Welcome to Books of the Book.
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I am Jon Paulien,
Loma Linda University
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and with me is my
Pastor Jon Ciccarelli
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of the Calimesa
Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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We've been talking
about 1 Thessalonians
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up until now in the series
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and we're moving
from 1 to 2 Thessalonians.
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There's an important difference
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between these two letters.
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It seems that in 1 Thessalonians
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the people were
really worried about
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the delay of
the advent of Jesus.
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The delay of the Second Coming
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and they were stressed
about what would happen
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to those who had
died in the meantime.
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In the second
letter, they seemed
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to have completely switched.
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Now the Second Coming
is right on top on them,
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it may already have arrived.
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And Paul getting this
message is trying to deal with
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a new situation
here in 2 Thessalonians.
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Good to be with you
again, Jon, and we are starting
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the 2 Second
Thessalonians as you mentioned
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and we're gonna look
specifically at verses
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1 through 12 in Chapter 1.
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And Paul is
rejoicing because they've been
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faithful in spite
of their afflictions
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but he talks
about God coming again
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and he gives
them some instruction
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and he encourages them to
be patient in this process.
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So let's dig
into the study today.
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I think this chapter is
one of the clearest text
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about what the Second Coming
of Jesus is gonna be like.
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Communication was
more difficult back then.
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Today we have emails
and we have social networks
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and we have
telephones and cell phones
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and communication is so simple.
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But back then you
would have to write a letter
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and then the people would hear
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that letter and they process it
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and then they write a
letter and send it back.
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And usually transportation
will take at least
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two weeks each way,
sometimes quite a bit longer.
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So it must have
been two months or so
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at least between 1
Thessalonians and 2.
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A lot can happen in two months.
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And apparently they
received 1 Thessalonians
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and Paul saying look, You know
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don't be so stressed
about the delay of the advent.
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Says we will join
them when Jesus comes
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and they took courage
from that and said, wow,
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that means the Second Coming
is actually right at hand.
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And they got overly
excited and some of them
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quit their jobs so
Paul is trying to correct
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misunderstandings I
think of what he wrote
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the first time
and perhaps some other
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bits of
dissidents were coming in.
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Anyway why don't we
get started with the text?
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We can begin with the first
two verses of 2 Thessalonians.
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Paul writes, "Paul
and Silvanus and Timothy
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to the church of
the Thessalonians in God
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our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Grace to you and
peace from God our Father
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and the Lord Jesus Christ."
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Interesting.
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This introduction sound so
similar to 1 Thessalonians.
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It's almost as
if Paul had a macro
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that maybe--that may
deke me a bit but I remember
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in the early stages of
word processing on computers
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you had macros where you could,
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you could take
an intro like that
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and just hit one key and boom.
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You know there it
is in your document.
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Paul definitely
seems to have had
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some habitual ways of
saying certain things.
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There's one difference between
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the introduction of
2 Thessalonians and 1.
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In 1 Thessalonians
he speaks about God
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the Father but here he
talks about God our Father.
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That triggers in my mind
the Lord's prayer, doesn't it?
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Yeah, yeah, you know I love,
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Jesus came to show us
the love of the Father.
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You know and I
think, I think sometimes
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people have this view of
God the Father, He is stern.
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You know Jesus is the nice one.
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You know Jesus is the one
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that can save us
almost from God himself.
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And yet Jesus and
when He taught us to pray,
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the Lord's prayer, He says
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we don't say the
Father, we say, our Father,
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which art in heaven,
hollowed be your name.
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You know Jesus was inviting us
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into this
relationship with the Father.
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And Jesus,
everything He did He says,
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I don't, I don't say anything.
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I don't hear the Father saying.
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I don't do anything.
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I don't see the Father doing,
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so everything He said
and did was of the Father.
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So the love we see in Jesus
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is this profound love of
the Father for His beloved,
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for His sons and
daughters, for His creation.
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And you know it's
interesting because
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sometimes I think that
depending on your view of God,
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you know your
view of the Father,
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your view of Jesus,
your view of the Holy Spirit
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it impacts how you
really live your life.
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I heard someone say
once, you know if you have--
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if your focus is
on God the Father
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and you have the
stern image of Him
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that impacts how
you live your life
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and how you worship.
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You might be very
strict and scared.
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A life of fear
that you're gonna be
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you know pounded by
God and if you see Jesus
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as the nice compassionate,
forgiving, loving one,
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you know then you
might live that way more.
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And then the Holy
Spirit you might be
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a little more easygoing,
you know has that view.
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But really they're all
one and so Jesus came to
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show us the love of the Father
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and we can know that God
truly is our loving Father.
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Well, isn't that
perhaps what frightens
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people about religion today?
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I think more and more
we're seeing in the media
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the idea of religion is
the reason for terrorism
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and a religion is the reason for
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the problems we
have in the world.
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And if only we could you
know get away from this--
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well, I think some of that,
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you know maybe on
point in the sense that
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the view you have of
God reflects who you are.
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Interesting
things, the cruelest people
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in the ancient world
Canaanites, the Assyrians,
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the cruelest people
in the ancient world
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were really religious people.
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So this point you're
making is really important
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that the kind of God you worship
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is gonna have a
powerful impact on who you are.
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Religion does change lives.
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Religion does
affect who you are.
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If you have a view of
God who is stern and critical
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and angry and constantly
after people and so on
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we tend to become like that.
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And our characters are molded
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by the kind of
God that we worship.
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I think this is a
very, very critical issue.
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Yeah, I think,
you know sometimes
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people will talk to me
about religion and it's bad.
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And I say, no,
religion is a very good thing.
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We're all
religious about something.
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About different
things in our lives.
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And Jesus was religious about
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His relationship with the Father
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and religious about
sharing that love of the Father.
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And you know it's
love is estimated by
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beholding we become changed.
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You know by being
religious about being with Jesus
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and being with our
Father we become changed.
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And the more we
experienced that love
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the more it changes our
hearts and people can see
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that we've been
religious about being with God
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and religious about
His love in the world.
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And people will
judge God by what they see
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in the lives of those who
claim to be following Him.
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So when you claim
to be following God
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you're now on trial in a
sense as to what God is like
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and the kind of picture of
God that they will take so.
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These are very
important for us to think about.
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Moving on to verses 3
and 4 and let me remind our
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viewing audience
that the translations of
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1 and 2 Thessalonians
that we use in this program
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are my own translations,
not out of any disrespect
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for other
translations of the Bible
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but in order to show sometimes
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the subtle
meanings of Greek words,
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sometimes the
grammar of the Greek
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that makes for awkward
English but enables us to see
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how different parts of
the text relate to each other.
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Verses 3 and 4 of 2
Thessalonians 1, says
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"we are obligated
to give thanks to God
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always for you,
brothers, as is right,
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because your faith
is growing abundantly."
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Paul says, super growing.
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And Paul loves that word super.
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"Your faith is
growing abundantly,
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and the love of every one of you
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for each other is increasing,
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so that we
ourselves boast about you
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among the churches of
God because of your patience
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and faith in all
your persecutions
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and in the afflictions
that you are enduring."
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One thing I wanna point out
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is that 2
Thessalonians 1 verses 3-10
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is a single
sentence in the Greek.
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Many translations
you won't see that
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because that's awfully
awkward in the English.
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Now the King James
Bible has it right on this one
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in that it if you
read the King James Version
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it has this as
one single sentence
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and that's why some people
sometimes find the King James
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difficult to read
because sometimes it catches
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these new answers better than
more modern translations do.
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Anyway Paul, here
that the only verb
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we have in here
is we are obligated.
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That's it.
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We are obligated to give
thanks to God always for you.
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So we must keep in
mind we're gonna get into
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some scary
stuff in these verses.
00:10:01.23\00:10:04.53
But his motivation,
the basic reason for this
00:10:04.53\00:10:08.74
whole long
sentence is we are obligated
00:10:08.74\00:10:11.01
to give thanks to God for you.
00:10:11.01\00:10:13.94
So verses 3-10 and as
many places as it goes,
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it's a prayer of thankfulness.
00:10:18.68\00:10:21.05
Paul is excited about everything
00:10:21.05\00:10:23.62
going on with the Thessalonians.
00:10:23.62\00:10:26.12
Are they troubled
people? Absolutely.
00:10:26.12\00:10:28.79
I mean this is one
of his toughest letters
00:10:28.79\00:10:32.79
and yet he can say,
your faith's super growing,
00:10:32.79\00:10:37.47
your love is just
increasing for everybody,
00:10:37.47\00:10:41.67
even for people
outside and we boast about you
00:10:41.67\00:10:45.94
among all the
churches and everywhere we go
00:10:45.94\00:10:48.94
in spite of date
setting, in spite of lazy people
00:10:48.94\00:10:53.62
are quitting their
jobs, in spite of disruptive
00:10:53.62\00:10:56.18
busy bodies in the church,
00:10:56.18\00:10:58.85
he can say we're
thanking God for you.
00:10:58.85\00:11:01.59
We're thrilled about you
00:11:01.59\00:11:02.92
because your faith and
love are just super growing.
00:11:02.92\00:11:06.83
It's amazing.
That's present tenses.
00:11:06.83\00:11:09.23
Yeah, I love
that all those verbs
00:11:09.23\00:11:10.73
are in the
present tense, you know.
00:11:10.73\00:11:12.47
And in spite of them
not being quote on quote
00:11:12.47\00:11:15.87
perfect or
having that all together
00:11:15.87\00:11:17.57
they're still that growth.
00:11:17.57\00:11:18.64
Because they're becoming
like we're talking about
00:11:18.64\00:11:20.08
another, in other episodes.
00:11:20.08\00:11:22.28
And you know it's kind of like,
00:11:22.28\00:11:23.58
I love how Jesus
himself used the illustration
00:11:23.58\00:11:26.35
of how we grow like a plant.
00:11:26.35\00:11:28.98
In John Chapter 15 and He says
00:11:28.98\00:11:30.99
"I'm the vine,
you are the branches."
00:11:30.99\00:11:33.09
And getting back to the Father,
00:11:33.09\00:11:34.26
the Father is the gardener.
00:11:34.26\00:11:36.12
The one who loves and tends
00:11:36.12\00:11:37.76
to the garden and helps it grow.
00:11:37.76\00:11:39.93
And He says,
when you abide in me
00:11:39.93\00:11:41.70
you will bear much fruit.
00:11:41.70\00:11:43.47
You know you're
gonna continue to grow
00:11:43.47\00:11:45.37
as long as you're
connect you'll continue to grow.
00:11:45.37\00:11:47.47
And the words that He says
in John 15 they're pretty blend
00:11:47.47\00:11:51.44
"apart from me
you can do nothing.
00:11:51.44\00:11:53.24
Apart from me there is no
growth but in Christ there is."
00:11:53.24\00:11:56.58
And I think in
using that kind of
00:11:56.58\00:11:58.31
illustration of a plant
it's important for us to
00:11:58.31\00:12:00.92
remember there
are seasons of life.
00:12:00.92\00:12:03.08
And I think sometimes
especially in North America
00:12:03.08\00:12:05.52
anyways we're so much
focused on production.
00:12:05.52\00:12:08.52
You know and success and always
being able to produce 24/7.
00:12:08.52\00:12:12.46
That's not the life of a plant.
00:12:12.46\00:12:14.23
That's not a life
of vine and branches.
00:12:14.23\00:12:16.50
There's times in
which the plant goes through
00:12:16.50\00:12:19.10
fall, winter,
spring, and summer.
00:12:19.10\00:12:20.94
There's time when it's blooming
00:12:20.94\00:12:22.20
and it's producing fruits and
there's time when it's dormant.
00:12:22.20\00:12:25.14
And there is times when the
seasons comes so that it can,
00:12:25.14\00:12:27.88
it can produce but
all within the context
00:12:27.88\00:12:30.91
of the gardener
our Father and Jesus.
00:12:30.91\00:12:33.92
But it is like you said super
growing, its super growing.
00:12:33.92\00:12:37.75
And so I wanna encourage people
00:12:37.75\00:12:40.39
that you maybe
going through a time
00:12:40.39\00:12:41.86
maybe a winter but
don't get discouraged
00:12:41.86\00:12:44.06
its part of the growth that God
00:12:44.06\00:12:45.83
brings into our
lives abiding in Him.
00:12:45.83\00:12:48.00
In fact that verse
in Chapter 15 of John
00:12:48.00\00:12:50.57
is the verse that
talks about pruning
00:12:50.57\00:12:52.57
and so sometimes pruning
I'm sure doesn't feel good.
00:12:52.57\00:12:55.30
But its part of
that super growing
00:12:55.30\00:12:57.37
that you're talking about.
00:12:57.37\00:12:58.84
Wow, that opened up
some like big windows
00:12:58.84\00:13:01.31
as I sit here and listen.
00:13:01.31\00:13:03.58
Let me just say a
couple of more things
00:13:03.58\00:13:04.95
about this text till then
we do need to go to a break.
00:13:04.95\00:13:07.62
First of all is here again
00:13:07.62\00:13:10.29
affirmation
first criticism later.
00:13:10.29\00:13:13.49
People grow less from criticism
00:13:13.49\00:13:16.52
than they do from affirmation.
00:13:16.52\00:13:17.89
I find when I bang on
people they get worse.
00:13:17.89\00:13:20.96
When I encourage them
they tend to get better.
00:13:20.96\00:13:23.26
And Paul clearly
knows that before he brings
00:13:23.26\00:13:25.77
any criticism, any correction,
00:13:25.77\00:13:27.54
he is affirming
them very, very strongly.
00:13:27.54\00:13:30.81
And again we have a trio
here faith, hope, and love.
00:13:30.81\00:13:34.54
Except here he says,
faith, love, and patience.
00:13:34.54\00:13:38.95
So instead of hope
there is patience here.
00:13:38.95\00:13:40.88
So he is continuing something
about the Thessalonians.
00:13:40.88\00:13:45.19
He is so excited about them.
00:13:45.19\00:13:47.22
They somehow
responded differently
00:13:47.22\00:13:50.26
than any of the church.
00:13:50.26\00:13:51.49
He fell in love with them.
00:13:51.49\00:13:53.06
I think part of
the big picture here
00:13:53.06\00:13:55.26
is how they
rejoiced in suffering.
00:13:55.26\00:13:58.30
And that's what we'll
get into after the break.
00:13:58.30\00:14:00.64