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1 Thessalonians chapter 3 · Scripture Unscripted

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  First Thessalonians chapter 3. Let us pray.
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  Oh Lord God Almighty, we thank you, Father, We thank you for
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  the written word. We thank you for the completion
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  of Your word, the spoken word given to us.
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  Thank you, God, that we can hold it and house it, and that we can
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  memorize it, Father, and that we can bury it deep, deep down in
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  the recesses of our minds, in the recesses of our psyche, in
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  the recesses of our feelings and emotions, God, in the recesses
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  of our bones and capillaries. Father, I pray in the name of
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  Jesus to be filled with power from on high today.
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  God, Holy Ghost, Phyllis overflowing.
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  God, I pray not just halfway, not just a little bit, not just
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  to the top, but God overflowing into the communities, into the
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  highways and the hedges and the byways.
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  God, I pray in the name of Jesus that today will be the day of
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  salvation for someone. Your mercies are new every day.
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  Thank you God for waking us up this morning and put on our
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  feet. Thank you God for another chance
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  to come and to worship you in spirit and truth.
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  Thank you Lord God for the church, the ecclesia, the called
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  out ones. Thank you God Almighty, for
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  giving us the down payment of the Holy Ghost.
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  Thank you, Lord, that where you are we will be.
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  Thank you Lord that you're coming soon.
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  Thank you, Lord, that we have prepared ourselves.
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  We have adorned ourselves. God, we wait expectantly, we
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  watch and we wait. Father for you, the blessed
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  return of our King and our Lord, we love you.
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  King Jesus, we look upon you today as the brazen snake lifted
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  up in the wilderness. God, we look upon Jesus Christ,
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  the all sufficient sacrifice. Lord, we receive salvation
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  today. Lord, we receive our wholeness
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  today. We receive healing today from on
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  high. God heal us, heal our bodies,
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  heal our bones, heal our minds, heal us today heal marriages
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  today. God heal this nation.
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  God heal the world at large. Father, I pray against the
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  schemes of the enemy. God, bind the enemy and cast
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  them into the judgement. You have a waiting for him.
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  Father, I pray that today, Lord, you will be well pleased with
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  the reading of your text. Lord, as we open up your word,
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  let your word word read us, edify us, build us up.
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  Father God, we are all standing upon the chief cornerstone.
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  We have built our lives upon the rock God and we will never be
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  put to shame. Lord, you are for us, so there
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  can be no one that is against us.
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  We are more than conquerors. We put on the full armor today,
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  and by faith we wrap the belt of truth around us.
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  God, we tell the truth. Lord, we resist lying.
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  We are not attached to the Father of lies.
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  We are attached to the truth, Jesus Christ Lord, by faith.
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  We put on the breastplate of righteousness.
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  Protect our hearts from all the fiery darts, protect our organs
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  from all of the piercing arrows that are being thwarted at us.
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  God, I pray that you'll guard our hearts and let out of our
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  hearts come the wellspring of life.
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  Father, I pray that we'll store up in our hearts your words,
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  your mind, your motives, your emotions, your feelings, your
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  responses. God, I pray that you'll guard
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  our hearts. Let us not be LED off astray.
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  Lord, by faith we shod our feet with the shoes of the gospel of
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  peace. Lord, we hold the gospel of
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  peace in our hands. There is no peace outside of
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  Jesus Christ. God, help us to run this race
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  well. Help us to have the peace of
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  you. Father, I pray by faith that I
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  can put on the helmet of salvation.
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  Let us overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the words of our
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  testimony. Lord, by faith I lift up the
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  shield of faith over my head. I lift it up over what my mind
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  is trying to tell me, God, and by faith I stand firmly upon the
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  Word of God, and by faith I take up the sword of the Spirit,
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  which is the word of God. By faith.
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  I pray, Lord Jesus, that you will help us to rightly divide
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  the Word. Give us correct theology, God.
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  Give us the correct doctrine, God, we resist and we break down
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  and we dismantle the doctrine of demons.
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  Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, I pray that you will
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  help us to put on the full armor and to run this race well and to
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  wage war against all of the darkness and against all of the
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  wicked principalities. God, I pray in the name of Jesus
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  that you will help us and fuel us and take us to new heights
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  with you. King Jesus, we love you.
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  We RIP down all the strongholds of every demonic entity trying
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  to rear its ugly head against us and against our bodies and
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  against our minds and against our families and against our
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  workplaces. God, in the powerful name of
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  Jesus Christ, Lord, we draw circles around everywhere that
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  we go today. We are the peacemakers.
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  We are more than conquerors. And Father God, I pray you'll
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  crush the head of rebellion. Lord, in the mighty name of
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  Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.
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  Well, let's start in verse one. Wherefore, when we could no
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  longer for bear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone.
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  So Paul here has counted the cost, and he has seen that it is
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  far better for him to be left alone than to send old Timothy
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  to this church at Thessalonica where Paul had established in a
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  very short three weekend span of time.
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  And we're going to see how Timothy was a fellow worker of
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  Paul and was treated by Paul as a son, verse 2, and sent
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  Timothy, our brother and minister of God and our fellow
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  laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort
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  you concerning your faith. So we can see that Timothy was
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  likened to a table waiter, this minister.
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  And that is what that word means.
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  It was denoted to the early church whenever the widows were
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  complaining of the Hellenist Jews, and they were complaining
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  that they were getting overlooked.
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  So they had put together a band of men who would serve tables.
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  And here Timothy is likened to one of them, and he's also this
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  minister of God, a fellow labor. And then we know about the good
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  news. This gospel of Christ is the
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  good news. And when you have the good news
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  of Christ, it will establish you.
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  And we need to be established before we can ever be comforted.
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  But this good news will establish you and this good news
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  will comfort you in faith. And that is what Paul is
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  referencing here. We need to be established in the
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  good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  We need to know that we know that we know that we know that
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  the enemy cannot snatch us out of God's hands.
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  All he could ever do is get us to make a mess out of our
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  testimony and our lives so that we're not effective for the
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  service unto the King. Because when we try to
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  evangelize, people look upon our lives and they don't see any
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  difference than the rest of the world, and we lose our witness.
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  So we need to be established, friends, and then in that
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  establishing we can be comforted knowing that all the sins that
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  we have ever committed, are committing, or will commit are
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  under the blood of Jesus Christ. And by faith we are clothed in
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  His righteousness and His purity, and we are clothed in
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  his innocence. And we will stand before an
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  almighty God, a holy God one day, and he will see us as
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  blameless and perfect and holy because he is holy. 3 that no
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  man should be moved by these afflictions for you, for
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  yourselves know that we are appointed there unto.
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  So, just so you know, afflictions and persecutions are
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  built into the Christian life. And this is something that gets,
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  it gets left out in the very first part of giving out the
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  invitation to the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  And this is sanctification. As we by and by we start to
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  learn that not only are the rewards built in to the
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  Christian life, but so are the afflictions, Friends.
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  And God disciplines those that He loves, and He allows us to be
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  in the refiner's fire, and He allows us to go in and to melt
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  out all the impurities in the dross, to melt out all of the
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  impurities that do not belong, because He desires to refine us
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  and to make us into His image. Do not be surprised, friends, if
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  you are in the fire. It is part of the Christian
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  walk. But do not suffer for doing
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  wrong. There is no glory in that.
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  But if you suffer for doing what is right by God and what the
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  words of His good book say, then you can be sure that you will be
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  rewarded in due time. For for truly, when we were with
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  you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation even
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  as it came to pass. And you know, Paul was driven
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  out of Thessalonica by an angry mob, and he went into Berea and
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  was driven out by the same mob from Thessalonica.
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  And he told the church there, listen, you will suffer
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  persecutions and trials. And then with their own eyes,
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  they got to see it is that he's talking about not only to him,
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  but they are also in that time being persecuted and being an
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  affliction because of their faith in this Jewish Carpenter,
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  in this rogue St. preacher who claimed to be the Son of God.
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  And he is our Savior, and our Lord, and our KING5 For this
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  cause, when I could no longer for bear, I sent to know your
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  faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and
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  our labor be in vain. So Paul was very concerned of
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  this church here in Thessalonica.
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  And this being the very first letter that he penned, it would
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  have been a very short time from the time that he left them to
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  the time that he wrote to them. And He is letting them know that
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  He was concerned to see if they had fallen away because the
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  tempter had come in and tempted them back into ease and tempted
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  them back into comfort and tempted them back in to a life
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  free of affliction. And that is what the enemy will
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  try to do to you. Friends, when you are sold out
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  100% to the Lord Jesus Christ, the world will hate you because
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  it hated Him first. And you will be looked over for
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  that promotion. And you will be ostracized for
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  your faith and ridiculed because you do not look like the rest of
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  the world. And there are so many because
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  they were planted in shallow soil.
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  There are so many that have fallen away and they have
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  renounced their faith because they were not deeply rooted and
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  grounded in God's Word. The bird came in and snatched
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  the good news that came, and also the tares and the snares
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  came up and choked out the fruitfulness of that St.
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  And Paul here is wondering what has happened to the church at
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  Thessalonica, and he is sending Timothy to find out.
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  He could no longer for bear. He wanted to know what their
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  faith level was like. 6 But now when Timothy came from you to us
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  and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that
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  you have good remembrance of us, always desiring greatly to see
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  us as we also to see you, So Timothy brought back a good
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  report. Paul was very concerned about
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  this church here at Thessalonica.
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  And now Timothy has returned and he's leaping for joy because
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  they have been firmly established in love and in
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  faith. And he brought the good news of
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  their love and faith and that they remembered Paul fondly for
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  all the teachings that he poured out like a fire hydrant trying
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  to drink water out of that fire hydrant.
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  Paul in three weeks time gave them all that they needed to
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  know about our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  He poured out an entire life of learning Old Testament as a
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  Pharisee of Pharisee and a Hebrew of Hebrews.
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  And he turned and in three weeks time poured out all the
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  knowledge that this church in Thessalonica needed to be
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  grounded upon and to be established upon.
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  And now they're looking back very fondly at this time that
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  they got to spend with this super apostle.
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  Seven. Therefore, brothers, we were
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  comforted over you in all our afflictions and distress by your
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  faith. So Paul said I could go through
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  whatever happens because I know now that you are firmly rooted
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  and grounded in God's Word. And he says that it's all not
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  for nothing, and that I have great joy in knowing that you
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  know the truth and that you are serving the truth, and that you
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  are worshiping the truth. And his name is Yeshua. 8 For
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  now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.
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  Paul says, I have been revived by your faith.
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  I have been stirred to great measures.
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  I have been made alive by this news that you are firmly rooted
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  and grounded in the truth. Stand fast in the Lord.
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  That is what we are called to do.
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  Friends, gird up your loins so that you can stand in His holy
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  presence and stand against the Wiles of the enemy.
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  Stand against all the tyrannical, demonic assaults
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  that are coming our way at a rapid pace.
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  They are coming through so many different ventures.
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  They're coming in the mainstream.
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  They're coming in every side. We are hard pressed, but we must
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  stand firm until the end, not wavering and being tossed to and
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  fro like a little child. We are called to stand like men
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  and do not retreat, do not go backwards, do not digress and
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  regress. We must stand and we must
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  continue to go forward with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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  telling every single nation, every single people group, every
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  single tongue. We must tell about the good news
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  of our Lord Jesus Christ, no matter the cost. 9 For what
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  thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy
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  wherewith we joy, for your sakes, before our God.
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  So he's saying we are celebrating in the highest
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  order, we are jumping for joy, we are giving God the utmost
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  praise, because you are established in the truth. 10
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  Night and day, praying exceedingly that we might see
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  your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith.
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  So Paul wanted to impart to them a greater measure of
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  understanding of anything that they were lacking in.
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  Paul wanted to fill the void. He wanted to make sure that they
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  didn't have any questions, that they were not doubting all the
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  things that he had taught them. He wanted to be there in person
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  to be able to answer any of the questions that they might have
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  about Jesus Christ. 11 Now God himself and our Father and our
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  Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you.
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  So you can see the Godhead here. Look at how Paul says God
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  himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  This is the Godhead being referenced and Paul had a
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  wonderful understanding of the Trinity and he would always
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  intermingle and sprinkle and season his letters with this
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  Godhead. He understood that Jesus is God
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  and that God himself is our Father.
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  And he is the only one that could open doors that no man can
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  shut, and he is the only one that can shut doors that no man
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  can open. Why do the nation's rage in the
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  people's plot in vain? God is in heaven and does
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  whatever he wants. 12 And the Lord make you to increase and
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  abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even
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  as we do towards you. So it's not enough just to love
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  those who love you, but we must love our enemies, friends.
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  And here Paul is reminding them of this wonderful spiritual
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  truth and that God is the only one that can cause you to love
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  God more. We need to ask God to increase
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  our love for Him and increase our love for our neighbors.
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  All of the law is wrapped up in loving the Lord God with all
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  your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength, and
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  loving your neighbor as yourself.
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  Everything culminates and everything is satisfied.
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  Whenever we will love like He loves and He can increase and
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  abound that love, we never arrive, friends.
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  We never hit a spiritual plateau to where we get comfortable.
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  God is going to take us from glory to glory.
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  Hallelujah and Amen. We'll end on 13 to the end.
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  He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before
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  God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
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  with all His Saints. 13 is a loaded verse.
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  We could spend a lifetime talking about it to the end,
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  meaning the end of time or the end of your life, whichever
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  comes first to the end. He's going to establish our
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  hearts. Our hearts need not to be
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  fearful. They need not to be calloused.
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  Our hearts need not to revert back to the lustful, fleshy,
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  earthy things that we once did when we did not know Him.
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  He desires to establish us, and to plant us firmly, and to give
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  us a hope, and to give us a future, and to work all things
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  together for the good of those who love Him and who are called
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  according to His purposes. And here He is telling us that
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  we will be unblameable in holiness before God by being
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  covered in the blood of Jesus Christ.
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  We can stand before an Almighty God and He'll never see any of
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  the sins that we've ever committed.
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  He is holy, and so we can be holy.
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  He imputes to us His righteousness, friends, and His
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  perfect life on to us. He takes upon our sin in this
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  great scandalous exchange that happened upon the cross of
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  Christ, and then He tells us the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
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  with all His Saints. You need to understand
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  something. There's nothing that is standing
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  in the way of the church being called up and called out of this
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  world, the capital C Church. We wait expectantly upon our
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  groom, we fill our lamps with oil, which is the Holy Spirit,
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  and we wait expectantly. We look up and see our
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  redemption is drawing near. We see the leaves on the fig
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  tree and we know that summer is near.
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  We will not be caught off guard, friends.
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  We do not know the day, we do not know the hour, but we know
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  that he comes like a thief in the night, friends.
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  And if the strong man knew when his house would be broken into,
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  he would not allow it, friends. But you need to understand that
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  we will go to be with Him forever more if we belong to
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  Him, and we will receive our rewards because they are with
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  Him. And during the time that we're
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  receiving our rewards, the whole earth will go to hell in a
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  handbasket. This place will be worse than
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  it's ever been since the beginning of time.
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  And if God had not shortened those days, no one would
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  survive. But I want you to know this
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  little verse here is talking about the end of the
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  tribulation, that our Lord Jesus Christ will come with all of His
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  Saints. That is you and that is me.
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  And the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than anyone who
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  is born of woman. All the prophets of old long to
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  see the day that we would be indwelled with part of the
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  triune nature of God Almighty. To be indwelled with the Holy
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  Ghost is one of the greatest privileges that mankind has ever
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  been able to encapsulate and to house the Godhead inside of
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  humanity. And Jesus Christ was the first
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  born in the same power that resurrected him from the dead.
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  Lives inside of you and lives inside of me.
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  St. And we will raise up on the last
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  day, friends, and we're going to learn a lot about that as time
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  goes on. I pray that you've been blessed
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  by this amazing chapter in God's Word.
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  I know I sure have many times over.
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  What an amazing book in the Bible.
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  Paul wants us to know and not to be ignorant of what the plans of
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  God are. And he writes them down.
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  As plain as the nose is on your face, friends, He writes it down
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  black and white and tells us exactly what we are to hope for.
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  I love you, so does God, so does Jesus.
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  Be prayed up today. Be filled with the Spirit today.
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  Resist all of the schemes of the adversary.
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  Stay rooted and grounded in God's Word.
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  I'm praying for you, praying for strength for this hour.
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  Do not lose hope. Do not be dismayed.
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  God bless you. We'll see you back here
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  tomorrow.