who are around us. Well, faithful listeners, if
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: if you were convicted by today's episode, than good. And
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: let me just tell you, guys, I hate being preachy.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: I am not that type of person. So when I
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: get more preachy in episodes like I kind of did today, man,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: I'm preaching to the choir. There are so many things
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I do that is so unloving. And that's why that
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: whole rant I gave at the beginning, how I understand
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: how difficult it is to love when you've been hurt.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: I get it, you know, I understand it. So this
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: love has to start right here. It's got to start
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: here in our hearts, because we remember that we ourselves
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: were so unlovable that God came to earth to save
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: us from our sins. Says that he loved us while
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: we were still enemies of him. He showed brotherly affection
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: for us as our big brother, as our high priest,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: before we even knew who he was. While we were
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: still rejecting him. He showed us kindness and love. So we,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: as followers of Jesus, should do our best to show
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: this loving kindness to our brothers and sisters in Christ
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: without becoming so bitter. That might be hard to do,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: and I get that, but we pray about it and
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: we say, God, make our hearts more like your heart
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: where you showed love to us, let me show love
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: to these other people as well. So, faithful listeners, before
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: I end today's episode, please listen to this last sponsor
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: for today. All right, faithful listeners, So here's my challenge
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: for all of you guys today. Let's find some way
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: to show brotherly love to somebody. It might be really difficult.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Maybe there's somebody in your life right now that you
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: need to apologize to. Maybe you go to them and
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: you say, hey, I'm sorry, I was wrong. Or maybe
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: there is somebody that just irks you so bad and
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: you need to just zip your lips when you're around them.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Maybe next time, just pray, God, I struggle with this person,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: help me to be patient and loving towards this individual.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Maybe we can show brotherly love in another way by
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: praying for somebody who remember has been hurt, by maybe
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: texting them and saying, hey, how are you? How have
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: you been doing through this pain, the suffering, this surgery,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: whatever they're going through. Just reach out and remind them, Hey,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: someone's there for you, someone remembers you. That's going to
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: be very, very encouraging for I think anybody that might
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: be struggling right now to have a friend or maybe
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: pray and ask God to reveal some other way that
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: you can be loving today and try to remember to
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: do that every single day. God, make my heart a
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: little bit more like your heart. But faithful listeners, I
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: hope you guys enjoyed today's podcast episode. Now if you
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: would like to tune into tomorrow's podcast episode, you guys
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: know what you gotta do. You gotta become a member.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: You got to upgrade from being a faithful listener to
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: a faithful member. And when you do that, you will
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: gain a private link to the Friday podcast episode. And
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: right now, I think I have about ninety additional episodes
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: that you guys can go through, which we're going through
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the Book of the Psalms right now, and it's been very,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: very fantastic and super eye opening going through all these
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: beautiful prayers and hymns that these men of old were
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: praying to God. So I hope you guys do become
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: faithful members so that I can talk to all of
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: you tomorrow, but if not, I will see you guys
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: on Monday for the regular scheduled episode. Right now, we're
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: going through Nehemiah on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then of
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: course Hebrews on Tuesdays and Thursdays. All right, faithful listeners,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: have a fantastic and lovely rest of your day, happy listening,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: happy weekend, and God bless. I just want to take
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you will find
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.