Welcome to Books of the
Book, and in this particular
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series we are
studying the letters to the
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Thessalonians by Paul.
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I'm Jon Paulien and with me
as my Pastor, Jon Ciccarelli.
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Jon it is good to be with you
again, as we now really start
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getting into this
study, we have looked at the
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context so forth and the
journeys that Paul has been on.
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Now we are going to look at
the letters that he actually
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wrote the Thessalonians.
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So today we are going to
look specifically at verses
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1 to 10 in Chapter 1 where
Paul is writing to them and
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telling them how joyful he
is and thankful he is for them.
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And the fruit of what God
has been doing in their life
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through God's Word in them.
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Very good, so there is about
10 verses long and I should
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mention that the translations
of Thessalonians are my own.
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The reason that I'm using
this personal translation is
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because I want to bring
out some things that you can't
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bring out in a normal Bible
translation, the grammar of
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the Greek, the meanings of
words that might be missing
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in a smoother type of English.
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So sometimes the translation
may be even a little bit
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awkward, but we are
giving that so that you can get
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a little bit of the
flavor of the Greek.
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For example, verses 2
through 10 of 1 Thessalonians 1
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is a single
sentence in the Greek,
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with only one main verb.
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Now most translations don't
show you that because it would
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be too hard to read, but
Paul seems to be able to string
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a sentence together with
all kinds of subordinate clauses
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and we will try to
break it down for you today.
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Alright, great! - so Jon,
why don't you, if you notice
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here this text that Paul is
very, very thankful, but how
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does he
expressed his thankfulness?
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Will he expresses thankfulness
to them in his prayers.
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But he especially thankful
because they have remained
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faithful to God in spite
of the things they have gone
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through, they are
remaining faithful.
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They continue to trust God
and they have had massive life
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change due to the Gospel.
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He sees the fruit in
their life of what God is doing
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through the
Gospel in their life.
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It's out all over about
their faith, they are sharing
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their faith and Paul is hearing
about it in other places.
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So it is exciting for him
to hear that the word he spoke
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is now being told through them.
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Isn't it a strange thing
to pray through your letter to
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somebody? - it's a
little strange, yeah!
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It feels that way, you know.
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But it is a neat thing
for them also because they are
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living with such great
hope of the second coming.
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Well one thing we discovered
in a previous program,
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is that Paul is way
more emotional than you might
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realize in reading
Romans or Galatians.
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He takes things very, very
deeply and we see that Paul
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brings all those
emotions into his prayers.
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It is in his prayers where
he reviews his life and his
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experiences with other
people, it is pretty neat.
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You have a way of
praying that is a bit unusual.
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Unusual huh? - Tell us about it.
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It's one of the things I
like to do from time to time.
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I call it
praying with a notepad.
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You know often times we are
with hands together and eyes
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closed, but I think God
also wants us to interact with
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Him and so sometimes
when I'm praying, I just start
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writing down my prayers
to God, and in that also when
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we pray we feel impressions
from God about maybe caring
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for somebody, don't
forget to check on so-and-so.
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Maybe even just write a
note, a phone call, send an
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e- mail, things about my
children maybe that I could
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become more sensitive
to, so I pray with a notepad
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and write down things that
I sense that God is inviting
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me into with Him in someone's
life and to go and share
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His love with them
in some particular way
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that day or that week.
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Alright! Well why don't
we get into Paul's prayer?
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- Alright! - Verse by
verse and see what we can learn.
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Let's look at 1
Thessalonians 1:1-3
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- There is a number
of things that jump out
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to me in this text.
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First of all while Paul is
writing the letter you notice
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he shares the
credit. - Huh hmmm!
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He says, Paul and Silvanus
and Timothy. Now it is clear
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that later all Paul's
writing because he talks about
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Timothy and sending
Timothy and Silas, so Paul is
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including his colleagues in
the letter and it strikes me
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there is no celebrities
at the foot of the cross.
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When you realize how God
has saved us and what He has
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brought us out of, there
is no reason for any of us to
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feel higher than somebody
else, smarter than somebody
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else, better than somebody else.
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And Paul, as great of a
man as he was, was eager to
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share credit with others,
and that is a model I have been
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struggling to follow in my life.
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Spread the credit wherever
you can, take the blame when
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necessary. Ha! Ha!
Ha! - That is a struggle.
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Because we are so tempted
to take the credit, you know!
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People may wonder about
who is this Silvanus - Yeah!
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Well he actually
appears in the book of Acts.
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But in the book of Acts
Silas, you see now Silas is the
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Jewish form of his name.
Silvanus is the Latin, you see.
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So what the Jews often did
when they would move away from
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Jerusalem, or move away from
Israel and go out into other
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parts, they would adopt
names that would fit with the
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society, for example my
name is Pauline from the German.
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But I have changed that a
little bit to make it more
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comfortable for people in
the United States it is Paulien,
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and my brothers
even says, Paulúein.
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So you see you're trying to
make the name to fit in with
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the society in which you
are, and we see that happening
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in the New
Testament quite a bit.
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Silas or Silvanus was actually
a leader in the Jerusalem
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church, so Paul was
keeping the church close.
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Paul was a bit of a
maverick and he would do some
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different things that
troubled some of the brother.
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But he kept some of the
leaders of the church with him
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when ever he went so they
could assure that what he was
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teaching was really solid.
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Of course these folks would
remember the sayings of Jesus,
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Silas was probably one of
the 70, Jesus had 12 disciples,
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and 70, so he knew Jesus
and could talk with authority
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about what Jesus believed, etc.
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Grace and peace, Grace is a
typical Greek greeting, peace
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or shalom is a typical Hebrew
greeting, so Paul brings the
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two together here,
which is a nice little touch.
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Finally of course we are
familiar with faith, hope and
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love, and in verse three
he says remembering your work
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of faith and your labor of
love, your patience of hope.
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Whenever Paul uses these
three together, the last one
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is the most important. - Hmmm!
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You may remember 1
Corinthians 13. - Right!
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Where faith, hope and
charity, faith, hope and love.
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Love is the most
important thing in Corinthians.
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But in Thessalonians it's hope.
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He has a focus on second
coming of Jesus and he wants
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to keep them
looking at that. - Yeah!
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So he's thankful, in this
passage, for a lot of things.
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Yeah, definitely that is
his theme here, that is the
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great theme and I think it
is a great example to us too
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in this world.
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We can get bogged
down with so many things.
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Just in a day, I like what
Jesus said, don't worry about
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tomorrow, just worry
about what happens today.
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But today with the economy
we live in, with relationships,
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so many crisis, it is so
important to give thanks.
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When we give thanks, things
begin to fall in line in the
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way things really ought to be.
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I love, one of the things
we do in our prayer meeting in
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our church, is often times
I'll pray and then we say Amen,
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and then we all go home.
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One of the things I like to
do is ask the church members to
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spend some time, let's
reflect on our time of prayer.
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What do we hear
in our prayers today?
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I remember one prayer
meeting in particular where the
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theme of gratitude was clearly
heard, and I thought it was
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like this chorus of Thanksgiving
from God's people to God.
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People walked away more at
peace, a little more light and
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not as heavy just say
there is so much to be
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thankful for of God.
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And there is a verse
that I really enjoy from
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2 Corinthians 4:15 and this is
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an unusual the
NTW (translation),
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It may puzzle people but it is
a book that just came out a few
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weeks ago. - A new translation
of the New Testament.
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And it says this. "As
Grace abounds through the
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"Thanksgiving of more and
more people, it will overflow
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"to God's glory." I love
that picture of this overflowing
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to God's glory through thanks
giving, instigated by His grace.
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The author of that translation
is NT Wright, a well-known
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New Testament scholar. - Right!
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- People may be interested,
I think it is called the New
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Kingdom Translation and
you might want to look at that.
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It's contemporary but it
is also solidly grounded in
00:10:07.60\00:10:10.94
scholarship as well. - Right!
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Alright, what about verse four?
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In verse four Paul
goes on and he says,
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Hmmm, that's a big
word. - That's interesting.
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You're the scholar
is going going to have
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to help us with this one.
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Well first of all I want
to point now that he says,
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brethren, okay? That means
he is calling them brothers.
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The early church did this a lot.
00:10:37.57\00:10:40.00
It was a family of choice
kind of thing, you remember
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in a previous program we
talked about how the typical
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house church might have
as few as 15 or 20 members.
00:10:47.14\00:10:50.58
It was like an extended
family, the typical church
00:10:50.58\00:10:53.72
in New Testament times,
so they thought of it as
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a family and they would
be some relatives there,
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but there would be a
lot of strangers and others.
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And being together in
church is like a like a family.
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How is that help us
when we look at church
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to think in those terms?
00:11:08.60\00:11:09.73
I wish we would do that
more, I can remember growing up,
00:11:09.73\00:11:13.44
as a kid, I grew up in a
church where everybody was
00:11:13.44\00:11:17.37
brother Jon, or Sister
Ruth and would always remind you
00:11:17.37\00:11:21.28
that you are part
of the family of God.
00:11:21.28\00:11:23.65
Today you don't hear
that it's much, but it is so
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important to remember.
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I guess we have our biological
families, but the most
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important thing is to
remember that we are part of the
00:11:31.09\00:11:33.19
family of God. -Uh
Hmmm! - He is our true Father.
00:11:33.19\00:11:35.92
Well you are wondering
about the selection thing?
00:11:35.92\00:11:38.69
- Yeah! - They were chosen
and so on and that bothers
00:11:38.69\00:11:41.36
people, predestination
and stuff like that.
00:11:41.36\00:11:44.37
But I think what Paul
is saying here, he says,
00:11:44.37\00:11:47.70
God had a plan for you
before I ever came here.
00:11:47.70\00:11:51.07
We talked last time
about the footprints of God.
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The God is there before
the missionaries gets there.
00:11:54.58\00:11:58.01
God is there before
the preacher gets there and
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I think if we went out
with that in mind, that would
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encourage us as we realize
that God is touching people
00:12:03.69\00:12:07.29
hearts even before we get there.
00:12:07.29\00:12:09.06
- Right, right, I
love how Grace initiates.
00:12:09.06\00:12:11.73
- Um hmmm, now you can go
to extremes with this, you
00:12:11.73\00:12:15.26
know if a person is chosen
then they have no choices.
00:12:15.26\00:12:18.83
I like to look at
that whole idea this way,
00:12:18.83\00:12:22.44
I think when we look at
the past we can tell that
00:12:22.44\00:12:26.47
God has been
working in our lives.
00:12:26.47\00:12:28.24
We would not be where we
are if it were not for God
00:12:28.24\00:12:31.71
choosing us, opening the
way, providing information just
00:12:31.71\00:12:36.79
when we need it, when
we look to the future.
00:12:36.79\00:12:38.92
I think it is pretty clear
there are choices yet to be
00:12:38.92\00:12:42.56
made, we can choose the wrong,
or we can choose the right
00:12:42.56\00:12:46.16
and God is encouraging
us always to do the best,
00:12:46.16\00:12:49.33
not just the right
but the best. - Right!
00:12:49.33\00:12:51.27
- That we can possibly do.
00:12:51.27\00:12:53.27
So there is a bit of tension
there between God's chosen us
00:12:53.27\00:12:59.77
on the one hand and
our ability to choose.
00:12:59.77\00:13:02.08
But above all else I think
that Paul is encouraging us
00:13:02.08\00:13:05.78
with the idea that
where ever you are now,
00:13:05.78\00:13:08.65
if you are walking
with God, He was there.
00:13:08.65\00:13:11.52
He's brought you on that path.
00:13:11.52\00:13:15.22
It is encouraging to us to
know that for all the troubles
00:13:15.22\00:13:18.66
we are going through right
now, we are on the path that
00:13:18.66\00:13:21.56
God has chosen for us and
He can make even our messes
00:13:21.56\00:13:24.43
something beautiful
down the line. - Right!
00:13:24.43\00:13:28.27
He is that kind
of God. - Yeah, yeah!
00:13:28.27\00:13:30.64
Well anyway it's time for a
break and we are thankful that
00:13:30.64\00:13:33.71
you have been sharing with
us thus far and when we get
00:13:33.71\00:13:36.78
back we will finish
this long sentence of
00:13:36.78\00:13:40.12
1 Thessalonians Chapter 1.
00:13:40.12\00:13:42.88