1 Thessalonians 5:21-28

1 Thessalonians 5:21‑28
Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Moving on. And our Father, we look up to thee.
We stand accepted before thee and the place that none but Christ could stand. We look forward to that day when He will, as uh Joseph brought uh Manas and Ephraim out from between his knees to present them to his father Jacob.
That thy beloved Son will bring us and present us before thee. Behold eye on the children whom thou hast given me.
Emily is marvelous sovereign grace that picked each one of us up and uh, has, through the work of Calvary and my beloved Son, brought us back to thee thy once lost children, and not only children, but to be before thee as sons of full age and in whom thou displaced thy confidence and the understanding knowledge of thy counsels and purposes and thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we do.
Pray that we might have a sense.
Of the grace that we have been brought into and which we stand day-to-day.
The sense of the dignity.
His deportments have become such a standing.
In our walks laid here below.
And we pray that Thy precious word, as we have it opened before us now, might have that effect upon us, to more conform us to the image of Thy beloved, beloved sons, predestinated sons. May we be practically conformed to His image even now.
00:05:14
So we do ask Thy blessing on Thy precious word to our souls. Pray for wisdom as to, uh, the portion that's before us. And uh, another portion, uh, is, uh, the mind of the Spirit of God, may it be made manifest to our hearts and given out. And so we look to Thee for this and this desire, spirit of dependence upon, uh, Thee and Spirit of God and His leading in the assembly.
In the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen.
We did not quite.
Finished First Thessalonians chapter 5.
Some brother have another passage on their heart that they feel we should look into. Or is it the mind of the residence here? Continue on with this person.
Brother Norm, did you have another passage there on your mind?
No, I was thinking maybe we should finish this.
1St Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 16.
Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit, despise not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearance of evil, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved, blameless unto the coming.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.
Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.
I charge you by the Lord, that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
I think we might have gotten down maybe to about verse 21 actually.
21 I'm just thinking about verse 17 perhaps.
The 11Th chapter of Luke.
Uh, the first verse.
Connection with pray without ceasing.
Luke Chapter 11, verse one.
It came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
Well, evidently John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray.
John the Baptist went beyond Moses.
The prayer.
Is the expression of dependence.
And below.
Didn't teach them dependence on God.
They are quite independent, but now under grace, we are to be dependent upon someone else.
00:10:03
John began to teach his disciples to pray, and the Lord's disciples wanted to be taught also. They didn't know how to pray. They weren't instructed in prayers. Uh, they heard instructed from the rabbis.
How important it is, brethren, to be in a place of dependence. For the Lord had said John 15 Without me you can do nothing. When we think, when we think we're something, we are nothing. We deceive ourselves. Uh, the Lord would have us to be in constant dependence upon him, even as the Lord was. Oftentimes he woke up long before.
They began and he was found in prayer. In fact, in one instance, it says he continued all night in prayer before he chose the 12 apostles.
You ever pray for an hour?
I don't know I've ever prayed for a whole hour. That's a long time to pray.
The Pharisees made long prayer, but it was hypocritical. They made their prayers on the street corners to be observed by others, but the Lord told his own that when they pray to enter into a closet.
And that their father is a seasoned secret would hear them.
In that secret place.
Long prayer doesn't become a public place as a present. If you want to pray for a long time, try it in your closet privately to the Lord. And I don't know that we always have to.
Uh, be on our knees in prayer.
It says here.
Pray without ceasing. I believe sometimes we can just lift up our hearts to the Lord in prayer without being on our knees, wherever we may be, being the attitude of dependence on the Lord.
And, uh, that should of course be umm.
That shouldn't cease, of course. We know it does. But.
That's that's part of the message here. Free without speaking to me in communion all the time.
Something that will await the glory.
Interceding brothers like the universal prayer work. When you say it that way, not exactly. I think what it means is that it's not even an attitude of always being God, conscience and everything.
There was a Christian man who worked in a monastery many years ago. I think he was a 15th century person.
Uh, a fellow by the name of Brother Lawrence.
When he was asked about his.
He was, he was known to be a very special man. And when he's asked about the secret to it of that, he said that for me the time of business is no different than the time of prayer. His job was to wash dishes and he, as he washed dishes in the monastery, he was constantly enjoying the things of thinking of the Lord. And in fact, he said sometimes when the call to prayer came.
It was an interruption.
Of his communion with the Lord, because.
For him, the time of business was the time was the same as the time of prayer and that.
My business, I don't think I could probably do that, but uh.
But, uh, you know, there are times perhaps painting a wall or something or, uh, or.
Doing other things that we might do, cleaning our room or something.
Where that can be true, that our time of business can be the same as the time of prayer that ought to be that because of his expectation is.
00:15:07
I've enjoyed the wording in Luke 11 That you brought the horse Reuben.
Says here concerning the disciples.
Became the path that he, as he was praying in a certain place where he seized, one of his disciples, said unto him.
It doesn't say, Lord, teach us how to pray, not what it says. It says here, Lord teach us to pray. And the difficulty is not so much with us as to whether or not we know how to pray, But the difficulty is to pray is to actually physically get sprained. Umm, have it done in our hearts and have it, uh, as something that's part of us so that we do pray. Well, here the disciples, umm, they wanted to be taught to pray.
And the Lord's holding his disciples in Luke 18, that they always to pray and not to faint, it would imply that the Lord would not be with them, that they were going to undergo difficult circumstances. That's why you have to pray. The Lord wasn't going to be there any longer. And we here in Christendom today that we should pray is so-called Lord's Prayer, which He taught his disciples.
On the Mount, the Sermon on the Mount, there is the Lord's Prayer. That's what we should pray. Well, I don't think that is really the Lord's Prayer. You get the Lord's Prayer in the 17th chapter of John.
And it's not really, although it has lovely sentiments in that prayer. There are things contained therein that we would not pray intelligently today because we're not looking for the Lord to set up His Kingdom here on earth. Presently we're preaching not the gospel of the Kingdom, but the gospel of the grace of God. When He comes and sets up His Kingdom, that will be different. But today we look to the Lord independence.
The conversion of sinners, you know we're not looking for the Lord to to.
Set up his Kingdom today while he's rejected.
It's a solemn thing we're reading this morning in our motel room that the Jewish people told Pilot his blood be on us and on our children. You know, God hasn't forgotten that statement. Uh, the Roman Catholic may endeavor to exonerate the Jewish people, but God requires that which is passed. And he's remembered that statement that they wanted his blood on them and on their children. To what end do you think that the Jewish people suffer so?
2007.
It's because God remembers that there's coming a time, brethren, when a prayer like that will be intelligent. But today.
We are always to pray and as you say, Brother Dave, the tendency is for us to give up on prayer and not some of these prayers that they pray, They read, they have a prayer book, you know, and they said, well, didn't the Lord go away and pray the same words three times over? Well, sometimes, you know, we may, uh, ask the Lord repeatedly for something, but the Lord may give us an answer. Uh, and then we ought to see some desist, I mean.
The apostle Paul besought the Lord three times that the thorn would be taken from him. And the Lord answered that prayer and said that my grace is sufficient for thee. Well, that was the answer to prayer. Sometimes the answer to our prayer is no.
You referred Brother Ruth to.
Luke 18 and there's a parable of the Lord Jesus tells there to illustrate what he meant by.
Always praying, I think they're.
A couple of things that we learned from that parable.
The lady came to the unjust judge in the parable, and he says in verse five of Luke 18.
Yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
The first thing that we learned the Lord Jesus uses. This is an example, and I don't believe that that widow woman spent all day with the judge, but day after day she came back and made her request to the judge. Maybe he didn't give her a hearing, but he saw her out there.
00:20:01
Day after day. And so I think the first thing that we learned from the concept of pray without ceasing and always to pray is that the concept is, is that we keep coming back to the Lord, We keep coming back to God to make our request, like you said, until we get an answer, after we get an answer, we shouldn't persist if the answer was no. The second thing that we should learn from this is in verse six, the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge said.
And we know what Abraham said of God, Shall not the judge of all the earth do right when we come and pray? We're not coming to an unjust judge, we're coming to a righteous judge. And then in verse 7, there's another thing that we learn. It says, shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? So if we ask things according to God's will, if God has chosen these people, he certainly wants to bless them.
And that's certainly our case. We're part of the bride of Christ. We're chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. We learn in Romans chapter 8 that it's God's intention to bring us every blessing according to his purposes. And so we have No Fear of coming and asking God our Father that that brother Martin was talking about the last meeting. Four things, recognizing that he has in his heart a desire to bless us.
And will give us what is good for us, We ask it according to his will. And so I think there's those, uh, three things that one that the prayer.
Something that we carry on with, it's not that we're necessarily praying all day long. Not all of us have the situation of Brother Lawrence that like you say, Paul, uh, you don't have the opportunity. You have to stop to talk to customers every once in a while.
But it should be that our hearts go back with what's on them to God our Father to make our requests. And that's what the intention of, uh, our verse in our chapter, that it's to be that dependence and the need that we expressed to God on an ongoing basis. It's not that we're praying all day long.
That we give up on prayer, and we do because we are, has often been, said unbelieving believers.
I like to have us think a little bit about Daniel who prayed for.
Three full weeks and fasted until he had no strength. And then when the Angel came by, he says uh, that his prayer was heard from the first day. It wasn't after 3-4 weeks that the prayer was heard.
But it was heard from the first day and.
Uh, I think that God.
Valued.
The prayer that went up continuously for three weeks also, but it was heard from the first day and then another.
Example on somebody who gave up on prayer would be Zacharias in Luke chapter one and he and the Angel comes by and says to Zacharias and verse uh 13 the Angel said on a pure Knox for thy prayer is heard.
This is a prayer that was long, long given up.
Umm, it was hopeless for Zachariah, and he didn't even believe it when the Angel told him they heard from the Angel song left, so to speak, that his prayer was heard. He still didn't believe it. That prayer had been long given up. He's an old man, and he had no hope that that prayer would be answered. Daniel says if your prayer was heard. And so that prayer was probably 30 or 40 years old, I don't know, maybe more even.
And.
That guy had forgotten about it, but God had not forgotten about that prayer.
And then the one other thought on that is?
That the passage in Revelation in the Revelation where it speaks of.
00:25:09
Who didn't have their prayer answered on earth?
But yet they were offered up as incense.
And so not only does the pair change things, and not only is the pair heard from the first day, that's that it's utter.
But even if it isn't that according to our thoughts, or according to our will, or according to our time.
Still high as in at the front of car?
There are a fine line between.
Of this matter.
That's a pretty plain answer, and sometimes we get an answer like that, and yet we can persist in praying from what we've already got an answer for and that.
Paul, you mentioned Daniel.
In Daniel's case that you referred to as very interesting, it starts out in Daniel 9 and verse 20. He says while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, Israel.
And that says something. That's an important aspect of prayer too. In Psalm 66, we have a verse that says in verse 18, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.
And even in connection with what, uh, Dave was saying, if we're asking when we know we shouldn't be asking, it becomes iniquity, doesn't it?
But anything that is sin that's in our life interferes with and prevents us from having the attitude that we're supposed to have when it comes to prayer.
Sometimes we miss it. Why the 22nd verse?
Obscene from all appearance of evil.
I think a better rendering of that verse would be.
Abstain from all every form of evil.
Because you know, brethren, sometimes something may appear to be evil, yet it is not so.
I've used this illustration.
Occasionally the brother from our assembly will have to go into a liquor store.
To buy the meeting room wine for the remembrance and you may get a real impression if you see him coming out of that store.
But here we're to abstain from every form of evil.
Not to be in any way identified with that which is, uh, wrong.
I know they said of the Lord in Luke 15. He's a friend, Republicans and sinners, but.
Uh, his association with them was to bring public and sinners to God.
The hypocritical Pharisees didn't associate with them because they thought they were more righteous than, uh, this low class society. They would not associate with such, but uh.
You have to be careful, uh, to have the same thoughts and sentiments of our Lord. Are we not willing to step down to the very dregs of society, the down and outers as they're called, and, uh, bring before them the gospel, those who are poor and needy. The Lord has thought such. When the bidden guests would not come, they declined to come. He says you go out into the highways and hedges, and call in the lame, the blind, the halt, and the main.
And bid them to come. Well, the Lord wants us in like manner to seek such out. Uh, and that, that is not evil, that that's not associating with those that the Lord would not associate with. He did.
00:30:20
Maybe someone could comment on the end of verse 21? Hold fast that which is good.
God said to the church, Philadelphia, hold fast. That was so hands. What's your thought on that day?
Those of you who have the Darby translation, you'll find a very interesting note there.
Connection with verse 21 and verse 22.
In Darby it says, But prove all things hold fast the right hold aloof from every form of wickedness, and then the note says the distinction between the expressions the right and the word translated wickedness without an article is profoundly beautiful. The latter is looked at as a general thing.
And has kinds or species they were to hold fast.
The right, the thing in itself.
But we cannot speak of evil as evil in itself. As an abstract existence, its most absolute form is Satan as the wicked one, though we may practically speak of evil.
So part of the thought that's in this is that 2 expressions go together were to hold fast that which is good.
And were to turn away from that which is evil.
So I think the two expressions, you look at them side by side and uh, it's turning away from evil and towards good. It reminds me of that expression that cease to do evil, learn to do good.
The expectation in the verse is 4 believers to be judicial or discriminatory.
Need we need to be able to discriminate that which is good and that which is not.
Well, having done that.
Then we need to hold fast to that what you that was just good.
Might be a connection with the first Epistle of John.
Chapter 4.
And verse one, beloved, believe not every spirit, the private spirits, whether they are of God, because there are many false prophets, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God and it goes out from there. But we've had some things stumbled in the exhortations that the Spirit of God gives here there's individual.
Characteristics in verses 1617 and 18, but I believe the next few verses are more what is collective.
And the activity of the Spirit of God in the assembly and so.
Quench not the spirit. The spirit shouldn't be hindered.
And his ministry in the assembly.
And the next thing, and it's connected with it is despised, not prophesying the way the Spirit of God would speak to heart and conscience. And it might even be from a lowly source, but don't despise it.
But beloved pride, the spirits, not everything that might be said is of the Spirit of God. Not everything that might be uttered is, uh, of the Lord. And so there is that proving and trying of what is said. And that's the wonderful thing about the assembly meetings. There's that provision given as a check to what is said. And if correction is needed, then the Spirit of God can correct.
And we can be thankful for that. And often those corrections have been very profitable for our souls. We've learned much at times in those things, and so despise not prophesying, but prove all things. And then there that which is good, hold it fast. So the good were gathered in vessels, and the bad were left on the shore.
00:35:53
Oh, really had a father's heart for these new converts, didn't he, after laying before them these admonitions?
If they were adhered to, wouldn't the God of peace be with them? Wouldn't they be sanctified? Holy. Wouldn't we be brevin? Wouldn't we be found in peace if we implicitly obeyed the Word of God? What would disturb our peace if we were to submit ourselves to the will of God in our lives, if we walked in obedience to the Word of God?
Doesn't it tell us in the Old Testament? I think Isaiah 12 Great peace have they who love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.
Christian is the only person on the face of the earth who has a right to be happy and to be peaceful to it in all the circumstances. Doesn't matter if you're prison, the Lord has imprisoned you there. You could be peaceful. The apostle Paul was the most terrible circumstances, and yet he desired that these things, the peace of the Lord, would be with these Thessalonians. It wasn't going to be easy for the Thessalonians having received Christ, was it?
But they knew the God of peace.
And they had peace with God. And now it says the God of peace will sanctify you wholly. And then he, he puts it in the proper order. Sometimes we put it backwards. But you see this tripartite being that we are spirit, soul and body, all can be preserved blameless if we walk in obedience to the word of God.
Let's go back a minute to, uh, verse 21 Through all things maybe a little practical.
Thought on that. David when uh, he went out to meet Goliath, he was first given Saul's armor and uh, he never had anything like that on and he finally put it off and he says I haven't proved it. I haven't proved it.
And so he wouldn't go out in what he didn't know to be tried and through he took up what he had proven a little picture of taking up what we've proven in our lives and walking in the word of God. We found it to be effectual and real in our lives. It's proven and then it was mentioned in the previous reading meeting that prove me now here with.
The Lord said to those that Malachi say whether he wouldn't open the windows of heaven, but he says just before that brain the time into the storehouse. In other words, not like David who had proven. He says I want you to prove it. Here's how you prove it. Be obedient to my word and you'll find out it's effectual. It'll bring blessing into your life and so prove all things.
Is.
It should have a practical effect in the life. The only way we prove it is to walk in it.
There's nothing more, uh, distressing, you might say. I don't know exactly how to put the words to it. Then. To be in the condition of always wanting something that you can never, never have. And So what an awful place a lost eternity is to always be longing, longing, longing for all eternity for what you can never have. But that's how man is in his nature now. He wants, he wants, and he's never satisfied. He's never.
00:40:11
He cannot find his heart satisfaction in this world, and he always wants more, and he still never satisfied. But God has given us the nature, and He's given desires to that nature, and then He's given us that which satisfies that nature, until we have a new nature that possesses presently everything to satisfy. And in nature that satisfied is that peace. And so He's the God of peace.
He's given us the nature, He's given us new desires, and He's given us that which satisfies those who desire absolutely and fully, and the result of that is peace, until He's the God of peace.
Those desires are not unholy. That he's given that new nature, their desires that are right and good, their desires that sanctify their desires for that old nature are wicked. And they're the absolute opposite. They're unholy. They're unsanctified.
Positionally we are sanctified. It says Hebrews chapter 10 by 1 offering that perfected forever them that are sanctified. But what we have in this chapter where it says the God of peace sanctify you wholly that is.
Weaning us from this world. There is a natural tendency to settle down in this world and to want the things of this world. But we are to the God of peace will sanctify us. We know our affections from this world and set them on higher things above. That's what takes, I believe, walking closely with the Lord to lay aside the temporal things, those things that are eternal.
The.
Ensigns, the three parts again of the human being.
The spirit, perhaps our intelligence and God consciousness, the soul, our feelings, our desires, our passions, whether for good or evil, and our body.
The outward man, uh, the inner and the outward man age keeping does in the present, uh.
And the Lord wants us to take care of our bodies too. There's a certain honor due to our bodies. The Lord doesn't want us to walk on beds of coal or lie down on nails. The Lord wants us to preserve the temple of the Holy Spirit and as well as the inward parts of the man, body, soul, and spirit. Spirit, soul and body is to be preserved for the Lord.
I think there is some significance to the order of the words in that verse, says spirit, soul and body. And in the culture in which we live, very often the order is reversed. It starts with the body, it goes to the soul, and if it ever makes it to the spirit, it's remarkable.
Umm, all of the advertising is focused on the body.
It's focused on the, the soul, the seed of the emotions like Uncle Rube just mentioned. And uh, that's typically where it ends. It's designed to create lust based on the outward. And yet the order that God gives us is spirit, soul and body. And the practical significance of that is if I take, for example, if you're a young man looking for a young woman as a potential help me.
In your life, the place where you ought to start.
Is that the spiritual first?
What is your heart like to start with? Are you following seeking to follow the Lord as a young man?
And then the young lady that you might be considering, which direction is her heart going? Does she also wanna please the Lord?
And then if that's right, then the next question is what about our our souls? What are our interests in life? What are our personalities and do those match? And then the last thing and is the body and for Christians.
00:45:17
The body part comes after the marriage. As those of you who are young know, the world has forgotten all about God's order and typically starts with the body and very often doesn't get beyond it. And yet we're called to something much better because God always has what's best in mind for us. And so when he put this order for us, that's the way to reach blessing. That's the way to have the very best. It's God's design for our lives.
Spirit first, then the soul, and lost the body.
The soul and the body are often used interchangeably.
Assault spirits and assault often used interchangeably.
But sometimes it's hard to tell which is which is which in your own selves and.
In others even.
But in Hebrews Forest speaks of that the word of God being a.
Uh, quick and powerful, sharper than any sort of piercing into the dividing asunder of soul.
Ferris, That's only the word of God, really, that.
I maybe I shouldn't say only the word of God, but the word of God does that.
It helps us to discriminate between sometimes our desires.
And.
Uh, in our spiritual reasoning thing. And we can argue ourselves sometimes into.
Doing things that we.
Uh, convince ourselves that certain things are right, for example.
But the Word of God can Pierce and divide those things.
What the hell used to say?
Make it your daily prayer, read there in Psalm 15. One preserve me, O Gods, from in thee do I put my trust.
So here this verse, it states that your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved, blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose it has more in mind there the appearing rather than the rapture.
And we consider ourselves very unfaithful at best. But you know, he did have Listen, Philippians, one, he's begun a good work and you will complete it till the day of Jesus Christ, the Lord is able to preserve us.
If we rely upon him and uh, he's going to see each one of us safely through to the end, and if he's begun a good work in some soul, uh, we can be sure that that soul will be.
If he's quickened, he'll born again. He'll be saved as the rapture. He'll be taken up. The Lord will complete the work. Many folks you know the the trusting in the work of Christ, but they're not sure.
That they are going to be taken to glory. Well, I think the Lord will complete the work and they will realize at the end that the work of Christ was sufficient with their salvation. Faithful as he that called you.
When the law was given.
They said we will do it.
Uh, there's quite a difference here.
He will do it, uh, verse 24 faithful is he that called you who also will do what he will do.
Well, this is this little passage that we've had before us.
If you look at them, there's perhaps 10 different.
Works, uh, to believers.
00:50:03
In the Old Testament they had 10 words.
1St UH-15 The third word be kind. Verse 16 be people of prayer, of of of people of joy and praise.
17.
People of prayer verse 18 be thankful. Verse 19 be people who are spiritual.
20 one be judicial.
And the 10th one, the Holy in verse 22. So there's 10 words for the believer.
Uh, and he will do it.
A question came up at the dinner table. Just the other.
Night. Uh, it will be Friday night.
On the verse 26, I don't know that I answered it too well and I appreciate it if anyone has a thought on it.
My feeble answer was, well, I OK.
They know it was practiced by rather more frequently who were older than I and I've often been greeted that way and have greeted older brother in in that way and and uh, appreciated it at the same time.
I think it wouldn't deny the scripture it's not good for a man to touch a woman, and that it wouldn't be appropriate for a brother to greet a sister that way. But, uh.
Beyond that, I really didn't have much thought, but I'm sure there's.
First means what it says, and it's repeated five times in the New Testament and we still don't do it. And yet, uh, football players will rejoice on the field after a victory in Kisler. We can't do it, but we're afraid that they'll think we're.
Something strange. Umm, and I'm not saying I'm practicing either. I'm acknowledging this is one of the many passages that we do not obey. And the I think that the the word is clear, we we don't like it.
We will say if we do start to practice it, especially in connection with what you said with men and women, make sure it stays a holy kiss.
It does show the real, genuine affection that existed amongst these early believers though, doesn't it?
When they greeted one another in such a manner and if you read the letters of Jay and Darby, the early experience amongst the Saints in Plymouth, England, the love and the affection that those brethren had for one another is amazing. What they did for one another, you know and.
A few boys shall all men know ye, my disciples, if ye have love one for another. And doesn't your heart just naturally go out to the brethren?
I've been kissed many times by older sisters, you know, and vice versa. It's just natural to the the new nature. And to think that the apostle Paul didn't consider himself above these new converts. What does he say here? Just the prior verse. He says, brethren, pray for us.
00:55:00
The great Apostle Paul wanted these newly converted Christians to pray for him. Yes, you know, it doesn't take long experience in the Christian pathway to pray. Brethren, it's nice to see in prayer, meeting younger brothers, praying. There's no such thing as the gift of prayer. No, no way. The Lord likes to hear the prayers of the youngest believers and hear the Apostle Paul asks these young believers to pray for him.
He valued those prayers and they loved him and he loved them and he wanted to stir up their affections, didn't he? When he says you greet one another with holy kiss and is our brother, Robert was saying the emphasis is on holy kids.
I'd like to turn to a passage in the Second Corinthians.
Second Pennies, Chapter 11.
You also mentioned the a number of things. You're starting with verse 24.
He says that the Jews find Pines received by 40 stripes saved one the right side with people abroad 1 stone to right side suffered shipwreck. And we know that, uh, you've had at least one more shipwreck coming.
A nightmare they have attended the deep, and journeyings often in pearls of waters, and perils of robbers, and perils of my own countrymen, and perils by the heathen, and perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the sea, and perils the false brethren. And weariness, painfulness, and watching as often hunger and thirst, fast things often, and cold and nakedness, is this next verse that I had before me, beside those things which are without that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
We read over and over in the epistles how the apostle prays for the Saints and he says, I mention us to always in my prayers. You know, I came to vessel here and I greeted many people and there were those that greeted me and it was very obvious that they had tremendous affection for me when they greeted me. You know, I'm thankful for that. And we know that there are those that greet us and they, they greet us perhaps in an old way. They, uh, they acknowledge us that there are those that greet us.
And it's with obvious affection. And I've just enjoyed that in this exhortation that that's what the, uh, the apostle would bring before us when he's, he's asking the brethren to pray for them, to pray for him. But then he says, greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. And you know, it's marvelous when we see that obvious affection that brethren have for us and that brethren have for each other.
22 in the appendix.
Oh.
I don't know why. I understand the name of the pilot and I'll talk about that.
All right, I'll give you that tomorrow.
I'm waiting blah blah blah blah blah.
Mend ourselves.
Our God and Father, we would thank thee for thy precious word, and we thank Thee for this time that we've had to learn from its pages. We would ask that.
We might seek every day to become more conformed to the image of Thy Son, Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray that when He comes, we might be found waiting and watching for His return. We ask these things in His precious and worthy name. Amen.