Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / Ephesians 6:1-9 - Kids and Dads and Slaves and Masters

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Ephesians 6:1-9 - Kids and Dads and Slaves and Masters · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are beginning Ephesians
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  chapter 6, the final chapter in this great book of scripture.
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  And today we're going to be learning about the word obey.
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  And if you are like me, you are an adult, which I think is the
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  majority of the people listening to Tabernacle talk.
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  If you are a kid or teen who listens to Tabernacle talk,
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  honestly, I'm super impressed. I don't know.
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  I don't know if podcast had really come out by the time that
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  I was maybe late teens podcast started to come out, but I don't
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  think I was listening to Bible study podcast.
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  So if you are a teen or a kid listening, thanks for being here
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  and I hope that you encourage or I hope that you continue in a
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  lifelong pursuit of knowing God through His Word.
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  Today we're going to be learning about obeying.
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  And if you're an adult like me, you probably don't have a great
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  relationship with the word obey anymore.
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  We often don't hear it. We would maybe hear it more in
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  the phrase, do what you're told or just do what I asked you to.
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  That might be how we often receive things that we're
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  supposed to do from others. But today we're going to look at
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  2:00, if you will, groups of people that are called to obey.
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  So last episode we looked at submission, which is make
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  someone else's mission your mission.
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  You're on their team. You're not fighting against
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  them, but you're both on the same side.
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  It's how you view the relationship.
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  In today's episode, we're going to be looking strictly at do
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  what they ask you to do, and here is why.
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  And then there's actually for both of these people that are
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  called to obey, there's a a different call for those that
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  are in charge of them, for those that have authority over the
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  obeyers, they have some responsibilities too.
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  And so we're going to look at that.
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  It is children and fathers. And then we have slaves or
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  servants, employees, if you will, and employers.
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  And so we're going to look at that both in the home and in the
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  workplace. What are God's expectations for
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  you and for me? Let's dive right in.
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  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right.
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  And then here he quotes from the 10 commandments.
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  Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment
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  with a promise. And here he says what that
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  promise was from the Old Testament, so that it may go
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  well with you and that you may have a long life in the land.
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  Fathers, don't stir up anger in your children, but bring them up
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  in the training and instruction of the Lord.
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  Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling in the
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  sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ.
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  Don't work only while being watched as people pleasers, but
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  as slaves of Christ do God's will from the heart.
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  Serve with a good attitude as to the Lord and not to people,
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  knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will
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  receive this back from the Lord and masters.
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  Treat your slaves the same way without threatening them,
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  because you know that both their master and yours is in heaven
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  and there is no favoritism with him.
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  Well, I love these verses. What?
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  We're going to get started right away here with children first.
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  And it says your children obey your parents in the Lord,
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  because this is right. It is right to obey your
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  parents. And here he tells them obey your
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  parents in the Lord. So if your parent tells you to
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  become a pickpocket, if your parent tells you to do an
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  inappropriate or an evil action, that is not something that you
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  should follow. That would be something, even if
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  it causes that there to be blowback on you.
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  Don't just do evil and say, well, someone else told me to do
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  the evil and so I just went along with it.
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  No, no, no, for the Lord, for his sake, for the holiness that
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  is in you because the Holy Spirit of God lives within you.
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  Don't participate in evil, but as far as it is not against
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  anything directly in Scripture, obey your parents.
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  And you could try and say, well, listen, they want me to, you
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  know, go to bed at 9:00 and I just really want to read more of
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  the Bible at 9:00. And they, they don't have a time
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  that I, you know, I could wake up a little earlier in the
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  morning and read my Bible, but I, I'm just going to kind of
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  say, no, I, this is against the Bible or something like, oh,
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  they're stirring up anger in me. And so therefore I don't have to
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  obey what they have to say. No, absolutely not.
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  If you are under, if you're under the age of 18, you are
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  within your parents care in America, I think, I think in
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  Canada it might be 16. Maybe in some other nations
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  around the world the the number is different.
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  But if you're here in America, if you are 17 and younger, obey
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  your parents. What they ask you to do, do it.
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  Unless it directly violates a clear command in scripture.
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  You need to obey your parents. Why?
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  Is it because they are smarter than you?
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  That's not the reason Paul gives.
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  Is it because they're holier than you?
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  That's not the reason Paul gives either.
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  He says obey your parents because this is right.
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  It is good to do. It is something that mirrors the
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  holiness of Jesus, that he obeyed his parents.
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  You can even think back to the story in Luke chapter 2.
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  Jesus is 12 years old. Him and all of his extended
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  family. They go to Jerusalem for one of
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  the feasts that's there and they leave.
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  They don't recognize that they have left Jesus behind.
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  They don't find him for three days or they don't realize that
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  he's missing for three days. They go, Oh no.
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  They head back to Jerusalem and they find him in the temple
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  teaching astonishing the scribes that are there, as I'm certain
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  Jesus would always do. This is just such a short sight
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  note. I can't imagine what teenage
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  Jesus would have been like. Like perfect holy God in a
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  teenage body. I assume his voice cracked as he
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  gained the voice of a man. I'm certain that he went through
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  many of the difficulties in in physical changes that you and I
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  would go through days where he was like, man, I really stink.
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  Those things that just aren't they aren't sin.
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  It's just a part of being human that Jesus went through.
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  And so I can imagine little, maybe pimply 12 year old Jesus
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  that is there in the temple and with the wisdom of God
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  Incarnate, he is teaching these grown men things about the
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  scriptures. And I, I would love to, I don't
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  know if God does this, but I would love to see an instant
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  replay of that in heaven, to know what, what that sounded
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  like, what the conversation was, what Jesus was telling them.
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  And I, I just think that'd be amazing.
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  But Jesus is there. He's teaching in the temple the,
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  his, his mother comes and, and his, if you will, his
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  stepfather, Joseph, Mary's husband.
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  And they're like, listen, we've been looking all over for you.
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  And he tells them, didn't you know that I needed to be about
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  my father's business? He says, I came here for a
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  mission, I'm doing the mission right now.
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  And they said, no, no, no, come back with us, It says, and he
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  listened to their voice. He obeyed them.
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  He submitted himself to them. OK, were Mary or Joseph holier
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  than Jesus? Absolutely not.
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  Did they have God's plan in mind for him at that moment or was it
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  just going by their understanding?
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  Well, it was just by their understanding, because Jesus
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  says I am doing what the Father wants me to do, and yet Jesus
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  obeyed his parents. You are not holier than Jesus.
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  You are not more intelligent than Jesus.
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  And so you are called as a child or teen to obey your parents in
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  the Lord because this is right. Jesus modeled that for you.
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  So follow his example. All right, Any parents that had
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  a kid watching now. Oh, actually, no.
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  There's one more promise for you in verses 2 and three before we
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  get to the parents end of this honor your father and mother
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  here to honor. Look in this word up.
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  This is the Greek word tomato. It is to estimate, to value, to
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  have high regard for, to honor that you value your parents.
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  You don't view them as worthless.
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  You don't view them as a hindrance to your existence, if
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  you will. They are the reason for your
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  existence and so love them, care for them, show them respect, put
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  a high price on their words and their instructions.
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  I can tell you someone that's been out of the house now for
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  man. I left for college 11 years ago,
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  10-11 years ago. I miss my parents and I miss
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  being able to have them around. I miss when I didn't have to
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  make every decision and when I wasn't responsible for putting
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  food on the table. And I'm thankful for the parents
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  that I had. You will like you.
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  I know you that you do not have perfect parents because
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  literally no one has ever had a perfect parent because Jesus
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  never became an earthly parent there.
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  Certainly we have a heavenly Father who is perfect.
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  So you don't have a perfect parent, but be thankful for who
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  God gave you. As your parents value them,
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  honor them, he says, which is the first commandment with
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  promise that as you place importance and value on what
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  your parents, on who they are and on the instructions that
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  they give to you, the way that they are raising you, He says as
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  you do that it may go well with you and you may have a long life
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  in the land here. This is not an absolute all of
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  the time. If a person dies young, it's not
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  that they were disobedient to their parents.
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  No, they might be a great child or could just be a loss of life
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  tragically happened very, very often in childhood, especially
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  in the early world and there in the 1st century.
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  But what's being said here is you follow the advice of godly
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  people, you're not going to end up you know, dead of alcohol
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  poisoning. You follow your parents advice.
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  You're not going to end up in a gang and die in violence.
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  You're not going to die, you know, by being crucified because
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  you stole stuff or because you took part in a rebellious,
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  violent uprising. Those kinds of things is what's
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  in view. You won't die because you've
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  done stupid stuff. This is not saying here's just a
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  guarantee you obey your parents and you'll live to 708090 years
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  old. That's not what's being said
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  here, so just be aware of that. So honor your father and mother,
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  place value on them, obey them. All right, dads, you're up
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  fathers. And technically this goes from
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  others as well. He says fathers, don't stir up
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  anger in your children, but bring them up in the training
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  and instruction of the Lord. Dads have a way about them in
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  which they can cause there to be active resentment.
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  That wrong can be done to kids through the way that they're
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  treated, if they're treated unjustly or unfairly, if they're
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  abused verbally or emotionally or physically.
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  In some instances, and even, God forbid, some, I'm sexually.
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  So fathers, don't stir up anger in your children.
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  Don't do them wrong. Treat them rightly and kindly.
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  What you want to stir up in them is godliness and love and
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  kindness and the fruit of the Spirit.
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  That is what you are to stir up into your children.
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  So treat them right. They are worth being treated
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  well just as you treat your wife well because she is 1 flesh with
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  you. That you are caring for yourself
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  as you meet each of her needs in every aspect of her life.
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  That in the same way, we're in a slightly different way for your
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  kids. You are called to treat them
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  well. They are not your punching bag.
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  They are not an annoyance to you or some hindrance to your life.
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  God forbid may we ever treat our kids as though they are an
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  annoyance to us. Now I'll say sometimes they can
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  be annoying. You know, they can make
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  repetitive sounds and be silly and and this and that, but may
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  they never feel like dad doesn't want me around.
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  Dad doesn't want anything to do with me.
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  Dad hurts me. I don't want to go talk to him
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  because I know I'm going to be in pain, whether emotionally or
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  physically, as a result of being around him.
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  That has been a scourge on Christianity.
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  And as you look even over the last 100 years as people have
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  looked again and again at the way in which quote, UN quote,
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  Christian male leadership has been portrayed.
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  Very often it's abused to say, well, I'm the head of the house
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  and the wife needs to submit, by which I mean obey and the kids
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  need to obey. But there's no ownership of I
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  have to treat my wife as good as I treat myself.
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  I have to stir up good things in my kid, raising them in the
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  training and instruction of the Lord that I am discipling them.
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  Now, whether they become a whether they become a John the
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  Apostle kind of disciple who just follows Jesus.
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  He's always there. He's at the foot of the cross,
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  whether it's a Peter that has been discipled and then you know
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  a moment comes and he leaves Jesus for a time but ends up
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  coming back to Christ, or whether it's a Judas that leaves
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  and never returns to relationship with Jesus.
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  Your call is to train them in. Your job is to bring them up in
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  the training and instruction of the Lord.
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  So disciple them. Don't discourage them, don't
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  dishearten them, don't stir up anger in them by treating them
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  badly. Much more could be said.
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  That's where I'll stop for today.
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  Verse #5 Then we have slaves and masters.
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  So slaves. And there's some dynamics here
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  about 1st century Roman household rules that this will
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  likely not map on perfectly to the employee employer
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  relationship today. But I think there's some lasting
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  principles that we can still absorb.
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  So he says, slaves, obey your human masters with fear and
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  trembling. That's with that respect you.
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  You're not flipping about your boss.
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  You actually care about him or her, and you're not viewing them
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  as an annoyance. They are someone with authority
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  and so respect is granted to them.
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  So obey your human masters with fear and trembling in the
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  sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ.
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  So I'm working as hard for Jim or Steve or Bill, I'm working as
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  hard for them, my boss in my company, as I would for Jesus.
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  That if Jesus says I want you to make the sale, you're like,
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  yeah, we're right on that, Jesus.
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  And you go and you do it. Or you could have, you know,
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  Jesus says, I want you to, you know, make this hamburger and
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  you're like for, you know, for me and you go, yes, of course,
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  Lord, this is going to be the best hamburger you've ever had
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  that you do your job like you're doing it for Jesus.
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  Do you do your job like you are doing it for Jesus?
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  I'll tell you as a pastor, I don't have AI, don't have an
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  employer, if you will. I don't have a boss now,
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  certainly with the rest of the elders all together, we oversee
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  the church staff and so there's an element of accountability
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  that I have with them. But no one's like all right
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  Brian, you know, here's 7 tasks that I want you to get done
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  today. And here's these, you know,
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  numbers that I need by the end of the week, etcetera, etcetera.
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  A lot of what I'm doing, if you will, is self self-paced.
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  I'm, if you will, self-employed. Also can be a joke on my last
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  name, Brian Self. So I'm self-employed, but what
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  always startles me, what gives me pause is I am working for
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  Christ, for the Lord, and I'm supported by God's people.
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  And so I'm, I would much rather people say something like, man,
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  you work a lot, you work, you know, I'd rather have you work
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  too much rather than he. Does he do anything?
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  I never want to be a lazy pastor.
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  And the truth is for you, you're not called to be a lazy worker.
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  You are called to work hard because you are working for
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  Jesus. So you genuinely respect and do
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  your job for your employer like Jesus asked you to do it and
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  like Jesus is your boss. And then verse 6 he says don't
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  work only while being watched as people pleasers, but as slaves
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  of Christ. Do God's will from your heart
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  that you don't have to have someone watching over you.
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  The boss doesn't have to be in the room for you to do your best
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  work. You're always doing your best
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  work because Jesus is watching over you and he wants you to do
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  God's will from your heart, which in this instance is do the
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  job that you've been given. And then verse 7, not just do
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  it, not just respect your human employer, not just do it
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  genuinely from the heart, doing it for Jesus, but he says serve
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  with a good attitude as to the Lord and not to people that the
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  way that you work needs to not be a whiny person.
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  You need to not be an angry person.
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  You need to not be a scared person.
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  Serve with a good attitude because you're working for the
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  Lord. You're not really working for.
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  You know, I, I, I don't know right offhand what a bunch of
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  companies are. I know one of my friends works
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  at Northeastern Supply. You don't just work for there.
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  You don't just work for the post office.
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  You don't just work for Cisco or for Utz.
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  So serve because you are working for King Jesus and you're, you
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  are a picture of Jesus in your workplace.
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  So serve with a good attitude because that's how Jesus would
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  serve. And he says, know that whatever
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  good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back
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  from the Lord. God has some bonuses that are
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  waiting for you and for me. So let's put our all in and
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  let's get those bonuses. There's a work incentive program
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  in the Kingdom of heaven. And then verse 9, masters, treat
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  your slaves the same way, with a good attitude, with a sincere
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  heart, treating them as you would Jesus like.
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  If Jesus was in your workforce, how would you treat him as your
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  employee? I says treat your slaves the
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  same way without threatening them.
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  A Christian should never threaten an employee or here
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  within Rome, it would be very commonplace.
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  Threaten, abuse, all that kind of stuff would very often take
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  place in the Roman culture. But Paul tells them, no, you
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  don't mistreat your slaves, your employees, your servants,
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  because you know that their master and yours is in heaven
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  and there is no favoritism with him.
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  You will be punished by the Lord when you mistreat those that are
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  under your care. So treat them with love, treat
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  them with kindness, because your Master is going to treat you in
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  that same way. Well, I hope that these verses
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  have been an encouragement to you.
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  I know it was a challenge to me as a dad, as one that works,
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  that I do a job, and even as one that I have people that are
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  under me. It's all of you know, two
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  people, one part time custodian and then my wife who who works
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  part time as my administrative assistant.
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  But I'm in challenged treat every aspect of my life like I'm
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  doing it for Jesus. Thanks for tuning in.
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  Hope you have a great day.