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Speaker 1: Howdy and good morning, friends and faithful listeners, and welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Bible Explained Podcasts. This morning, we are now

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Speaker 1: in part two of how Christians can shine their lights

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Speaker 1: regardless of what position in life they're in. Last week

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Speaker 1: we talked about husbands and wives, and this week we're

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Speaker 1: going to discuss parents and children and something very pervasive

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Speaker 1: in Paul's day, which was slaves and masters. So I

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Speaker 1: hope you guys have had a wonderful start to your

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Speaker 1: week so far, and if you didn't, always feel free

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Speaker 1: to reach out and give me a prayer request. If

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Speaker 1: you have one. You're going to find my contact information

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Speaker 1: listed in the description of this episode. And I do

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Speaker 1: in fact read my emails. I do try to get

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Speaker 1: back to everybody. Sometimes I fail at that, and I

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Speaker 1: am sorry for those of you that reached out and

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Speaker 1: never heard a response, But please know that I do

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Speaker 1: in fact read all of my emails, even if you

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Speaker 1: don't get a response. But I do try to respond

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Speaker 1: to everybody, at least in a timely manner. And certainly,

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Speaker 1: if you send me a prayer request, I will pray

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Speaker 1: for you for this week. So don't hesitate to email

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Speaker 1: me and reach out with a prayer request. All right,

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Speaker 1: let's get started with Colossians chapter three, and we'll be

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Speaker 1: reading verses twenty through twenty five today and once again

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Speaker 1: talking about parents and children and also slaves and how

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Speaker 1: they should be handling their life as a Christian. As usual,

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Speaker 1: I'll be reading from the web. Grab your cup of

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Speaker 1: coffee or your cup of tea, and let's jump in together. Children,

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Speaker 1: Obey your parents and all things, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers.

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Speaker 1: Don't provoke your children so that they won't be discouraged servants.

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Speaker 1: Obey in all things those who are your masters according

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Speaker 1: to the flesh, not just when they are looking as

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Speaker 1: men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And

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Speaker 1: whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and

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Speaker 1: not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will

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Speaker 1: receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the

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Speaker 1: Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will receive again

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Speaker 1: for the wrong that he has done, and there is

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Speaker 1: no partiality. Paul is now concluding his letter with some

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Speaker 1: things that Christians need to do, regardless of their position

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Speaker 1: in life. Last week, we talked about marriage relationships. What

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Speaker 1: the woman is supposed to do in the marriage relationship

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Speaker 1: to shine the light of Jesus to the world, and

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Speaker 1: what the man is supposed to do for his part

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Speaker 1: in the marriage relationship in order to shine his light

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Speaker 1: to the world. And if you guys didn't get a

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Speaker 1: chance to listen to that episode, you should because it'll

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Speaker 1: help you understand a little bit more as to what

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Speaker 1: I am talking about today. But after discussing wives and husbands,

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Speaker 1: Paul now moves in to children and parents and slaves

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Speaker 1: and masters. So, starting in verse twenty, it says, children,

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Speaker 1: obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.

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Speaker 1: So Christian children also have a role in all of

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Speaker 1: this as well. They are to obey their parents in

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Speaker 1: all things. And notice that Paul uses the word obey there,

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Speaker 1: not to submit, but to obey. Children should not think

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Speaker 1: that they are on the same level as their parents,

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Speaker 1: and likewise, parents should not treat their children as if

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Speaker 1: they are on the same level as them. That's not

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Speaker 1: to say that children are less valuable than any other

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Speaker 1: human but that children are under their parents because they

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Speaker 1: are learning from their parents. Even Jesus himself said the

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Speaker 1: student is not greater than the teacher, and in a

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Speaker 1: similar way, parents are the teachers of their children, so

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Speaker 1: there really is a hierarchy there. And notice here that

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Speaker 1: once again Paul is putting both mother and father on

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Speaker 1: the same level, because children are supposed to obey both

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Speaker 1: their parents in all things, because this pleases God. This

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Speaker 1: also was one of the commandments, children, obey your parents

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Speaker 1: in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father

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Speaker 1: and your mother, which is the first commandment with a

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Speaker 1: promise that it will be well with you and you

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Speaker 1: will live long on the earth. Out of all the

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Speaker 1: ten commandments, that was the first commandment that had a

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Speaker 1: promise attached to it that if the children obeyed their parents,

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Speaker 1: they'd have a long life. And I think that's for

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Speaker 1: two reasons. God truly does bless humility, and when a

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Speaker 1: child obeys his or her parents, he or she is

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Speaker 1: humbling herself by admitting that somebody is greater over them.

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Speaker 1: Jesus himself said that we have to become like little

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Speaker 1: children in order to enter his kingdom. So we are

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Speaker 1: supposed to obey God the Father, the way a child

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Speaker 1: would ultimately obey his parents. But the second reason a

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Speaker 1: promise was attached to that commandment is because if children

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Speaker 1: listen to their parents they're generally going to have a

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Speaker 1: better life because adults really are more knowledgeable than children are.

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Speaker 1: Adults generally know what to do and what not to do,

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Speaker 1: and they can give good advice. That's not across the board,

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Speaker 1: by the way, but it is in most circumstances, especially

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Speaker 1: if two parents truly do care about their kids. So

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Speaker 1: Paul is telling children, don't rebel against your parents, because

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Speaker 1: they actually do have a lot of knowledge and that's

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Speaker 1: actually going to help you succeed in life if you

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Speaker 1: obey them. And you might be like, well, Jen, when

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Speaker 1: does this end? Like, are you always supposed to be

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Speaker 1: obedient to your parents or is there a cutoff limit? Well,

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Speaker 1: I would personally say that obedience to parents technically ends

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Speaker 1: when a child moves out of their parents' house, because

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Speaker 1: back in the Book of Genesis, when God first created marriage,

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Speaker 1: it was stated that for this cause marriage, a man

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Speaker 1: shall leave his father and his mother and be joined

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Speaker 1: to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

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Speaker 1: So that to me sounds like there is a cutoff

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Speaker 1: point where the parents are no longer the authority over

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Speaker 1: the child. And this goes for both male and female children.

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Speaker 1: By the way, you know, I think a lot of

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Speaker 1: people read that verse and they say, oh, it's only

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Speaker 1: talking about the men. But I would actually say that

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Speaker 1: that's an inaccurate reading of that verse because don't forget

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Speaker 1: what we talked about last week, just a few verses

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Speaker 1: before this about wives being in submission to their husbands.

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Speaker 1: Colossians three, verse eighteen says this, wives be in subjection

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Speaker 1: to your husband's as is fitting in the Lord. So

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Speaker 1: wives are supposed to be in some mission. And what's

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Speaker 1: really funny is, you know I talked about that topic

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Speaker 1: last week, you know, and uh, I think YouTube or

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Speaker 1: Facebook was like listening to me, because you know, my

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Speaker 1: phone is right here. They're listening to everything I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: And so all of a sudden, I started getting all

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Speaker 1: of these videos and reels on submission, and so of

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Speaker 1: course I was watching them, and I saw this one

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Speaker 1: woman talking about what the word submission means, and she said,

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Speaker 1: submission if you break up, the word sub means under something,

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Speaker 1: and mission obviously means a mission that you were on.

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Speaker 1: So submission means you are putting yourself under the mission.

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Speaker 1: So when a Christian woman marries a Christian man, that

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Speaker 1: Christian woman is putting herself under the mission of her husband.

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Speaker 1: And what is that mission. Well, obviously it is the

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Speaker 1: Christian marriage. She is no longer following the mission of

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Speaker 1: her parents, but she is now following the mission of

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Speaker 1: her husband. So long story short, when the children move

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Speaker 1: out and become adults of their own, the obedience that

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Speaker 1: they once had to their parents, I believe turns into

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Speaker 1: more respect and honor of them and taking care of

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Speaker 1: them if they need it. Now, all this being said,

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Speaker 1: when Paul gave these instructions, he was giving them to

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Speaker 1: Christian households, And that's even implied in verse seventeen, right

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Speaker 1: before Paul gives all the instructions, whatever you do in

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Speaker 1: word or indeed do all in the name of the

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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him,

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Speaker 1: and then the instructions start. Because if you think about it,

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Speaker 1: a lot of these things won't work in a non

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Speaker 1: Christian household. Because let's just say that a child lives

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Speaker 1: in his or her parents' house, the child is Christian

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Speaker 1: and the parents are not. The child may actually have

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Speaker 1: to disobey their parents in certain circumstances because the parents

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Speaker 1: are telling the child to do something that is wrong.

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Speaker 1: Perhaps and Likewise, when the children grow up and become

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Speaker 1: adults and start honoring their parents, if their parents are

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Speaker 1: not Christians, there are just certain things that those adult

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Speaker 1: children cannot honor about their parents. Now, generally you give

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Speaker 1: your parents respect, but if that parent is coming in

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Speaker 1: between your relationship with your husband or wife or your children,

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Speaker 1: or teaching your children something wrong or teaching you something wrong,

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Speaker 1: that is something about your parents that you cannot honor.

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Speaker 1: And at times it is better for those children to

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Speaker 1: have distance from their parents. That is the best way

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Speaker 1: you can honor a parent like that. But if that

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Speaker 1: is your case, if you are a Christian in a

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Speaker 1: non Christian family, you are to navigate these things as

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Speaker 1: best as you possibly can, still living as a Christian

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Speaker 1: while giving as much respect and honor as you can

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Speaker 1: to your family members who are not Christians. Here's what

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Speaker 1: Colossians say three twenty one says, fathers, don't provoke your

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Speaker 1: children so that they won't be discouraged. Now that shows

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Speaker 1: here that the parents also have a role in all

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Speaker 1: of this, because, depending on the version that you read,

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Speaker 1: it might say parents instead of fathers, because the Greek

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Speaker 1: word pater can refer to parents, but usually refers to

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Speaker 1: just fathers either way, whether it's fathers or parents in general,

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Speaker 1: you are not supposed to provoke your children. Provoking would

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Speaker 1: include over punishing, over criticizing, abusing, And I would also

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Speaker 1: say teaching your children to do something wrong. Parents are

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Speaker 1: not supposed to do that. They're supposed to raise their

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Speaker 1: children in the Lord, showing what parenting really looks like.

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Speaker 1: And by the way, I can tell you that's from

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Speaker 1: personal experience, even though I have no children of my own,

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Speaker 1: I can tell you that people will respect you more

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Speaker 1: if they see you parenting your child well, if they

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Speaker 1: see that your child is well behaved and obedient and

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Speaker 1: kind to other kids, that's not going to just look

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Speaker 1: good on your kid. It's going to look good on

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Speaker 1: you as well, and people will respect that. That's another

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Speaker 1: way you can show Jesus to the world what kind

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Speaker 1: of a child are you raising. I sometimes listen to

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Speaker 1: Jordan Peterson and he talks a lot about parenting, and

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Speaker 1: the one thing that he always says is don't raise

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Speaker 1: a child that other people won't like, and that certainly

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Speaker 1: goes for Christians as well. Christians are to be raising

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Speaker 1: god honoring children that embody all of these values of Christianity,

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Speaker 1: not by forcing it into them or beating it into them,

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Speaker 1: but by modeling Christianity to them. One thing my mom

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Speaker 1: always says is, if you want to learn how to

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Speaker 1: be a good parent, read a chapter of Proverbs every

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Speaker 1: single day, because the Book of Proverbs teaches you how

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Speaker 1: to parent correctly. But continuing on in verses twenty two

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Speaker 1: through twenty five, Paul talks about the last class of

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Speaker 1: people that was very prevalent in Roman and Greek culture,

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Speaker 1: and that was the slaves. And you might be like, jen,

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Speaker 1: why didn't the New Testament talk about slavery being a sin?

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Speaker 1: Why didn't it say directly that slavery is a sin? Well,

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Speaker 1: the Expositor's Bible Commentary has something really good to say

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Speaker 1: about that. Actually, it says, and I quote, slavery, with

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Speaker 1: all of its attendant evils, was not only universally accepted

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Speaker 1: in ancient times, but also considered a fundamental institution indispensable

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Speaker 1: to civilized society. More than half of the people seen

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Speaker 1: on the streets of the great cities of the Roman

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Speaker 1: world were slaves, and this was the status of the

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Speaker 1: majority of professional people such as teachers and doctors, as

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Speaker 1: well as menials and craftsmen. Slaves were people with few rights,

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Speaker 1: mere property, existing only for the comfort, convenience, and pleasure

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Speaker 1: of their owners. The apostles, however, were not social reformers.

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Speaker 1: They were first and foremost heralds of the good news

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Speaker 1: of salvation in Christ. Then again, the Church was a

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Speaker 1: very small minority in the Roman world, and there is

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Speaker 1: no hope that its stance on the matter of slavery

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Speaker 1: would influence Roman policies. We should be careful to understand, though,

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Speaker 1: that they did not condone slavery. Indeed, they announced the

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Speaker 1: very principles, such as that of the complete spiritual equality

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Speaker 1: of slaves and masters, that ultimately destroyed the institution of slavery.

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Speaker 1: And that's absolutely the truth, because it was the Christian

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Speaker 1: abolitionists throughout history that opposed slavery so deeply and took

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Speaker 1: steps that caused the rest of the world to eventually

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Speaker 1: see the evils of slavery. And you can look that

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Speaker 1: up online and even google. As anti Christian as it is,

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Speaker 1: has to admit that Christian abolitionist movements played a primary

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Speaker 1: role in challenging and dismantling the institution of slavery over centuries.

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Speaker 1: In Europe and in the Americas. So yeah, it was

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Speaker 1: Christians that ultimately led to the demise of slavery because

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Speaker 1: of passages like this, and because the passages that say

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Speaker 1: that slaves and masters were exactly equal under Christ. And

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Speaker 1: also Paul never said that slavery was a good thing.

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Speaker 1: In fact, back in first Corinthians, I believe it was

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Speaker 1: Paul told slaves. He was like, if you have the

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Speaker 1: chance to become free, take it. Become a free man

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Speaker 1: or woman, because Paul understood that slavery was absolutely terrible. However, culturally,

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Speaker 1: slavery was so pervasive that half of the people you'd

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Speaker 1: meet in the ancient world were a slave of some sort.

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Speaker 1: So Paul addresses these slaves. He says, servants, obey in

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Speaker 1: all things those who are your masters according to the flesh,

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Speaker 1: not just when they are looking as men pleasers, but

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Speaker 1: in singleness of heart, fearing God. Paul here is challenging

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Speaker 1: the slaves not to just work hard whenever their masters

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Speaker 1: were looking, but to work hard all the time because

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Speaker 1: they have a different master, not the earthly master, but

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Speaker 1: their master is actually God. That's what he says in

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Speaker 1: verse twenty three. Whatever you do, work heartily as for

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Speaker 1: the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the

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Speaker 1: Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for

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Speaker 1: you serve the Lord Christ. I remember holding onto this verse.

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Speaker 1: Not that I was ever a slave in life. I

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Speaker 1: never was, but I remember holding onto this verse when

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Speaker 1: I was at my factory job and I absolutely hated it.

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Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, I'm going to work

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Speaker 1: hard because I am serving God. I am not serving

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Speaker 1: these people. I hate this job so much. I want

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Speaker 1: out so bad, But God, I'm going to do my

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Speaker 1: best to work for you. I just remember holding onto

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Speaker 1: this verse with like every bit of my being because

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Speaker 1: that was like the only hope that I had was

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Speaker 1: that God was seeing my work and hopefully going to

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Speaker 1: reward me for it someday in the future. And God

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Speaker 1: eventually did. He took me out of that terrible job,

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Speaker 1: and now I have such a fun job here at

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Speaker 1: P forty Ministries. So these verses don't just apply to slaves.

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Speaker 1: They are for anybody that has a job that is

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Speaker 1: working for somebody. They are for all employees. Work for God,

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Speaker 1: not for your employer. Don't be a man pleaser, but

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Speaker 1: work for God, because God is the one who sees you. Apparently,

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Speaker 1: in Paul's days, slaves were considered to be only hard

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Speaker 1: workers whenever somebody was watching them. So Paul kind of

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Speaker 1: challenges that. He's like, don't be the stereotype what everybody

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Speaker 1: says about you. Instead, work hard all the time, and

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Speaker 1: you're going to be noticed by God. Even if your

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Speaker 1: master does not notice you, even if you are mistreated,

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Speaker 1: you are going to be noticed by God. And Paul

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Speaker 1: even concludes right here that slaves are equal to their

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Speaker 1: masters because he says he who does wrong will receive

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Speaker 1: again for the wrong that he has done, and there

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Speaker 1: is no partiality, so God does not consider a slave

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Speaker 1: above or below anybody else. No matter what position or

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Speaker 1: rank we hold in life, we are all equal under God.

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Speaker 1: But ultimately, what all of this boils down to is

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Speaker 1: Paul is encouraging every single Christian no matter who they

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Speaker 1: are or what position they hold, whether they are a husband,

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Speaker 1: a wife, a child or a parent, a slave or

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Speaker 1: a freeman, every single person has a responsibility to shine

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Speaker 1: their light in the world in the position they've been given.

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Speaker 1: He know, one other point I forgot to mention about

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Speaker 1: the slave thing before we go. You know, if a

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Speaker 1: slave suddenly started working very hard when before he was

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Speaker 1: considered lazy by his master. Even the master would start

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Speaker 1: to take notice of that, you know, and the difference

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Speaker 1: that Christianity made in his or her life, and that

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Speaker 1: could be a witness even to those slave masters. Faithful listeners,

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Speaker 1: I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day

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Speaker 1: and that you enjoyed this podcast episode. I will see

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Speaker 1: you guys tomorrow bright and early six am or whenever

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Speaker 1: you choose to wake up and listen for another episode

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Speaker 1: from First Chronicles. Until then, happy listening and God bless