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Acts 20:25-38 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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All right, this morning's text for our consideration is Acts chapter 20, verses 25 through 38.
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! Again, we're going to look briefly at these exhortations Paul gives to the Ephesian elders as he is saying farewell to them.
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We're shortening the time significantly for the allowance of good discussion in those who are in groups.
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Our text this morning, Paul, in effect, says to the Ephesian elders,
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shepherd the church well, do so in the following ways.
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So if you're not an elder today, you may already be checking out, maybe thinking this is not a text for me,
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but I want to have you hang in with us for two reasons.
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Number one, I think that considering the work of your elders, the way that God has ordered the church and given to it leadership,
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the responsibility that those elders bear should make you thankful for elders.
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Us, I could say.
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We certainly live in an age of great skepticism toward anyone in authority, much of that for very good reason, but some of it not.
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So we ought to consider the leadership that God has given to our church and to the church for that reason.
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Secondly, you should know how to pray for and support your elders as you'll be well served by elders who are leading well,
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who are supported, and then serving as they should.
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So that said, I want to structure our study of Acts chapter 20, verses 25 to 38 in six points.
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So I'm going to rattle those off to you quickly, and then we'll repeat them as we move along.
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And I'm going to move fairly fast this morning.
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So number one, faithful shepherds look after themselves.
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Two, faithful shepherds lead their people.
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Three, faithful shepherds protect their people.
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Four, faithful shepherds pray and study.
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Five, faithful shepherds serve the weak.
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And six, faithful shepherds love and are loved.
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So let's read the text together.
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Acts chapter 20, beginning in verse 25.
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Remember, this is about halfway through Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders.
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So he says, beginning in verse 25,
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And now behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.
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Therefore, I testify to you this day that I'm innocent of the blood of all.
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For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
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Take careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers
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to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
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I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
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And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.
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Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.
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And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace,
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which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
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I coveted no one silver or gold or apparel.
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You yourselves know these hands minister to my necessities and to those who are with me.
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In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way,
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we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
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how he himself said,
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It is more blessed to give than to receive.
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And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
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And there was much weeping on the part of all.
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They embraced Paul and kissed him,
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being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken,
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that they would not see his face again.
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And they accompanied him to the ship.
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So in verse 25, Paul states that he will never see these men again.
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So these are his parting words, right?
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Although he would later write them a letter,
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this is the last time he would speak to them face to face.
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And I think that that really punctuates this address.
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What does Paul deem of greatest importance to remind these men of?
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The first point Paul makes about the faithful shepherd is that the faithful shepherd looks after himself,
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or that they look after themselves.
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And we see this in the first part of verse 28,
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where Paul says,
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In order for the man of God to lead others to God,
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he must be pursuing and growing in his own holiness.
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That is to say,
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elders cannot lead others faithfully if they themselves are not walking uprightly.
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Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, verse 20 and 21.
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And do you know where Timothy was when Paul wrote this letter to him?
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He was in Ephesus.
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He said,
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Now in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver,
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but also of wood and clay,
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some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.
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Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable,
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he will be a vessel for honorable use,
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set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house,
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ready for every good work.
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So faithful shepherds are meant to be out ahead of others in their pursuit of holiness,
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to be endeavoring to that very end so that they can lead others in the very same pursuit.
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So firstly, faithful shepherds look after themselves,
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look to their own holiness.
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Secondly, faithful shepherds lead their people.
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We see this in the last half of verse 28.
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Paul says,
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And to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
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to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
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Elders are also called overseers.
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We see that here in verse 28.
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What is it that they are to oversee?
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Budgets and properties?
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Well, maybe that's part of it.
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But predominantly, the primary work of overseers is to oversee people,
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and to oversee specific people,
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those people who are in covenant membership in the church that those elders are over.
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Your elders are placed in their position to give you leadership for your good,
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to help you in the way that you should go.
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What is the tool of the faithful shepherd in leading his people?
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It is the very word of God.
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Paul states in verses 26 and 27,
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Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all,
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for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
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Paul says that he has done everything that he could do to lead the Ephesians
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because he had boldly declared to them the whole counsel of God.
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A lot of times leaders get drawn into particulars of leadership,
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have to make wisdom applications from God's word.
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And often this is where the mistrust of leadership comes in,
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as leaders make decisions that may vary from the decision you might make
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concerning any given thing.
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But the primary task, the large task of elders is to declare the word of God.
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I do not believe this means that Paul preached an expositional sermon on every text of the 39 books of the Old Testament,
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right?
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Their scripture in that day, right?
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How would he have possibly had time for this?
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But I do believe it means that Paul was very clear to them about how a man was to be saved,
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God's purpose in his salvation, and the way of obedience to God.
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He taught them all they needed to know from the scripture to please their God.
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They understood all things necessary to be in relationship with the Lord and to follow him.
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There is great need in our day for faithful shepherds to lead their people by the word of God.
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In Amos chapter 8, verse 11 and 12, God issued a frightful prophecy, which I believe is very true of us today.
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This is what he says, Amos chapter 8.
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Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land,
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not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
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They shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east.
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They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
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Your elders are to be bastions of light so that you will know God's word and can share it with those who so desperately need it, right?
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So that you'll be saturated in God's word.
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God's word is good for his people, and we should be concerned about the good of God's people
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because they were obtained with Jesus' own blood, right?
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Jesus died for the church.
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Your elders know that we are not to be playing about in our leadership, but that it is a serious matter, right?
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This church should matter to us, and it should matter to every single one of us because it matters to Jesus.
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It matters to Jesus, right, to the very point that he gave his own life for hers.
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So faithful shepherds lead their people.
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Third, faithful shepherds protect their people.
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You see this in verses 29 through 31.
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He says,
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Paul says that people will come from outside and inside the church to deceive the disciples.
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I take his meaning that he's saying to the Ephesian elders, even from amongst you, you who I am speaking to,
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some will arise that will lead the church astray.
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How is it that people are deceived?
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People are deceived through the transmission of ideas, which means that in our day,
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we have to be all the more vigilant as ideas are moving at lightning speed, right?
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We have media bringing ideas of all varieties to the minds of our people.
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Sometimes I wish I had the power.
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I do not, to be clear, but I wish I had the power to just ban you guys from being on social media and tuning into any news stations.
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Let's maybe all read one newspaper and carefully think about the reporting that we find in it.
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Information is moving so incredibly quickly, right?
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All the more the church needs to be protected by God's word.
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We find ourselves every day in a war of ideas, and the faithful shepherd protects his people.
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We must be so careful.
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Listen to the warning of Jesus from Matthew chapter 7 and verse 15.
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Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
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So some will seem to be part of God's people, right?
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They will seem to be speaking on behalf of God, but they will not be, and they will work to devour the sheep.
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The faithful shepherd is going to be steeped and to be steeping in God's word in a continual way.
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He is not going to react rashly to each new wind of teaching, but should be a steadying force in the life of a church.
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Paul issues a similar warning in Romans chapter 16, beginning in verse 17.
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I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.
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Avoid them.
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For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.
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And by smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive, right?
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So I think an application of Romans 16, 17, and 18 is for elders not to get wrapped in, pulled into every single controversy, right?
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It's not possible for us to sort all of that.
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We're actually told here that we should avoid people like this.
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So the faithful shepherd must protect their people.
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But the aim is not just that our people would know some things about God, but that they would know God.
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This ought to be the primary point.
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Not that we know exactly how to navigate the political landscape, but that we know God.
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Not too many decades after Paul says his final goodbye to the Ephesian elders, the Apostle John receives a vision, which is recorded in the book of Revelation chapter 2, verse 2 and following.
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This is a revelation.
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This is Christ speaking to the church in Ephesus.
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He says,
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They had defended the church against false teachers, right?
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They were being very careful about their doctrine.
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They had hated the deception of the Nicolaitans, but they were failing to love,
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which means they were not rightly believing the truth of God's love for them.
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So faithful shepherds, as they're protecting the church, are concerned not just about the facts and figures,
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but about knowledge of God himself and then how that knowledge works out in love for others.
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So faithful shepherds protect their people.
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Fourth, faithful shepherds pray and study.
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First, faithful shepherds pray and study.
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Verse 32.
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Paul says,
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And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace,
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which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
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Right now, I recognize that this text is not specifically calling the shepherd to pray,
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but it is another example of Paul and his commitment to prayer, right?
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We can learn a lesson from his leadership as he says,
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And now I commend you to God.
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If we rightly understand the gravity of the task of faithfully shepherding God's people,
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we will pray.
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Prayer expresses a dependence on God and lines up our wills with his.
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A shepherd who does not pray shepherds in vain.
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And we can pray in confidence that our people would know God and walk in his ways.
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Jesus states in John chapter 14 and verse 13,
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Whatever you ask in my name,
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and whenever you hear that, you want to think,
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consistent with my character and my command.
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So whatever you ask in my name,
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this I will do,
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that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
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Shepherds have such reason to pray,
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such encouragement to pray,
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because we know as we pray that God will equip and grow his church,
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that he'll be quick to grant these prayers.
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Also, the faithful shepherd is to study, right?
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Paul commends to them to the word of God's grace.
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If we are to look to ourselves to lead and protect our people,
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then we must be students of the word.
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We must know it and be increasing in our knowledge of it
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and our understanding of its application.
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Elders must study.
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We must study more and we must study broadly, right?
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We must have time for study.
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With the people like you,
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seven days a week,
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24-hour days, right?
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Human men, frail,
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and we must have time
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and be able to make time for study.
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Paul wrote again to Timothy,
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2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17.
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Remember, he's in Ephesus.
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All scripture is breathed out by God
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and profitable for teaching,
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for reproof,
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for correction,
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and for training in righteousness,
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that the man of God may be complete,
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equipped for every good work.
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So faithful shepherds,
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pray and study.
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Fifth, faithful shepherds serve the weak,
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verses 33 through 35.
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We see that Paul didn't take advantage of anybody in doing the work,
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but rather turned and served them,
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provided for himself,
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so that they would be able to learn from him.
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He says and quotes Jesus at the end of verse 35,
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it is more blessed to give than to receive.
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For the sake of time,
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I won't belabor this point.
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The faithful shepherd does not look to his own self-interest,
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but rather serves others.
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Paul said to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 12, 15,
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I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.
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This is a scripture reference that I run through my mind often.
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What should be my attitude in serving the church?
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I will most gladly spend and be spent.
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So my material possession,
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my material well-being to be given for your sake,
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and my own self to be given for your sake, right?
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Your shepherds all feel this way.
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The faithful shepherd puts aside his self-interest
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and pours out his life for the sake of his people.
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So faithful shepherds serve the weak.
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And sixth and lastly,
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faithful shepherds love and are loved.
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And this is verse 36 through the end of the text.
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And when he had said these things,
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he knelt down and prayed with them all.
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And there was much weeping on the part of all.
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They embraced Paul and kissed him,
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being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken
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that they would not see his face again.
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And they accompanied him to the ship.
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I take all to mean that Paul also wept.
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If you do not love your people,
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pray with desperation that God would work in you a love for them.
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Beloved, your elders love you in this way.
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If you don't have a love for your elders in this way,
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pray that God would work in you a love for your elders in this way.
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Paul wrote to the Corinthian church again in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 concerning love.
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And I think we all need to hear this this morning,
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regardless of what position we may hold.
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He wrote beginning in verse 1,
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If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
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but have not love,
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I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
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Right?
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Just stop for a minute and just propose to you.
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Maybe on social media,
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you could be guilty of this noisy gong,
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clanging cymbal.
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Right?
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What are we doing in this age to love others?
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Well,
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verse 2,
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if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
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and if I have all faith,
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so as to remove mountains,
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but have not love,
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I am nothing.
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And I take this tongue in cheek,
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prophetic powers,
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understanding all mysteries,
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all knowledge,
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right?
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We've all sorted out every theory that's out there.
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You totally get it.
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You're totally in the right.
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He says,
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don't have love,
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you're nothing.
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And none of us have any of these things he's mentioned.
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So if we have not love,
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then we're less than nothing.
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Verse 3,
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if I give away all I have,
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and if I deliver it,
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my body to be burned,
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but have not love,
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I gain nothing.
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Love is patient and kind.
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Love does not envy or boast.
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It is not arrogant or rude.
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It does not insist on its own way.
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It is not irritable or resentful.
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It does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
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but rejoices with the truth.
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Love bears all things,
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believes all things,
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hopes all things,
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endures all things.
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Love never ends.
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As for prophecies,
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they will pass away.
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As for tongues,
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they will cease.
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As for knowledge,
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it will pass away.
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For we know in part,
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and we prophesy in part,
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but when the perfect comes,
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the partial will pass away.
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When I was a child,
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I spoke like a child,
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I thought like a child,
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I reasoned like a child.
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When I became a man,
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I gave up childish ways.
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For now we see in a mirror dimly,
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but then face to face.
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Now I know in part,
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then I shall know fully,
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even as I have been fully known.
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So now faith,
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hope,
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and love abide.
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These three,
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but the greatest of these
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is love.
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So faithful shepherds
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love,
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and they are loved.
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So just as a recap,
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faithful shepherds
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look after themselves,
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lead their people,
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protect their people,
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pray and study,
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serve the weak,
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and then lastly,
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love and are loved.
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So I hope that'll give you guys
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some things to chew on,
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some possibility of expansion
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of the text this morning as well.
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I think there's some space for that
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in this,
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and that you'll really enjoy
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your time further studying the words.