Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Germs That Make Us Contagious, Part 2

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Germs That Make Us Contagious, Part 2 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: There's something quietly irresistible about certain people. You can't always
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  Speaker 1: put your finger on it, but when you're around them,
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  Speaker 1: you simply feel better, more hopeful, more alive. That's no accident.
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  Speaker 1: God actually designed his people to be a kind of
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  Speaker 1: sweet aroma in the world, drawing others in, not driving
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  Speaker 1: them away. But somewhere between Sunday morning and Monday afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: many of us lose that fragrance. Today, on Insight for
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  Speaker 1: a Living, Chucks Wendall shows us the path back to
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  Speaker 1: a life so compelling it simply demands an explanation. We've
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  Speaker 1: begin in one Thessalonians five, verse eleven.
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  Speaker 2: I want you to notice that this list we're looking
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  Speaker 2: at kind of evolve out of a statement that Paul
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  Speaker 2: makes in verse eleven. Encourage one another, build up one another.
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  Speaker 2: I think if I were to paraphrase it, I would say,
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  Speaker 2: be contagious with encouragement. When you get to verse sixteen
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  Speaker 2: down through twenty, you come upon things that are continually appropriate.
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  Speaker 2: See the way it reads, always rejoice unceasingly, pray in everything,
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  Speaker 2: give thanks, stop extinguishing the spirit, and stop turning off
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  Speaker 2: messages from God spoken through the throat of a prophet.
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  Speaker 2: And then there are finally, well, there's one thing that's
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  Speaker 2: occasionally uncertain, and so as we're going to see, we
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  Speaker 2: need to examine it carefully. If it's good, stay with it.
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  Speaker 2: If it's bad, get rid of it. We'll look at
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  Speaker 2: that in a minute. Now, some things that are continually appropriate.
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  Speaker 2: If you want to be contagious, work on these things.
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  Speaker 2: Always rejoice. There is in this a well developed sense
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  Speaker 2: of humor, an optimistic outlook on life, a focusing on
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  Speaker 2: the healing rather than on the difficulty of the problem.
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  Speaker 2: A person who is rejoicing always is one who is
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  Speaker 2: light hearted in spirit, one who, on occasion really enjoys
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  Speaker 2: a good laugh. The only way to have a heart
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  Speaker 2: that's full of joy is to have a heart that's
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  Speaker 2: free of the burdens. And to have a heart that's
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  Speaker 2: free of the burdens means you've got to release them,
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  Speaker 2: and you release the burden. How prayer, see the way
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  Speaker 2: he puts it, Pray without ceasing. What's the genius of
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  Speaker 2: this discipline. Number one, it is tremendously therapeutic, and number two,
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  Speaker 2: it is a direct pipeline to wisdom. That's why prayer works.
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  Speaker 2: It's a therapy that sends the burden from my shoulders
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  Speaker 2: to God's. And second it sends back to me perspective,
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  Speaker 2: which is called in scripture wisdom works. I've never seen
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  Speaker 2: it fail. Never When I say to my Father, help me,
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  Speaker 2: hear he does. And when he helps me, he also sends
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  Speaker 2: along in the package insight. I need perspective that I need,
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  Speaker 2: wisdom that I need. I'm freed from the anchor that
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  Speaker 2: drags me down. And as a result, guess what verse
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  Speaker 2: eighteen happens? In everything give thanks? Did you notice this?
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  Speaker 2: It's an always matter of rejoicing. It is an unceasing
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  Speaker 2: matter of prayer. It is an in everything matter of
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  Speaker 2: giving things. There are sometimes when things occur in my
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  Speaker 2: life that I simply am baffled. Do you have that
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  Speaker 2: same experience? I just am baffled, But then three months later,
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  Speaker 2: looking back, I'm not at all baffled. I'm amazed at
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  Speaker 2: my insight three months later as I look back. But
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  Speaker 2: it took the loss of three months earlier for me
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  Speaker 2: to gain what I got three months later. Sometimes the
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  Speaker 2: gratitude happens to me following a time of sin. Ruth
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  Speaker 2: Harms Caulkin writes in Lord, it keeps happening and happening
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  Speaker 2: these words. Oh God, you have driven me into a
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  Speaker 2: corner where I cannot escape. I come to you penitently,
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  Speaker 2: for today I have sin grievously. I have betrayed my
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  Speaker 2: highest ideals. I have been false to my inner convictions.
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  Speaker 2: I know I have broken your heart. Thank you get
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  Speaker 2: the gratitude. Thank you for dealing with me in the
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  Speaker 2: privacy of your personal presence, for my sin has been
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  Speaker 2: against you alone. Cleanse me, Lord, change me. Sin is
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  Speaker 2: so hideous, so outrageous. Renew me until I am spiritually contagious.
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  Speaker 2: In that act, I become increasingly more contagious. Contagious people
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  Speaker 2: aren't perfect people. They're forgiven people. They're people who claim
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  Speaker 2: the forgiveness God grants, and they live in the light
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  Speaker 2: of it. Now you'll notice the first three are positive, Rejoice, always,
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  Speaker 2: pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks. This is God's
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  Speaker 2: will Now the negatives, and interestingly, the adverbs aren't emphasized now,
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  Speaker 2: but the subjects Earlier it was always rejoice unceasingly, pray
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  Speaker 2: in everything, give thanks. Now it's the spirit. Do not
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  Speaker 2: extinguish prophetic utterances, Do not despise emphasis sake. Now it
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  Speaker 2: turns to the spirit, and I think it has reference
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  Speaker 2: to the Holy Spirit who lives within the believer. Don't
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  Speaker 2: extinguish him, stop putting out the spirit's fire. Philip's paraphrase
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  Speaker 2: refers to damping the spirit of God. Don't damp his presence. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the child of God cannot lose the Spirit of God.
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  Speaker 2: I'm convinced of that. So it's not a question of
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  Speaker 2: living my life separate from the Spirit of God, but
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  Speaker 2: living my life with May I say it this way,
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  Speaker 2: with him on hold, allowing my life to become so
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  Speaker 2: self serving, which is simply sinful and stubborn, that he,
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  Speaker 2: having worked and worked to bring me back in line,
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  Speaker 2: steps away, folds his arms and waits for me. You
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  Speaker 2: never had that experience. I'm gonna show it to you.
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  Speaker 2: In Joseiah's words, Turn back if you will, from Thessalonians
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  Speaker 2: to Joseah chapter five. If you have trouble finding Joseiah.
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  Speaker 2: Just before Joel, I'm sure you know where Joel is.
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  Speaker 2: Joseah five, he calls a group of people Ephrium, Ephrium,
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  Speaker 2: and he's worked with Ephrium, and worked with Ephrium, and
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  Speaker 2: worked with Ephrium, and they have bowed their neck like
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  Speaker 2: a stubborn mule. And we're gonna notice the progress, which
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  Speaker 2: might be called the regress. Here got it Joseah five,
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  Speaker 2: verse two. And the revolters have gone deep intopravity. But
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  Speaker 2: I will chastise all of them, God says, I'll go
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  Speaker 2: to work on him. I know Ephrium, and Israel is
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  Speaker 2: not hidden from me. For now, Ephrium, you have played
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  Speaker 2: the harlot. Israel has defiled itself. I dropped down to
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  Speaker 2: verse eleven. Ephrium is oppressed, crushed in judgment because he
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  Speaker 2: was determined to follow man's command. Notice that that's usually
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  Speaker 2: when we get off track, when we listen more to
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  Speaker 2: man than to God. We're all culpable. Therefore, God says,
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  Speaker 2: I am like a moth to Ephriam. I just found
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  Speaker 2: this this week, and it's one of those discoveries you
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  Speaker 2: make and you think, when did that go into the Bible.
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  Speaker 2: I have never seen that. It's been there for centuries.
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  Speaker 2: We haven't seen it ever. Been camping and had a
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  Speaker 2: moth bother you around the lantern you just can't get rid.
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  Speaker 2: And then another one comes. Moths talk to each other.
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  Speaker 2: Come on over here, Ralph, this is a good light.
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  Speaker 2: And then Johnny comes in and Shirley joins him, and
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  Speaker 2: then there's a whole family of them all. I will
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  Speaker 2: be like a moth to Ephriam, nothing big, just tormenting,
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  Speaker 2: staying at him, working with him. Verse thirteen. Ephriam saw
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  Speaker 2: his sickness, and when he did, he ran down to Assyria,
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  Speaker 2: and he says at the end of thirteen, he's unable
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  Speaker 2: to heal you and to cure you of your wound.
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  Speaker 2: So God says, I'm going to change from a moth
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  Speaker 2: Verse fourteen, I will be like a lion. Forget this,
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  Speaker 2: there's a little difference between a moth and a lion,
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't you say, like a young lion to the house
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  Speaker 2: of Judah. I even I will tear to pieces and
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  Speaker 2: go away and carry away, and there will be none
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  Speaker 2: to deliver, scraping and clawing and snarling and haunting and haunting.
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  Speaker 2: I'll be like a lion with him. But you know
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  Speaker 2: there are some that still get away from a lion.
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  Speaker 2: Look at the last verse. And so I'll go away,
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  Speaker 2: Why because he's been extinguished. I'll return to my place.
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  Speaker 2: How long until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my
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  Speaker 2: face in their affliction. They will earnestly seek me. Wow,
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  Speaker 2: you know what that affliction is. It's divine silence. It's
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  Speaker 2: lack of God's assistance. It's the horror of loneliness. It's
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  Speaker 2: knowing that life need not be like that, But it
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  Speaker 2: is like that because I choose to make it like that.
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  Speaker 2: The moths are gone and the lions are gone, and
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  Speaker 2: there's nothing in my day but the cold, barren, lonely,
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  Speaker 2: no contact with God. Verse seventeen of chapter four, Ephrium
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  Speaker 2: is joined to idols let him alone. I'll tell you,
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  Speaker 2: we have a lot of fun together, but there are
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  Speaker 2: times we could really downright serious. And this is one
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  Speaker 2: of those times. You don't want to play with the
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  Speaker 2: spirit of God. You really don't want to do that.
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  Speaker 2: He's not a fun and games guy. Okay, that's blasphemy.
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  Speaker 2: There's something about the boiling fire work of the spirit
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  Speaker 2: of God that heats up a life and makes it
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  Speaker 2: contagious and licks away the wrong As those flames continue
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  Speaker 2: to rage in the life and keeps that heart softened
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  Speaker 2: to God and concerned about the lost, and in touch
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  Speaker 2: with the hurting and tender and sensitive to spiritual things
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  Speaker 2: and insightful to spiritual truth. That's all the work of
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  Speaker 2: the spirit. You can push him away, and push him
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  Speaker 2: away and walk in your carnality till he'll back off,
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  Speaker 2: and he'll say, Okay, you go on your own, and
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  Speaker 2: you will hate it. Don't extinguish the spirit of God.
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  Speaker 2: And while on the subject, he adds, do not despise
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  Speaker 2: prophetic utterances. First, Thessalonians five verse twenty literally stop treating
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  Speaker 2: prophecies with contempt. This has a background that we need
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  Speaker 2: to explain. The Thessalonian church had been ripped off with
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  Speaker 2: false prophets. By the way, every time there is a
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  Speaker 2: true prophet, you can count on this, nearby, there'll be
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  Speaker 2: a false prophet. One man writes. Wherever God plants, wheat
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  Speaker 2: Satan sows tears, Wherever God establishes a church, the devil
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  Speaker 2: erects a chapel, and so too. Whenever the Holy Spirit
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  Speaker 2: enables certain men to perform miracles of healing, the evil
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  Speaker 2: one distributes his lying wonders. And wherever the paraclet brings
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  Speaker 2: a true prophet on the scene, the deceiver presents his
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  Speaker 2: false prophets. That happened in Thesalonaika there came false prophets,
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  Speaker 2: who says, who said, don't worry about your job. Christ
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  Speaker 2: is coming. It's imminent, I mean any day now, and
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  Speaker 2: you don't even need to work. And so they quit
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  Speaker 2: their jobs and they stood around idly leaning on others
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  Speaker 2: for their life sustenance, and they became busybodies. And Paul
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  Speaker 2: wrote them and said, you've gone to the extreme. Well,
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  Speaker 2: others saw that happen, and they decided on the other extreme.
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  Speaker 2: Will listen to nobody. No one is a prophet. If
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  Speaker 2: that's the result of prophecy, we don't want to have
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  Speaker 2: anything to do with any of the prophets. This rebuke
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  Speaker 2: is to them. You see, in those days, prophets were
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  Speaker 2: the secret of hearing God's voice. They didn't have a
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  Speaker 2: Bible complete in their language. They had to rely on
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  Speaker 2: men who could speak ex Cathedra, the very oracle of God,
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  Speaker 2: who spoke without error the truth of God's revelation. And
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  Speaker 2: so I think what he's saying is, don't become suspicious,
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  Speaker 2: be sensitive to God's voice. Because there are false prophets,
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  Speaker 2: does not give you reason to believe that all prophets
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  Speaker 2: are false. By the way, not all prophecies come in
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  Speaker 2: the form of divine revelation. I got a definition. I
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  Speaker 2: think it's from the Lord on this whole thing. I
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  Speaker 2: would say that prophecy is the declaration of God's mind,
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  Speaker 2: spoken forthrightly in the power of the spirit at just
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  Speaker 2: the right time. Sometime it's a practical prophecy. Prophets have
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  Speaker 2: a way of speaking forthrightly in penetrating through the facade,
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  Speaker 2: don't they. I had a man called me this week
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  Speaker 2: who's a very dear friend. We were on the subject
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  Speaker 2: of the failing marriages of some individuals in ministry, and
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  Speaker 2: he said to me, I can't hang up the phone,
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  Speaker 2: Chuck without asking you, how's your marriage, how's your home?
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  Speaker 2: And I count on you to keep the fires hot.
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  Speaker 2: I said, I'm glad to say things are great. They've
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  Speaker 2: been tough and they will be tough again, but right
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  Speaker 2: now I need that exhortation. And then he said to me,
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  Speaker 2: I want you to know that I believe you, but
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  Speaker 2: I just there's something within me that couldn't rest till
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  Speaker 2: I heard it from your lips, because I want you
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  Speaker 2: to know I'm counting on you to honor God in
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  Speaker 2: your private life just as much as in your public life.
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  Speaker 2: I call that a prophecy, and I needed to hear it,
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  Speaker 2: and I was not to dispose.
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  Speaker 1: You.
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  Speaker 2: See, it's in that context that the next section is written.
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  Speaker 2: Examine everything carefully. I don't lose the train of thought.
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  Speaker 2: This is a whole paragraph of links in the chain
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  Speaker 2: that fit together in a life that becomes contagious. Examine
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  Speaker 2: everything carefully. See, sometime things will be uncertain. You'll not
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  Speaker 2: know if it's of the Lord or of the devil.
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  Speaker 2: You'll not know if it's of the flesh or of
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  Speaker 2: the spirit. So when it comes to you, you have
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  Speaker 2: to make an examination of it. Examine everything carefully. I
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  Speaker 2: think the command is be discerning, which puts to bed
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  Speaker 2: the idea that living spiritually is living with gullibility. Keep
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  Speaker 2: your head on straight. My dad used to say, even
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  Speaker 2: though the Lord has entered your heart, he hasn't cut
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  Speaker 2: off your head. And I see the Christians who live
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  Speaker 2: as though they have no head. Wake up, wake up,
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  Speaker 2: look closely. Don't believe every person who says I speak
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  Speaker 2: to you from God. Then what are the criteria? How
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  Speaker 2: do I know the things I'm to accept? As he
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  Speaker 2: says in verse twenty one, hold fast to that which
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  Speaker 2: is good and twenty two abstain from that which is evil,
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  Speaker 2: every form of it. Well, I think whatever comes from
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  Speaker 2: God is consistent with the truth of Scripture. That's one thing. Second,
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  Speaker 2: it is obedient to the lordship of Christ. That's the second.
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  Speaker 2: And third, it is in agreement with your inner spirit.
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  Speaker 2: I know that's subjective, but you'll know, you'll connect. If
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  Speaker 2: you're that yielded to the spirit of God, you'll sense
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  Speaker 2: that's exactly what I need to hear right now. It
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  Speaker 2: doesn't contradict scripture. It doesn't put down the Lordship of Christ.
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  Speaker 2: If anything, it upholds it. It lifts it higher than
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  Speaker 2: I thought. And third, it connects with my inner spirit.
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  Speaker 2: I call it making spiritual sense. I know it comes
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  Speaker 2: from God. The best counsel I've received has come through
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  Speaker 2: those criteria to the good cling from the evil abstain.
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  Speaker 2: I ask you as we started, you have the courage
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  Speaker 2: to be contagious. I close with three statements, something to remember,
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  Speaker 2: something to resist, and something to release. Remember the goal
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  Speaker 2: you want to be contagious. The goal is to build
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  Speaker 2: up to encourage others. First Thessalonians five eleven. That's the
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  Speaker 2: goal to encourage. Remember that you want to be contagious.
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  Speaker 2: Then you need to resist cheap imitation, the cheap imitation
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  Speaker 2: of joy is a silly laugh all the time, a
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  Speaker 2: nervous laughter, the need to joke about everything, to be
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  Speaker 2: serious about now. And that isn't joy. That's insecurity. That's superficiality.
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  Speaker 2: You're revealing that you're nervous with who you are and
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  Speaker 2: you're not sure who God is. That isn't joy. That's
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  Speaker 2: a cheap imitation, a cheap imitation of prayer. You can
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  Speaker 2: go right down through. It is finding the need to
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  Speaker 2: talk about how much you pray rather than simply praying,
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  Speaker 2: or to make up for a long lapse by having
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  Speaker 2: an hour in prayer once a month. That's a cheap imitation.
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  Speaker 2: Watch out for that. Resist that third release, the fear
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  Speaker 2: of what others may say or think contagious. People don't care.
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  Speaker 2: If you're convinced it honors and pleases God, you don't
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  Speaker 2: care what others may think or say. I kind of
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  Speaker 2: like the counsel from Davy Crockett to quote a great
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  Speaker 2: saint from the past. Be sure you're right, then go ahead.
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  Speaker 2: That's great counsel. From his book Run with the Horses,
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  Speaker 2: Eugene Peterson writes, life is difficult, Jeremiah, are you going
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  Speaker 2: to quit it? The first wave of opposition. Are you
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  Speaker 2: going to retreat when you find that there is more
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  Speaker 2: to life than finding three meals a day and a
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  Speaker 2: dry place to sleep at night? Are you going to
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  Speaker 2: run home the minute you find that the mass of
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  Speaker 2: men and women are more interested in keeping their feet
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  Speaker 2: warm than in living at risk to the glory of God?
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  Speaker 2: Are you going to live cautiously or courageously? I called
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  Speaker 2: you to live at your best, to pursue righteousness, to
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  Speaker 2: sustain a drive toward excellence. It is easier, I know,
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  Speaker 2: to be neurotic. It is easy to be parasitic. It
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  Speaker 2: is easier to relax in the embracing arms of the average.
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  Speaker 2: Easier but not better, Easier but not more significant. What
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  Speaker 2: is it you really want, Jeremiah? Do you want to
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  Speaker 2: shuffle along with the crowd or run with the horses?
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  Speaker 2: Then he concludes, the euphoric impetus of youthful enthusiasm no
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  Speaker 2: longer carried Jeremiah. He weighed the options, he counted the cost,
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  Speaker 2: He tossed and turned in hesitation. The response, when it came,
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  Speaker 2: was not verbal, but biographical. His life became his answer.
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  Speaker 2: I'll run with the horses, maybe bowed together, Please, just
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  Speaker 2: for a moment, just for a moment, you're running with
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  Speaker 2: the horses. You contagious, are dull? You settle for mediocrity?
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  Speaker 2: Or have you decided to be different, not to play
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  Speaker 2: the game, not to traffic an unlived truth, to be
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  Speaker 2: distinctly Christian, even if it ruffles some feathers. Go back
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  Speaker 2: to this list. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and everything
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  Speaker 2: give thanks, don't extinguish the spirit, don't turn off God's
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  Speaker 2: word from human voices. Examine everything carefully and carry that out.
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  Speaker 2: You'll be contagious. How grateful we are, our Father, for
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  Speaker 2: the way your word addresses specific areas of our lives,
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  Speaker 2: always in need of attention. Even today, you've talked to
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  Speaker 2: us about rejoicing at all times, not necessarily for what
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  Speaker 2: has happened, but through it all you have been faithful,
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  Speaker 2: and we rejoice in that. We've learned that the surest
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  Speaker 2: sign of your presence is joy. So enable us to
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  Speaker 2: live that out, Father, and also to pray with the
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  Speaker 2: frequency of a hacking cough, frequently often, and without necessarily
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  Speaker 2: bowing our heads or closing our eyes. Thank you for
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  Speaker 2: that reminder today and the attitude of gratitude. How important
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  Speaker 2: is a grateful spirit, and that we not quench the spirit,
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  Speaker 2: that we not hold back your leading, and at the
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  Speaker 2: same time, that we be open to truth as it
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  Speaker 2: is presented and not despise your word as it comes
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  Speaker 2: to us. Father, thank you for your lordship over every
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  Speaker 2: phase of our lives. Our hearts ache for those who
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  Speaker 2: don't know your son, and I close by praying for
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  Speaker 2: them now. And Lord, should there be any listening at
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  Speaker 2: this moment who've never trusted in your son as savior,
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  Speaker 2: and you'd bring them to their knees. You'd show them
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  Speaker 2: that there is no other one who has the answers
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: for eternal life. Thank you for the privilege of communicating
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: your truth today. May it run now and have free
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  Speaker 2: course in the lives of those who have heard it
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  Speaker 2: and those who will now be living it out. We
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  Speaker 2: ask this together in the great name of Christ, our
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  Speaker 2: Lord and Savior.
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  Speaker 1: Amen today on inside for living Chuckswyndaul, teaching from First Thesalonians,
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  Speaker 1: chapter five. He titled his message Germs that make Us Contagious.
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  Speaker 1: It's number eleven in a twelve part collection of studies.
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  Speaker 1: They originate from Chuck's verse by verse study through Paul's
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: first letter to the Thessalonians. The series, which concludes Monday,
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  Speaker 1: is called Contagious Christianity. If you're part of a small
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  Speaker 1: group at your church, did you realize that Insight for
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Living offers an in depth Bible study workbook for First Thessalonians.
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  Speaker 1: It's part of our searching the Scripture's studies that use
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: the same method Chuck uses for preparing his sermons. It's
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  Speaker 1: perfect for your small group or to use in your
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: private devotional times with the Lord. Before the series concludes,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: we encourage you to call or go online to order
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: a copy. Look for the Bible study workbook called Contagious
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  Speaker 1: Christianity at insight dot org, slash offer or call eight
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  Speaker 1: hundred seven seven to two eighty eight eighty eight. Also,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: if you haven't read Chuck's classic book called Laugh Again,
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  Speaker 1: you're missing out For a few more days. We'll send
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: you a copy of that book when you include a
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: contribution to support the ministry of Insight for Living. Think
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: about it, When was the last time something made you
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  Speaker 1: genuinely laugh, Not a polite chuckle, but a real cat
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: you off guard belly laugh. Well, Chuck believes that kind
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  Speaker 1: of joy isn't frivolous it's actually a sign of something deeper,
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  Speaker 1: a soul that's anchored in the goodness of God, even
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  Speaker 1: when life isn't cooperating it. Laugh Again Chuck draws from
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  Speaker 1: Paul's letter to the Philippians to show you how to
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  Speaker 1: cultivate outrageous, contagious joy, not someday, but right now. Rite
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  Speaker 1: where you are. You can request laugh Again when you
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: make a donation to support Insight for Living and rediscover
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: what it feels like to really laugh. Call eight hundred
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  Speaker 1: seven seven to two eighty eight eighty eight. You can
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: also send your donation in the mail by writing to
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: us at Insight for Living, post Office box five thousand, Frisco, Texas,
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  Speaker 1: seven five three four, or go online to Insight dot
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  Speaker 1: org slash donate. I'm Bill Meyer. Chuckswyndall presents the final
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  Speaker 1: message in this teaching series, Contagious Christianity Friday on Insight
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  Speaker 1: for Living. The preceding message, germs that Make Us Contagious
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  Speaker 1: was copyrighted in nineteen eighty four, nineteen eighty five, nineteen
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  Speaker 1: ninety three, two thousand and three, and twenty twenty four,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: by Charles Rswindahl, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. The
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  Speaker 1: duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.