Welcome to Books of the
Book where we are studying
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1 and 2 Thessalonians,
we are in chapter 4 today.
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Doctor Pauline it is good
to be here with you again.
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So why don't you pick us
up now and 1 Thessalonians 4.
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Well in chapter four Paul
is getting to the practical
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part of his counsel, he's
moving from the affirmations and
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now he is coming to
maybe spank them a little bit.
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There is a couple of areas
that he is really concerned
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about in our
passage verses 1-12.
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One is the area of sexuality
and how the members relate to
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each other in that way.
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Second is the area of work
ethic and how hard they work
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and some of that.
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So he, he is out to remedy
the deficit in their practice.
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In particular I think he is
concerned here about how they
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behave in relation to outsiders.
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The one thing the Church
cannot afford is outsiders
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to look at the church
and say the people are really
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messed up. - Yeah! -
And it's true. - Right.
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So Paul is saying, these are
a couple of areas, if you are
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out of line on these it not
only causes problems in your
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life, but it even
disrupts the church's witness.
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Paul can't stand that.
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Yeah that's huge, that's huge.
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Our passage to begin
with is in verses 1 and 2
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of chapter 4,
and Paul writes this:
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Now I love again, Paul we
talked about him in prayer.
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Here he is expanding on
his prayers, the things that he
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mentions earlier in his
prayers, specifically in chapter
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3:11-13, we now see
him starting to talk to the
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Thessalonians about, share
with us a little about that.
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Well one thing I
like here as he is talking
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about more and more,
where they are is good,
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but he wants them to keep
growing and this is a phrase
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he will say over and over
again, I want you to do what
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you're doing more and more.
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Their deficit is not so
much that they are doing bad
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things, their deficit is
that they need to keep growing.
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They have made a start,
it's a good start and they need
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to keep growing, and
that is a major concern
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that he has here.
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In this verse he is kind of
picking up on what he said in
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chapter 3, especially the
prayer at the end of chapter 3.
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In the Greek language there is
four major words in that prayer
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of chapter 3, and that is
the words abounding, holiness,
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love, and then
reference to the second coming,
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the return of Jesus.
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As you go through chapter 4
you see he is taking up each
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of those issues that he
mentioned in that prayer at
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the end of chapter 3.
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So Paul here is very
structured, very organized
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and we might miss it,
that is why we use a variety of
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translations in this program,
and in Thessalonians itself
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I use the translation that
I made directly from the Greek
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where we can pick up on some
of those connections that are
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there in the text.
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I love again, how Paul
truly his prayer life is a part
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of how he
processes life day to day.
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Unfortunately I think
sometimes, for us as Christians,
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prayer is this thing
that is kind of a last resort.
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You know we can
kind of live our life and
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then we get in a
bind, then we go to prayer.
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Lord help me, Lord figure this
out, Lord get me out of this,
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but Paul wasn't that way,
sure he talked to God, I'm sure
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when he was in prison
they prayed and sang hymns.
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But he processed everything
with his relationships and
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it was just the
way he processed life.
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Prayer was his life, it
wasn't a thing of last resort.
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I love seeing that
again here in 1 Thessalonians.
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In a world that is dizzy
in its distractions, it's
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important to be
reminded of that prayer.
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It is the place where we can
do the worrying, if you wish.
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We all tend to worry about
a lot of stuff, why don't you
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take your worries
right to the throne of God?
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It would be embarrassing to
do that, but it can help you
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process them. -
and He can handle them.
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Yeah, He could handle it,
and one other thing in verse 2
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I want to mention is, he
said, we gave you instructions
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through the Lord Jesus.
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Now as scholars have studied
1 Thessalonians carefully
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they have noticed in chapters
4 and 5 of 1 Thessalonians there
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are multiple references
to the sayings of Jesus.
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He mentions it
only twice directly in
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verse 1 of chapter 4
and verse 15 of chapter 4.
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He mentions that it is
Jesus instructions that he is
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getting into here, but
there is probably 20 or so
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illusions, words,
phrases, sentences, that echo
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the sayings of Jesus.
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Now this wouldn't be remarkable
to us except you don't
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find that normally in Paul.
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This is a
collection that stands out from
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its absence in other places.
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- Okay! - so I think when
he says through the Lord Jesus,
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he is saying, Paul just
didn't give them his own ideas
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but he was giving them
the tradition that he got from
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Jesus, the actual words and
actions and sayings of Jesus.
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And that is so crucial, it
can be easy I think sometimes
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to make disciples
of us, if you will.
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You know, but here Paul
again keeping the words of Jesus
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in a sense, before them.
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That is so important for
us to do when we think, I mean
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the great commission
is go make disciples.
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Well make
disciples of Jesus Christ.
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So we constantly, as we are
in relationships with people,
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have to constantly bring
them before the words of Christ.
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Help them to grow, get
grounded, sit before Jesus.
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I always loved the
story of Mary and Martha.
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Mary sitting before Jesus,
and Jesus says Mary has chosen
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the one thing that is
important, to sit at My feet and
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listen to Me, so consequently
bringing people before the
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feet of Jesus to listen to
Him and take their direction
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from Him is so important.
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Making disciples of Jesus,
not of anyone else but Jesus.
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It is so
important, it is so important.
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Well let's get into verse
3, because verse 3 gets into
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the part of this text that
can be challenging I think.
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Then and now, it says:
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Let me just mention again
this is my translation here!
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In other words he
defines holiness, in a sense,
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as keeping away
from sexual immorality.
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This word holiness I think
a lot of people struggle to
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understand what that means.
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What does that mean to you Jon?
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Well you know it's always
tough, what does that mean to
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live a holy life? Are
we talking perfection?
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Are we talking
that you have arrived?
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Does it mean that you
completely avoid living around
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sinful people, I
mean Jesus didn't do that?
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He went to the
sinners, He lived amongst them.
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He got a bad
reputation because He did that.
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But you know I think this
holiness talks about being
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sanctified, by
being set apart for.
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There is something there
about being set apart for God
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and for His love. You
know when someone gets married
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they enter into
this holy matrimony.
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Their love, they are set apart
to each other in that love.
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But it calls us to certain
behaviors on how we are going to
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live in the world, and I
think Paul is going to get very
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specific about how we
live in that holiness.
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Maybe you can share a little
about that from this text.
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Yeah, well this word
sexual immorality translates
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a variety of ways.
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In the Greek language is
Pernanai. And that is where the
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English word
pornography comes from.
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It is often used of
prostitution and other elements
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of the sexual
immorality, so Paul is
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getting very specific here.
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He says if we want to be
holy we need to avoid various
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forms of sexual immorality.
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And in today's
world those can be public,
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they can also be very private.
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He says something interesting
in the next verse that has
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puzzled
scholars for a long time.
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He says, I've got the solution
for you, acquire a vessel.
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So let's read
that verse and see what
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he is getting at there:
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So this is
interesting, acquire a vessel.
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What is that all about?
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We will get into that in a
minute, but here's the question
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Paul is talking about sexual
restraint in this passage.
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That is not a popular message
to a lot of people today.
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It wasn't popular
in the ancient world.
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I think it is interesting
that, it's the same thing today
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people want to do what you want.
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But the Cicero wrote something,
let me read it to you.
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He was a senator of the
Roman empire around the time
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Paul was writing, so
this is current stuff.
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He says, "if there's anyone
who thinks that youth should be
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"forbidden affairs, even
with courtesans, he is doubtless
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"animatedly austere, but
his view is contrary not only to
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"the license of this age,
but also to the customs and
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"concessions of our ancestors.
For one it was not a common
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"practice, one wasn't
blamed, one wasn't forbidden."
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So in the Roman empire
people were free to do whatever
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they wanted sexually
and there was no restraint
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whatsoever and yet Paul
is giving a message that is
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totally out of step with that.
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It's a message that
says lustful passion will not
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admit of restraint, you see.
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For the Christian this
becomes a very, very important
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issue and in this text he
talks about acquiring a vessel.
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We are not quite
sure exactly that means.
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But when you get into a
little different there is
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2 options here, one
of them is get a wife.
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- there you go. -
Because you see the word vessel
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in some places in the New
Testament is used for the female
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gender, so some people
think acquire a vessel he must
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be saying for the
Christian, one way to deal with
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sexual temptation is to
get married and exercise it
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lawfully in that context.
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But the word acquire here, it's
a normal word used for shopping
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and things like that, this
is what causes the problem.
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That word also can be used
in terms of control, you see.
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If vessel means your
body it is also a possibility,
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then what he is
saying is, control your body.
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Keep things under control.
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If that is what he is
saying here, than he is saying,
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holiness is all about
avoiding sexual immorality and
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maintaining control over
your body and the actions
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that your body
takes. - okay. Wow!
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Well that can be a tough
thing, I mean the issue of self
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control, that seems to
be where the battle is.
00:11:57.38\00:12:01.02
I had a summer internship
once, is that related to this?
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Yeah you know during
the summers I did internship
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for a high school
and college students.
00:12:08.16\00:12:10.33
We would constantly talk
about God's desire for us to
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be sanctified, to be set apart.
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And the process of being
sanctified, that you grow in God
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sanctification, is not
just when you say yes to Jesus.
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I like to say when I accept
Jesus as my Lord and Savior,
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that is the big yes, and
then for the rest of my journey
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with Jesus I keep saying
these little yeses to Him.
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Yes Lord, yes Lord,
more of the setting apart,
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falling deeper in love
with Him, which impacts greatly
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how I live in this world.
00:12:42.49\00:12:43.83
You know with Paul's
words, don't be conformed to the
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world but be transformed
in the renewing of your mind.
00:12:47.40\00:12:50.80
I'm glad you brought
that up, because the word for
00:12:50.80\00:12:54.44
holiness and sanctification
is not an end result word.
00:12:54.44\00:12:58.04
It's a process word,
in other words his goal is
00:12:58.04\00:13:02.11
sanctifying, it is a process
of growing more and more.
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People can get discouraged
and say you got to be there,
00:13:05.45\00:13:08.75
no, just be in the process.
00:13:08.75\00:13:10.79
So how do you handle
these issues with your kids
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and stuff like that?
00:13:14.82\00:13:16.09
Well that is almost a
whole episode by itself,
00:13:16.09\00:13:18.69
or a series if you will
on that, but you know it is
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a very real
thing that we live in.
00:13:22.50\00:13:24.10
We have conversations
constantly as we drive down the
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road, or you walk into a
convenience store and you have
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all those magazines right
in front of you and they are
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looking at them going oh
my goodness, these women dress
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certain ways and all
these different things.
00:13:36.64\00:13:37.95
We talk about how unfortunately
in this society, sexuality
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is like currency, it
is how you sell things.
00:13:43.08\00:13:45.92
We talk about how God
did not design as for that,
00:13:45.92\00:13:49.09
but for us to love one
another in a way that is
00:13:49.09\00:13:52.26
beyond just the sexual.
00:13:52.26\00:13:53.96
So we have to
process that very carefully.
00:13:53.96\00:13:57.57
You see commercials all
the time for cars and different
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things. We are going to
take a break and we will talk
00:14:00.10\00:14:02.64
about that later. - alright!
00:14:02.64\00:14:17.65