Godly Conduct

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Day 7- 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

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Okay, so we're in First Thessalonians chapter 5. We're gonna go down through verses 12 through 28, a small passage of scripture, but each one of these verses could be a sermon in and of itself. So I'm gonna start work my way down and see how far we get. So the first verse in the New Living says, Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are leaders in the Lord's work. I'm gonna stop right there because I just want to come read that, honor those part in a few more translations. In the Passion Translations, it says, Make sure that you show your deep appreciation for those who cherish you and dignically work as ministers among you. New King James says, Um, brethren, recognize those who labor among you. King James says, Know them which labor among you. Amplified Classic says, Brethren, get to know those who labor among you, recognize them for what they are, acknowledge and appreciate and respect them all. CEV says, We ask you to be thoughtful of your leaders who work hard. Um, and let's see, what's the message says we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you. So um, I wanted to highlight the different ways that's being brought out um in the different uh translations because sometimes we definitely um the Bible tells us to guard against anything that might we might put up as an idol. So we love our leaders, we love our pastors, we love those who are sowing into us spiritual fruit. We honor those people because of the position that God has put them in, the gifts that He has given them, and how they are shepherding our souls, how they are stewarding us, and how they are leading us and helping us to be the people that God has made us, or they're equipping us to do the work of the ministry. Um, the different pastors, apostles, teachers that are into our life, right? Um, but we know we're gonna guard against making them an idol, but at the same time, we should honor them. We should um do the things that God is telling us to do, showing them honor, showing them appreciation, um, lifting them up in prayer, definitely. Um, because they these people are laboring for our souls, they have taken up the um call of God, they have taken up the work of God, and they are doing it, and you want it to be something that they enjoy doing. You want that to be something that they don't have to wake up one morning and just feel like, oh, you know, any type of begrudgingness with that. And it will only feel that way if it's becoming cumbersome to them, but it will only become that way if we are not doing our part in the um work of honoring them, right? And it says they work hard among you to give you spiritual guidance, show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work and live peacefully with each other. That's a mouthful right there. We're just a little if we can live peacefully with each other, if we can live in harmony with each other, it and and then what do you have to do to live peacefully with each other, not be selfish? Because a lot of times when you are not living in peace, it comes from the fact that I am looking out for me and not necessarily looking out for others. I'm looking out for my interest, and I don't I could care less about yours. And of course, um, you know, most of us here, we well, what all of us here either have had a job or are working a job. So basically, I bring that up because of the interpersonal relationships that you see on a daily basis when you are working with people across uh the landscape of a job, and then you see the different um situations you get in, the different things people do, um, and most of it, unfortunately, is looking out for self. But you have those people in your workplace um that are peacemakers and peacekeepers that are just they're there to work, they're there to get in where they fit in, they're there to do whatever needs to be done to get the work done and to keep the peace. Um, and those people are just golden because they just help you be able to uh complete the mission of what it is that you have to accomplish at your job. Verse 14 says, Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. How much how much does God dislike laziness? Warn those who are lazy. We can go back um in the gospels when it talks about um the talents, right? The five talents and the two talents and the one talent. And you know, we we've already talked about this, but the five talents was told when he multiplied the five and got five more. Good, um, um, well done, good and faithful servant. And then the one who got the two talents and multiplied the two more. Well done, good and faithful servant. So, what that tells me is that it didn't matter the amount given per se. Um, if you did something with what you were given, because it was given to you based on your ability, five got five, two got two more, and one, if they would have just got one more, then they would have been told good and faithful servant. But they didn't do anything with that, they took it, hid it, gave it back. Now I have all the money that I gave you, but that's not what I was looking for. I was looking for you to increase, I was looking for you to multiply, I was looking for you to utilize those gifts that I gave you. I didn't ask you to give them back to me in that same little nice, nice, neat little package, untouched. I want you to use it. I expect you to use it, I expect you to produce fruit. But since you didn't produce fruit, that person was called wicked and lazy. That just it just feels like it scorches you when it comes from God calling you wicked and lazy. So, how much does God dislike laziness, right? So we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Then it says, encourage those who are timid, encourage them, help them to understand that God has given us um boldness. God has given us a spirit of fear, but a power of love, of a sound mind, right? And if you don't have the boldness, you can ask God for boldness and he will give you boldness, right? So, you know, just understand that um God wants us to encourage those who are shy, who are timid because God didn't give that to them to be that. You know, you have Christ on the inside of you, and when you understand who you are in Christ, when you understand how important you are to God and the kingdom and this in this earth realm, you know, that just increases a boldness and brings up a Holy Spirit boldness in you. Take tender care of those who are weak, take tender care of those who are weak. It didn't say take advantage of those who are weak, which coming from God, it wouldn't say that anyway. But it says take tender care of those who are weak, be patient with everyone. There goes that word patient again, right? Um, um going goes, I'm thinking about going along with peaceful, people, peaceful, patient, peaceful, patient. Two P words, right? That can work hand in hand with each other because in order to be peaceful, a lot of times you have to be patient, right? Um, because people often see life through their own, well, they have no choice but to see life through their own lens, right? But when you're being patient means that I'm considering the other person, I'm considering what they're going through, I'm considering they might be having a bad day, I'm considering that this person cutting me off in traffic, may you know, have somewhere more urgent to go. I'm just considering that. I'm not taking getting offense, I'm not getting upset, you know, even if you did almost cause me to have an injury or whatever. I forgive everybody for everything, I let it go. Maybe there's something going on in their life I don't know about. Um, see to uh that no one pays back evil for evil. But always try to do good to each other and to all people. Why do we not want to pay back evil for evil? Because the way that things work in life, when you would think like, okay, tit for tat, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, hand for a hand, foot for a foot, if you did this to me, that's old testament, then I'm gonna do it back to you. You know, that's that's not the way of Christ, that's not the way of love. You know, love is the one that's gonna overcome a multitude of sins. Love conquers, it is the love of God that brings us back to under repentance, right? So if you give uh Satan his back, you're just multiplying and increasing Satan, you're not tearing down his walls, you're increasing them and making them bigger when you give back evil for evil, and then um, but when you give back love, then you're extinguishing that fire of Satan, right? And because we don't want it an increase, we don't want him to utilize us and use us, we want him to um, you know, his plots and his schemes to be found out and to be snuffed out. That's what we want as ambassadors of the kingdom and ambassadors of Christ, right? Um, always be joyful, hallelujah, right? Why? Joy of the Lord is our strength and our stronghold. Joy of the Lord helps us, joy of the Lord increases us, joy of the Lord moves us, right, into different realms and different spaces that we can't even discern or see in this natural realm. Joy uh is a fruit of the spirit, like we it helps us and propels us um forward in so many different ways. So when we choose joy in these situations when we could choose anger, when we could choose hurt, when we could choose malice, when we could choose all these other things, we are utilizing God's resources, we're utilizing the tools of the kingdom, and we're um breaking down those strongholds of the enemy by using that joy instead of picking up his tools. Never stop praying. Uh, does that mean they have to be praying 24, 7, 365? Well, yes, in a sense, right? But of course, it doesn't mean that you have to pray um every single second of every single day. It says never stop praying, right? So that means that you're always going to be in a mind in a posture of prayer. What is prayer in a simpler form? Having a communication with God. So I can be having communication with God and not opening my mouth. I could be meditating on God, meditating on the word, I could be um moving in a way that just is if I see something going on, then my go-to is prayer. I matter of fact, that happened yesterday. It was a situation I saw um on social media, and from my first thought was why such and such and so and so did that. But then my second thought was prayer. But uh I don't even know the first thought should have been prayer, but the second thought was prayer. So I went with that second thought and just prayed over that situation, right? Because it's like, why do why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? Well, maybe somebody should be praying. I was like, okay, well, let me pray. Holy Spirit was probably the one introducing that second thought. Maybe you ought to pray, and I did. So, you know, never stop praying, be thankful in all circumstances. How many circumstances? All circumstances be thankful in the good circumstances, be thankful, in the bad circumstances, be thankful, in the hot mess circumstances, be thankful. Are we bad uh thankful for the bad and the hot mess? No, we're thankful because of God, because he's going to look out for us, he's going to take care of us, he's going to bring us through these situations as he always has done and will continue to do for all eternity. We're thankful because if we uh in this life today, we're going to see Jesus, we're going to live our days on of eternity out in heaven. You know, we are saved and we um are blessed in this life because we know Jesus, right? Um, and for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. Don't stifle the Holy Spirit. Allow the Holy Spirit to have his expression and his movement through you. Because when you stifle the Holy Spirit, then you're stifling a situation that needs his expression. Like last night, y'all, I had to work. I was working, and there was a guy, praise God, um, who had to go to the ICU um to oh no, had to go to the or from the ICU because he was having a situation. Um, and when I walked into that room, I could feel the spirit of fear. He had so many family members in there, and I could just feel it. It was just tangible, the spirit of fear in there. So, you know, um they were already praying. So I didn't try to divert their prayer, but I did encourage them and I did just kind of love on them and just encourage them that, you know, we're gonna do what we need to do. You know, we're we're we're here, you know, for such a time as this. We're the right people in the right place at the right time. God is a handpicked to select us because they could have done that surgery anytime, but they chose to do it in the middle of the night when I would be off of job one and um be available to go to job two, but so that I could be in that room to be there praying for that person while the surgeon was operating, right? So, you know, and he made it through, praise God. And he was uh up in the ICU now recovering. But you know, the point is we're not gonna stifle the Holy Spirit when you feel that urge, when you feel that um push, when you feel that unction inside of you, you're gonna yield to that and you're gonna let it flow through so that somebody can receive what it is that's God's trying to get through you to them. Um, and we're already at 616. So, like I told you, it was a lot in that. We could teach a whole um probably six, seven week spirit series on just this little section of scripture. But there's just understand that God is looking out for us and taking care of us. And in I do want to point out that in this section of scripture, these were instructions, like very plain instructions. So we're following in the instructions of God, we'll uh win every single time and we won't miss. And with that, I will yield.