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Gentleness That Works: Being 'Fit for Use' in God's Kingdom · Relish: a Christian podcast

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  Relish, pleasing or zestful flavor, a quantity just sufficient to flavor,
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  to be pleased or gratified by, enjoy.
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  We are hoping that what we bring to your table today might add some spice to your life.
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  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Relish.
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  I'm Roland Miller. This is Pastor Don Patterson.
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  Don, how are you doing? I'm doing so wonderful. It's even, yeah, I'm doing so wonderful.
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  Some greetings to all my 50 year reunion friends
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  and uh thank you for following up after
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  i talked about the uh i talked about this at
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  my 50th reunion i celebrated 50 see do i look like in 50 years from yeah i know
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  okay let's not go there but it was quite something to see my my fellow classmates
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  after all these years yeah i can only imagine you know once they got talking and walking around.
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  And yeah, then I could, yeah, that is who that is.
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  Yeah. And, uh, but it was good to spend time with them. How big,
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  can you imagine your class in 50 years? Not really.
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  Are you going to be recognize yourself in the mirror in 50 years?
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  I would hope so, but. Yeah, you will. You will.
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  But it's a, it's an interesting concept of us getting older,
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  our march through time together. Yeah. It makes, it makes a difference.
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  Yeah. Yeah. How many were in your class? There were 50. 50? Okay.
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  And there were 35 of us there. 35, 38 of us there.
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  Good amount to remember and catch up with. Yeah. Yeah.
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  Some of their memories are sharper about what happened in high school than mine.
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  I mean, mine might be sharper about here and now, but high school, I try to forget.
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  That was not the highest in my life. That was, high school was hard for me. Yeah. Yeah.
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  Not the first I've heard say that, so. Yeah, I'm glad it was over when it was
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  over. Yeah. Yeah. College was better.
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  I wouldn't want to go back. Pastoring is even better. Oh, yeah.
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  Yeah. Especially being your pastor, you know? Yeah.
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  I take all the credit. There you go. Might as well. Somebody's got to.
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  Yeah. All right. Well, we got a Fruits of the Spirit episode prepared for you.
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  So, believe we're- Do we? Oh, yes. Yes. I did prepare that. I would hope.
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  But it's not coming from me.
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  Yeah. And it's interesting because the world next word that I have in the King James is kindness.
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  In the NIV, it's gentleness.
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  And I just found both those translations rather interesting.
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  So in the Greek, it's kresetes.
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  And it means a moral goodness and integrity. And I got thinking, what?
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  How am I going to preach on that? How am I going to talk on that?
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  I mean, what moral goodness, integrity, what is that? Because it's so mushy.
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  I mean, it really doesn't have anything solid to stand on. So I went to the root, which is Kratos.
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  And that makes a lot more sense because what it means is fit for use.
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  It's manageable, employable. Now, so, okay, gentleness, It's employable.
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  How do we get there from here?
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  It is a measure, a measure of employment.
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  So when you think of it that way and thinking of it as a fruit of the spirit,
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  then this gentleness, this kindness that we present ourselves with as Christians
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  to other people in the world, is it something that is engaging them?
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  And actually markets, if you will, the gospel to them, I would liken it to when
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  I was on the farm and I had a custom hay baling operation that,
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  you know, ran all summer.
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  And we would run, oh, over a thousand bales a day that we would bale for other
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  people and get it in their barns. That was our job.
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  We were a stem to barn operation.
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  So we would mow the hay. We would rake the hay. And when it was dry,
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  we would bale the hay and put it in the barn.
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  And so I couldn't do that by myself. I needed to hire guys to do that.
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  And so I hired a group of guys every summer from high school.
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  Most of them were younger. Yeah, all of them were younger than I am.
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  And they would work for me. And over the course of the time,
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  I had to figure out now, how do I tell somebody, I'm not going to hire you.
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  And so my criteria is I'll hire you. I'll give you a week.
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  And if you can, if you can keep up with me, cause I was older,
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  if you can keep up with me, I'll keep you on at the point.
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  You cannot keep up with me bailing. Hey, then I'm sorry because I need to replicate
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  my own actions in bailing.
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  And we sort of had a round robin.
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  So we all had the same skill set. I didn't sit on the tractor all day.
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  I went from the tractor to bucking bales, from bucking bales to the barn,
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  from the barn back to the tractor, then bucking bales into the barn.
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  So we all, five of us, there were five of us all together, would do all those activities.
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  And then I had another guy who was mowing all the time.
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  What would happen if we would think of this word that is translated kindness
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  or gentleness, because we have one right after it called goodness,
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  so we got to keep those two separate.
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  If we would think of it, how am I employable in God's kingdom?
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  In other words, how do I present myself to others? How do I work with others in the body?
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  How do I present myself to those who are not in the body.
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  It's that trait that is marketable, if you will, in our Christianity so that
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  we're not just keeping it to ourselves. It's not just something I do myself,
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  but I'm actually taking it out beyond us.
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  So that kratos is fit for use, manageable. Am I manageable by God?
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  I know, I'm sometimes unmanageable. I've had elders tell me that once in a while.
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  But am I manageable by God?
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  Can God get my attention and I actually listen? To me, that really hit when
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  I started unloading this word as to what it means when it comes to a fruit of the Spirit.
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  But am I that kind of person that's kind, that's gentle, able to be engaged
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  in the business of God? Yeah.
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  So is that in this sort of assembly line of working in God's kingdom?
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  Are we working in an assembly line? Do we have our specific roles or are we,
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  should we all be able to do all of the roles?
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  That's a good point. I would say that in our discipleship, we should be functional
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  in all seven areas of discipleship.
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  However, we will naturally, because of our unique personalities,
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  we will probably excel in certain areas and not in other areas.
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  And that would include even this gift.
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  Sometimes we are more manageable in some ways, and sometimes as leaders,
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  we're not quite as manageable. And I'm sorry, we try.
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  That being said, then, sometimes it is sort of an assembly line.
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  You were talking about assembly line. Sometimes it is.
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  Because I've been in meetings, especially revival meetings, those kind of meetings
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  with an atmosphere of spiritual renewal, that actually there's a spirit that
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  starts going and it starts moving. and we need people.
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  We need you. We need you. We need you. We need you to come down front and help
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  us with all the people who are coming forward so that we have people to pray.
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  And so you need, in those kinds of atmospheres, a lot of people trained and ready to move.
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  And so in that sense, it could be an assembly line once in a while.
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  I would just hope, and I guess I've shared it on this program before,
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  I believe we're in a time of revival or renewal or freshness of God's Spirit
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  being poured out on His people, especially your generation.
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  I'm excited about what's coming from your generation. And we need to be prepared.
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  I mean, old farts wake up.
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  We need to be prepared to walk alongside the generation that is just grasping
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  for what it means to be a Christian right now.
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  And that means let's be ready to teach Bible studies and walk beside people,
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  especially individual stories, because everybody has their own story and where they're coming from.
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  And they want to be, how would you say, met where they're at,
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  rather than, And, oh, okay, we all have to conform. We do this first and then
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  that's your assembly line thing.
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  And we don't all need that or want that.
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  So, old codgers like me, wake up.
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  We need to be ready because the church is beginning to move in mighty ways. Yeah. I see that.
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  Yeah. So, gentleness. Be manageable, folks.
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  Be ready. when
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  you when you said the you're excited for
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  our generation and the the new
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  style and the way the church is growing made me think of turning point usa they're
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  they are hosting a alternative halftime show yes this year for the super bowl
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  so instead of watching these definitely not family appropriate,
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  singers dancers whatever right the guy wearing a dress with the lyrics that
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  you can't even look up on your phone like or shouldn't look up on your phone
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  shouldn't look up yeah please don't yeah,
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  there's the new supposed i think
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  it's christian gonna be christian artist i think yes it
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  is you can it's good stuff what i've seen planned so
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  far yeah it's good and so with that in mind can we begin to wrap our little
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  bitty church heads around the fact that God may move in a dramatic way in a
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  bigger group than we're used to and move many people's hearts towards God.
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  Oh man, I get excited about that. I'm ready. I'm ready.
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  Well, I hope I'm ready. I've been working at it, but it's an exciting time to be a pastor right now.
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  Also challenging time because that means we're going to be looked at as individuals
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  who ought to know how this goes.
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  And in reality, I don't know. It hasn't been since the 1980s, 70s, 80s.
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  That we've had that kind of renewal yeah what i
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  see coming yeah it's it's different than
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  like traditionally because younger generations
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  are being reached in many different ways and this is one of those like the alternative
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  concerts and stuff that that reach younger people right and that's well said
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  many different ways and ways that we have never used before yeah we've never
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  used to, uh, what is it? Not TikTok.
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  What those, those kinds of media, Instagram and things that are available to
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  us to get today that weren't available even 15 years ago. Yeah.
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  And so we're, we're not only needing to be ready, but re ready to engage in
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  a way we aren't equipped yet to do. Right.
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  And so, yeah, that's where we need you guys. Yeah.
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  Come alongside the old guys and say, well, we can do that,
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  but we can do it this way now yeah that's good
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  yeah i like that yeah do you
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  want your math your question i talked underneath
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  here just in case we had enough time didn't
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  start with it but no we can we can close with it yes the comic relief is i came
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  today i came prepared but most of the time you come with questions i'm not prepared
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  on that question usually and i try to do my best and then i give you a question
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  like I'm giving a question. Okay.
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  So what do you think it means to give thanks in all circumstances?
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  First Thessalonians 5.18. I think that's easy for us in the United States,
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  like first world country.
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  Like we'll be, I think the thing I think of is give thanks in all circumstances.
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  That means in bad circumstances.
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  Oftentimes for us, bad circumstances is, oh my
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  phone's not loading the page I want to be on oh yeah
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  electricity went out or bad hair
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  day yeah bad hair day like just stuff
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  like that and I think we're I mean we are so blessed to even have that stuff
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  in the first place there's so many people that just don't have electricity like
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  what's a cell phone right and I think acknowledging what you do have and just
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  being grateful for is...
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  Yeah what that would mean all circumstances even
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  bad hair days yeah good answer
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  good answer all right well thank
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  you guys for tuning in if you have any more questions for
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  whether it is for me or the ones that will surprise don with then send them
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  in share this we'll try to be ready yeah brace ourselves yeah okay yep share
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  this with somebody that you think would enjoy it yes And if you can follow or
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  subscribe, that's great too.
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  Right. We appreciate that. Yeah. It'll help us reach more people if we get those
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  numbers up. So yeah. Yeah.
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  Thank you as always, Don. And we will see you guys next time. Lord willing.
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  Thank you for joining us for this podcast. Feel free to become part of this
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  ministry by sharing it with others.
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  Our goal is to help each other grow deeper in our understanding of who God is
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  and is calling to us in our daily lives.
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  Thank you again for joining us and may God bless your day.