Latest / Saint City Chapel / Gospel Hope Thrives in a Health Local Church | 1 Thessalonians 5:12-21

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Gospel Hope Thrives in a Health Local Church | 1 Thessalonians 5:12-21 · Saint City Chapel

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  You believe 100 college students put College in here.
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  Raise your hand if you are, don't be shy.
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  I mean, 7500 college students. I was in, it was two years ago
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  at a salt kind of event and they let us go to one of the college
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  nights or one of the salt nights.
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  It was like 2500 and that was one of the best nights ever of
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  worship that I experienced. So I'm, I'm hoping they're
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  having a lot of fun. I get some.
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  Can I get it like a little? Is there a table or some sort of
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  music stand or something I can get?
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  Sorry. Oh, right here.
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  Here we go. One second.
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  OK. As Brandon said, my name is
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  Seth. I am a lead pastor at
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  Christchurch and I serve in Peoria and so happy to be here.
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  I love your pastor. He is a good man.
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  He's a wild dude. I mean, he's wild man.
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  He is. He's become a, a quick friend of
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  mine. We've known each other for a few
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  years. We kind of grew up in the same
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  environment. We're both from Chicago.
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  We, we kind of grew up in that church, but I got to know him
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  here in Arizona. And one of the things I do I, I
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  lead our Peoria congregation, but I also work with Vintage
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  Mission, the coach church planners and the trained church
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  planners. And I've had the opportunity to
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  walk alongside Brandon now for probably about a year and
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  coaching him ever since you guys launched at on August 3rd.
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  So it's been a such a privilege. You got a passionate pastor,
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  you've got a man who loves Jesus, you've got a family
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  pursuing Christ. You have, he's so teachable.
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  I just want to, I want to share this because he's not going to
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  get up here and share this kind of stuff.
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  He, he is passionate. He is pursuing Christ.
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  The, the guy is so teachable and he's so humble.
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  And we meet every week. We, we do a coaching call every
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  week and I'm able to hear about you and pray for you.
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  So such, such a privilege and such a pleasure to be with you.
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  And I feel the burden, I feel the weight of bringing God's
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  word in its context to you this morning.
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  So I want to do, I'm going to kind of do a double prayer.
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  So we're going to pray again and ask the Holy Spirit to work in
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  our lives through my voice in his word as we continue Heavenly
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  Father, we want, we cannot do that part from your spirit.
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  And we ask that your spirit would be present among us that I
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  would not be a distraction to the word, but I would be a
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  compliment to it as we open up and study it in the First
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  Thessalonians this morning. So we, we ask your blessing, may
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  we lean in, may we tune our hearts to receive your word, the
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  only word, the living word that transforms.
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  We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.
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  Amen. So take your Bibles.
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  If you would take your Bibles and turn to 1st Thessalonians,
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  that is in your New Testament. If you're not familiar with your
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  Bible, hit Matthew. Go all the way past the Gospels.
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  You'll go through books like first, Second Corinthians,
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  Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians.
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  If you go on to Hebrews, just take a quick left and you'll be
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  in First Thessalonians. We're going to be looking at
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  this passage of Scripture this morning and really love this.
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  Really love what Paul says to us in the inspiration and in the
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  power of the Holy Spirit. We got a whole list of things
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  we're going to see this morning for our church, for Saint City.
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  But before we do that, remember our group projects in high
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  school. Anybody you remember those group
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  projects? I mean, they were great for some
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  of us. I mean, if you were an
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  overachiever, you always had a couple in the group.
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  You know, the Stargazers, they didn't really bring in much.
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  They brought the vibes a little bit, but that's about all they
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  brought. And you were kind of left with
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  all the work and group projects. I was, I was the stargazer, by
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  the way. My wife was the overachiever for
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  sure, in every one of our group challenges.
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  That's my wife, Laurie. She came in with me today,
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  actually. We've been married for 25 years.
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  Isn't that great? 25 years?
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  We have two kids. We have two kids.
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  One's in college, one just graduated from college.
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  Macy and Gabriel, 20 and 22, happy to be here today.
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  But my wife, she was the overachiever in the group
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  projects. I was the sort of stargazer.
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  I didn't get much done. Group projects were sort of a
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  double edged sword, right? Because in one sense, in one
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  sense, if you're anything like me, they're A+.
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  You don't have to do a lot of work.
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  You just kind of got to get to sit and hang out.
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  If you're like my wife, they're they're hard because guys like
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  me affected every person's grade.
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  And and I want to tell you, like the church is kind of like a
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  group project. We're talking every member
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  ministry. And the thing about group
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  projects is the health of the projects depends on everybody
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  contributing and doing their part in the whole.
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  And the health of the body of Christ is really a shared
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  responsibility. You're not a consumer if you're
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  part of Saint City today, in 2026, in this new year, you are
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  not a consumer. You are part of the whole, and
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  every part has a job, a responsibility, and it requires
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  each person faithfully doing their part.
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  This is what Paul addresses this morning in Thessalonians chapter
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  5. We're going to be looking at
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  verses 12 through 21, and I want to read these verses.
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  Be before us. You can follow along as I read.
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  And then we're going to take a few moments this morning and
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  we're just going to unpack them together.
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  Here's what Paul says. He says, we ask you, brothers,
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  to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord
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  and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because
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  of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
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  And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idol, encourage the
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  faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
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  See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seeks
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  to do good to one another and to everyone.
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  Rejoice always pray without ceasing.
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  Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the
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  will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
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  Verse 19. Do not quench the Spirit, do not
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  despise the prophecies, but test everything.
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  Hold fast to what is good. These are the words of God.
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  And I want to give you a simple sentence this morning that kind
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  of hangs over the top of this section that I want you to take
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  home with you. So if you take a nap today, just
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  get this sentence down. Just make sure, make sure you
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  have this sentence here it is gospel hope thrives in a healthy
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  local church. We're talking about a healthy
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  church today. That's it's, that's perfect,
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  right? You all just launched August
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  3rd. You're a new, you're a fledgling
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  church. You're young.
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  By the way, the people in Thessalonica, this Paul's
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  writing to a church that was young.
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  It isn't long established. This is a very young church,
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  very young congregation. This is actually brand new.
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  They were planted in the middle of pressure.
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  Persecution was real. Confusion is present.
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  This is kind of the context of First Thessalonians and the
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  leaders. They're just still learning how
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  to do things and they're learning how to lead well while
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  people are still learning how to follow Jesus.
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  And then you get to the end of First Thessalonians.
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  This 2 Pauls writing to you and you see in verses 12 through 21,
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  it kind of kind of felt like a rapid fire, didn't it?
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  When I read it kind of felt like, like it was like a, it was
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  just like a checklist. It felt like sort of one of
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  those kinds of lists. These aren't random commands.
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  These aren't checks just to check off their relational
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  instructions. In fact, Paul closes this letter
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  and he's saying basically, if if gospel hope is going to survive
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  in a church like St. City, is what he's saying, he's
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  saying you, you got to you got to have a healthy church.
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  And here's what health actually looks like on the ground.
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  Which brings us really to the real question that we're asking
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  this morning. And here's a question.
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  How can we make sure St. City Chapel functions in a life
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  giving way? That's the question we're going
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  to answer in the next few moments.
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  And from this tech I'm going to, I'm going to show you 5 aspects.
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  Just I have six, OK, but I cut, I cut it down to 5 because I
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  know you don't want to be here all day.
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  So I'm going to show you 5 aspects, 5 aspects of a healthy
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  local church where gospel hope thrives.
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  Every member contributes to the health of the whole.
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  The first one is just simply valuing our leaders, valuing our
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  leaders. Gospel hope thrives as we value
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  our leaders. Now you all know, you all know
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  about value you all. You all know what you value.
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  The stuff you value you protect the stuff you value you, you
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  prioritize you. You don't forget exists.
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  So that tool that you really value doesn't live on the bottom
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  floor of the garage, right? You have a special place for
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  that thing. I, I collect, I'm a bit of a
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  musician. I collect guitars, acoustic
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  guitars. It's an expensive habit.
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  And I'm telling you what, man, I never forget not to humidify
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  those things. I take care of them.
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  Every one of them is in it's blasphemy to have a guitar out
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  of the case for any period of time in Arizona.
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  I take care of because I value it.
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  It is think about relationships, a relationship that goes the
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  extra mile doesn't give sort of like a emoji thumbs up in
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  silence. They get treatment and they're
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  valued and that relationship and friendship is valued.
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  That's exactly what Paul's talking about here this morning.
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  He's saying these these leaders that lead you, they should be
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  valued by you. They should be prioritized.
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  They should be protected. This is what Paul's talking
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  about. And at its heart it's really
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  obedience to Christ because how we treat those he's appointed
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  reflects really how we treat Jesus Christ.
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  And so these verses show us how how we value our leaders.
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  Look at what it says. The first one is really respect.
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  We respect them. We ask you brothers, to respect
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  those who labor among you and are over you and the Lord and
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  admonish you that word translated respect some
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  translations, I believe the NASP it it says appreciate and I like
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  that. That's what it means.
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  You appreciate your leaders, you respect them.
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  Really in the Greek, the word no, So not like I just know
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  their name, but but I know them deeply.
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  It's a deep experiential knowledge.
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  So it's it's like I appreciate them.
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  I know them in that I'm watching their lives.
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  I'm understanding the sacrifices they're giving day in and day
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  out. By the way, so awkward for
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  preachers to preach this. If you ever come to this text in
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  your own church and you're like, hey, value me, value me.
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  It's a good thing Brandon's gone because I could do that for I'll
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  take the bullet and I'll handle that for him.
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  You need to value your in this case leader, but soon to be
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  leaders. He says respect.
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  Why? Look at the three reasons here,
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  3 reasons Paul gives for respecting or appreciating they
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  labor among you. You know what ministry is?
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  Exhaustion ministry. Ministry is hard work.
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  It takes a lot of effort when you're in pastoral ministry.
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  Anybody who's not tired in pastoral ministry, I'm not sure
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  they should be a pastor. Pastoral ministry is exhausting.
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  It's labouring. Shepherding is not distant,
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  right? Shepherding is not detached.
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  Shepherding is personal and it's present, it's teaching, it's
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  applying, it's confronting, it's warning, it's counseling, it's
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  helping. We see in Acts chapter 20,
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  there's a whole section. Paul hangs out with the Ephesian
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  elders before he goes to Jerusalem.
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  And we see in Acts chapter 20, Paul is showing them going house
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  to house, pouring their lives into the flock that is faithful
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  shepherding. They labor among.
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  And I meet with Brandon every week or bi weekly now on the
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  phone and he gives me this list. We go through this an agenda.
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  I got to tell you that guy is such a hard worker.
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  He goes 90 miles an hour all the time.
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  The guy's got no governor right. You got to you got to slow that
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  guy down a little bit, you know, in order to have him take a
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  breath once in a while. But he really laborers on your
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  behalf. All the things that we're
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  talking about and all the things that we're praying for and all
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  the things that we're going through really do impact and
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  affect your lives. Your leaders love you and they
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  want to shepherd you and you should know that and respect
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  them. The second thing they have
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  charge over you, that's another reason they have spiritual
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  oversight. This is not dictatorship by the
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  way. This is an authority that comes
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  from God's word. This is an authority that comes
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  from faithfully handling the word of God.
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  So I got to tell you, the only authority any pastor has over
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  you is thus says the Lord. He has no authority to go, hey,
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  move here, get a job here. You belong over there.
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  He has zero authority. I have 0 authority in your
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  lives, Brandon, and whoever will pastor over you alongside him
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  has zero authority in your lives.
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  But for thus says the Lord, they have charge of they have charge
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  over you, they're over you. Meaning when you step beyond the
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  word of God use, oh, you've overstepped and they have a
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  charge to help you understand that they have charge over you
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  and then they admonish you. Do you see that that word
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  admonish, this means to instruct.
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  That's what it means, the good and the bad, the hard and the
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  easy to instruct. Sometimes we get the idea that
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  pastoring is like running around and having coffee and lunch with
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  everybody. And whether public or personal
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  instruction from God's word is pastoring.
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  Coffee is optional. OK, coffee is on the table, but
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  it's optional. This is a this is a admonishing
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  role. This is an instructive role.
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  Nothing is more valuable to a church than the faithful
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  handling of the Word of God. And, and listen, your leaders
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  work hard on that. They work hard on that.
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  You all know Preston, Preston was part of our preaching
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  meetings for almost a year, really working hard on
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  faithfully handling the word. We, Brandon and I, we meet on a
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  regular basis just studying God's word together, faithfully
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  handling so that they can instruct and admonish.
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  That's respecting. But there's a second thing.
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  You see it in the text. Not only respect them, but
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  esteem them. Paul moves from appreciation to
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  esteem. Now notice the intensity.
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  It says esteem them. What does it say?
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  Esteem them very highly. I love that.
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  Appreciation is in the mind, right?
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  Esteem is in the heart. It's affectionate.
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  It's love rooted in gratitude. I love that.
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  Superlative, extraordinarily high.
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  It's like when you were a kid, you know, you added superlatives
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  with everything. I was super duper awesome,
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  right? That was incredibly, incredibly,
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  wonderfully awesome. You're right.
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  And this is what Paul is doing. He's like, he's like, esteem
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  them. Like super duper like, like
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  extraordinary. I like, I love you to the sky
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  and beyond. Like, like esteem them.
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  This is what he's saying. And his point is that we owe our
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  leaders exceptional honour because they labour in the
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  gospel. Their work is a gospel work.
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  In fact, in Galatians, Paul wasn't.
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  I don't know if you know about the life of Paul, you kind of
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  get some idea. What do you look like?
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  And he wasn't exactly winning any cover of men's health
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  awards, that's for sure. The guy was like, he, he looked
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  pretty bad. Evidently.
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  Paul even says my condition. He's talking physically here.
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  My condition was a trial to you? Like, that's Yikes, isn't it?
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  Yet these Galatians received him as an Angel of God.
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  And that's what Paul means by steaming someone in love.
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  Not for charisma, not for works, not for charm, not for looks,
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  but for faithful service to Christ.
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  I mean, the take away is like, do you speak words of
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  encouragement to your leadership?
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  Do you express your heartfelt gratitude for your leaders?
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  Do you protect their hearts from criticism and discouragement?
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  This is what it means to esteem. He has one more here though.
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  Be at peace. Do you see that?
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  Live, live peaceably among them. So y'all get along.
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  One of the reasons is for their sake.
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  If you truly value your leaders, you will actually be a
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  peacemaker. You want to know what breaks a
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  pastor's heart? Kind of than anything.
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  When their people cannot get along, When there is discord,
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  when there is disunity, when there is whispering, when there
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  is gossip, when their ego fights and turf battles.
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  Anything that disrupts peace in the body of Christ.
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  Man, that is heartbreaking to a shepherd.
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  The Bible calls us over and over again.
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  You could do your own Bible study, but it's all over the
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  place in Scripture. Romans 12, Matthew 5 calls us to
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  be peacemakers first and foremost among each other.
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  How are they going to know that? Remember what they they asked
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  Jesus. How are they going to know that?
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  We're with you if you love one another, if you love one
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  another, if you get along, if you pursue peace.
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  Hebrews 13 says let them do it with joy and not grief.
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  So, so let your leaders minister to you and shepherd to you in a
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  way that's going to cause them joy and not grief.
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  Because pastoral grief doesn't just doesn't just weigh on the
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  shepherd itself. It kind of ripples through the
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  congregation. You want a happy congregation,
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  you got to have a happy pastor. You want a happy pastor, you're
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  going to have a happy congregation.
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  And part of the reason is if we just live peaceably with each
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  other, and when that flock values, that your leaders will
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  lead with joy, and that joy is going to shape everybody around.
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  Gospel hope thrives in a healthy local church.
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  That's just the first one. We're going to blaze through
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  these other ones. But I think that's really
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  important. Do you love, do you value your
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  leaders? Secondly, here's the second
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  aspect. Gospel hope thrives.
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  We want hope because hope is really one of the themes of
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  First Thessalonians. Paul's trying to give the
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  Thessalonian Church hope. Gospel hope is going to thrive
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  not just when we value our leaders, but when we minister
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  with awareness. That's the second thing.
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  This is every member of ministry.
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  This is not just the pastor's job, not just the ministry team
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  leader's job. This is everybody's job in the
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  life of Saint City Chapel is to minister with awareness.
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  So if you want to build up the body of Christ, we need
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  together. We need eyes of awareness.
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  We need to see people where they really are spiritually.
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  Paul starts here because, I mean, to be honest, people are
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  messy, right? We want to vote on that.
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  Like people are messy, you're messy, I'm messy.
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  People are always in the ditch. I mean, you go to any sort of
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  church, there's always people in the ditch battling sin.
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  And and what Paul is saying is we together as a local
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  expression, the church need to get in the ditch and need to get
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  them out of the ditch. We need to do this together.
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  We don't just need to leave them and ditch them.
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  We need to help them. Gospel people getting involved
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  with messy lies. But he says it's going to take
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  an awareness in fact. In fact, in verse 14, he
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  highlights three kinds of sort of you can call them problem
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  people, three kinds of people in the church.
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  You need careful attention. You know the first one is the
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  first one is the idol. You all know that phrase, right?
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  The idol's hand is the devil's playground, right?
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  Right. The idol hand is the devil's
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  playground. This is this word actually is a
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  military word in the Greek. It was used for a soldier who
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  got out of line. So whether it was failing to
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  carry out his duty or whether it was laziness, whether it was a
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  rebellion, over time it came to refer to any person who just
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  failed to do what they were supposed to do.
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  They fell in their responsibility.
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  They were lazy. They neglected what they needed
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  to uphold. They there was deliberate
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  rebellion. Paul says they're out of step of
• 21:54
  the body. You got to get them back in
• 21:56
  step. That's what he's saying.
• 21:58
  He's not just saying it to the pastors of the Thessalonian
• 22:01
  church. He's saying it to you guys.
• 22:04
  He's like, you got to get them back.
• 22:06
  You got to call them back into alignment.
• 22:08
  In fact, in Titus one, Paul uses that with the the Titus with the
• 22:13
  Crete elders. He says you got to you got to
• 22:15
  get some elders here to put in order the things of the church.
• 22:20
  Now I was thinking about that. Here's here's the picture.
• 22:22
  Imagine if you're hiking with somebody, you're hiking with a
• 22:25
  friend and they fall and you realize, well, this is not a
• 22:29
  walk it off kind of fall. This is like a your, your legs
• 22:32
  not supposed to bend that way kind of fall, right?
• 22:35
  What are you? What are you going to do?
• 22:36
  You're going to say just suck it up and get up and let's walk.
• 22:38
  Or you're going to shrug it off and just say whatever you're
• 22:41
  not, you're going to help him. You're going to put that thing
• 22:43
  in order. You're going to call the help
• 22:46
  that they need. You're going to give them the
• 22:47
  care that they need. You're going to help them walk
• 22:49
  again. That's your job as a friend.
• 22:51
  And this is the picture Paul is showing us for the church when a
• 22:57
  brother or sister falls. And we all do, every single one
• 23:03
  of us do. When we fall, when we stumble,
• 23:05
  when we struggle, we don't ignore.
• 23:09
  We go to that person and we put things right.
• 23:12
  We set the bone. Setting the bone is ultimately
• 23:15
  the most healthy thing to do, but it's sometimes the most
• 23:18
  painful thing to do. By the way, this is not
• 23:21
  legalism. This is truth and love.
• 23:25
  This is this is mercy. Legalism punishes failure.
• 23:29
  That's what legalism does. Mercy pursues restoration.
• 23:32
  So this isn't like rule keeping. This is rescue.
• 23:37
  And when done right, guess what happens in the church.
• 23:40
  Church becomes healthy because relationships are restored and
• 23:44
  strengthened in a way that glorifies Christ.
• 23:49
  Here's the second group. This is the faint hearted.
• 23:53
  Do you see that they're not on the edge like a lot of people
• 23:57
  are, you know, just one step away from falling off the Cliff.
• 24:00
  Cliff. They're in the middle of the
• 24:02
  huddle. These are the, these are the
• 24:04
  faint hearted. They're in the middle.
• 24:05
  They're trying not to get too close.
• 24:07
  Paul says these faint hearted people, you got to encourage
• 24:11
  them. Now that's an interesting term.
• 24:14
  Faint hearted means it's 2 words, small and sold.
• 24:19
  Faint hearted means small sold. It means these are people that
• 24:24
  hate change, right? These are folks that love
• 24:27
  tradition. They fear the unknown.
• 24:29
  They're they cling to what is safe.
• 24:31
  These are the people who often worry, they're often
• 24:36
  discouraged. I was reading 1 preacher this
• 24:38
  week on this one commentator. He said these are the people who
• 24:41
  see the manure pile in every field.
• 24:45
  These are the that kind of people, right?
• 24:47
  It's always imagining the worst, afraid to step out, stuck in
• 24:51
  safe routines. So what do we do with these
• 24:53
  people? Paul says we just help them we
• 24:57
  by encouraging them that word literally means to come
• 25:00
  alongside. Do you know that that that word
• 25:03
  there's it's in the same family of language Jesus uses for the
• 25:07
  Holy Spirit in John 14 through 16 means to come alongside.
• 25:14
  It means no shortcuts is a faint hearted person.
• 25:18
  You got to help them. It means sit with them.
• 25:20
  It means speak to them. It means console them and
• 25:23
  comfort and strengthen and reassure.
• 25:26
  Whatever. Encouragement means cheer,
• 25:28
  refresh. So encouragement isn't cheering
• 25:33
  from a distant, it's actually walking with someone right in
• 25:37
  the middle of it, idle, faint hearted.
• 25:40
  And then we see the weak. This is the third group.
• 25:47
  Paul calls him weak at first. You're like, that's offensive.
• 25:51
  What does he mean pathetic? Like what does he mean?
• 25:54
  He doesn't mean pathetic. He doesn't mean no get it
• 25:57
  together. He just means people who don't
• 25:58
  have much margin right now, specifically when it comes to
• 26:03
  sin. These are the morally fragile
• 26:07
  Christians. These these are the immature
• 26:09
  Christians. A lot of new believers, these
• 26:13
  are inconsistent in their discipline.
• 26:17
  They're easily pulled back into the same sins.
• 26:20
  Paul's like you dust them off, you admonish him, and then
• 26:25
  before long they're back ended again.
• 26:27
  Paul says, listen, they're struggling to obey God
• 26:29
  consistently. They demand attention, then they
• 26:33
  demand correction and care. Paul says don't ignore them, go
• 26:37
  into the ditch and help them out of the ditch.
• 26:40
  And when they go back into the ditch, go into the ditch again
• 26:43
  and help them out. Don't go frustrated with them,
• 26:47
  but support them by helping them grow.
• 26:49
  Support them by pointing them to the power of the gospel in daily
• 26:53
  life. The idol, right, the faint
• 26:57
  hearted and the weak. And to round it off, Paul's like
• 27:03
  it's going to take patience. Do you see that it's going to
• 27:06
  take a lot of patience, which is awesome because I'm impatient at
• 27:11
  the at the microwave like my my, my patients level.
• 27:15
  It needs to needs to expand greatly.
• 27:17
  And I imagine you're with me. I imagine that you're, most of
• 27:21
  you me live with a short fuse and are low on patients, which
• 27:26
  doesn't this doesn't happen accidentally.
• 27:28
  It takes effort, It takes honest awareness.
• 27:31
  This is where the gospel thrives though, when a church becomes
• 27:35
  healthy by ministering to one another with awareness, by
• 27:38
  exercising the patience of Jesus Christ himself.
• 27:42
  So you got to ask yourself, who in my life right now needs that
• 27:47
  kind of awareness? Who?
• 27:48
  Who is it? Who around me?
• 27:51
  Or, or maybe you're hearing this today and you're thinking, hey,
• 27:55
  man, that's me. Like I'm like one of these
• 27:58
  people. And I would say to you, that's
• 28:01
  awesome. The Spirit's convicting you and
• 28:04
  you're, you're, you're, you're digging in.
• 28:06
  You understand it. That's the Spirit's conviction.
• 28:08
  The real question is, is what are you going to do about that?
• 28:12
  What are you going to do about that in 2026?
• 28:16
  Because gospel hope thrives in a healthy local church.
• 28:21
  And a healthy local church depends on every member doing
• 28:25
  their part for the whole. Here's the third aspect.
• 28:29
  Gospel hope thrives also as we live out gospel culture.
• 28:36
  There's a massive gospel culture here that we see here.
• 28:40
  I want to show you in verses 15 through 18, you know what
• 28:43
  culture is, right? Culture is just really like
• 28:47
  shared values, their shared beliefs that are made visible in
• 28:52
  in your community. And everything is about the list
• 28:56
  here. Rejoicing and praying and giving
• 29:00
  thanks and avoiding evil. All of these things point to
• 29:04
  Christ's grace at work in your life, developing and cultivating
• 29:08
  a culture. Here's what hits US in the face
• 29:13
  often. We love getting God's grace
• 29:16
  right, but we struggle dispensing it when we love
• 29:21
  getting it, we love getting it, but the temptation is is not to
• 29:24
  give it away. The hardship that often times is
• 29:28
  dispensing that grace. So Paul is calling us as
• 29:33
  recipients of that grace to more than enjoyment.
• 29:38
  He's actually holding us accountable to live that out.
• 29:41
  Look at verse 15 and he just shoots a list here all the way
• 29:47
  through verse 18 repaying on evil.
• 29:49
  So that's awesome. Don't mirror the world.
• 29:52
  That's how they that's what they do.
• 29:54
  Someone slaps you, that's karma, right?
• 29:56
  You slap them back, break that cycle.
• 29:59
  The verse 15 seek to do good. So this is this is seeking.
• 30:02
  This is like actively pursuing ever actively pursue something
• 30:06
  pretty intentional about that, right?
• 30:08
  You're pretty intentional. You're pretty you're pretty
• 30:10
  vigilant about that. This is what this means, to
• 30:13
  pursue what blesses others, even at your own cost.
• 30:19
  Then he says in verse 16, he says, rejoice always.
• 30:23
  Oh, that's a hard one, because joy isn't first and foremost a
• 30:27
  feeling. Joy is a supernatural delight in
• 30:30
  the person of Christ. Joy doesn't depend on what your
• 30:35
  circumstance is in a particular moment.
• 30:37
  It is the choice. It is the will to choose Christ
• 30:42
  and to choose joy anchored in Christ, in the moment when you'd
• 30:47
  rather not rejoice always and then pray without ceasing.
• 30:54
  Let's stay connected. I mean, praying is a
• 30:56
  relationship, right? It's communication.
• 30:59
  Let's not make prayer hard. Prayer is not hard.
• 31:02
  Prayer is talking with the One who's over you.
• 31:05
  Prayer is a child communicating with their Father.
• 31:09
  Prayer is connection. So let every moment be lined up
• 31:12
  with God. That's what he means.
• 31:14
  He doesn't mean get in the closet and pray 24 hours a day.
• 31:18
  He said, listen, God's thoughts should be in your mind all the
• 31:21
  time, interacting, connecting with the Lord.
• 31:28
  And then he says give thanks in all circumstances.
• 31:32
  I love that in all circumstances, you know, in
• 31:36
  another place, Paul says not just in all circumstances, but
• 31:40
  in for all circumstances, not just in but for, which means
• 31:46
  gratitude in a believer in a local church is the lens for all
• 31:53
  of life. Now, as I said earlier, this is
• 31:56
  not a checklist. This is a way of life.
• 31:59
  If you count this whole section, there is around 13 imperatives.
• 32:05
  I mean just boom, it's like 1 after another 13 imperatives
• 32:10
  packed in this whole section. But that's Paul's not meaning to
• 32:13
  have this as a rule factory. This is the character of Christ
• 32:18
  being formed in you. If you go back to chapter one of
• 32:22
  First Thessalonians, the Thessalonian Church, as I said
• 32:26
  earlier, they didn't have APR plan.
• 32:28
  They didn't have a staff, they didn't have a budget, they
• 32:31
  didn't have their own building. They were young, they were new,
• 32:34
  but they were known for one thing.
• 32:36
  And Paul said that the word of the Lord sounded forth from them
• 32:42
  everywhere. This small little fledgling
• 32:44
  church, the word of the Lord. That means, that means the
• 32:48
  Thessalonian church wasn't subtle.
• 32:50
  They were loud in their faith. That means they trumpeted the
• 32:55
  gospel clearly and boldly and unashamedly.
• 32:58
  And people everywhere knew exactly who they were and
• 33:01
  exactly what they believed, not just with their lips, but with
• 33:04
  their life. That's gospel culture in action.
• 33:09
  Not perfect people, but gospel shaped church making a loud,
• 33:13
  unmistakable noise for Christ. Which means that our life
• 33:18
  together at Saint City Chapel, that means that means our life
• 33:22
  together isn't driven by preferences, it's not driven by
• 33:27
  personality or or control, but by the by our identity in
• 33:33
  Christ. So the question is, is like
• 33:34
  what? What kind of culture am I
• 33:36
  creating around me? What does that look like?
• 33:40
  Is it one that seeks good? That is it?
• 33:43
  Is it one that rejoices often? Is that one that lives on
• 33:47
  ceasing the independence on God? Is it a life that overflows?
• 33:53
  These are the rhythms. These are the rhythms.
• 33:59
  This is, this is, these are the rhythms that make the character
• 34:03
  of Christ visible to others. And this is the kind of place
• 34:07
  where a gospel hope thrives. All right, I want to show you #4
• 34:13
  #4 4th aspect, not, not none of this is possible apart from the
• 34:20
  Spirit. That's number four.
• 34:23
  We celebrate the Spirit. None of this is possible.
• 34:27
  This church meeting today is not possible apart from the Holy
• 34:31
  Spirit, That engagement that we had to worship this morning.
• 34:34
  That you feel that? Did you feel that?
• 34:36
  I felt that that vertical engagement that we shared
• 34:40
  together is not possible apart from the work of the Holy Spirit
• 34:45
  in the life of His church. Paul, actually, his command here
• 34:52
  is in the negative. Look at it with me, verse 19.
• 34:55
  Verse 19 says don't quench the Spirit.
• 35:01
  Don't quench the Spirit. Here's what he's saying.
• 35:05
  He is saying inappropriate, joyful relationship with the
• 35:09
  Holy Spirit actually increases the health of the church.
• 35:14
  Romans 5 Paul says that the Holy Spirit, God's love, has been
• 35:18
  poured out into us through the Holy Spirit.
• 35:21
  And we think of the Holy Spirit. We think of the one who comes
• 35:26
  and baptizes us and fills us and adopts us and seals us and
• 35:31
  empowers us and gifts us. All of those things are true.
• 35:36
  But running through all of that, the primary ministry, maybe
• 35:41
  maybe you didn't know this. I want to shed some light on
• 35:45
  this this morning. The primary job, the primary
• 35:49
  ministry of the Holy Spirit. You know what it is?
• 35:54
  It's a spotlight ministry. The job of the Holy Spirit, the
• 35:59
  whole job of his, his whole being is the spotlight on Jesus
• 36:03
  Christ. And if you've ever been in a
• 36:06
  play before, you know, you go and you sit down and you, you
• 36:09
  kind of luckily they have the light somewhat on so you can
• 36:12
  find your seat. But there's some point before
• 36:15
  the play starts that all the lights go down.
• 36:17
  You can't see anything except what the spotlight is shining.
• 36:21
  Everything else fades away and the spotlight is shining on that
• 36:25
  person or that thing that is the, the, the, the, the main
• 36:30
  agenda of the night. And that's the only thing you
• 36:33
  can see. You can't even see the people
• 36:35
  beside you. You can't see the people beside
• 36:37
  the person being spotlighted on. That is the job of the Holy
• 36:41
  Spirit. It's the spotlight Jesus.
• 36:45
  In fact, Jesus says he's going to take when he's Speaking of
• 36:49
  the Holy Spirit. He says to the disciples, he's
• 36:51
  going to take what is mine and declare it to you.
• 36:55
  He's the ultimate preacher. That's how you know if the
• 36:58
  spirits that work in your life, what Jesus is saying to you,
• 37:03
  what Jesus is doing in you, who Jesus is becoming to you, the
• 37:08
  Holy Spirit is spotlighting that he is you are his spotlight
• 37:13
  ministry on Jesus Christ. So how does Jesus look in your
• 37:17
  life? Little by little he keeps making
• 37:21
  Jesus look bigger in your life. He keeps making look, making
• 37:25
  Jesus look clearer in your life, making Jesus look sweeter.
• 37:32
  Now the opposite happens. When you're not spotlighting,
• 37:37
  when you're not allowing the Holy Spirit to spotlight, you're
• 37:40
  actually quenching. Quenching just simply means to
• 37:45
  put out the fire. That's what it means.
• 37:47
  It means to extinguish, it means to snuff out.
• 37:53
  Ephesians 4 says we can grieve the Spirit.
• 37:57
  And that's just think of it this way.
• 37:58
  Grieving is how you do it. Quenching is the result of it.
• 38:03
  So Jesus told his disciples, He said, I've been with you, He'll
• 38:08
  be in you. I've been a fire around you.
• 38:11
  He's going to be the fire in you.
• 38:15
  You're like, well, how do we quench that fire in US?
• 38:17
  How do we quench his power, his work in US?
• 38:21
  I mean, there's a bunch of ways, right?
• 38:23
  But a good way to quench him is to ignore him.
• 38:26
  Resist him whenever he feels conviction, whenever he
• 38:30
  illuminates on your life, you just sort of ignore.
• 38:33
  You resist his leading. You keep doing your own thing.
• 38:37
  Another way is just to deny his reality.
• 38:40
  How do you do that? Well, by minimizing him, we deny
• 38:44
  his reality by by using his name to excuse behavior, behavior he
• 38:50
  actually opposes, sinful behavior he actually opposes.
• 38:54
  We just sort of use his name to justify what we're doing.
• 38:59
  That's quenching. If that's done over and over and
• 39:02
  over again, just flat out resisting as well, resisting his
• 39:08
  work of sanctification through His word.
• 39:11
  See, the core problem in a believer's life isn't the
• 39:14
  absence of the Holy Spirit. When you get the Holy Spirit,
• 39:17
  you get all of the Holy Spirit. You get them forever.
• 39:19
  Amen. The core problem isn't the
• 39:22
  absence of the Spirit. It's the Spirit being sidelined
• 39:25
  in our lives and in our church through our sinfulness and
• 39:29
  through our preferences for for human solutions or our spiritual
• 39:34
  substitutes. But the opposite opposite
• 39:36
  opposite quench to celebrate the Spirit.
• 39:41
  It's the welcome, the Spirit. It's the respond to the Spirit
• 39:44
  in obedience. It's to rejoice in the Spirit as
• 39:48
  he makes much of Christ in me. So the question, am I
• 39:52
  celebrating or am I quenching? Am I celebrating every choice,
• 40:00
  every word, every action? Either fans of flame.
• 40:04
  Of God's work through the Holy Spirit, or it snuffs it out.
• 40:09
  Where am I? And as the church celebrates,
• 40:14
  and as a church that celebrates the Spirit, that is a church
• 40:18
  where Jesus has seen clearly and that our goal anyways,
• 40:21
  everybody, right? Isn't that why we got up today?
• 40:24
  I don't know why you got up today, but that's why I got up
• 40:27
  today. And I'm pretty sure that's why
• 40:29
  you got up to come to Saint City Chapel to worship together, to
• 40:33
  open God's Word together and study together, because you just
• 40:36
  want to see Jesus more clearly known and seen in your life.
• 40:41
  That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
• 40:44
  He's really good at his job. Let him do his job, and he never
• 40:48
  does his job apart from his Word.
• 40:51
  And that's the final aspect this morning.
• 40:54
  Gospel hope thrives as we love the preached Word.
• 41:00
  You love it when you open up God's Word.
• 41:04
  You love it. Do you delight?
• 41:06
  Blessed is a man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
• 41:10
  nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of
• 41:14
  the scoffer. What does it say, Psalm one.
• 41:17
  But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law.
• 41:22
  He meditates, he ponders, he soaks day and night.
• 41:28
  That is loving the preached word, the declared word.
• 41:34
  Actually, just quick footnote for for anybody who's a Bible
• 41:39
  nerd in here, I hope there are a few quick, quick footnote in
• 41:44
  each of these commands from verse 19.
• 41:46
  We're not going to hit verse 22 today, but all the way down
• 41:49
  through verse 22. The the subject is the object.
• 41:54
  So the subject is coming first in the Greek.
• 41:56
  So in the Greek, the subject is always first.
• 41:59
  So, so the spirit do not quench prophecies, do not despise what
• 42:06
  is good, hold fast. That's that's how it reads in
• 42:09
  the Greek evil abstain and so right here Paul's being
• 42:14
  intentional. He's like pay attention, pay
• 42:16
  attention to the object, pay attention to the subject.
• 42:19
  The emphasis is on what you're responding to and here right
• 42:22
  here in verse 21 in verse 20 and 21 is the preached word.
• 42:27
  Look at what it says it says don't despise the prophecies.
• 42:30
  The prophecies is the subject don't despise them.
• 42:36
  So, so in New Testament context, prophecies were were the
• 42:40
  proclamation of God's word. That's that's prophecy.
• 42:43
  Prophecy was the declaration of God's revealed truth.
• 42:48
  So when we read, when they read scripture and in their assembly,
• 42:52
  when they explain the Scriptures in their assembly, they heralded
• 42:57
  to God's people God's truth. So Paul says don't despise,
• 43:03
  don't downgrade. Don't just read the parts you
• 43:07
  like. Don't be offended by the parts
• 43:10
  you don't like. Don't just read the comfortable.
• 43:14
  Don't downgrade it. Don't look down on revelation.
• 43:18
  Don't diminish the words authority over your life.
• 43:22
  In short, fill your life Psalm one, fill your life with the
• 43:27
  word God and and notice what it says in verse 21.
• 43:30
  Test you see that test everything.
• 43:37
  I love that and hold to it every message, every claim, every
• 43:44
  impression by the revealed word of God, tested by the revealed
• 43:50
  word of God. Don't, don't test it by
• 43:52
  preference. Don't test it by personality.
• 43:55
  I'll tell you, most people will spend their whole life reacting
• 43:58
  like like like a knee jerk reaction to whatever, whatever's
• 44:03
  bouncing around. That's that's how most people
• 44:05
  respond, knee jerk to whatever's bouncing around, doing whatever
• 44:09
  the mood indicates them to do Why?
• 44:11
  Because they never learn. They never discern.
• 44:16
  They never throw these things through the filter of truth.
• 44:21
  They are not Psalm one kind of people.
• 44:24
  They don't ponder and meditate on the scripture.
• 44:26
  So when something comes their way, it feels good.
• 44:29
  They don't put it through the filter of scripture and
• 44:32
  therefore they're deceived. I love them.
• 44:36
  What Martin Luther. You know who Martin Luther was?
• 44:39
  He lived a few years ago in Germany.
• 44:42
  He's the guy who nailed the 95 thesis on the Catholic Church
• 44:47
  door. And he said, I want to quote.
• 44:49
  I want to quote him. He said I study my Bible like I
• 44:52
  gather apples. I shake the whole tree 1st that
• 44:58
  the ripe may fall. Then I shake each limb.
• 45:03
  Then I shake each branch, then every twig.
• 45:06
  Then I look under every leaf. Isn't that awesome?
• 45:11
  The only way to examine carefully, the only way to truly
• 45:15
  hold on to what is good, is to be a person rooted in truth.
• 45:19
  And I'm so thankful for the Saint City Chapel.
• 45:21
  Y'all are fired up about that. Y'all are fired up about the
• 45:24
  truth. You are committed to the Here's
• 45:27
  the thing. Here's the thing, most people,
• 45:33
  it isn't about the danger isn't rejection.
• 45:36
  I mean, it's not like you guys are sitting here right now and
• 45:38
  going I reject, right? You're not, you're not doing
• 45:42
  that. For most of us, it's not about
• 45:45
  rejection. It's about indifference, right?
• 45:49
  So do I love the word now the way I once did, or have I heard
• 45:54
  it so long? It's just sort of a sort of a
• 45:57
  gone. It started to lose its edge.
• 46:00
  It's familiar. It's no longer treasured.
• 46:04
  As we close, let's zoom out for a moment.
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  As a brand new, this is a brand new church.
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  And as a brand new local expression of the church, Paul's
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  given some pretty clear markers on how to have a healthy church.
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  You got to value your leaders. You got to minister with
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  awareness. You've got to cultivate this
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  sort of gospel culture. You've got to celebrate the
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  Spirit always, all the time. You've got to love, treasure,
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  cherish the preached word. Not perfect.
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  We're not perfect, OK, not flashy, but alive.
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  And when you pursue these, you pursue these, you can't go
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  wrong. And they won't just shape you,
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  they'll shape that culture. You guys talk a lot of culture
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  around you. Brandon and I spent a lot of
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  time talking about the culture around you.
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  He has a heart for the culture around.
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  And I know that you do too. I'm telling you, if you do these
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  things, this will shape the culture not just in you, but
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  around you for the sake of the gospel.
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  One more thing, and I'll be done.
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  Reality of it is you may be here today.
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  I just want to share with you this important but critical and
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  critical truth. You you can go through church.
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  You can be a church person. You can go to church every week
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  without ever being transformed by Christ.
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  You can admire the culture of Saint City, right?
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  You can, you can benefit from community, community.
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  You can even mimic Christian Church behaviors and still never
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  be shaped by Jesus. You need Jesus.
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  You don't need a bunch of rules, you need Jesus.
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  You don't need an event to attend every week, you need
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  Jesus Christ. Gospel hope doesn't start with a
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  bunch of dudes. It starts with a person.
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  And some of you, if you're honest, you're, you're on the
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  outside looking in because you've never surrendered your
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  life to the King of kings and the Lord of Lords and the only
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  person who can make these things happen in your life.
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  This is the person who came down to live the life we could never
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  live and died to death. Each one of us deserved to die
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  and rose again from the grave to conquer death and sin.
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  The Bible says if you surrender and you receive him, you wave
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  the white flag and declare him as your Lord, you will be saved
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  and these things will be true in your life.
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  So I want to encourage you with that as we end.
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  Today's such a very good day. This is stop hovering and
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  finally step into the gospel experience.
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  Hope thrives in a healthy local church.
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  Father, we thank you that the gospel is not just a suggestion,
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  but the power for life and transformation.
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  So shape, shape us. May we be willing to be shaped.
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  May we be pliable and moldable. I pray for the people in here,
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  maybe this morning, who have not come in connection with the King
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  of Kings and the Lord of Lords. May they surrender their lives
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  to you. May they run from their sin and
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  run to Jesus for hope, and may Gospel hope thrive at Saint City
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  Chapel as they do the work of the mission of Jesus Christ.
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  To the glory of God. We pray these things in Jesus
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  name, Amen.