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Voddie Baucham - Calling & Vocation - Session 2 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, good evening.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: My assignment tonight is to address the issue of our
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: calling to community. And I think this is a very
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: important topic for us to discuss, but it's also a
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: very challenging topic for us to discuss. Because I believe
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: we have a faulty understanding of what community is. And
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: I believe we have as a result of that a
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: very weak commitment to community as believers. There's a connection
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: between this idea of our general calling and our calling
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: in Christ and this calling to community. In the London
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 chapter 26 and Paragraph
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: 6 we find the members of these churches, this is
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: a chapter on the church, the members of these churches
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: are saints by calling, visibly manifesting and evidencing in and
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: by their profession and walk their obedience unto that call
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: of Christ and do willingly consent to walk together according
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: to the appointment of Christ giving up themselves to the
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Lord and to one another by the will of God
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: in professed subjection to the ordinances of the gospel. So
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: one of the clear marks of us being called in Christ.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Is us being.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Called to one another. That is one of the hallmarks
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: of of being genuinely and authentically called in Christ. And yet,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: there are many who on the one hand claim to
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: love Jesus, but not love his bride. You can't say amen,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: you ought to say ouch. There are so many who
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: proclaim that Christ is their all in all, that they
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: love him with every fiber of their being, but they
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  Speaker 2: want nothing to do with his bride. Imagine, if you will,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: this conversation. I meet a brother and we hit it off.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: And the brother says, you know, Vody, I just, I've
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: come to just love you as a brother. Just you,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: you're my brother. I appreciate you. I love you. I just,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. And I want you to know that I'm
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: committed to our relationship. I'm committed to our fellowship. I'm
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: committed to us walking as brothers. You just need to know,
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: I can't stand your wife. Well, as we say down
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: in Texas, that dog won't hunt. But that's precisely the
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: way many treat the Lord Jesus Christ. I love you,
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: but I want nothing to do with your bride. And
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  Speaker 2: it just doesn't work that way. Especially when you understand
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  Speaker 2: that The bride, the church, is actually the body of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: So now, I'll call you one better.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Jesus, I love you, just not your body. We are
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: called to community. There are a number of passages that
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: allude to this. One, Tom alluded to earlier. 1 Peter
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  Speaker 2: chapter 2 verses 9 and 10. You are a chosen race,
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  Speaker 2: a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his
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  Speaker 2: own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him
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  Speaker 2: who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
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  Speaker 2: Once you were not a people, but now you are
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  Speaker 2: God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now
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  Speaker 2: you have received mercy. We are a people. We are
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: a nation. We are a priesthood. And we're called to
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: live as such. Hebrews 10, 23 to 25. Let us
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: he who promised is faithful. Amen? And he goes on.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: And oftentimes we'll say, okay, I get that. I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to hold fast To my confession. I'm going to hold
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  Speaker 2: fast to my profession of faith. I'm going to hold
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: fast to Jesus. And I'm going to hold fast to
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  Speaker 2: Jesus without wavering. Because he who promised is faithful. But
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  Speaker 2: keep reading. And let us consider how to stir up
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  Speaker 2: one another to love and good works. Not neglecting to
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  Speaker 2: meet together as is the habit of some.
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  Speaker 1: And that not just since COVID.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: But encourage one another and all the more as you
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: see the day drawing near. That's been interesting to me too.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Because I know some folks who haven't been committed churchmen
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: for a long time.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Right? They do church on the couch. You know.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: They do YouTube church, been doing YouTube church for years.
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  Speaker 2: And now they're sitting and throwing rocks and complaining and
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  Speaker 2: condemning churches who haven't been meeting because of COVID.
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  Speaker 1: One of those things is problematic.
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  Speaker 2: Amen? Amen? I'm all for saying that churches ought to
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  Speaker 2: be meeting, ought to be gathering. It'd be kind of
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  Speaker 2: odd if I wasn't, seeing as how we're here.
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  Speaker 1: Amen?
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  Speaker 2: But it's not just because of what's happening right now
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  Speaker 2: with COVID that we need to be standing up and
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  Speaker 2: being committed to gathering. We need to stand up and
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  Speaker 2: be committed to gathering because that's who we are. And
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  Speaker 2: it's ironic that many people folded during COVID because we
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  Speaker 2: didn't have a firm grasp and commitment on this idea
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  Speaker 2: of our calling to community before COVID.
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  Speaker 1: And so it was okay.
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  Speaker 2: Then there's passages like 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 that, again,
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  Speaker 2: elaborate on this idea of us being a body and
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  Speaker 2: a community and belonging to one another. And we can
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  Speaker 2: debate all day about the nature and the continuation or
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  Speaker 2: cessation of these gifts, but what we will not debate
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  Speaker 2: is the purpose of these gifts. That's not up for debate.
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  Speaker 2: 1 Corinthians 12.12, for just as the body is one
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  Speaker 2: and has many members and all the members of the body,
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  Speaker 2: though many are one body, so it is with Christ.
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  Speaker 2: And then in Romans 12, for as in one body
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  Speaker 2: we have many members and the members do not all
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  Speaker 2: have the same function, so we, though many, are one
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  Speaker 2: body in Christ. Individual members, one of another. We belong
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: to each other. We are called to community. But when
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: we use the word community, we often have in mind
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  Speaker 2: an idealized version of the word. We think community means
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  Speaker 2: being part of a group that thinks exactly like we do,
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  Speaker 2: that never lets us down, that meets all our needs,
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  Speaker 2: and never leaves. But what we don't think of is
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  Speaker 2: the cost of community, the risk, the pain, the disappointment,
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  Speaker 2: the betrayal, the heartache, So consequently, our tendency is to
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  Speaker 2: run from community to community, complaining about and condemning the
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  Speaker 2: reality while we continue to seek the unattainable dream. Then,
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  Speaker 2: of course, as has also been alluded to, there's the
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  Speaker 2: problem of fake, false online community. There we find celebrity
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  Speaker 2: pastor's whose messages are polished and edited and just happen
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  Speaker 2: to always be on topics that we wish our local
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  Speaker 2: pastor would preach on. Online brothers and sisters whose online
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  Speaker 2: personas are more perfect and like-minded than anyone in our
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  Speaker 2: real circles. Congregations whose online presence is Exactly what we're
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: looking for. And none of the things that we've grown
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  Speaker 2: to despise about our own real local body. And echo
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: chambers where we find others sharing our same longings. But
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  Speaker 2: that's not community. And worse than that not being community,
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  Speaker 2: it often ends up being the source of our dissatisfaction
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  Speaker 2: with the communities to which we belong. And so, if
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  Speaker 2: you have your Bibles with you, open them to 2
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  Speaker 2: Timothy chapter 4. And I want us to look at
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  Speaker 2: The costly call to community. Because it is.
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  Speaker 1: Costly.
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  Speaker 2: 2 Timothy chapter 12. Beginning in 2 Timothy chapter 4.
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  Speaker 2: 2 Timothy chapter 4. Beginning at verse 9. Talking about
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  Speaker 2: Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. And so added chapters
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  Speaker 2: to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 4 beginning at verse 9.
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  Speaker 1: Talking about community.
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  Speaker 2: I appreciate the members of the community who just said 4.
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  Speaker 2: You just blessed me. You helped me. I was at
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  Speaker 2: church one time and we had gone back and forth
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: from preaching in Exodus for several months and preaching in
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Romans for several months and we were in Exodus and
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  Speaker 2: instead of Moses I kept saying Paul and it wasn't
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  Speaker 2: until after the sermon was over that somebody came up
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: and said you realize like the whole message.
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  Speaker 1: You were.
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  Speaker 2: Like brother you should have stood up and said something
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: right All I could think of was somebody finding the clip,
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  Speaker 2: you know, putting it out there and saying, you know,
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  Speaker 2: this brother's supposed to be a theologian.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't even.
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  Speaker 2: Know that it was Moses and not Paul who wrote Exodus, right?
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  Speaker 2: So 2 Timothy chapter 12.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. Just check it, okay? Just check it.
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  Speaker 2: 2 Timothy chapter 4, beginning verse 9.
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  Speaker 1: And I love this.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I know we're not supposed to have favorite
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  Speaker 2: books in the Bible. It's like having a favorite child, right?
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  Speaker 2: If you do, don't tell. But this is about my
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  Speaker 2: favorite book in the Bible for a number of reasons.
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  Speaker 2: Beginning of verse 9. And just listen to the honesty
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  Speaker 2: in this text. Part of the reasons I love 2
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  Speaker 2: Timothy is just in terms of apologetics, in terms of
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  Speaker 2: people who doubt the authenticity of the Bible or question
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  Speaker 2: the authenticity of the Bible. I love to bring them
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  Speaker 2: to books like this where it's just obvious that this
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  Speaker 2: is not someone who's trying to impress or deceive or
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  Speaker 2: this is incredibly personal. Do your best to come to
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  Speaker 2: me soon, for Demas, in love with his present world,
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  Speaker 2: has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone
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  Speaker 2: to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me.
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  Speaker 2: Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is
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  Speaker 2: very useful to me for ministry. Tychicus I have sent
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  Speaker 2: to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I
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  Speaker 2: left with Carpus at Troas, also the books and above
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  Speaker 2: all the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm.
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  Speaker 2: The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware
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  Speaker 2: of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. At
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  Speaker 2: my first defense, no one came to stand by me,
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  Speaker 2: but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them.
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  Speaker 2: But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so
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  Speaker 2: that through me the message might be fully proclaimed. and
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  Speaker 2: all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued
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  Speaker 2: from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from
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  Speaker 2: every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.
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  Speaker 2: To him be the glory forever and ever.
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  Speaker 1: Amen.
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  Speaker 2: Greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus
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  Speaker 2: remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill,
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  Speaker 2: at Miletus. Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus
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  Speaker 2: sends greetings to you. So do Pudens and Linus and
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  Speaker 2: Claudia and all the brothers. The Lord be with your spirit.
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  Speaker 2: Grace be with you.
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  Speaker 1: Amen.
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  Speaker 2: The costly call to community. There is much here to
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  Speaker 2: be said But we can't miss this idea of the
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  Speaker 2: cost of community. We see this first in that community
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  Speaker 2: is costly because it requires intimacy. And intimacy is costly.
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  Speaker 2: Listen to the words here. Do your best to come
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  Speaker 2: to me soon. This is part of the intimate language
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  Speaker 2: that characterizes the letter. Paul is saying to Timothy, hurry
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  Speaker 2: up and come Then he says, when you come, bring
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  Speaker 2: the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also
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  Speaker 2: the books, and above all, the parchments. Greet Prisca and Aquila,
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  Speaker 2: we see in verse 19. And the household of Onesiphorus, Erastus,
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  Speaker 2: remained at Corinth. I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus.
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  Speaker 2: Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings
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  Speaker 2: to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudio and
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  Speaker 2: all the brothers. There is intimacy here. This is not
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  Speaker 2: a cold, dead letter from a religious official to his constituents.
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  Speaker 2: This is an intimate treatise from one man to people
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  Speaker 2: whom he loves dearly and with whom he has shared
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  Speaker 2: his life. We see this in the opening of the letter.
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  Speaker 2: After he identifies himself as Paul, an apostle, in verse 1.
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  Speaker 2: Then in verse 2. Look at what happens at the
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  Speaker 2: beginning of verse 2. To my beloved child. grace, mercy,
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  Speaker 2: and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
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  Speaker 2: I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors
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  Speaker 2: with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in
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  Speaker 2: my prayers night and day.
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  Speaker 1: I remember your tears. I long to see you that
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  Speaker 1: I may be filled with joy.
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  Speaker 2: I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt
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  Speaker 2: first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and
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  Speaker 2: now I'm sure dwells in you as well. For this reason,
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  Speaker 2: I remind you to fan into flames the gift of
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  Speaker 2: God which is in you through the laying on of
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  Speaker 2: my hands. For God gave us a spirit not of fear,
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  Speaker 2: but of power and love and self-control. There is intimacy here.
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  Speaker 2: Paul loves Timothy. Paul knows Timothy. He shared life with Timothy.
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  Speaker 2: He shared tears with Timothy. This is what Jesus meant
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  Speaker 2: when he prayed in John 17, verse 11. I'm no
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  Speaker 2: longer in the world, but they are in the world,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm coming to you, Holy Father. Keep them in
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  Speaker 2: your name, which you have given me, that they may
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  Speaker 2: be one, even as we are one. Intimacy is costly.
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  Speaker 2: real community is costly because it calls us to intimacy.
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  Speaker 2: And intimacy is not easy. It makes us vulnerable. But
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  Speaker 2: real community is rooted in intimacy. You don't create intimacy overnight.
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  Speaker 2: It takes time. You don't throw away intimacy over trivial matters.
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  Speaker 2: You fight for it because it matters. And you don't
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  Speaker 2: find intimacy online.
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  Speaker 1: I know.
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  Speaker 2: I know what a blessing it can be to find
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  Speaker 2: things online that can.
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  Speaker 1: Just Shower you with truth. Feed your soul. Amen. Hallelujah.
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  Speaker 2: Praise the Lord for the time in which we live
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  Speaker 2: where we have access to such things. But saints, be
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  Speaker 2: careful because that's not intimacy. I get dozens of emails
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  Speaker 2: and messages every day from people who are looking for intimacy.
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  Speaker 2: And they go something like this. I love your stuff online.
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  Speaker 2: I'm really blessed by it. Now, here's something that's completely
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  Speaker 2: inappropriate for me to share with somebody that I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I'm thousands of miles away from you. Will you mentor me?
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: You don't know me from Adam's house cat. But here's
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: what's happening in my marriage. Can you counsel me? Here's
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: what my pastor said. I don't like it. What do
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  Speaker 2: you think? Here's a passage of Scripture that I find confounding.
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  Speaker 2: Can you explain it? All of this is born out
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  Speaker 2: of this false sense of intimacy. Because you can make
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  Speaker 2: contact with someone. It doesn't mean that you have a
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  Speaker 2: relationship with them. That's not intimacy. And my response is
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  Speaker 2: usually something like, talk to your pastor.
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  Speaker 1: Talk to your pastor. Well, I can't. Well, why is
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  Speaker 1: he your pastor? Don't fall into this trap.
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  Speaker 2: Don't trade that which God has given, this beautiful gift
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  Speaker 2: of intimate relationship with brothers and sisters.
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  Speaker 1: Who are actually in your life.
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  Speaker 2: With the false hopes that of intimacy with someone thousands
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  Speaker 2: of miles away. Because that's not the same thing. And
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  Speaker 2: it's poisoning us. And it's causing us to be dissatisfied
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  Speaker 2: with what we have. How do I know this? I
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  Speaker 2: know this because I've experienced it. For the last six
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  Speaker 2: and a half years, we have.
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  Speaker 1: Been in Zambia. But before that, it was a church
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  Speaker 1: planter in Houston.
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  Speaker 2: And we've had people move across town, across the state,
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  Speaker 2: or even across the whole country.
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  Speaker 1: Because they listen to messages online.
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  Speaker 2: And we just couldn't find anybody near us teaches like you,
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  Speaker 2: believes the things that you believe, that's willing to stand
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  Speaker 2: up in the areas that you're willing to stand up.
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  Speaker 2: And time after time after time, those people came to
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  Speaker 2: our church and then left. Why?
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  Speaker 1: Well, let me just give you a few examples.
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  Speaker 2: One family moved across country to come to our church
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  Speaker 2: because of my willingness to take firm stands on issues.
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  Speaker 2: And then they came to our church and realized that
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  Speaker 2: we preached systematic exposition and would spend months at a
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  Speaker 2: time not preaching on the issue of the day, but
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  Speaker 2: preaching through Exodus.
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  Speaker 1: Exodus. And they thought, this is not what we expected.
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  Speaker 2: One family moved across the state, came to our church,
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  Speaker 2: went through our membership class, and before they finished the
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  Speaker 2: membership class, they were leaving.
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  Speaker 1: Why?
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  Speaker 2: Because they found out we were Calvinists. To which I responded,
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  Speaker 2: what were you listening to? Did you even read the website?
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  Speaker 2: Or they come to the church. We actually start getting
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  Speaker 2: involved in their lives and find out that they're divisive
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  Speaker 2: and disgruntled all the time.
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  Speaker 1: And we address it. And then they're gone.
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  Speaker 2: It's easy to get caught in the trap of finding
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  Speaker 2: snippets from people online, comparing that to what you have,
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  Speaker 2: and convincing yourself that the ideal exists, and it's right there.
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  Speaker 2: I assure you, it's not. Nobody is perfect. Certainly not me.
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  Speaker 2: Ask my wife. God has called us to genuine intimate
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  Speaker 2: relationships and they are costly. And one of the reasons
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  Speaker 2: that they are so costly is is because they require risk.
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  Speaker 2: As imperfect people enter into intimate relationships with other imperfect people.
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  Speaker 2: Look at verses 10 through 12. For Demas, in love
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  Speaker 2: with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.
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  Speaker 2: Crescens has gone to Galatia. Titus to Dalmatia, Luke alone
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you,
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: for he is very useful to me for ministry. Tychicus
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: I sent to Ephesus. Then look at verse 14. Alexander
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: the coppersmith did me great harm. It probably says something
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  Speaker 2: about me, but this is arguably my favorite book, and
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: that's arguably my favorite line. Alexander the coppersmith did me great.
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  Speaker 2: Not just Alexander. Alexander the coppersmith. Dude who shopped down
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: there on Main Street. You know the one I'm talking about. Him.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: of him yourself for he strongly opposed our message. At
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: my first defense no one came to stand by me
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: but all deserted me may it not be charged against them.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Intimacy brings great risk. Real community brings great risk. And
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: one of the reasons that we run from community to
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: community is because we're not willing to accept these risks,
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  Speaker 2: and somehow we believe that these risks are not part
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  Speaker 2: of God's plan. That if it's real, authentic, biblical community,
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  Speaker 2: that you won't experience these things. Listen, Paul names 15
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  Speaker 2: people here. Four of them, Demas, Crescens, Titus, and Tychicus,
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  Speaker 2: had departed for one reason or another. Some of them
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: we know not for good reasons. Demas, in love with
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: the present world, has departed. That's a problem.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: That's painful. That hurts. That hurts.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: That hurts when you invest in someone, when you have
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: an intimate relationship and you pour your life into someone,
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: and then they depart.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Not just on bad terms, but on good terms.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: We planted that church in Houston. And then after nine
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: years having planted that church in Houston, we moved to Africa.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: That hurt.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: That hurt us and it hurt people whom we left.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: It wasn't sinful and it still hurt. Four other people, Mark, Erastus, Carpus, Trophimus,
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: they had been left along the way.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: By Paul. Some people left him. Some people he left.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: And it hurts.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: One had betrayed and opposed him. Alexander, the coppersmith. You know,
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: the one with the shop down there on Main Street.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: And that's just the people that he named. There's also,
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: what he says, at my first defense, no one came
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: to stand by me, but all deserted me. It's not
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: just there. Chapter 1, verse 15. You are aware that
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: all who are in Asia turned away from me, among
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: whom are Phagellus and Hermogenes.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: I love this. Again, he names names.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: There were a number of people who were very miffed
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: with me because in fault lines, I named names. And apparently,
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: they believe it is not Christian to name names. I
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: just sent them these verses. where Paul does precisely that.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: And he does it without any malice. Look at what
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: he says. At my first defense, no one came to
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: be charged against them. I named their names. I'll tell
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: you what they did. But I don't hate them. Pray
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: they'll find forgiveness.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: But it hurts. But it hurts.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: Chapter 4, verses 3 and 4. For the time is
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: their own passions and will turn away from listening to
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: the truth and will wander off into myths. And yet
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: Paul did not run away from the cost of community.
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: He didn't run away from the intimacy. He didn't run
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: away from the risk. So many of us know of
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: people who've done precisely that. They've run away. Some of
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: us are people who've done precisely that. We've run away.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: And listen, I'm not saying that there's never a time
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: to leave. Nor is the text saying that. Sometimes Paul
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: sent people away. Sometimes Paul went away from people.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: Amen?
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: But the point is that there was a commitment to
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: community and to the costly idea of community. Regardless of
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: the disappointment and the pain and the heartache. But for
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: so many, what happens is, we say, okay, I'll try this.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: And then we get there, and it hurts.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: It hurts.
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: And then we leave and we say, I'm not going
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: to do that community thing anymore. Jesus I love, but
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: not the community that disappoints me and hurts me. Wrong answer.
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: Wrong answer. We embrace it. Because it's who we are.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: We belong to Christ and we belong to one another.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: And so we take the risk. Listen, saints. Arguably the
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: most painful personal experiences in my entire life have been
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: at the hands of Christians. oftentimes Christians whom I've shepherded,
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: Christians whom I've taught and pastored and mentored and married,
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: Christians with whom I've walked through the darkest days of
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: their lives, who then turn around and insert the knife
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: right between the shoulder blades. And what do you do?
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: You weep, mourn, and turn to the next one. What
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: other alternative do we have? To run away and hide?
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: But why is this the case? Why is it so costly?
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: Why is it so painful at times and disappointing at times?
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: Because it was never meant to be sufficient. I was
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: never meant to get everything that I need.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: From you.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: And you were never meant to get everything you need
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: from me. We will always disappoint each other. That's why
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: it's good that this was never meant to be sufficient.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: Verses 17 and 18. But the Lord stood by me
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: and strengthened me so that through me the message might
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: and ever.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: If I could just put this succinctly. Here's what Paul's
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: saying to Timothy.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: Sheep bite. But the shepherd is good.
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: So keep loving the sheep and keep looking to the shepherd.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: Philippians chapter 1 verses 18 to 24 really sort of
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: puts a final point on this. Yes, and I will
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: rejoice for I know that through your prayers and the
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: out for my deliverance as it is my eager expectation
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: and hope that I will not be at all ashamed,
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: but that with full courage, now as always, Christ will
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: If I am to live in the flesh, that means
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: fruitful labor for me. Yet, which I shall choose, I
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: cannot tell. I am hard-pressed between the two. My desire
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: is to depart and be with Christ, for that is
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: far better. But to remain in the flesh is more
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: necessary on your account. Who You who abandoned me when
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: I needed you. You who did me much harm. You
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: who left me for one reason or another. This is
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: the same guy. This is the same guy who's telling
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: Timothy about all these awful and hurtful things that happened.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: Because he took the risk of intimacy. Intimacy.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: Because of the call to community. This is the same guy.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: This same guy says, I'm torn between the two. Because
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: on the one hand, I know that it's better for
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: me to go and be with the shepherd. But on
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: the other hand, I know that the sheep who bite
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: will benefit from me being here. Do not embrace the false,
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: idealized picture of a perfect community out there somewhere. Unless
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: it's the one at the end of the age.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: Amen?
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: Because if you embrace that idea, you will continue to
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: run from community to community. Every time there's pain or
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: heartache or disappointment. And eventually you'll stop running and just
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: give up on community altogether. And just sit in your
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: home and watch YouTube and send emails to the guys
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: whom you like listening to, hoping that they will somehow
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: be the replacement for the community that you've been running from.
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: And that's not who we're called to be. We're called
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: to be believers who embrace the cost of community. Because
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: it's who we are. We belong to Christ. We belong
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: to one another. And even when there's friction and we
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: butt heads... even when there's confrontation, even when there's abandonment
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: and betrayal, we recognize that our hope is not in
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: one another, but our hope is in Christ, which is
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: why we can continue to endure hardship and pain and
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: disappointment And not let it dissuade us from pursuing communion
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: with Christ and communion.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: With one another. Because it's who we are. And it's
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: worth it. Let's pray.
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: My gracious God and Father, our great triune God, who
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who is perfect community,
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: who is perfect communion, and who calls us to perfect
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: communion with you. And as a result of that, calls
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: us to communion with one another. God, we thank you
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: and praise you for your goodness and mercy and kindness
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: toward us. We praise you that you call us to
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: yourself not because we never disappoint you, but in spite
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: of the fact that we do. Grant by your grace
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: that we might be mindful of this as we embrace
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: the risk of intimacy within biblical community. We pray this
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: in Christ's name and for His sake.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: Amen.