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Preserve thy walk most graciously within my sheltering board. 288 some brother.
Oh, thou good mercies.
Mercy all raining calendar.
Say I just can't like you fall down within the standing more this way.
From the state.
They blame the sun till.
Every day towards Jesus Christ.
Of God.
I am.
00:05:22
Let's break our God and our loving Father.
Have surely worked some words that are so true thy mercies.
Exceed more than we can begin to say. We thank Thee for opening the scriptures to us this morning, for the instruction, the comfort that has been given to us or.
All this Father, we, it makes us look forward to this time as we again open by word. We pray that Thou by thy spirit will minister.
More of Thy beloved Son to us. For our encouragement along our pathway homeward we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen. Amen, Amen.
And I suggest, brethren, if it's mind of the.
Assembly that we spend a little more time in.
The First Thessalonians chapter 4 the we do cover a good part of the earlier part of the of the chapter, but.
I also believe from.
And there's.
11 to the end of the chapter of first, maybe verse 10 to the end of the chapter.
First Thessalonians, chapter 4.
Starting with verse 10.
And indeed you do it toward all brethren, which are in all Macedonia.
But when you see your brethren, that you increase more and more.
And then you study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to do and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk honestly towards them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing. But I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not even as others will have no hole. Or if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so them also would sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
But this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent your sleep. But the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shallow, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise 1St And we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord.
We're for comfort one another.
Wonderful, the testimony that this.
Young assembly exhibited.
They were known throughout that whole region.
For their right testimony.
And the Word of God has come in power toward them and.
They had sounded out to the Word of the Lord, chapter one, not only in Macedonia and the Kaya, but also in every place your faith to God. Word is spread abroad. So they were.
Energetic in there.
Spreading of the good news, I would say. And there was a testimony.
To all their.
The region where props were still steeped in idolatry, here was a group of.
Believers that exhibited that.
That divine life in the.
In their walk and waves, in their love, one toward another, this was quite evident.
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The apostle says that we ourselves are talking dog to love one another, and indeed you do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia.
But we beseech your brethren, that you increase more and more. How easy it is for Satan to get an inroad between brethren, and to stir up.
Hard feelings or what? What grudges or or bitterness?
That has a wide effect. It affects the whole assembly. But with the Thessalonians, their fervent love toward each other was was manifest. It was the the work, the work of God in their souls. And we, we covet this for for ourselves, I'm sure.
I.
There were some comments I made on verse 11 in the last meeting and.
What to read the way that the new translation has it?
It says seek earnestly to be quiet.
To mind your own affairs.
And work with your own hands.
Would this be the opposite of being a busy body?
And always involving yourself with others affairs.
I think that's right. So the.
Connected with working with their own hands is that.
That time that they should have been working was being used to.
Involve themselves in an unscriptural way.
And other folks affairs and causing difficulty in the assembly. You know there is a sphere of pastoral work and it it can get early deep into intimate details and and lives but that's a healthy work and a scriptural work that's not what's being taken up here at all it's.
Involving oneself and another affairs in this way. It should say a busy body, but it's it comes from two things. Comes from the assumption of a superiority as to my own walk and a superiority as to my own knowledge. I know more and I'm better. Therefore I am entitled to involve myself in so and so's affairs and it's not the right assumption.
But it was connected with that, the idleness.
And.
As it says in the scripture and connection on busy bodies going from house to house.
Last point out very clearly in the second epistle, chapter 311.
Were spent for even when we were with you.
This we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. We hear that there are some who walk among the disorderly, working not at all. But our busy bodies now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that will quietly they work to meet their own brand.
Well, this was a neatful exhortation. The Greeks looked down upon manual labor, you know, and.
They were philosophers, but.
The apostle was concerned that.
Their outward testimony among the unbelievers did not bring reproach upon the name of Christ.
And he gave his own example, working day and night, that he might not be chargeable to any of them. He didn't take any of their money or funds. He worked.
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As a tent maker during the day and preach the gospel at night.
What are you marvelous servant of the Lord, but he had gave an example of what he of what he was teaching here.
I don't want to belabor the point and get us off, but just.
First, Peter chapter 4 just seems to indicate the seriousness of being.
Involved in other people's affairs? See that as something minor, but look at what it's listed with in verse 15, First Peter chapter 4 and verse 15.
But none of you suffer as a murderer that's terrible, or as a thief, or as an evildoer.
Whereas a busy body and other men's matters, Mr. Darby has an overseer.
Of others affairs.
Is listed with these three things murdered, theft, and evil?
Back in our chapter, verse 12 That he may walk honestly.
With them that are without.
That he may have lack of nothing as a brother said this possible follow the great example of that.
New translation instead of lack of nothing has need of no one.
And it's really the thought of not being in debt.
To anyone have in need of going.
To be careful that we don't.
Comment to anyone back in that way and it's a hindrance to the flourishing of love and the assembly just.
As much as my name getting involved in another's affairs, just as much as defrauding a brother, all of those things hinder the outflow of love and the holy and healthy way in the assembly.
We live in a dishonest world, don't we? And.
Honestly, is that a premium any day?
Easy for us to be affected by the.
Lack of uprightness in the world today, and we're exhorted to have on the breastplate of righteousness. I believe that's practical righteousness there.
We have the divine righteousness.
Before God through the work of Christ, but.
The world is very quick to pick up.
On any inconsistency in the believers life, when he's made a profession of Christ, they connect his conduct, his conduct with his profession. Rightly so. If we are, if we're making a profession, then there should be consistency in our in our walk before the world and before our brethren.
So uprightness and honesty is is what the Lord expects us to to manifest.
The word asleep here.
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Probably we know this already because reiterate, it's never applied to an unsaved person.
The body was of the spirit is dead. That's the simplest definition of death, that you could have the body without the spirit, but.
For an unsaved person.
The body is separated from the spirit, that is true, but there's no such a thing as soul sleep or the unsaved. Their their soul and their spirit are conscious under the judgment of God. They are never spoken of as being asleep, but the believer who passes through the article of death.
If the Lord doesn't come, they are spoken of as asleep. It's in reference to their body, not their soul and their spirit. Their soul and their spirit are consciously in the enjoyment of the Lord. Not in a glorified state of course.
They await that. We await that too. But.
As to the body, it is asleep and.
When the show is given.
That body, that body of humiliation that went into death.
Will be raised.
And changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, into a body of glory. Not a new body. Let us be careful there. Not a new body that really is would deny resurrection. It's the body that went down into death, raised by the power of the Lord's Word, and changed instantaneously into the body of glory.
Just like Christ's mother. Well, we know that in lithium.
Philippians three were familiar with the verse. This wild body is not a it gives them a misinterpretation. The body is not looked upon vile. It can be used for vile purposes, but the body itself is not violent or God wouldn't tell us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.
The thought is diverse, as we probably all know, is a body of humiliation.
Because.
We still are connected with this groaning creation.
And we have infirmities. Infirmities are not sins per SE, but they can lead to sin. Another thing that we should be clear about, the Lord did not have infirmity.
In Burma, Jesus, part of the groaning creation, we all have them in some way or other, and as we get older we feel them more.
And it's a it's a body of humiliation. It's always humbling us, but that body of humiliation will be transformed into the body of glory. So these infirmities that we have, as I again I say, they are not sin, but they can lead to sin. If I don't watch and be careful in self judgment, I can begin to complain and.
And be dissatisfied with the.
The sufferings of this human frame.
But the Lord does sympathize with our infirmities, doesn't say He removes the Spirit of God, doesn't remove the infirmities, but He gives us power.
To overcome and to to keep keep the whole nature in the place of death.
Maybe you should turn to that verse in Romans chapter. I'm not quoting it exactly. Romans chapter 8.
Verse 26 Likewise, the Spirit also helped with our infirmities, doesn't say He removes them, but He gives us grace to endure them and to keep from complaining to receive them from the Lord. But the Lord does simplify with our infirmities. I think that's beautiful as our great high priest, though himself not having infirmities in his earthly pathway, he can enter into and sympathize.
Support.
Strengthen us when we have, when we encounter these.
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Bermudas that we we all have. Is that right, Steve? I think that's right.
That you sorrow not even as others which have no hope.
I don't believe this is saying that we don't sorrow when we lose 1.
But we don't sorrow as those who have no hope.
That's the difference.
They're not gone forever.
Don't like to hear people speak of Saints as having passed away.
They have not passed away.
They have passed on their spirit.
Their spirit, their soul has passed on to be with the Lord, and their body is asleep, but they have not passed away.
Don't want to make some of the offender for a worry but.
Saints that have died have not passed away.
A lot of this verse couple weeks ago our daughter Brynn had been babysitting a little boy.
He was 20 months old. Since August, three days a week.