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Speaker 1: Hello, and good morning friends, and fave A listeners, thank

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Speaker 1: you for tuning into the Bible Explained podcast. So yesterday

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Speaker 1: I got the chance to watch the entire Charlie Kirk memorial,

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Speaker 1: and I watched the whole eight hours of it, and

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Speaker 1: I thought it was cool to see speaker after speaker

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Speaker 1: preaching the gospel to millions of people who are viewing

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Speaker 1: this thing just over and over again. It was absolutely

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Speaker 1: wonderful and I couldn't recommend watching it more. But the

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Speaker 1: one thing, of course, that really struck everybody was Charlie

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Speaker 1: Kirk's widow when she gave her speech. So my sister

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Speaker 1: and I did an episode about that on YouTube. We

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Speaker 1: talked about what forgiveness is and what it is not biblically,

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Speaker 1: because I think a lot of people, myself included, really

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Speaker 1: misunderstood or misunderstand what forgiveness is. We kind of think

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Speaker 1: that it's just being a doormat, like laying down and

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Speaker 1: letting people walk all over you, and you just have

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Speaker 1: to ignore that and let them keep doing it over

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Speaker 1: and over and over again. But my sister had a

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Speaker 1: much better understanding of what forgiveness was than I did,

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Speaker 1: so I let her talk pretty much the entire episode,

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Speaker 1: and my sister taught me something about forgiveness, something that

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Speaker 1: I had never recognized or realized before. So I think

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Speaker 1: that the episode is a good one for us Christians

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Speaker 1: to talk about. Is what really is forgiveness according to

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Speaker 1: the Bible? How is it defined? And also how does

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Speaker 1: it go hand in hand with the imprecatory prayers, because

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Speaker 1: I've been talking a lot about that recently on the

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Speaker 1: podcast and last week's video that I did, so I'll

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Speaker 1: link that new YouTube video on forgiveness in the description

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Speaker 1: of this podcast episode. So once we're done reading First

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Speaker 1: Sessalonians Too and discussing this, you can go over to

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Speaker 1: YouTube and check out my channel and hopefully subscribe as

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Speaker 1: well as watching the video. All right, let's read First

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Speaker 1: Sessalonians Too the entire chapter. Actually, normally I try to

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Speaker 1: break up the New Testament chapters into smaller chunks, but

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Speaker 1: this one is one of those ones where you kind

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Speaker 1: of have to read the whole thing in order to

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Speaker 1: get the context of what is happening. This chapter is

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Speaker 1: discussing Paul's relationship with the Thessalonians, because once again, poor

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Speaker 1: Paul has to defend his character and has to defend

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Speaker 1: his ministry because people are just fighting against him and

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Speaker 1: spreading all sorts of lies about him, about these terrible

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Speaker 1: things that he supposedly was doing. So he has to

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Speaker 1: defend his character to the Thessalonians and remind them, like, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know, we know each other. I did not do

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Speaker 1: these things. So let's go ahead and read this chapter

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Speaker 1: as usual. I'll be reading from the World English Bible

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Speaker 1: for you yourselves. No, brothers, our visit to you wasn't

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Speaker 1: in vain, but having suffered before and been shamefully treated

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Speaker 1: as you know at Philippi, we grew bold in our

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Speaker 1: God to tell you the good news of God in

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Speaker 1: much conflict. For our exhortation is not of error, nor

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Speaker 1: of uncleanness, nor in deception. But even as we have

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Speaker 1: been approved by God to be entrusted with the good news,

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Speaker 1: so we speak not as pleasing men, but God, who

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Speaker 1: tests our hearts. For neither were we at any time

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Speaker 1: found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a

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Speaker 1: cloak of coveteousness. God is witness, nor seeking glory from men,

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Speaker 1: neither from you nor from others. When we might have

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Speaker 1: claimed authority as apostles of Christ, but we are gentle

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Speaker 1: among you, like a nursing mother cherishes her own children,

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Speaker 1: even so affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased

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Speaker 1: to impart to you not the good news of God only,

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Speaker 1: but also our own souls, because you had become very

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Speaker 1: dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and

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Speaker 1: travail for working night and day, that we might not

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Speaker 1: burden any of you. We preach to you the good

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Speaker 1: news of God. You are witnesses with God. How holy,

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Speaker 1: righteously and blamelessly we behaved ourselves towards you who believe.

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Speaker 1: As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one

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Speaker 1: of you, as a father does to his own children,

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Speaker 1: to the end that you should walk worthily of God,

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Speaker 1: who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. For

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Speaker 1: this cause, we also thank God without ceasing that when

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Speaker 1: you received from us the word of the Message of God,

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Speaker 1: you accepted it not as the word of men, but

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Speaker 1: as it is in truth, God's word, which also works

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Speaker 1: in you who believe. For you, brothers, became imitators of

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Speaker 1: the assemblies of God which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus.

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Speaker 1: For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen,

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Speaker 1: even as they did from the Jews, who killed both

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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and drove us out.

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Speaker 1: And don't please God and our contrary to all men

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Speaker 1: forbidding us to speak to the gentiles that they may

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Speaker 1: be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath

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Speaker 1: has come on them to the uttermost. But we brothers,

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Speaker 1: being bereaved of you for a short season in presence

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Speaker 1: not in heart, tried even harder to see your face

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Speaker 1: with great desire because we wanted to come to you. Indeed,

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Speaker 1: I Paul once and again. But satan Us, for what

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Speaker 1: is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Isn't

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Speaker 1: it even you before our Lord Jesus at his coming,

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Speaker 1: For you are our glory and our joy. So poor

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Speaker 1: Paul can never catch a break. He's always being accused

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Speaker 1: of something. And you can tell, and for Thessalonians too,

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Speaker 1: that he is being accused once again of several things.

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Speaker 1: So let's go through this. And actually, for this chapter,

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Speaker 1: I think it's really beneficial to put yourself in the

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Speaker 1: shoes of the Thessalonians, because think about where the Thessalonians

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Speaker 1: were at this time. They barely knew Paul. They had

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Speaker 1: heard the gospel message from him, but they only got

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Speaker 1: the chance to really be around him for about three

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Speaker 1: weeks before he had to leave. There probably were several

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Speaker 1: Thessalonian Christians who had never even met Paul because they

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Speaker 1: became Christians after Paul had left. So it's very likely

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Speaker 1: many of them, not knowing Paul, were beginning to hear

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Speaker 1: these rumors about Paul, thinking that they might be true.

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Speaker 1: So that is why Paul writes this segment of this

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Speaker 1: letter to the Thessalonians. He starts in verse one, you

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Speaker 1: yourselves know, brothers, our visit to you wasn't in vain,

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Speaker 1: But having suffered before and been shamefully treated as you

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Speaker 1: know at Philippi, we grew bold in our God to

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Speaker 1: tell you the good news of God in much conflict.

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Speaker 1: In those two verses, Paul reminds the Thessalonians, He's like, look,

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Speaker 1: even though we were only with you for a very

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Speaker 1: short period of time, our visit to you was not

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Speaker 1: in vain. In fact, our visit to you was really

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Speaker 1: good because of the fact that we were emboldened from

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Speaker 1: the previous persecution that we had faced in Philippi, and

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Speaker 1: actually that persecution is talked about in Acts chapter sixteen,

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Speaker 1: Acts sixteen sixteen through thirty two. Here's what it says.

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Speaker 1: As we are going to prayer, a certain girl having

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Speaker 1: a spirit of divination, met us, who brought her masters

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Speaker 1: much gain by fortune telling. Following Paul, she cried out,

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Speaker 1: these men are servants of the Most High God, who

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Speaker 1: proclaimed to us a way of salvation. She was doing

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Speaker 1: this for many days, but Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned

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Speaker 1: and said to the spirit, I command you, in the

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Speaker 1: name of Christ Jesus, to come out of her. It

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Speaker 1: came out that very hour. But when her masters saw

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Speaker 1: that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized

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Speaker 1: Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before

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Speaker 1: the rulers. When they had brought them to the magistrates,

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Speaker 1: they said, these men, being Jews, are agitating our city

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Speaker 1: and advocate customs which is not lawful for us to

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Speaker 1: accept or observe. Being Romans, the multitude rose up together

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Speaker 1: against them, and the magistrate tore their clothes from them,

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Speaker 1: then commanded them to be beaten with rods. When they

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Speaker 1: had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison,

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Speaker 1: charging the jailer to keep them safely. Having received such

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Speaker 1: a command, he threw them into the inner prison and

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Speaker 1: secured their feet in the stocks. Now, if you keep

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Speaker 1: on reading, it actually tells the story of how that

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Speaker 1: jailer became saved. But regardless, you know, Paul and Silas

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Speaker 1: are in Philippi. And also it sounds like Luke is

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Speaker 1: there too, because Luke is most likely the author of

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Speaker 1: acts and he includes himself as being in Philipi. So

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Speaker 1: Paul certainly had his team there with him in Philipi.

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Speaker 1: And so what happens is they're going to prayer. This girl,

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Speaker 1: who has a evil spirit inside of her, starts harassing

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Speaker 1: Paul and Silas, saying that they have a way of salvation,

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Speaker 1: not the way of salvation, but a way. And eventually

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Speaker 1: Paul gets so irritated at this girl that he commands

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Speaker 1: the evil spirit to come out of her. And when

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Speaker 1: it does, the men who owned this slave girl became

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Speaker 1: furious because this slave girl was gaining them a lot

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Speaker 1: of money because she was, you know, giving fortune telling

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Speaker 1: and stuff like that. So they see that she no

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Speaker 1: longer has this evil spirit inside of her, they become

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Speaker 1: furious drag Paul and Silas to the magistrates of Philip,

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Speaker 1: where he accuses them and says all sorts of lies

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Speaker 1: about them, and the magistrate ends up stripping them naked

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Speaker 1: in public and beating them with rods, then throwing them

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Speaker 1: into prison, which was not legal for that magistrate to do,

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Speaker 1: by the way, because Paul himself was a Roman citizen.

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Speaker 1: But that's beside the point. However, this emboldened Paul and

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Speaker 1: Silas to preach Jesus's name even more fervently. And isn't

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Speaker 1: that amazing how that works like that? You know, persecution

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Speaker 1: we typically think as being something very scary, something we

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Speaker 1: want to avoid. But it's really amazing how when persecution happens,

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Speaker 1: God will just give people this crazy amount of strength

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Speaker 1: to be able to go through it, and to go

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Speaker 1: through it very strongly and very boldly. I mean, look

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Speaker 1: at Charlie Kirk. I do believe that a man was

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Speaker 1: a martyr because he was going out on Christian campuses.

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Speaker 1: He was actively proclaiming the Gospel wherever he went. You know,

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Speaker 1: he actually went to Japan just recently before he died,

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Speaker 1: like a week before he died. He proclaimed the Gospel

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Speaker 1: message there and he purposely did that, because I think

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Speaker 1: it's something like one point five percent of Japanese people

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Speaker 1: know about Jesus. Charlie Kirk spread his faith everywhere he went.

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Speaker 1: He was a martyr, and yet now through his death,

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Speaker 1: look at how many people are being emboldened to stand

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Speaker 1: up for Christ. For some reason, Christianity is often spread

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Speaker 1: through martyrdom and through persecution, because the Holy Spirit just

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Speaker 1: emboldens people to speak about Him when persecution like that happens.

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Speaker 1: And that was the same story with Paul and Silas.

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Speaker 1: After they experienced this persecution, they became even more bold

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Speaker 1: to tell the good news about God in the middle

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Speaker 1: of this conflict. That's what it says here in verse two.

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Speaker 1: And so Paul continues, for our exhortation is not of error,

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Speaker 1: nor of uncleanness, nor in deception, but even as we

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Speaker 1: have been approved by God to be entrusted with the

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Speaker 1: good news, So we speak not as pleasing men, but

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Speaker 1: God who tests our hearts. So Paul's like, look, I've

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Speaker 1: heard the rumors that you guys have heard about how

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Speaker 1: we are working with deception, that we are in error,

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Speaker 1: that we have uncleanness inside of us. And the reason

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Speaker 1: some of these accusations about Paul might have been coming

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Speaker 1: forth was possibly because of the amount of women that

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Speaker 1: we're becoming Christians. Apparently, back in these days, if a

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Speaker 1: woman no longer believed in the religion of her husband,

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Speaker 1: sort of like sexual foul play was typically thought of

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Speaker 1: as taking place. And because these women, these prominent women

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Speaker 1: in Philippi and also in Thessalonaika were becoming saved, becoming Christians,

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Speaker 1: people thought that Paul and Silas and whoever else was

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Speaker 1: part of Paul's ministry at this time, that they were

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Speaker 1: almost seducing these women away from their husbands. But Paul says, no,

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Speaker 1: we did not have any uncleanness inside of us when

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Speaker 1: we were telling you the gospel. We didn't have any

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Speaker 1: deception or error. He says, we have been approved by

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Speaker 1: God to be entrusted with the good News, and so

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Speaker 1: we speak. We speak because God gave us that message,

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Speaker 1: not because we want to please men, but because we

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Speaker 1: want to please God, who tests our hearts Verse five.

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Speaker 1: For neither were we at any time found using words

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Speaker 1: of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of cove righteousness.

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Speaker 1: And God is our witness, not seeking glory from men.

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Speaker 1: Neither from you nor from others, when we might have

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Speaker 1: claimed authority as apostles of Christ. So Paul's like, look,

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Speaker 1: we're apostles. We could have used that every time we

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Speaker 1: went up to speak. We could have been like, look,

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Speaker 1: you guys need to listen to us, because we are

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Speaker 1: apostles of Jesus, because we can do these miracles, because

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Speaker 1: we can speak in tongues, because we have all these gifts.

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Speaker 1: You guys need to listen to us. But Paul says,

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Speaker 1: we could have claimed that authority, but we did not

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Speaker 1: do it. We didn't seek glory from men. We didn't

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Speaker 1: have a cloak of coveteousness. In fact, Paul goes on

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Speaker 1: to say, we didn't ask anything from you guys. In fact,

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Speaker 1: we took care of ourselves when we came to the city.

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Speaker 1: We provided for ourselves. And that's something that Paul often did,

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Speaker 1: was when he went to plant a church, he would

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Speaker 1: provide for his own needs by doing tent making. And

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Speaker 1: some people also think maybe he did leather work as well.

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Speaker 1: He had a job and did not take money from

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Speaker 1: the places he was going to plant these churches, and

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Speaker 1: he did that purposely, not because it's wrong to tithe

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Speaker 1: or pay your pastors, as some people claim, but because

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Speaker 1: Paul did not want these people to get the wrong

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Speaker 1: idea about him, that he was coveteousness, or that he

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Speaker 1: was only spreading the gospel message because he wanted money,

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Speaker 1: he says, no, I did not want your money. That's

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Speaker 1: not why I'm doing this. I'm doing this because I

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Speaker 1: believe the Gospel needs to be spread to people, because

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Speaker 1: this is the truth of God. He says in verse seven.

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Speaker 1: We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother who

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Speaker 1: cherishes her own children. We talked about this before, but

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Speaker 1: there were these guys that basically called themselves like super

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Speaker 1: apostles or something, and they'd go around claiming to be,

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Speaker 1: you know, true Jewish people, to have all the answers,

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Speaker 1: to have some sort of revelation from God, to have

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Speaker 1: seen visions and have like special words of knowledge or

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Speaker 1: something like that. They'd go around preaching to these vulnerable people,

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Speaker 1: and Paul talked about them at length in Second Corinthians

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Speaker 1: because of how damaging these men actually were because they

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Speaker 1: were Charlatan's. They were only doing it for their own

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Speaker 1: selfish gain or for coveteous reasons, because they wanted money

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Speaker 1: or fame or something else. One thing that these quote

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Speaker 1: unquote super apostles would do is they would often yell

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Speaker 1: at people, even going as far as to slap people

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Speaker 1: across the face for heresy. So in Second Corinthians, chapter eleven,

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Speaker 1: Paul discourages in the strongest sense anybody that listens to

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Speaker 1: these quote unquote super apostles. In fact, he does it

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Speaker 1: with some snark as well. Second Corinthians eleven nineteen says this,

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Speaker 1: for you bear with the foolish, gladly being wise. For

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Speaker 1: you bear with a man if he brings you into bondage,

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Speaker 1: if he devours you, if he takes you captive, if

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Speaker 1: he exalts himself, or if he strikes you on the face.

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Speaker 1: So Paul's yelling at the Corinthians. He's like, you know,

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Speaker 1: you guys claim to be so wise, and yet you're

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Speaker 1: listening to some of the most foolish people on the planet,

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Speaker 1: So why are you doing that? But you know, this

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Speaker 1: was a very common thing back in Paul's day, these

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Speaker 1: speakers that would be very harsh to their audience, that

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Speaker 1: would literally slap people across the face. And Paul's like,

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Speaker 1: did we do that to you? Thessalonians did we do

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Speaker 1: what people are claiming that we did. Did we slap

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Speaker 1: you across the face? No, we were gentle among you,

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Speaker 1: like a nursing mother who cherishes her own children, even

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Speaker 1: so affectionately longing for you. We were pleased to impart

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Speaker 1: to you not the good news of God only, but

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Speaker 1: also our own souls, because you would become very dear

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Speaker 1: to us. Basically, that verse means that Paul and Silas

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Speaker 1: and Timothy and everybody else in Paul's ministry were willing

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Speaker 1: to die for the Thessalonians. They said, we were pleased

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Speaker 1: to not just give you the good news, but our

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Speaker 1: own lives if that's what became necessary. We were going

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Speaker 1: to do that for you because we have affection for you.

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Speaker 1: And that is something that the Thessalonians would have seen.

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Speaker 1: You know, because Paul and Silas and them had to

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Speaker 1: leave Thesalonaika so quickly due to religious persecution, they knew

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Speaker 1: how dangerous this was. They knew that Paul and his

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Speaker 1: team were risking their lives every single day to present

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Speaker 1: the gospel to people. Paul reminds them of all of

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Speaker 1: that because of these rumors spreading around about Paul verse nine,

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Speaker 1: For you remember brothers, our labor and travail for working

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Speaker 1: night and day, that we might not burden any of you.

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Speaker 1: We preached to you the good news of God. In

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Speaker 1: other words, Paul is making the argument, I am not

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Speaker 1: like these other people who just want to use you

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Speaker 1: for your money, who just want to give you these

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Speaker 1: speeches that sound pretty, that sound really knowledgeable, but are

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Speaker 1: empty and have no real truth behind them. We are

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Speaker 1: not those type of people. We worked for ourselves. We

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Speaker 1: took good care of you, guys. We were gentle, We

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Speaker 1: didn't mistreat any of you, we didn't seduce your women.

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Speaker 1: We were kind to all of you. And we made

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Speaker 1: sure to show you this because we want you to

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Speaker 1: know how important the gospel message actually is. You are

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Speaker 1: witnesses with God, how holy, righteously and blamelessly we behaved

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Speaker 1: ourselves toward you who believe. That's what he says in

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Speaker 1: verse ten. As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored

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Speaker 1: every one of you as a father does to his

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Speaker 1: own children. So in verse seven, Paul considers himself and

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Speaker 1: his team to be like a mother to the Thessalonians,

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Speaker 1: and now he considers himself to be like a loving father.

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Speaker 1: This is something that Paul did actually quite often to

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Speaker 1: the recipients of his letters. He considered himself to be

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Speaker 1: their father because he I think he really did have

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Speaker 1: a genuine affection for them. I really don't think that

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Speaker 1: that's that out of the ordinary. You know, I'm not

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Speaker 1: a parent myself, and I don't know what that feeling

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Speaker 1: is like because I don't have any kids. But I

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Speaker 1: can definitely feel it somewhat like this matronly kind of

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Speaker 1: affection for the youth group kids in my youth group,

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Speaker 1: because I just have this like deep love for them.

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Speaker 1: I love them so so much, and I just think

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Speaker 1: they're so cute, and usually I feel like they can

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Speaker 1: do no wrong, even if they're doing something wrong. I

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Speaker 1: have that feeling towards those students, And so I can

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Speaker 1: see how Paul might have that same feeling for these

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Speaker 1: churches and these people that he's mentoring. He feels like

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Speaker 1: a father to them, like a parent to them, and

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Speaker 1: then he says in verse twelve that he treated them

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Speaker 1: in this kind way so that they should walk worthily

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Speaker 1: of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Now,

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Speaker 1: that is something that in Acts chapter seventeen, people were

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Speaker 1: accusing Paul of spreading a message of insurrection against the emperor.

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Speaker 1: Here's what Acts seventeen four through eight says. Some of

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Speaker 1: them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas of the

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Speaker 1: devout Greeks, a great multitude and not a few of

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Speaker 1: the chief women. But the unpersuaded Jews took along some

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Speaker 1: wicked men from the marketplace and gathered a crowd set

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Speaker 1: the city in an uproar, assaulting the house of Jason.

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Speaker 1: They sought to bring them out to the people. When

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Speaker 1: they didn't find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers

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Speaker 1: before the rulers of that city, crying, these are those

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Speaker 1: who have turned the world upside down, having come here

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Speaker 1: also whom Jason has received. They all act contrary to

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Speaker 1: the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king,

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Speaker 1: this Jesus. The multitude and the rulers of the city

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Speaker 1: were troubled when they heard these things. When they had

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Speaker 1: taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

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Speaker 1: And that, of course is the story of Paul and

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Speaker 1: Silas being in Thessalonika, and why Paul and Silas had

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Speaker 1: to leave because this mob of Jews were so angry

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Speaker 1: at what Paul was preaching that they actually went into

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Speaker 1: Jason's home, raided the place, expected to find Paul and

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Speaker 1: Silas there, did not find them for whatever reason, and

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Speaker 1: ended up dragging Jason to the magistrates to say this

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Speaker 1: lie about what Paul and Silas were saying. That Paul

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Speaker 1: and Silas apparently were spreading this message of insurrection against

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Speaker 1: the Caesar, which absolutely was not the truth. And what's

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Speaker 1: really funny is that the Jews would have known that

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Speaker 1: better than anybody, because they were the ones who were wishing,

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Speaker 1: who were wanting the Messiah to overthrow the Roman government.

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Speaker 1: That's what they wanted. And yet when Paul and Silas

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Speaker 1: and Paul's team started teaching that the Messiah had come,

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Speaker 1: that his name was Jesus, they didn't want Jesus to

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Speaker 1: be their Messias. They wanted something else, So they instead

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Speaker 1: twist everything that Paul and Silas said to make it

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Speaker 1: look like Paul and Silas were trying to stir up

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Speaker 1: this rise against the Roman Empire, which is absolutely crazy,

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Speaker 1: and even Paul right here says, we're not doing that. Instead,

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Speaker 1: we are preaching the gospel of Jesus who calls you

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Speaker 1: into his own kingdom and glory, meaning a kingdom that

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Speaker 1: is not part of this earth, but one that is different,

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Speaker 1: one that is not going to come here, but is

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Speaker 1: going to come in the afterlife. Paul makes that very

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Speaker 1: very clear right here in for Thessalonians two, verse twelve,

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Speaker 1: that it has nothing to do with an earthly insurrection

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Speaker 1: against Caesar. Then in verse thirteen he says, for this cause,

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Speaker 1: we also thank God without ceasing that when you received

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Speaker 1: from us the word of the Message of God, you

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Speaker 1: accepted it not as the word of men, but as

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Speaker 1: it is in truth, God's word, which also works in

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Speaker 1: you who believe. For you, brothers, became imitators of the

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Speaker 1: assemblies of God which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus.

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Speaker 1: For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen,

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Speaker 1: even as they did from the Jews, who killed both

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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and drove us out.

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Speaker 1: And don't please God in our contrary to all men

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Speaker 1: forbidding us to speak to the gentiles that they may

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Speaker 1: be saved, to fill up their sin always. But wrath

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Speaker 1: has come on them to the uttermost. In that paragraph,

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Speaker 1: Paul is commending the faith of the Thessalonians because they

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Speaker 1: are standing up for Jesus and for their faith in

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Speaker 1: spite of the fact that they have a lot of persecution.

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Speaker 1: And we do know, you know, Thesalonika in these days

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Speaker 1: was a very prominent city. It was a city that

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Speaker 1: was a shipping hub because of how well it was

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Speaker 1: situated on the shore, like in the Upper Peninsula of Greece.

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Speaker 1: There were a lot of Jews in Thesalonika. In fact,

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Speaker 1: when Paul went there, he went directly to the synagogue

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Speaker 1: to teach the Jews about Jesus. So the Christians in Thesalonika,

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Speaker 1: we're getting a large amount of persecution from the Jews

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Speaker 1: in that area. Paul commends the Thessalonian Christians. He says,

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Speaker 1: good for you for standing up for Jesus in the

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Speaker 1: face of this persecution. And he says, you know, these

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Speaker 1: Jews who think that they are pleasing God. He says,

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Speaker 1: they killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets,

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Speaker 1: and they drove us out, and they don't please God.

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Speaker 1: And they are contrary to all men. Forbidding us to

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Speaker 1: speak to the gentiles that they may be saved, so

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Speaker 1: that they can fill up their sin always and what's

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Speaker 1: really funny here is Paul says an imprecatory statement. He says,

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Speaker 1: wrath has come on them to the uttermost. Notice what

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Speaker 1: Paul says about these Jewish men and women. They killed

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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus, they killed his prophets, they drove Christians out,

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Speaker 1: They don't please God, and they are contrary to all men.

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Speaker 1: They forbid Christians to speak so that they can fill

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Speaker 1: up on their sin. You know, these statements Paul writes

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Speaker 1: here could be talking about anybody. It's not just the

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Speaker 1: Jews of Paul's day who are doing these things, but

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Speaker 1: it's anybody who is so contrary to Christianity that they

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Speaker 1: act in this way. And it's really amazing how people

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Speaker 1: who act like this they only target Christians because they

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Speaker 1: understand that there is power in the name of Jesus Christ.

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Speaker 1: That is why these exact people, no matter who they are,

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Speaker 1: throughout all generations, they are going to attack Christians because

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Speaker 1: they know that there is something real with Christianity verse seventeen.

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Speaker 1: But we brothers, being bereaved of you for a short

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Speaker 1: season in presence not in heart, tried even harder to

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Speaker 1: see your face with great desire, because we wanted to

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Speaker 1: come to you. Indeed, I Paul once and again, but

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Speaker 1: Satan hindered us. Paul kept trying to stand up to

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Speaker 1: these persecutors, he says, I have tried to come back

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Speaker 1: to you on multiple occasions, but I keep getting stopped.

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Speaker 1: He says, Satan keeps hindering us. And you know, Paul

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Speaker 1: could be talking here about one entity who is you know,

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Speaker 1: Satan himself, the devil. But the term Satan in general

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Speaker 1: usually means the adversary. In fact, Jesus himself called Peter

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Speaker 1: the Disciple Satan because Peter was becoming an adversary toward Jesus.

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Speaker 1: At one point in time, Jesus says to Peter, get

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Speaker 1: behind me, Satan, you are not thinking about the things

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Speaker 1: of God. So I personally think that when Paul mentions

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Speaker 1: Satan right here, he's talking about the adversaries of Jesus,

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Speaker 1: which is demonic in nature. Obviously, we know that Satan,

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Speaker 1: that Lucifer, hates Christians right and that he is constantly

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Speaker 1: targeting them. Jesus said that Satan goes around like a

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Speaker 1: roaring lion seeking someone to devour. That is what he

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Speaker 1: is doing. He is trying to devour people. He hates Christians,

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Speaker 1: he hates the message of God because he is anti God,

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Speaker 1: he is anti Christ. And so he's going to do

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Speaker 1: every single thing that he can to make sure that

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Speaker 1: the message of Christ does not get out to more people.

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Speaker 1: And he is going to do that by lying to people,

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Speaker 1: by influencing people against Christians, and lastly by making people afraid.

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Speaker 1: Those are the three tactics that he uses, and those

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Speaker 1: are really the only things that he has lies fear,

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Speaker 1: intimidation and deceiving and influencing people against Christianity. Yet Paul,

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Speaker 1: with all boldness, and Silas and Timothy and everybody else

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Speaker 1: working with Paul, tried even harder, is what it says

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Speaker 1: in verse seventeen, to make sure that the Gospel of

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Speaker 1: Jesus did not die, but that it would spread to

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Speaker 1: even more people. The moral of that story is that

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Speaker 1: God is so much stronger than Satan ever will be,

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Speaker 1: and Satan he's never going to stop until the end

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Speaker 1: of time. He is going to do his best to

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Speaker 1: make sure that the Gospel of Christianity is not spread.

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Speaker 1: But the Holy Spirit is so much more powerful, so

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Speaker 1: much stronger inside of us Christians, that even when Satan

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Speaker 1: seems like he's winning, and he is able to effectively

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Speaker 1: persecute and martyr Christians. The Holy Spirit is going to

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Speaker 1: step up and make Christians even bolder, and make Christians

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00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:55,760
Speaker 1: even stronger and more courageous to spread the Gospel of Jesus.

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Speaker 1: And that right there shows how powerful the message of

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Speaker 1: Christian really is. I'm not gonna lie. I really did

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Speaker 1: not intend to make this podcast Charlie Kirk related, but

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Speaker 1: honestly like it ties in so perfectly with what we

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Speaker 1: just saw happening in our world last week. You can

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Speaker 1: see just the Gospel, at least in my mind. You

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Speaker 1: can see it just opening up to more people. You

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00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,760
Speaker 1: can see it coming to life the way Paul is

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Speaker 1: talking about you know, it's just it's so amazing. But

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Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I hope that you guys enjoyed today's episode.

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Speaker 1: If you did, if you were convicted, share it on

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00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 1: their social media platforms. Tell people that the Bible Explained

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00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,600
Speaker 1: podcast exists, because this is a really good way to evangelize,

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00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:50,560
Speaker 1: because you know, this podcast, for the most part, other

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00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 1: than the weather and coffee, we pretty much only talk

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Speaker 1: about the Bible. Here. But another good way to evangelize

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00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,480
Speaker 1: is just by rating and reviewing this podcast wherever you're

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00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:03,640
Speaker 1: listening from, because that helps this podcast get found by

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Speaker 1: more people. Faithful listeners have a fantastic and wonderful rest

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Speaker 1: of your day. As always, feel free to contact me

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Speaker 1: for whatever reason, whether it's a prayer request or you

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Speaker 1: just want to introduce yourself. You're going to find my

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00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 1: contact information listed in the description of this episode. Faithful

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Speaker 1: listeners have a wonderful rest of your day, happy listening,

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Speaker 1: and God bless