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Boars-in-God-s-Vineyard-Msg-42-44_ · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Occasionally an individual will save the best for the last,
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  Speaker 1: and Paul seems to do that as he gets toward
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  Speaker 1: the end of the letter to the Romans. While it
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  Speaker 1: isn't necessarily the longest of the letters he wrote, it
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  Speaker 1: is certainly the one that has become for the Christian
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  Speaker 1: faith the most significant.
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  Speaker 2: I doubt that Tertius, when he took up.
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  Speaker 1: The pen and began to write on parchment, ever thought
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  Speaker 1: that he was writing the Christian Constitution. But Romans is that.
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  Speaker 1: But it is not without those personal vignettes along the way.
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  Speaker 1: Occasionally there are very strong, as today, very strong words
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  Speaker 1: of counsel and even warning given to the flock of God.
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  Speaker 1: Knowing that you might be able to use some of
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  Speaker 1: this information in the days to come. We've provided outlines
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  Speaker 1: for you the worship folder that you may want to
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  Speaker 1: take out right now and have available there by your Bible.
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  Speaker 1: It'll guide us as we work our way through these
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  Speaker 1: four verses. I'll be reading from Romans sixteen, verses seventeen
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  Speaker 1: through twenty. And because of our respect for God's word
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  Speaker 1: and our love for him who gave it to us,
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  Speaker 1: may we stand together as the Word of God is
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  Speaker 1: read for us Romans sixteen seventeen through twenty. Now I
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  Speaker 1: urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause
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  Speaker 1: dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned,
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  Speaker 1: and turn away from them. For such men are slaves
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  Speaker 1: not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites.
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  Speaker 1: And by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the
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  Speaker 1: hearts of the unsuspecting.
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  Speaker 2: For the report of your.
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  Speaker 1: Obedience has reached to all. Therefore I am rejoicing over you.
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  Speaker 1: But I want you to be wise and what is
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  Speaker 1: good and innocent in what is evil. The God of
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  Speaker 1: Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace
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  Speaker 1: of our Lord Jesus be with you, and all God's
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  Speaker 1: people said, Amen, you may be seated. May I share
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  Speaker 1: with you the good news. Christ came to die for sinners,
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  Speaker 1: for all of us, and in dying for us, he
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  Speaker 1: paid the complete penalty for our sins, past sins, presents ends,
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  Speaker 1: future sins. As one person put it, he picked up
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  Speaker 1: the tab. He paid for it all. And because of
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  Speaker 1: Christ's complete and finished work on the cross, he who
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  Speaker 1: has been raised miraculously and bodily from the dead, still
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  Speaker 1: lives and awaits the opportunity to enter every life who
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  Speaker 1: welcomes him in. If you've never trusted the Lord Jesus
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  Speaker 1: Christ as your own personal savior, you've never acknowledged that
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  Speaker 1: you're among the ranks of sinners and you need Him
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  Speaker 1: to have eternal life. You can know him by a
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  Speaker 1: simple act of the will, by trusting him, and him only.
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  Speaker 1: The old Reformers had it right by grace alone, through
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  Speaker 1: faith alone, in Christ alone, we can know eternal forgiveness
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  Speaker 1: and eternal life. Because my message today does not end
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  Speaker 1: with an invitation, I just thought i'd give one at
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of it and let you let you know
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  Speaker 1: if you're here without Christ. The one thing, the one
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  Speaker 1: thing that is of top priority to you, is not
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  Speaker 1: the money you put in an offering plate. It is
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  Speaker 1: not how often you attend to church. It is not
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  Speaker 1: how nice a Bible you carry, or how well you
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  Speaker 1: behave yourself out in the real world. Not how good
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  Speaker 1: a mother or dad you are, or how good a
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  Speaker 1: daughter or son you are has nothing to do with that.
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  Speaker 1: It's the gift of God, and the Lord is available
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  Speaker 1: to you. If you take the gift, as I pray today,
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  Speaker 1: this may be your moment to receive the gift of
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  Speaker 1: eternal life. How wonderful that would be about with me?
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  Speaker 1: As we pray, we are reminded, our Father, not only
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  Speaker 1: by what we sing, but by what we read in
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  Speaker 1: your word, that we are to fear.
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  Speaker 2: Not.
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  Speaker 1: That we have nothing to fear, but least of all,
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  Speaker 1: we have you not to fear.
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  Speaker 2: Father.
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  Speaker 1: You are our heavenly father, Your son is our savior.
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  Speaker 1: And we find hope and refuge in that harbor that
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  Speaker 1: he provides for our lives in a world that's lost
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  Speaker 1: its way, filled with chaos and murderers, heartbreaking situations, fractured lives,
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  Speaker 1: deep depression, brokenness of every kind, broken treaties, broken packs,
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  Speaker 1: broken bond, broken promises. You are whole, and you bring
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  Speaker 1: us holly back to yourself through Christ.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for that.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Lord, free our minds from those things that have
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  Speaker 1: worried us long enough, forgive us of the wasted efforts
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  Speaker 1: we have spent trying to do what only you can do.
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  Speaker 1: Fix somebody else, change a situation, even change our own wills.
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  Speaker 1: Only you can do that. We lay before you the
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  Speaker 1: opportunities of the week. We don't know what they are,
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  Speaker 1: We have no idea what they will include. We don't
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  Speaker 1: know the struggles or trials. We don't know the joys
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  Speaker 1: or those moments of victory.
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  Speaker 2: You know it all.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for freeing us from the clutches of shame
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  Speaker 1: and guilt, and placing our feet on a rock, and
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  Speaker 1: establishing our going and putting a song in our mouth.
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  Speaker 1: We have sung to you, and now we have the
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  Speaker 1: joy of giving to you. We do so with exuberant joy,
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  Speaker 1: with great delight and pleasurable generosity. In the name of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: We give and we pray, and everyone said amen, probably
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  Speaker 1: with tongue in cheek. The seasoned veteran pastor Stuart Briscoe
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  Speaker 1: offered this definition of a pastor. He needs to have
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  Speaker 1: the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child,
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  Speaker 1: the height of a rhinoceros. All who are called in
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  Speaker 1: a ministry, and that would be everyone involved in leader
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  Speaker 1: of any kind of Christian organization, whether at home or abroad,
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  Speaker 1: must have that hide of a rhinoceros.
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  Speaker 2: We must model both.
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  Speaker 1: Tenderness and toughness. We must be devoted and yet at
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  Speaker 1: the same time determined. We must be willing to work
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  Speaker 1: with those who are struggling and in need of compassion,
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  Speaker 1: and yet unwilling to be manipulated or controlled by anybody,
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  Speaker 1: no matter who they are, or how much they give,
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  Speaker 1: or how significant they are in the world about us.
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  Speaker 1: We are to be sensitive with the sheep, yet strong
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  Speaker 1: and even stern when dealing with wolves, committed to unity
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  Speaker 1: and harmony for the sake of grace, at the same
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  Speaker 1: time unwilling to bend or compromise because of the truth.
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  Speaker 1: Being a faithful shepherd has nothing to do with trying
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  Speaker 1: hard to be liked or cultivating a popularity group that
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  Speaker 1: follows you around, or flattering the flock by telling the
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  Speaker 1: sheep what they want to hear. Good faithful messengers communicate
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  Speaker 1: what sheep need to hear. There's a great difference. There
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  Speaker 1: are times that means standing all alone on your principles,
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  Speaker 1: even at the risk of being misunderstood. It means pressing
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  Speaker 1: on without the need to defend yourself publicly. It means
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  Speaker 1: doing right though others may choose to do wrong. You see,
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  Speaker 1: there have always been wolves in sheep's clothing. There have
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  Speaker 1: always been boores who ravage God's vineyard. That word picture
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  Speaker 1: is not original with me. It comes from the era
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  Speaker 1: of Martin Luther, when he like a prophet out of
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament stood against the medieval Church and all
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  Speaker 1: of its corruptions. Pope Leo the tenth issued a firm
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  Speaker 1: and stern document against him, called a Papal bull, in
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  Speaker 1: which the Pope announced that there are there is a
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  Speaker 1: bore in God's vineyard, as he was referring to the
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  Speaker 1: maverick monk named Luther. On the contrary. On the contrary,
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  Speaker 1: if there was ever a case of the pot calling
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  Speaker 1: the kettle black, that would qualify it was the one
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  Speaker 1: promoting corruption, not the profits. Standing alone and really hiding
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  Speaker 1: out for his life though they were out to get him,
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  Speaker 1: had an interesting experience this past couple of weeks. My
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  Speaker 1: publishers set up an opportunity for me to connect at
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  Speaker 1: a central location with pastors from all over the country.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know any of them, frankly. Some are in
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  Speaker 1: Florida and the East Coast, up all the way into
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  Speaker 1: New England, across New York, some coming into Minnesota and
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  Speaker 1: down into Tennessee and Kentucky, and then across Colorado and Arizona, California,
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  Speaker 1: Oregon and many of the states. Didn't get to speak
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  Speaker 1: directly with most of them, but I did the number
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  Speaker 1: of them. There was sort of a theme that was
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  Speaker 1: threaded through our conversation. It had to do with how
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  Speaker 1: do you deal with difficult people? Isn't that interesting? I
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  Speaker 1: thought that was just a problem in the South. No,
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  Speaker 1: I've served five churches in my forty five years in ministry,
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  Speaker 1: and in everyone there have been bores ravaging God's vineyard.
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  Speaker 2: So let me say this before I go further. If
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  Speaker 2: you qualify, you know that.
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  Speaker 1: I have never made it a point to fight my
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  Speaker 1: battles from a pulpit, and you who have been around
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  Speaker 1: a while know that I don't do that. Some pastors
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  Speaker 1: find a light in doing it. I find that that
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  Speaker 1: disturbs the sheep more than comforts them. However, if you
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  Speaker 1: are among that category, take this to heart. God is
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  Speaker 1: speaking today to you.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not God has you in mind.
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  Speaker 1: If you qualify in that category that we'll be looking
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  Speaker 1: at in Romans sixteenth seventeen to twenty. If it fits
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  Speaker 1: hear it. Well, Now, this is nothing new. The early
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  Speaker 1: Church was plagued with bores ravaging the vineyard throughout the
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  Speaker 1: ministry of Christ. The Pharisees dogged his steps. Ultimately were
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  Speaker 1: the ones who did thumbs down on his effectiveness and
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  Speaker 1: his veracity, and with the help of the Romans, made
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  Speaker 1: sure he went to a cross, stepping away from Christ.
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  Speaker 1: When you get into the era of the early Church,
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  Speaker 1: Paul himself admits that he was ravaging the church. Luke
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  Speaker 1: writes of it in chapters eight and nine of the
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  Speaker 1: Book of Acts. When Paul got to the Ephesian elders,
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  Speaker 1: he warned them of wolves from their.
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  Speaker 2: Own myths that would enter in and in fact did.
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  Speaker 1: Among the Ephesians, there have always been heretics. There have
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  Speaker 1: always been defectors, there have always been deceivers, there have
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  Speaker 1: always been fighters. Matter of fact, Paul names one of
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  Speaker 1: them in Tewod Timothy four, calling him out by name.
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  Speaker 1: Alexander did me much harm, he tells Timothy watch out
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  Speaker 1: for him. He's still on the loose. When I read that,
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  Speaker 1: I put get a chill up my back. I'm so
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  Speaker 1: grateful God is no longer writing his word, putting names
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  Speaker 1: in there that preachers can talk about for centuries to come.
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  Speaker 1: How would you like to be Alexander? There's another one.
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  Speaker 1: We don't hear much of him. Turning your Bible over
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  Speaker 1: to Third John, Third John, almost to the end of
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  Speaker 1: your Bible just before Jude, which leads to revelation. Go
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  Speaker 1: to that tiny, little one chapter letter and look at
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  Speaker 1: verses nine and ten. I'll introduce you to a man
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  Speaker 1: you've not heard of in a long time, maybe never.
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  Speaker 1: Verse nine, John writes, I wrote something to the church,
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  Speaker 1: but Diotrophies, who loves to be first among them, does
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  Speaker 1: not accept what we say.
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  Speaker 2: Did John ignore him? Look at the next verse. For
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  Speaker 2: this reason.
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  Speaker 1: If I come, I will call attention to his deeds,
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  Speaker 1: which he does. That's called confrontation, unjustly accusing us with
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  Speaker 1: wicked words.
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  Speaker 2: There's gossip.
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  Speaker 1: Not satisfied with this. He himself does not receive the brethren.
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  Speaker 1: That's arrogance. He forbids those who desire to do so
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  Speaker 1: and puts them out of the church. That's an unwarranted
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  Speaker 1: role of authority he took upon himself. Simple terms, he's
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  Speaker 1: a church boss, and John exposes him, calling him by name.
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  Speaker 1: When I come, I'll confront him. The great Baptist scholar
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  Speaker 1: at Robertson, who taught up in Louisville at Southern Seminary,
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  Speaker 1: Southern Baptist Seminary for many years, taught Greek and is
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  Speaker 1: left in his legacy magnificent tools in the Greek language.
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  Speaker 1: Robertson tells in his sixth volume work on word pictures
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  Speaker 1: in the New Testament Wonderful Wonderful Volumes, he writes this
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  Speaker 1: in the sixth volume he tells this true story. Some
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  Speaker 1: forty years ago, I wrote an article on diotrophes for
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  Speaker 1: a denominational paper. The editor told me later that twenty
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  Speaker 1: five deacons stopped the paper to show their resentment against
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  Speaker 1: being personally attacked in the paper. Were they named diotrophies? No,
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  Speaker 1: they were just diotrophies like and if they were, they
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  Speaker 1: should have resigned. Straight talk, hard truth necessary for the
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  Speaker 1: flock to hear, the pastor to remind himself of as
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  Speaker 1: well as those to whom he ministers. There was trouble
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  Speaker 1: brewing in Rome, and because it was like all other churches,
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  Speaker 1: it needed to be addressed. On your way back to
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  Speaker 1: Romans sixteen, stop off at one Timothy, chapter three. The
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  Speaker 1: first letter Paul wrote to Timothy Sorry. The second letter
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  Speaker 1: Paul wrote to Timothy tewod Timothy, chapter three, Let me
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  Speaker 1: read five verses that tell you about our times. In
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  Speaker 1: case you wonder what gives birth to Alexander's and diotrophies.
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  Speaker 1: Where do boores and wolves come from? Look at two
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  Speaker 1: Timothy three, realize this in the last days, difficult times
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  Speaker 1: will come. One of my mentors always rendered that first verse, savage.
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  Speaker 2: Times will come.
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  Speaker 1: That's an awfully good word in the place of difficult,
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  Speaker 1: it means hard to deal with, harsh, perilous.
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  Speaker 2: And now he describes it.
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  Speaker 1: For men and women will be lovers of self, lovers
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  Speaker 1: of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious,
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  Speaker 1: gossips without self control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited,
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  Speaker 1: lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And notice
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  Speaker 1: the cloak of religion about them, holding to a form
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  Speaker 1: of godliness, looking pious, although they have denied its power.
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  Speaker 1: There's no holy spirit presence.
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  Speaker 2: There is only the work of the flesh.
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  Speaker 1: As they ape a spiritual life, holding to a form
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  Speaker 1: of godliness, they have denied its power. Look at the
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  Speaker 1: last five words, among the least obeyed words in the
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  Speaker 1: New Testament. Among churches today, avoid such man as these.
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  Speaker 2: Avoid them.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I think we're properly prepared to hear what Paul
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  Speaker 1: writes in Roman sixtss. As we think of the church
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  Speaker 1: at Rome, there are three questions I'll want to answer.
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  Speaker 1: First of all, what was happening there? And second the
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  Speaker 1: question of motive? Why was it happening? And third how
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  Speaker 1: was it to be handled? All three are appropriate for
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  Speaker 1: us living in the twenty first century, in the church
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  Speaker 1: that we love and serve. What was happening Verse seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: Now I urge you, brethren, before going any further notice,
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  Speaker 1: he is writing to believers. This is not the gospel
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  Speaker 1: for those who don't know Christ. This is church talk.
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  Speaker 1: This is counsel for the believer, for the saint engaged
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  Speaker 1: in work of ministry. He says to the people of Rome, brothers, sisters,
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  Speaker 1: I urge you keep your eye on those who cause dissensions.
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  Speaker 1: That's the first thing to write down. What was happening.
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  Speaker 1: Dissensions the original Greek term denotes divisiveness, polarization, dividing, separating.
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  Speaker 1: The Greek term rendered here dissensions is found only one
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  Speaker 1: other time in the New Testament. That's Galatians five twenty.
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  Speaker 1: In the list of the deeds of the flesh, dissensions
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  Speaker 1: is one of them. Dissensions never come from the Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: They come from the flesh. They may be prompted by
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  Speaker 1: the flesh itself. They may be prompted by the enemy
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  Speaker 1: Satan himself. They come from the world's system around us.
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  Speaker 1: Whatever they come and they divide. Whoever is involved in
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  Speaker 1: dissensions brings strife, disturbs peace, sow's discord among the brothers
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  Speaker 1: and sisters of the organization or the church. They introduce trouble,
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  Speaker 1: They question authority, They lack respect, They fail to model
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  Speaker 1: a submissive spirit. They cast doubts. I have a simple
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  Speaker 1: word for them. They stir the pot. They stir the pot.
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  Speaker 1: They take delight in stirring up the pot. They release
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  Speaker 1: faulty information, making it sound true for the purpose of
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  Speaker 1: causing people to believe them rather than the truth. I
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  Speaker 1: hope you're hearing this. I hope you're hearing this. These
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  Speaker 1: are words carefully chosen, pondered for days, and now delivered
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  Speaker 1: for your knowledge and application. What was happening Dissensions were
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  Speaker 1: being caused, looked next and hindrances. Hindrances. This is the
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  Speaker 1: Greek word Scandalah. Guess what word we get from that?
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  Speaker 1: But it means more than scandal. This is putting a
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  Speaker 1: hindrance in others' way, making it hard for them to trust.
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  Speaker 1: Whereas they once trusted, they can't any longer because you
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  Speaker 1: hindered them from trusting. The scandlaw would be those agents
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  Speaker 1: of disunity who block the free flowing work of the spirit.
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  Speaker 1: They delight in sounding believable, but they desire to undermine
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  Speaker 1: and dilute the effectiveness of a ministry.
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  Speaker 2: May I add they.
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  Speaker 1: Are seldom overt, most always subtle, small group stuff, quiet conversations,
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  Speaker 1: statements given that offer innuendo and suspicions. William Barclay writes
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  Speaker 1: of this individual, he is a man who speaks well
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  Speaker 1: but acts ill. The kind of man who beholds who
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  Speaker 1: behind a facade of pious words, is a bad influence,
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  Speaker 1: who leads astray, not by direct attack but by subtlety,
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  Speaker 1: who pretends to serve Christ, but in reality is destroying
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  Speaker 1: the faith. You often can't tell by first glance or
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  Speaker 1: in the early sentences. That's what makes them so effective.
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  Speaker 1: That's why the venom spreads so easily among the sheep.
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  Speaker 1: Notice what's wrong with all of these hindrances and dissensions.
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  Speaker 1: Look at seventeen again, because they are contrary to the
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  Speaker 1: teaching which you learned. They don't square with scriptural truth,
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  Speaker 1: either in precept or in principle. Now, second, why was
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  Speaker 1: all this happening? Why would that kind of thing be
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  Speaker 1: going on? Next verse eighteen see the little particle to
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: begin the verse. This is called a connective particle, an
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  Speaker 1: explanatory particle. Fr. Four or let me explain These things
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  Speaker 1: go on because such men are slaves of their own appetites.
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  Speaker 1: Let that sink in. They are self serving individuals. Literally,
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  Speaker 1: the text says they are slaves of their own belly.
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  Speaker 1: Stott says, this is a graphic metaphor of self indulgence.
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  Speaker 1: They're serving themselves, though they never say so. They are
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  Speaker 1: willing slaves of their own ego. We would say they
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  Speaker 1: want their own way, and don't miss the contrast, they
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  Speaker 1: do not want the way of the Lord Christ. Literally,
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  Speaker 1: the sentence reads, for such men our Lord Christ, they are.
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  Speaker 2: Not slaves of.
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  Speaker 1: They are characterized by an aggressive carnality that is meant
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  Speaker 1: on having their own way. It's called being enslaved to
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  Speaker 1: your own belly, your own agenda, what you want. Notice secondly,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: we read they deceive the hearts of this unsuspecting I
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: left out an important part of verse eighteen. By their
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Look closely. Smooth flattering speech they deceive. That's how predators
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: get children to get into their cars so they can
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: kidnap them by smooth and flattering speech. That's how cults
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: get their way when they want to bend your mind
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: around their way of thinking. It's never rude, it's never illogical.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: It's smooth. It makes you feel better, it's flattering. It
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: convinces you this will be good for you to know this,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: this will help you, when in fact it is self
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: serving and deceptive. It is not the way of Christ.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: I found it interesting that when I did a search
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: on the word deceptive or deceive, I found that it
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: has to do with seducing the minds of simple people,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: trusting people, unsuspecting people, sheep that lack discernment, that have
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: no reason to doubt. But as a result of being
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: around those who deceive, they begin to entertain doubts and
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: question respectable authority because they have been duped, never doubted,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: never doubted. The target of the deceiver is the undiscerning
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: the trusting, the simple hearted individual who is not on guard.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Let me pause here and give you a wonderful set
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: of three gates to pass information through. Let me offer
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: you this. It's a good time to take your outline
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: and put it somewhere on it. Three gates to let
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: information pass. Because we are all in the information culture
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: and we're getting stuff told us either personally or by phone,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: or by email.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Or by letter. We are taking in information. What gates
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: should they pass through? Before you embrace them? Number one?
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Ask yourself? Is this in agreement with the scriptures? Can
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: I support what I'm hearing from God's word? Does this
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: square with the Bible? This in agreement with scripture?
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: Second?
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Does this glorify my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: Will be well? The result of this.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: Information mean I am now better able to bring glory
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: to Christ because I have entertained this information. I'm believing
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: this information? Does it draw me closer to Christ? That
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: brings up the third? Will this promote Godliness in my
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: own life? Will I be a better believer, a better Christian?
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Because I accept this? Will I become a one who
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: promotes harmony and peace? Will I live better with other people?
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Will I live my life more in keeping with the
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: teachings of Christ? Now, how is this to be handled?
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Here comes the hard part. Here comes the hard part.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: I want to give you three words, and then we'll
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: go back and amplify them. Observation, confrontation, separation, observation, confrontation, separation.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: Where do I get them?
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Verse seventeen observation Keep your eye on those who cause
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: these things, The Greek suggests in the verb a continued action.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Keep on watching out for is the idea. Don't ever
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: let that thought out of your mind. Stay alert, be ready,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: know that they are there. Keep it up. Let's say
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: you're all alone, ladies in your home and a knock
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: comes at your door. And if you're like our home,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: you have a little peep hole you can look at
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: see who that individual is. And let's say you don't
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: know him, and he's standing there waiting for you to
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: open your door. You're going to smile when I give
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: you the response that you never would do you never
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: go Hi, come right on in. You don't do that.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Some of you won't even open the door, and you
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: may be very wise not to. If you do, you
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: may have a little chain on your door. In New
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: York you have eight of them. But here you may
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: have a chain on your door and you peep your
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: you look out with your peeper, and you say, yes,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: how can I help you?
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Or what is it that you'd like? Why?
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Because you've got your eye out for someone who may
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: want to take advantage of you. And you're smart, you're wise.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: You teach your children that, sweetheart, not every hand is
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: to be held, not every life is to be believed,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: not every romantic word is to be taken in. It's
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: called discerning. You are observing. You are keeping your eye
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: on those I say to young pastors who haven't had
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: many years in ministry, because it takes about an hour
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: and a half for the honeymoon to end, so I
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: try to get to them before it ends, and say,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: just be on the lookout. Don't live your life suspicious,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: but be discerning. If you don't, you'll get taken. Advantage
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: of being a servant of Christ is in no way
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: in the category of being a slave of people. For
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: too many years in my ministry I was a people slave.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: I thought that's what was expected of the minister. I
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: am no longer there. I am a shepherd committed to
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: faithfulness and truthfulness and grace. But I've become kind of
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: a wise old duck because I have learned not everybody
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: has my good at heart. That's what he's asking. Keep
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: your eye on those, pay attention. The second word is confrontation,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: and we get that from third on verse ten. When
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: I come, I'm going to expose him. This is the
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: hard part. Admittedly, this is the hard part. I'm often
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: amazed at how often we will tolerate people like this
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: and they will ravage the church. I remember a church
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: I served where for a long long time I tolerated
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: a particular individual and she continued to sew discord and
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: continued to sew discord, continued to sew discord, and I
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: knew it, and others knew it. And I remember the
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: day that I finally confronted her with the presence of
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: the chairman of our elder board and a senior associate
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: pastor in the church, and I called it for what
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: it was, and she left. And I can't tell you
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: the peace that came over that place once she left,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: because obviously she wasn't going to change. She made that
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: clear when we were together, and then I I look
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: back with regret, wondering why it's spent so long allowing
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: her to ravage the flock. She needed to be confronted,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: not publicly, but privately, which is how we did it.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: I read some cowboy wisdom the other day. Never getting
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: a spit and match with a skunk. Even if you win,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: you smell bad. Howie Stevenson, my buddy of yesteryear, used
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: to say, never try to teach a pig to sing.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: People won't enjoy it, and it annoys the pig. Some
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: people don't want to change. It isn't right for them
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: to run free and wild in a church and take
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: advantage of the unsuspecting.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: Stay on the.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: Alert, confront it when you have to finally separate. When
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: you notice the end of verse seventeen, I return to it,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: turn away from them. Now A disclaimer is necessary here.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Sounds like everybody that's in trouble needs to be run off.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: That's not true at all. It's not what we're saying.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Everybody's in trouble. We all got problems, you know, We've
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: all got areas of struggle we're working through. Pastors are
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: constantly in touch with the broken hearted. This is not
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: the broken hearted. This is not that kind of individual.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: This is a self serving individual who will do harm
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: to the ministry. There's a difference. Once that person is
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: addressed and you try your best to handle Often it's
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: the best thing to do to separate from them. To Titus,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: chapter three, if you will turn there, please, We were
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: in Titus sometime back, and you may have forgotten verses nine,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: ten and eleven. In case you think I'm being a
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: little bit hard or tough, let me show you tough.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Titus three, verse nine, verse ten, verse eleven. Avoid foolish
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: controversies in Gena. By the way, Paul's writing to a
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: younger pastor whom he left on an island, the island
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: of Crete. He left him there to put things in order.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: That's a tough assignment, especially on an island unless it's Hawaii.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: But Crete is not Hawaii. But I better be tough
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: to minister on Hawaii. But doesn't another subject. Avoid foolish
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: genealogies and strife and disputes about the law, for they
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: are unprofitable and worthless. Watch closely, don't stop reading. Reject
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: that such a man is perverted and is sinning being
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: self condemned. You heard that correctly reject a factious man.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: Eugene Peterson in the Message renders it this way.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: Warn a quarrelsome person once.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Or twice, than be done with him. It's obvious that
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: such a person is out of line, rebellious against God.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: By persisting in divisiveness, he cuts himself off. Hard decisions
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: have to be made in families. My heart went out
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: to a family somewhat recently who took in a foster child, lovely,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: wonderful Christian family. The little fellow they brought in was
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: from a very difficult background, very difficult, very dysfunctional, and
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: the pain of all of that and the fracture of
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: all of that had flowed into his life. And it
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: wasn't long while in the family that he began to
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: disrupt and disrupt and cause dissension and cause havoc, and
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: work against the harmony that had been in the home,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: and work against the authority of the new parents that
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: had so long to make him a part of their own.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: And finally they had to realize it can't go on,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: and with breaking heart, they released him back, knowing that
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: if he stayed, the whole family would suffer and had
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: been suffering hard decision, tough time. None of this is easy.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Back to Romans sixteen, when he talks about these dealing
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: with carnality, he's not talking about what is easy, but
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: it can be done. The reason I know it. Look
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: at his commendation in verse nineteen. The report of your
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: obedience has reached to all. Therefore I am rejoicing over you.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: In other words, they've been doing it right. Well, then
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: why all the warnings. It's the same reason we warn
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: our kids until the last day they leave the house.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, we've been warning of all their lives. And
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: then they finally getting ready to join the military. We
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: don't say, well.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: Lots of luck, son, see you when you got our
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: boot camp.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: We don't do that. We say, son, I want to
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: spend a little extra time with you. We bring our
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: boy under the dan of the study or in our
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: bedroom and we sit down and we say, son, I've
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: talked to you all through your life about stuff. Now
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: you're going to be in a minority. You're going to
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: be the only guy in the bearings that doesn't want
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: to shack up with women. You're going to be the
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: only guy around that decides he's not going to take
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: a drink when everybody else is going to get drunk.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: You've been raised like that. You've lived a pretty good
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: life through high school.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: You've stayed, you've.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: Kept clean, you haven't had sex with another girl. I
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: commend you, good for you. Keep it up, keep it up.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: I'm proud of your obedience. That's what this is about.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: The Romans weren't tolerating it, and Paul didn't want them
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: to start, so he says, commends you. However, while rejoicing
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: over them, don't miss the end of verse nineteen. But
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: I want you here, he is again, like a father.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: I want you to be wise in what is good
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: and innocent in what is evil. Every dad wants that
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: of his son or daughter, and mom the same. We
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: want that of one another in the family. I want you,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: my friends, and the family of Stonebrier Community Church to
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: be wise.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: In what is good, meaning recognize it.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: Embrace it, traffic in it, love it, model it.
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: It's good. But when it comes to evil, don't play
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: with it.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Don't be sophisticated, Steer clear of it, Refuse to be
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: around it, shy away from it. It'll contaminate you. Separate
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: from it. In fact, he adds, the God of Peace
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: will soon crush Satan under your feet. Aren't we grateful
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: for that? You know, God's will is wonderful. It's just slow.
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: Don't you find yourself saying that? Lord. I know you're sovereign,
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: I know you're good, I know you're great, but hurry up.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: Good night.
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: We want him to crush Satan.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: Now he hasn't yet, so Satan will continue to have
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: his way. But he promises Jesus does. Matthew sixteen eighteen.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: I'll build my church in the gates of Hades will
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: not overcome it. The gates of Satan will not overcome it.
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: He'll try. He can work through you. He'll work through
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: you or through me. Oh, he'd love to work through me. Soon,
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: he says, I'm gonna crush the enemy.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: He's gonna be.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: Gone until then. May the grace of our Lord Jesus
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: be with you. Don't lose your heart of grace.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: I love JB.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: Phillips rendering of this part of the verse. I want
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: to see you experts in good, but not even beginners
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: in evil, I said again, I want to see you
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: experts in good and not even Beginners in Evil concludes
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: with that great promise.
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: What are the clues?
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: The conflicts occur when there is dissension in the body,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: when there are those sowing discord, when there is the
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: growth of suspicion and gossip and doubt and faulty information
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: that wins a hearing and begins to gain a following,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: that's damaging for the flock. What are the cures? We
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: go right back to the gates. I gave you a
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: deep commitment to the scriptures. Stay there, A firm determination
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: to glorify God, whatever it takes, even doing the hard thing.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: Glorify God.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: And Third, and honest appraisal of your own spiritual walk.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: An honest appraisal of your own walk with God, your prayer, life,
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: your strength and standing against wrong. I started with bores.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: I want to end with dragons. There's a great book
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: that Marshall Shelley wrote called Well Intentioned Dragons, Ministering to
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: problem People in the Church. He writes this, among other things, Dragons,
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: of course, are a fictional beasts, monstrous reptiles with lions claws,
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: a serpent's tail, but bat wings and scaly skin. They
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: exist only in imagination, however, But there are dragons of
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: a different sort, decidedly real In most cases, though not always,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: they do not intend to be sinister. In fact, they're
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: usually quite friendly, but their charm belies their power to.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: Destroy within the church.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: They are often sincere, well meaning saints, but they leave ulcers,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: strained relationships, and hard feelings in their wake. They don't
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: consider themselves difficult people. They don't sit up nights thinking
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: of ways to be nasty.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: Often they.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: Are pillars of the community, talented, strong personalities, deservingly respected.
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: But for some reason, I love the way he puts this.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: For some reason, they undermine the ministry of the church.
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: They are not naturally rebellious or pathological, but they are
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: loyal church members convince their serving God, but they wind
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: up doing more harm than good. They can drive pastors
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: crazy or out of the church. Some dragons are openly critical.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: They are the ones who accuse you of being picked
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: one too spiritual, not spiritual enough, too dominant, too laid back,
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: too narrow, too loose, too structured, too disorganized, or ulterior
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: in your motives. These criticisms are painful because they are
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: largely unanswerable. How can you ever defend yourself maintain a
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: spirit of peace. How could you possibly prove the purity
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: of your motives. Dragons make it hard to disagree without
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: being disagreeable. Miss and to this, perhaps the greatest damage
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: done by true dragons is not their direct opposition. It's
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: more intangible. They destroy enthusiasm, the morales so necessary for
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: church health and growth. People no longer feel good about
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: inviting friends to worship services. The air is tense, the
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: church depressed. Everyone becomes aware of us and them.
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: The effect on.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: Pastors is equally serious. They sap the pastor's energy and
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: just as damaging, goad them into reacting instead of acting.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: Why that's true?
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: Now that's in.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: On a positive note, you very graciously set through this,
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: and not too many have walked out, and I thank
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: you for your patience in hearing this. Let me end
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: on a major key, there are very valuable things to
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: be learned in whatever package God delivers to us.
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: I've learned some of.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: My best lessons in some of the most painful hours
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: of my life. I've gotten glimpses into the side of
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: my own life that I'm displeased with by dealing with
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: others who are difficult to handle. It's like the Psalmist wrote,
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: it was good for me to be afflicted so that
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: I might learn your decrees. So I'm one nineteen seventy one.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: Nobody put it better.
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: Than a w tozer.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: It's doubtful God can use anyone greatly till he's hurt
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: him deeply. Late in life, Thomas Akempas wrote this, it's
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: good that we at times endure opposition, and that we
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: are evilly and untruly judged when our actions and intentions
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: are good. Often such experiences promote humility and protect us
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: from vain glory, for then we seek God's witness in
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: the heart.
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be very candid with you now.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: We were here yesterday with a group of people that
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: we were involved in painting some things that will ultimately
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: go in our new sanctuary, some of the speakers, and
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: we had a great time, great people, just wonderful. And
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: Cynthy and I were there together and left finally alone
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: and drove around. And we had been through a tour
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: of the new sanctuary, upstairs, way up, high, and way
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: down all around, look it all around. And as we
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: drove around, I said to her, honey, I want you
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: to know something that I think you already know, but
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: I just have to say it. Ah. I never planned
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: for it to be big. Big has never been one.
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: Of my goals.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: In fact, I was kind of hoping we just stay
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: sort of small. But as I've said before, you wouldn't
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: stop coming and and God didn't want that. So isn't
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: about what I wantact I held it back from the
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: size it could have been. There were those that wanted
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: it bigger. I said, we don't need any bigger. It's
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: big enough. And then I said to her, you know, honey, I.
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: Have to tell you that I love what I do, but.
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: I just need to reassure you and myself that God's
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: in this and it's not some big trip I'm on.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: She said, I know that, Sea, I know that after
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: fifty two years with me, she knows everything. And don't
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: tell him everything that be helpful. So I said, I
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: just want to serve him. I just want to preach
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: his word.
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: I just want to lead the staff.
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: I just want to mentor younger men going into ministry.
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: I want to be with you and I want to
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: love you, and I want a shepherd this flock, however
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: long I should and when I shouldn't anymore you won't
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: have to ask me. I'll get out of your way
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: because you're wrong to something great here.
• 52:09
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: I learned from Corey Tenboom to hold it all really loosely,
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: and I really do I hold it really loosely. These
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: are some of the great years of ministry, and there's
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: no ego in it. Isn't that great had none. George
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: Whitfield lived long enough to where his popularity became immense.
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: Wherever he went there were always people who longed to
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: meet him and shake his hand and talk with him.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: He lived long enough in that famous arena to grow
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: tired of it. He often envied others who could go
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: into a restaurant to eat a meal and no one
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: would even know that George Whitfield was there. Toward the
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: end of his days, he made the statement, I've seen
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: enough of popularity to be sick of it.
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: When warned about it and could make him proud, he responded,
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: I thank you. I thank you heartily. May God reward
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: you for watching over my soul. And as to what
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: my enemies say against me, I know worse things of
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: myself than they say about me. And I could add,
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: and my wife knows more than any of the others.
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: She's still with me. It's a great thing happening here.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: Let's not mess it up. Okay, let's not mess it up.
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: Let's just sort of sit in awe of this great
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: thing God's been doing. Okay, then when we're ready to
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: move into this new joint, I probably shouldn't call it
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: a joint, but I mean, we're moving into this new sanctuary.
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: We'll just move in kind of like you move into
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: another house, and we'll just keep doing what we're doing here.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: We'll just do it with a few more. But we
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: don't want to mess it up. We're not going to
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: get slick. We're not going to get proud. We're going
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: to hold it all loosely. And we're going to guard
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: the flock from wolves, from boors that would ravage the vineyard.
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: So much more, I could say, h surely the presence
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: of the Lord is in this place, that mighty power
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: of the Spirit of God. You move so quietly among us,
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: it's easy to forget that you're at work.
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: Father.
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: You're teaching all of us so many important things. And
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: while the world around us gives us another agenda, while
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: all the stuff of life would crush in on us
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: and steal our joy. You stay at work in the church,
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: and a church rolls on, It rolls on. Thank you
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: for what you're doing, what you have done, and the
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: great things that are in front of us in the
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: years ahead. May you get all the glory because you
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: serve it. We are all about you, Oh God. Now
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: to him who is able to guard us from stumbling,
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: and present us faultless before the presence of his glory
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: with exceedingly great joy. To the only wise God, our Savior,
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: be glory and majesty, dominion and power forever and ever
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: and ever and ever. In the matchless name of Jesus.
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: We pray, and all God's people say A man a man.
• 56:44
  Speaker 3: The preceding message Bores in God's Vineyard was copyrighted in
• 56:48
  Speaker 3: two thousand and eight, twenty ten, and twenty twenty five,
• 56:51
  Speaker 3: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty five
• 56:54
  Speaker 3: by Charles Rswindahl, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
• 57:00
  Speaker 3: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.