Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "Faithful Unto Death: Running the Christian Race" by Denver Young

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"Faithful Unto Death: Running the Christian Race" by Denver Young · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Certainly do appreciate everyone's presence this evening. You know, it's an opportunity
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we have midweek. We can come together, look into God's Word and gain
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the truths therefrom that'll make us better. That's what we
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all should strive for. And the topic we're studying about during this quarter is
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faithful unto death and being faithful throughout life.
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Many times we think about the fact that we
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know certain people, you know, they're faithful
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for so long and become unfaithful.
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The Apostle Paul certainly realized the fact that it was
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very possible Even though we be obedient
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to the plan of salvation, it's very possible that we fall away.
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He gives us a lot of pointers that'll help us remain faithful.
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I told— my first lesson I talked about the
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fact that during my childhood being
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brought up, my mother was the only Christian
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in the family for many years. There's 7
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of us, 4 sons, 1 daughter, father, and mother.
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And she was the only Christian for many years in that family.
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And she always made sure from the time I was
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big enough to get out of the house that I was with her every Sunday
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morning at the service of the church. We walked a mile and a half each
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way. 10 o'clock, I knew where I
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was going to be on Sunday morning. And that instilled into me
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throughout my life the desire to
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be in the service of the church.
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Paul gives us some good examples and some good illustrations
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concerning the fact that we are to be careful
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on the way, be watchful on the way, make sure that
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we remain faithful. I want to first look at 1 Corinthians 9:24-25.
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1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
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Do you not know that those who run a race all
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run, but one receives a prize?
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Run in such a way you may obtain it.
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And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate
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in all things. Now they do it to obtain a
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piercible crown, but we for an impiercible
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crown. Therefore I run thus not uncertainly,
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thus I fight not as one who beats the air,
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but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when
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I have preached to others I myself should become disqualified.
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He compares a Christian life to a race.
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He says self-control, self-discipline,
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that includes running by the rules. And you
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know, our Christian life is the same. If we're gonna remain faithful and
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obedient to the Lord, we run that life
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according to the rules. We have the rule book.
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And the only way we can know what the rules is if we know the
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rule book. And the rule book that God has given us, his Word,
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will direct us in the direction we should go.
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It will also keep us in faithfulness if
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we will simply observe and do what it says. But Paul
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realized the fact that there's sometimes rules that drift
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away. So he gives us some warnings about that.
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He says, I have a goal, and that goal
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is eternal life. He has a goal that he's
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willing to sacrifice, that he's willing to be dedicated to,
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do whatever is necessary that he win that prize,
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and that prize is eternal life. For us to be
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faithful and obedient to God's word, we have to be willing and ready to do
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whatever is necessary to win that race.
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That eternal life, there's no sacrifice
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that's too great for us to attain eternal
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life. There's nothing more important for us to
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do than to obtain eternal life.
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He said, I don't run futilely, but I
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know what I want. My eyes on that prize.
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And that should be our same way of thinking when we're running the Christian life.
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And self-control, self-discipline.
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He says, discipline ourselves lest we fall away.
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We might be tempted from time to time to
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forsake the assembly of ourselves together,
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to do something else when we should be in an assembly.
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But we have to learn to say no. We have to learn to say
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no, assembly, coming together as a body
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of Christ is more important than anything else I could be doing.
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Also in 2 Timothy 2:3-5,
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he gives this message to Timothy.
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2 Timothy 2:3— verse 4.
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2 Timothy 2:3-5.
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He says, you therefore must endure hardship as a
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good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged
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in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life,
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that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
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One thing expected of the soldier is
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to put his soldiering as his top
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responsibility. That's what's expected of
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him. Those of us that have been in the military,
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that's what's expected of us when we was drafted into
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the military, when we joined the military, being a good soldier,
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dedicating ourselves to the cause of being a good soldier.
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And that's what he says in the Lord's army,
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dedicate ourselves to that very cause.
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Because the one that we're soldiering for is the one that's going
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to give us that reward.
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2 Timothy 4,
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or 2 Timothy, rather, 2 Timothy 4: 3:6-8.
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Talk about running the race.
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I think I got down to the right scripture for that, but it talks about
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we run a race. He said, we run a race
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and we run according to the rules and we win that
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race. And then he says,
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there's a prize for us. If we win that race when
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we run the race as a Christian, there certainly
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is a reward for us.
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And that is eternal life. Running by
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the rules, Finishing the race.
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He said, we must finish that race and run
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by the rules in order to be successful.
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You know, can one win anything if we don't know
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the rules? Can't, can we? If we don't
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know the rules, we can't win anything. We have to obey the rules
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and then we've got to finish the course.
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You know, in 2 Timothy 2:15,
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he says, study to show
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thyself approved unto God, a workman
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that needeth not to be ashamed, being able to handle
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aright the word of truth. So if we study,
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then we'll know the rules. If we guide ourselves according
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to the rules, and we study, then we're going to
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learn what he would have us to do. We're going to learn
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how to be a good soldier. We're going to learn how
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to run that race that's set before us.
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So in order to remain faithful, we have to run according to
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the rules. We have to finish the course.
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Talks about being diligent. You know, we're diligent about something,
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We put all that we have into it. We put our due diligence
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into what we're doing, work hard at it.
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Also be self-approved unto God.
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If we're going to be self-approved unto God,
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living and serving God in the way that he wants us to.
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Also rightly dividing. That simply means that we know
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what the Scripture's talking about. We know who it's talking about.
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We know who it's directed to. We know how to teach
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others and explain it to others, rightly dividing,
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handling aright the word of truth.
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And then Romans 10:17, of course we know, it says, faith cometh by hearing,
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hearing by the word of God. You know,
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that passage of Scripture, though it's very short,
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Think about it. Faith cometh by hearing,
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hearing by the Word of God.
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Each Wednesday night we come together and we study God's Word.
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It has an effect on us, kind of like I've referred to sometimes, the snowball
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effect. The more you study,
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the stronger your faith becomes. The stronger your faith becomes,
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the more desire you have to learn more.
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And when we get into that, we get into also the part where it comes
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about we understand the promises that God's made to us.
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We understand that those promises are for those— those
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good promises are for those that are in the Lord.
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That simply means remaining faithful, remaining faithful unto death.
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So what I was aiming to talk about some tonight was I wanted to talk
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about my Mother,
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she was faithful. And the things that
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kept me faithful, ah, I also reflect sometimes
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upon my childhood. Her guidance,
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her belief, what she led me, and as she led
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me from childhood until I was no longer under,
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ah, her— might say under her authority.
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She had rules for us, and as long as I was under her authority,
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I was to obey those rules.
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But I'd like to reflect on her and things that she helped
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me with that I might develop and become
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the kind of person that one should be.
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There were 7 in our family. 4 sons,
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1 daughter, my mom and dad.
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She was the only Christian for many years in
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that family. My father couldn't
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read or write, but he did have an interest in
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hearing the Word. He'd go to meetings
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sometimes, and then meetings lasted a couple of weeks,
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sometimes 3. And he was interested,
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and sometimes some of the well-spoken preachers would come around
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and he wanted to go hear them. But he,
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I think the example that my mother set was
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what led him to believe and to obey the gospel later
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on. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 7:10.
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1 Corinthians
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7, beginning in verse 10: But
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if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled
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to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.
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But to the rest I, not the
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Lord, say, if any brother has a wife who does not believe and she
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is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her.
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And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing
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to live with her, let her not divorce him.
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For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is
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sanctified by the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean,
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but now they are holy. But if the unbeliever departs, let him
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depart. A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has
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called us to peace. For how do you know a
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wife where you will save your husband? Or how
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do you know a husband where you will save your wife?
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I remember very well,
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she lived an example that my,
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I believe, led him to the Lord
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later on. And that's what this passage is talking about.
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Married, unbelieving spouse,
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let your example be such that will lead that person
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to obedience to the gospel.
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As Paul addresses the marriage command,
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wives, not to divorce your husbands,
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I'd like to reflect and talk about some of the things
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that my mother's guidance did for the family.
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Proverbs 22:6, and I told Neil that's what I was going
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to base my lesson on.
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It says, Proverbs 22:6 talks
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about the fact, train up a child in the way he should
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go, when he is old he will not depart from it.
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The foundational biblical principles
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pertaining to parenting. Think about it.
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It doesn't have to be parents. It can be uncles,
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aunts, some other member of the family. It can be a
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good neighbor, school teachers,
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Sunday school teachers, Bible school teachers,
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Anyone that has an influence in bringing up
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a child. Sometimes we exert
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good influence like that and never think nothing about it.
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On the other hand, we may exert some influence
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that's not good and not think
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nothing about it. We ought to be on guard because
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there's always somebody watching us.
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Somebody more than likely is taking some cues from
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us of our actions that they're going to follow sometime
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or other. So let's make sure that
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they are good actions.
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But that proverb talks about the fact that the
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first part of it says, train up. What we
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think about when we think about training up,
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we think about putting forth the effort that we need
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to, to train the child in
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the direction that we want him or her to go in
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the future, hoping that that direction,
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that he will take that direction that will lead it after
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some years to eternal life.
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Train up, being dedicated to starting a process or
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setting an example or setting a course to
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direct a child on a specific pathway of life.
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And we hope that that pathway of life to
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take this child all the way through life that
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they receive that promise that
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we have in Revelation 2:10, the last part
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of that verse. That promise says, be faithful
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until death and I will give you a crown
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of life. Think about it,
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how important it is. That we set that child
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on a course that will lead us to
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what the Revelation letter says,
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eternal life. That should be our goal.
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That should be our greatest priority,
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getting that child started out.
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So we train up And we
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see that this is a promise,
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but it's a conditional promise. You know, we have promises that
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are unconditional. We have promises that
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are conditional. And this is a conditional promise that
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they may be faithful.
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Be faithful until death. That's a condition.
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Finishing the course, that's a condition that
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they will receive eternal life. Anybody have any comments
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or any statement they'd like to make?
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In the second part of that verse, it talks about in a way you should
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go. And the way he should go is the way that God would have
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him to go. That would be God's principles,
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godly wisdom, wisdom from above, obedience to
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parents, and obedience to authority.
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We talked about the fact a while ago that not only parents are
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responsible for training young people. You know, times are a lot different now than they
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was when I was in school. But when I was in grade school, we had,
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I don't know, school probably had 150 students.
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I was the first year of the baby boomers. So we had about
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150 when I started, but when I got through the 8th grade, that school had
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done added on. It done doubled in size and rooms.
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And I think it started out 4 rooms when I started.
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When I got out, well, when I left that school, it had 6 rooms,
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but a year or two later, they had 8 rooms.
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Schools then was more or less extension
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of our home training. They taught us the very same
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thing that our mother and our dad taught us. They taught us respect,
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respect for authority. They taught us,
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when we had lunch every day, we didn't sit down and eat until we said
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grace. And on and on like that.
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It's an extension of really our home life, what it should
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be. They taught us respect for authority, respect for the
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teachers, and it was just a lot
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different than it is now. And they also
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taught us not only respect for the teachers, they taught us also respect our parents.
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And the third part of that said, will not depart from us. You know,
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this describes a lasting,
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lifelong impact.
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It should impact the individual all their lives.
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That doesn't mean in later life that
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they won't fall away if they're getting in trouble
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and so forth, but they'll always have that training
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with them. You know, when the prodigal son went away
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and he came to himself, it says he remembered.
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What'd he remember? He remembered his early years, didn't he?
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He went back. And you know,
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even if someone's brought up in a good way,
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maybe in later years they stumble, they fall,
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Maybe they'll do likewise, as this parable says.
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Maybe they'll remember and come
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back.
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But they still have that foundational training,
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that influence in later years.
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I'd like to give you some examples of
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my mother had the influence that set on the course of being
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faithful through life. You know, she had these
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particular characteristics, and we read about
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these characteristics in Colossians chapter
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beginning in verse 12.
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Colossians chapter 3, beginning in verse 12: These
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are the characteristics that we're all to have.
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She had them. But we're all to have these characteristics
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when we put off that old man of sin and
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we rise a new person.
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We rise in newness of life.
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We do away with that old man. Leave him there
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and separate ourselves from him.
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And we put on this new man. And these was the characteristics
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that she had. Colossians 3, beginning at
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verse 12: meekness,
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longsuffering; bearing one another, forgiving one
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another. If one has a complaint against another, even as
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Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
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But above all these things put on love, which is the bond
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of perfection. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts,
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to which also you were called in one body.
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Be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
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wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,
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singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever
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you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
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giving thanks to God the Father through him.
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Characteristics as described here,
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We all should have. You know,
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characteristics are what makes up the character.
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We all have different characteristics. That's why we can tell each one of us
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who we are. We have different characteristics.
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But these are listed characteristics that we're to take on when we
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become a part of the family of God.
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It's that new man. We take
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on these characteristics. We chose— are
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those who believe. The chosen are those who believe
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the gospel and obey the gospel.
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Holy means set apart from the world, verse 12.
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Set apart to Christ to bring him glory.
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By becoming what he would have us to be.
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So as the characteristics make up the character,
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how is our character? I hope
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it is as was hers. I hope it is as is
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all those that are born into Christ.
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Born into the covenant relationship with God.
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Heart of compassion. What's that tell us? That tells us
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that it's merciful.
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Not only a heart of feeling for others,
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but being motivated to do what can be
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done for others. You know, that's how we show
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our love to one another. Is what we do for one another.
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Compassion simply means that we're
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merciful. We have a heart of feeling
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for others and also a heart of doing for others.
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I think a prime example of this is the Good Samaritan in
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Luke 10. He not only seen
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what needed to be done. He did what needed
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to be done. The other 2 individuals,
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the religious individuals,
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you would think they'd been the first there to
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offer aid, but they wasn't. Says they passed
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by on the other side. They had other things to do.
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Sometimes we have to be careful. We get too busy doing other things.
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And let the waiter manners go.
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The mother never was that way. Whatever she needed to do
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for others, she did.
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I think this parable and the Good Samaritan teaches genuine
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love and mercy,
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and that they know no bounds.
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This individual was a Samaritan. Probably the
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one that fell among the thieves was probably Jewish,
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but he didn't mind that.
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He didn't say, now, who are you? What are you doing down here? Why'd you
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get in trouble? No, he rendered aid.
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Second in line— second in names is kindness.
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Sometimes we see a yard sign out and says, out in the yard, somebody's yard
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says, be kind. It's a good sign. Be kind.
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Not only does it help others if you're kind to them, it also helps us.
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Be kind one to another. Goodness to others,
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considering others' feelings, treating others
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as we would like for them to treat us.
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That's kindness. I remember very well.
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We had some neighbors that was really in need.
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And we milked a few cows.
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We separated the cream. What milk was left
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over, my mother always told the neighbors, you come
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here, I think about 7 o'clock, she'd say, get all the milk you want.
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And they would, they did. They had large families, one large family.
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They'd show up every morning at 7 o'clock, carry off
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a couple of jugs of milk. They needed it.
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She was glad for them to have it. Every year
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during the time when she wasn't busy doing other things,
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she'd crochet. She'd crochet all of her neighbors.
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Some kind of a spread. Sometimes she'd get
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me to deliver it to them. And you'd hear her carrying on, people carrying
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on, oh my, my. And they'd always return her
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with a nice dish or something.
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But that was kindness.
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Lowliness. Lowliness simply means humility.
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I think we would think about probably one individual,
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The centurion, another individual,
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the publican, that pleaded that God be
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merciful to him, a sinner. That should be our
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attitude. Humbleness, lowliness,
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lowliness and self-appraisal. We praise— we appraise
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ourselves. Let us be humble in doing so.
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Meekness. You say, well, what's meekness?
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I think that's one thing, it is gentleness. However, I think it's having
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the other's interest at heart. Who was
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the most meek person we have according to scripture? Says that Moses,
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Moses was meek. How meek was he?
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Says he was meekness, more meek above
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all the men who were on the face of the earth. Numbers 12:3.
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You know, when his sister and brother got into trouble,
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he pleaded with God for their behalf, on their behalf.
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Even though they were rebelling against him,
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he pleaded to God on their behalf.
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That's meekness. About long-suffering.
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Long-suffering is simply patiently Enduring long
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problems. Sometimes things
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come about that last a long time,
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but with God's help, with our faithfulness,
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we know that that time is going to end.
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There's no one that lasts forever.
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So those are the things. And down in verse 17: I
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think pretty well sums it up. Whatever soever
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you do in word or deed,
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do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
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through him. That verse
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simply tells us that whatever we do,
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make sure that we have the authority from the Lord to do that.
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Whatever we practice,
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make sure we have the authority from the Lord to do that.
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You know, word and deed, that covers everything, doesn't it?
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Word and deed leaves nothing out.
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Whatever we do in word or deed,
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make sure we have the authority from the Lord to do that.
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I thought I'd use this passage of Scripture as descriptive characteristics
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that my mother had and that all should have in the Lord.
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Let's go to Ephesians 6:1-4.
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Ephesians 6:1-4.
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This is talking about the
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promise or the command
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with promise. Children,
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obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
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My mother always taught us, obey your parents.
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Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment
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with promise, that it may be well with
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you and you may live long on the earth. And you
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fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training
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and admonition of the Lord.
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You know, I didn't know about the command
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with promise. When I was a child.
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But I understood following the rules because
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she made it pretty plain to us. She set rules and
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expected us to follow them.
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Rule number 1, my younger brother and I
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would be with her in church at 10 o'clock
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on Sunday morning. Rain or shine. A mile
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and a half each way we walked, but we was there.
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That's rule number 1. She had some other rules.
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We wasn't to be smoking. My brother-in-law
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did smoke. He just had cigarettes laying around some, but that was the only one
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that did smoke in the family, so that wasn't too hard to obey that rule.
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One rule she had was Couldn't chew any tobacco.
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My dad chewed. Those kids wasn't to do that.
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That's the rule I broke. I guess
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I was 10 or 11, 12 years old, maybe, maybe,
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maybe 10. And I decided
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I was going to be like my dad. I went out to the barn.
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We had tobacco hanging in the tiers. Well, you hang tobacco upside down,
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you know. And the tear that
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tore me off that leaf of low-hanging fruit when I could
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reach easy, that's got the most power in it.
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I shoot it. I was feeling good for about 5 minutes
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and then it hit me.
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If I'd known about the Golden Rule— if I'd known about the
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commandment of promise then, I would have been scared.
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'Cause I didn't think I was going to make it. Anyway,
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I went to my mother and I said, I'm sick. I'm really sick.
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And most of the time when I'd go to her and tell her that,
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she would do something for me, you know, but she didn't pay much attention
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to me. She said, well, you'll be all right. And I
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did get all right. But I think back about it, I think she knew.
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She knew exactly what I'd done. And I think she knew
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that the punishment Mother Nature gave me was sufficient.
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And it was. 70 years later,
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I've not had another chew of tobacco.
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I've not wanted any more since.
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She also had this rule. We talk about swearing and
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carrying on. She, she threw a lot bigger umbrella
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over that. Swearing. She said, an ugly word.
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Don't be saying any ugly words.
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And I never heard her say an ugly word.
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And she was blessed with a lot of patience.
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Time's about gone. I'll tell this one and then we'll close.
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My brother-in-law, he was
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He was of the Seventh-day Adventist faith.
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And he— me and my sister got married about somewhere
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in '55 maybe. And I can remember he
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come down and he was going to convert my mother to
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the Seventh-day Adventist. And he'd bring all
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kinds of material. He'd go, he worked in
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Louisville. He lived in Louisville, but they'd come down every Friday evening,
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stay till Sunday evening, and went back. Every week he
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gave her some more material to bring down. She just used
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the Bible and she would let him read.
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He'd say, look here at this. And she said, well, you read here at this.
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And he would. I think he really wanted— I think he was really
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interested to learn the truth.
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It went on like that for a long time, but then it, you know,
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wanged away. But then a few years
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later, he did obey the gospel.
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So her influence.
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And at the end, her husband,
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my dad, obeyed the gospel. All my
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family, my brothers, sister obeyed the gospel.
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Now, that family of 7 started out, she was
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the only Christian, but she,
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by her example, I firmly believe all
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the family obeyed the gospel and
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all of their spouses obeyed the gospel.
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And a lot of their grandchildren in years
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to come obeyed the gospel. So I
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think she had a good influence.
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Anybody have any comments or anything you'd like to say before we close?
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Go ahead. When I think of your journey of faith,
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I think of Mary, Jesus' mother,
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and all the things that she treasured in her heart and all that.
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Yeah. Yes. Yeah, exactly right.
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Yeah. Thank you all.