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Tonight we are. 
Beginning a new book Paul's 

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letter to the Thessalonians and 
its first Thessalonians chapter 

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1 and the questions will cover 
verses 1 through 6. 

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And normally I just read the 
verses that cover the questions 

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but because it's a start of a 
book. 

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I'm going to read the whole 
first chapter before we get into

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our questions and there's five 
questions. 

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If you need them, they're on the
back table. 

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So first Thessalonians. 
After one, and I'll begin 

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reading there in verse 1. 
Paul Savannah, Saint Timothy to 

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the Church of the Thessalonians 
in God, the father and the Lord 

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Jesus Christ grace to you and 
peace from God, our Father and 

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the Lord Jesus Christ. 
We give thanks to God. 

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Always for you all making 
mention of you in our prayers, 

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remembering without ceasing your
work of Faith, labor of love, 

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and patience of Hope. 
In our Lord Jesus Christ. 

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In the sight of God, our Father.
Knowing beloved Brethren your 

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election, by God. 
For our gospel, did not come to 

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you in word only but also in 
power and in the Holy Spirit and

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in much Assurance, as you know, 
what kind of men we were among 

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you for your sake and you became
followers of us and the Lord, 

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having received his word, in 
much Affliction with joy of the 

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holy spirit so that you became 
examples to all in Macedonia and

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aquella, who believe For from 
the word of the Lord has sounded

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forth. 
Not only in Macedonia and 

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aquella, but also in every place
your faith toward God has gone 

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out. 
So that so that we do not need 

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to say anything. 
For they themselves declare 

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concerning us. 
What manner of Entry we had to 

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you and how you turned to God 
from Idols to serve, the living 

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and true God and to wait for his
son from Heaven. 

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Whom he raised from the dead 
even Jesus, who delivers us? 

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From the Wrath to come. 
And correctly. 

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Read barring any mistakes on my 
part reads. 

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The 10 verses that cover chapter
one of the book of First 

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Thessalonians chapter 1, 
Obviously these were written 

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divinely inspired by the Holy 
Spirit, Paul writes to the first

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letter to those in thessalonica.
And there were many things that 

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they were being praised for 
their many things that they were

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known for. 
Well, we're going to find later 

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on especially by the second 
letter. 

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That there were some things that
needed to be corrected. 

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There's a lot of encouragement 
that happens. 

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I think in 1st Thessalonians and
by second Thessalonians because 

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of their misunderstanding about 
when the Lord was going to come 

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back Paul had to correct some 
things and he does that but 

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backing all the way up to the 
very beginning. 

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We begin in verse 1 and it's 
Paul silvanus and Timothy. 

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Now, the question is, who was 
silvanus and what is meant by 

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the phrase in God, the father, 
and the Lord, Jesus Christ. 

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Well, first of all, silvanus, 
obviously, I think we all know 

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this with Silas and Silas was a 
companion of the Apostle Paul on

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his second missionary journey, 
as we About in Acts chapter 15 

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and verse 40 when they reach 
lystra, they met a disciple by 

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the name of Timothy and Paul 
took him along on this journey. 

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In fact, Timothy was Paul's most
notable disciple in Philippians 

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chapter 2 verses 17 through 23. 
We find that he traveled with 

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Paul during his second and third
missionary Journeys and stayed 

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near Paul during his first Roman
imprisonment. 

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So what does it mean when he 
says, or why does he say in God 

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the father? 
And the Lord Jesus Christ. 

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Well, obviously, he's writing to
the church later on, he's going 

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to call them the elect. 
But in the very beginning of 

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this letter, he says to the 
Church of the Thessalonians in 

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God, the father and the Lord 
Jesus Christ, a couple of ideas 

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about that. 
First of all, God and Jesus 

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Christ are not the same person. 
In fact, some would say in some 

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do believe that it is God 
himself as Jesus Christ, it's 

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all the same person but there 
are three that bear record in 

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heaven. 
We know that there's God, the 

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Father, there's God, the son and
there's God the Holy Spirit. 

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And when John would say and 
these three are one, it doesn't 

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mean that they're one person. 
It means they're one in the same

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by way of purpose, by way of 
agreement, and they work 

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together in every way. 
But there are three separate 

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percentages in the Out of here, 
but it's interesting because he 

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says God and Jesus Christ. 
And he makes a distinction 

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between the two and yet ties 
them together at the same time. 

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I think there's several reasons 
about that. 

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Well, first of all, they do work
together and they for the same 

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purpose. 
But you have to remember, too 

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that many of the early converts 
that Paul dealt with came from 

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Judaism and they were Jewish by 
blood. 

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In fact, later on there were 
those that would try to reject 

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Jesus himself. 
And I think that the fact that 

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Paul begins this letter by 
saying it is God and Jesus 

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Christ to show that. 
First of all, number one, the 

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Assembly of the church is not a 
Jewish assembly. 

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That's number one. 
It's of Jesus Christ, it is a 

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Christian Assembly. 
That's number one. 

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Number two, I think it also 
proves to them. 

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You can't have God without Jesus
Christ. 

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They go together now. 
They work together. 

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They're different in this regard
by way of Duties. 

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I would say, perhaps, or roles 
regarding the church. 

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Number one, first and foremost, 
God is the father. 

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And Jesus is the ruler. 
In fact, Jesus would say that 

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all power is given unto me in 
heaven and in Earth God gave 

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Jesus the power. 
So all authority is given to the

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Sun and that's Jesus Christ. 
And so what Paul is doing is 

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he's tying them together. 
You cannot have god without 

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Jesus Christ and to have Jesus 
Christ is also to have God they 

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work together. 
And when with regards to the 

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church, You cannot separate them
at all. 

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Then he goes in verse 2. 
And he says we give thanks to 

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God always for you always for 
you all making mention of you in

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our prayers. 
And then also, this verse 

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covers, this question covers 
verse 3 also, which I will read 

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remembering without ceasing your
work of Faith, labor of love, 

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and patience of Hope in the Lord
Jesus Christ, in the sight of 

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God, and of our God, and Father,
First of all, giving thanks to 

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God always for them, making 
mention of them in your prayers,

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you know, statements like that 
was very common to Paul. 

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I heard somebody say one time 
wouldn't it have been nice to 

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have been included in the prayer
list of the Apostle Paul? 

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When Paul would say a number of 
times in his writings and he 

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wrote over 2/3 of the New 
Testament. 

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And many times Paul would say 
that he makes mention of them in

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his prayers, daily mentioning 
them in his prayers, Paul 

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obviously was a man of prayer 
and gave a great example by his 

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own. 
Own prayer life. 

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He begins by saying he says to 
them. 

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I give thanks to God. 
Always for you, making mention 

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of you in our prayers. 
Then he says, remembering 

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without ceasing your work of 
Faith, labor of love and 

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patience of Hope the question is
this? 

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What is the work of faith? 
And what is a labor of love? 

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Now obviously the threefold 
combination of faith. 

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Hope and love was a favorite of 
Paul. 

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In fact, Paul says, those very 
things they and the greatest of 

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these is love and so forth. 
So obviously these are tied 

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together and what Paul is doing 
is he's referring to a 

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fulfillment of spiritual duties 
that results from three 

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spiritual attitudes and 
obviously this to let's just 

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make mention of this in passing.
We'll spend very much time on 

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this. 
We know that there's a 

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difference between faith and 
meritorious works. 

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We get that many believe today 
in the religious world that 

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there's we are saved by faith 
alone or faith only and we know 

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that that's not true. 
But there's a difference between

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a meritorious work and a work of
obedience and what's brilliant 

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about what Paul is doing here is
Paul puts together, the word 

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work and the word faith in the 
same sentence. 

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It is a work of Faith. 
A couple examples about that 

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first of all, If we demonstrate 
our faith by obedient works, 

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it's an expression of our faith.
It is an outward expression of 

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our inward Faith. 
Its faith in action in Romans, 

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chapter 10. 
And verse 17, though Paul says 

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that faith comes by hearing and 
hearing by the word of God. 

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So, we know that the word of God
is connected to Faith. 

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It has to be and really, when 
you think about it, this way, if

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you think about works that are 
done by By faith, a work. 

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Cannot be a faith in accordance 
with the will of God, that is 

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not founded on the word of God 
or supported by the word of God.

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When the Bible talks about be 
ready for every good work. 

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You know, sometimes people can 
think that a work is good 

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because they look and they see 
the good that comes from it. 

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And they think well, that's a 
good work. 

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And if something is achieved 
that is good and how can it be 

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bad? 
I'm talking about from a 

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spiritual perspective, but a 
work is only good if it's in 

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accordance with the will of God.
It has to follow suit with the 

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word of God, faith is the 
foundation based upon the word 

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of God. 
God faith comes by hearing and 

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hearing by the word of God. 
In other words, it is what God 

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authorizes. 
So, our work to be acceptable to

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God must be a work of faith that
is connected to the word of God 

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and what God has authorized. 
And then he says, labor of love.

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Christians need to understand 
that. 

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Not only do we follow the works 
that we must do in obedience, 

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but it has to be a work of love.
It's kind of like are giving, 

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right? 
Paul says, with are giving, he 

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says not of necessity, he said 
not grudgingly. 

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In other words, in any aspect of
our Christian Life, we can't do 

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it just because we know we need 
to be obedient to the word of 

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God. 
So therefore we just do it. 

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And we have and maybe even 
resisting against it, but we 

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just go through the motions. 
You can do have a work of Faith 

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which is a work of obedience but
if it's not a work of Love or 

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it's not a labor of love, it's 
vain. 

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It needs to be from the right 
motive, the right perspective of

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the right attitude, it needs to 
come from the right heart, the 

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right spirit, and it must be a 
labor of love. 

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So, a work of faith, is a work 
of obedience, that demonstrates 

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our faith. 
And that's based on the word of 

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God, Odd a labor of love is when
you do that and love is the 

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basis or the motivation behind 
it. 

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I didn't ask this in the 
question but look at look at the

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phrase patience of hope. 
These two things really go 

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together because you can't 
really have one without the 

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other and they really do go 
together for example. 

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If a person doesn't have hope 
and I can't even imagine living 

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the Christian Life without hope.
If all we had was this life and 

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there was nothing else and there
was nothing after this life. 

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You know, Paul says, we are of 
all men, most miserable And if 

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you think about the idea of 
hope, hope is something that we 

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trust God for the future. 
Faith is when we trust God in 

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the present, but hope is what we
hope for for the future. 

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Now, hope if we have hope it 
produces what it produces. 

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Patience in that word means 
perseverance. 

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So if we have the proper, hope 
it will give us the proper 

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patients or perseverance to make
it to the end. 

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So they go together all these go
together. 

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And so also to, if you flip it 
around, if you don't have the 

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proper perseverance, you don't 
have any right to the hope that 

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comes after this life. 
To It. 

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Go together for the promised 
reward question. 

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Number three, what is the phrase
election by God mean? 

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And it covers verse for knowing 
beloved Brethren your election, 

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by God. 
Now, now, obviously first, let's

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just Define the word election. 
The word election means Choice, 

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election, or selection. 
And what's interesting is is 

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when Peter dealt with this and 
second, Peter chapter 1, in 

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verse 10, he talks about the 
elect And really, it's 

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misunderstood a lot today, but 
it's very simple. 

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God has elected or predetermined
the kind of person that's going 

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to be saved. 
It doesn't mean that he chose 

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one man over it. 
You're going to be saved. 

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You're not going to be saved. 
You're going to be save, you're 

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not going to be saved. 
What it means is, is he has made

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the determination. 
He is predetermined the class of

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person that's going to be saved 
and that's an obedient 

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Christian, okay? 
That is God's election, but you 

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become the elect of God when you
obey the gospel. 

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Oil. 
So by your own obedience and 

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your part, that's conditional 
Divine election. 

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God's part. 
He said in an order man's part 

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your elect when you obey the 
gospel. 

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So that's what it actually 
means. 

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We are elect, we are the elect 
of God and it puts all the 

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emphasis on us to. 
As Peter says, make your calling

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and election. 
Sure showing that our conduct 

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our obedience, our Behavior, our
Works in all of that truly 

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matter too. 
Verse 5. 

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For Our Gospel, did not come to 
you in word only, but also in 

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power and in the Holy Spirit and
in much Assurance, as you know, 

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what kind of men we were among 
you for your sake. 

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The question is break down this 
verse and explain its meaning. 

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The first part of the verse 
where it says, for Our Gospel, 

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did not come to you in word. 
Only, I think what this means 

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is, what he's saying, is the 
gospel, did not just come by the

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eloquent speech or the eloquent 
words of man, it's more than 

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that. 
It didn't just come that way. 

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But also in power now, It kind 
of makes you think, at first 

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that, what he's talking about is
he's talking about miracles when

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he says power, but not 
necessarily and and I don't 

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think that's what he means 
specifically. 

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Because if he was talking about 
the gospel being preached to 

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them, by not only the words, but
Power, miraculous power. 

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We don't find any of those 
indications where the word of 

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God to thessalonica, actually 
came in that way. 

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I'm not saying that there were 
no me. 

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Goals in the Revelation or 
confirmation of the word. 

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What I think he's saying though,
is this, the power came as the 

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inspired, Holy Spirit, inspired 
those that preach the word of 

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God. 
It's powerful. 

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It wasn't just in eloquence of 
speech. 

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It came also, it came by the 
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 

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And in Romans 1:16. 
Paul said, for I am not ashamed 

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of the gospel of Christ. 
For it is the power of God to 

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Salvation to everyone that 
believes to the Jew first and 

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also to the Greek, I did read 
one commentator and he thought 

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he this is a really good point 
that he made. 

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He said the gospel is not just 
an invitation. 

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It's not just an invitation, it 
is the power of the word of God 

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that has the power to save you. 
Therefore the power comes from 

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the word of God. 
It wasn't just the speech of 

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man, it wasn't just man's words,
it came with power and the power

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is the gospel and the gospel was
inspired by the holy spirit. 

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So I think that's what he's 
talking about. 

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Vincent said, it's the power of 
spiritual persuasion and 

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conviction. 
Not tell you something. 

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It doesn't make any difference 
when it's been either back in 

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the days of the early church. 
Modern times in the United 

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States of America on foreign 
soil. 

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It doesn't matter. 
The power of the Gospel still is

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the same. in fact, you know, so 
many times, people have said, to

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me, oh, you go to the 
Philippines and, you know, you 

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might baptized 80 or 100 people 
and then you come back home and,

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you know, You hold a whole 
meeting and your preacher heart 

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out, the whole meeting the 
preach, the same word of God, 

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you preach the same gospel. 
And you might have a number of 

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visitors that come and attend 
that gospel meeting and you'll 

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be lucky. 
If you baptize, anybody during 

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the course of that meeting. 
And sometimes people have said, 

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well, is it discouraging? 
Or is it depressing? 

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And the answer to that? 
Really is. 

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No because when you go places 
and see the word of God, and the

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power of the word of God, you 
realize it's not the The problem

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of the preaching and it's not 
the problem of the word of God. 

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The problem is the heart of the 
recipient. 

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It's the heart of the recipient.
and one more thing to remember, 

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when Jesus gave the parable of 
the sower, Remember the very 

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first one that he said, the very
first one he said the Wayside 

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soil. 
Now we understand we preach the 

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word of God. 
It's like taking seeds and 

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scattering it or broadcasting 
it. 

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Like they used to do in the old 
days and by the way, in the 

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Philippines, we would drive down
the road. 

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Oh look, he's broadcasting, they
do that grab, a handful and 

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fling it, like this. 
Do you remember when Jesus said 

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that which fell on Wayside soil?
It was the hard pan. 

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It was the, it was the footpath 
that people walked, and it was 

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so hard that the seed could not 
penetrate the Earth. 

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00:19:35,900 --> 00:19:40,600
Right later on. 
Jesus said that the birds come 

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and eat the seed. 
Later. 

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He find, we find in his 
explanation of that, he says, 

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who the birds represent the 
birds, that's the devil. 

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Sometimes people think, you know
what? 

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It's my choice. 
It's my decision. 

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And if I say yes or I say no, do
you not realize if somebody has 

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the wrong heart? 
And the seed of the Gospel is 

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spread and it lands on that hard
heart, they might think that 

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they have the power to make all 
those choices and all those 

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decisions, but the devil takes 
the seed away. 

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I think we have a lot of that 
today. 

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I think we have a lot of that in
the preaching of the Gospel. 

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Somebody here is the Sears, the 
gospel. 

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They don't have the right heart 
and before it could penetrate 

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their hardened heart or their 
heart can be prepared, properly.

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The devil takes to see the way. 
My point is this the power of 

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the Gospel is as it always has 
been and it doesn't matter where

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00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:43,300
it's priest. 
It's always been and always will

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be the power that will save a 
man. 

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It's the heart of man makes the 
difference. 

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It's the heart of the recipient.
It's the power of spiritual 

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00:20:52,500 --> 00:20:58,200
persuasion and conviction and 
obviously when in this verse 

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00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:02,300
when it says and in the Holy 
Spirit it very likely is a 

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00:21:02,300 --> 00:21:06,000
reference to the fact that Paul 
spoke by inspiration of the Holy

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00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,000
Spirit. 
I think that's what that means. 

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00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:09,900
But then he says something 
interesting. 

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He says in much assurance 
Vincent said, this is the Sheard

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00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,400
persuasion of the preacher or 
that the preacher that the 

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00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:23,600
message is divine. 
Now, there were a time when the 

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00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:30,500
word of God was not was not 
completed. so, miraculously the 

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00:21:30,500 --> 00:21:35,700
Holy Spirit had to reveal, The 
revelation of God's word to man 

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00:21:35,700 --> 00:21:39,800
who could therefore Proclaim it.
And so that was in the age of 

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00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,900
Miracles that was before the 
word of God was revealed and 

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00:21:42,900 --> 00:21:47,900
confirmed and finalized. 
And because of that Revelation, 

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00:21:47,900 --> 00:21:50,600
they had greater assurance that 
what they were speaking was 

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true. 
And I think that's what he's 

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00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,300
saying here. 
It was in the power of the Holy 

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00:21:55,300 --> 00:21:58,400
Spirit, it was in much 
Assurance. 

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You know what really matters to 
someone who's listening to you. 

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00:22:02,500 --> 00:22:05,300
If you are preaching the word of
God with assurance that it's 

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true. 
Now we have we have something 

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even greater, we don't have it 
miraculously revealed, we have 

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the word of God. 
We have the we have the Bible, 

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and it has the power to save and
we know it's true. 

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00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:21,200
So when we preach the word of 
God today, we also do so with 

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much. 
Such Assurance. 

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00:22:23,900 --> 00:22:25,200
No. 
Doubts at all. 

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And then he says, and you knew 
the manner of men among you? 

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You know, it's interesting about
this, we can't say enough about 

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the kind of person that a 
preacher or a teacher of the 

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00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:47,300
word of God needs to be. 
If a person is a powerful 

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00:22:47,300 --> 00:22:50,400
speaker, I mean, a guy's just a 
great speaker. 

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He could lay it out like no 
other man. 

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00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:59,400
Could if his life is not 
conducive to a man that a 

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00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:05,000
Christian should be It's 
meaningless, it'll have no power

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00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:07,500
and the reason for it is it's 
not that the gospel doesn't have

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its power. 
Its that the gospel loses its 

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00:23:10,100 --> 00:23:13,700
influence through the speaker, 
that's not living as he should. 

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00:23:14,700 --> 00:23:19,200
so what Paul is saying is he 
says, all of these things it was

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00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,800
In power in the Holy Spirit in 
much assurance. 

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And as, you know, the kind of 
men that were among you for your

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00:23:28,900 --> 00:23:33,400
sake, you know, the kind of man 
Godly men that preach the word 

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of God and all of that. 
Was for your sake. 

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00:23:38,700 --> 00:23:43,800
It was for somebody else. 
Finally question number 5 and 

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00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:48,200
verse 6. 
And you became followers of us 

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00:23:49,100 --> 00:23:52,500
and of the Lord, having received
the word in much Affliction with

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00:23:52,500 --> 00:23:56,700
joy in the Holy Spirit, okay? 
So the question is, what is 

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meant by the phrase with joy of 
the Holy Spirit? 

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00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:07,400
Obviously the gospel was 
received by inspiration of the 

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00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:11,200
Holy Spirit obviously. 
But there were many that had 

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that suffered two for the sake 
of the Gospel. 

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00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,300
In fact, there was a time when 
the Bible talks about those 

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00:24:17,300 --> 00:24:22,500
that, thank God and praise God 
because they counted themself 

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00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:24,800
worthy to be beaten for the 
cause of Christ. 

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00:24:25,700 --> 00:24:28,100
You know, when you think about 
some of the things that, that 

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00:24:28,100 --> 00:24:32,400
the early men had to go through 
and the strength and courage 

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00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,400
that they had to go through, 
with great Affliction, I think 

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00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,800
what he's saying is he's saying 
the same thing with those in 

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00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:42,500
thessalonica, they receive the 
word of God in great Affliction 

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as those that were being 
persecuted. 

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00:24:46,300 --> 00:24:50,200
In fact, in much Affliction 
describes the external effect of

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00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:54,800
the Gospel, but the joy of the 
holy spirit is the internal 

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00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:57,600
effect. 
And something else, too. 

389
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:02,400
Joy is a product of the Holy 
Spirit. 

390
00:25:02,700 --> 00:25:04,800
Galatians chapter 5 and verse 
22. 

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00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:10,900
You know, it doesn't matter. 
It doesn't matter the 

392
00:25:10,900 --> 00:25:15,000
circumstances of your life. 
You can have joy. 

393
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:21,900
You can have peace, you can have
the peace that surpasses all 

394
00:25:21,900 --> 00:25:25,100
understanding regardless of the 
circumstances in life. 

395
00:25:26,300 --> 00:25:29,600
And when you're the, when you're
the kind of a person who puts 

396
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:33,800
all of his faith in trust in 
God, you might have much 

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00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:37,000
Affliction in the receiving or 
the preaching of the word of 

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00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:41,700
God, but you can have joy. 
You can have joy joy of the Holy

399
00:25:41,700 --> 00:25:44,600
Spirit. 
One scholar said, the same 

400
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,400
Spirit who gave power to those 
who preach. 

401
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,600
The gospel Was the Same Spirit 
that gave joy to those who 

402
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,100
received it. 
So I think that's what that 

403
00:25:54,100 --> 00:25:57,900
means when it talks about. 
And with joy of the Holy Spirit,

404
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,800
we thank you for listening to 
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405
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:07,500
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406
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409
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