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Welcome back to our study of the book of Hebrews, today we'll be looking at Hebrews 12:12-18-What's Your Response To the Discipline Of The Lord?
In our last session, we talked about the necessity of being disciplined by God. In the case of the original readers of the letter, they were being tempted to go back to traditional Judaism to avoid the ongoing persecution against believers in Christ. the persecution was severe and long but as we saw in the letter, the Lord was using it to refine their faith. They were told about the example of Jesus, the author and perfecter of their faith and ours who endured persecution for the sake of our salvation and theirs. In these next verses, he is going to tell them about how to respond to God's discipline by giving them some exhortations
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hello and good afternoon and uh welcome
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back to our study of the book of hebrews
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now today is resurrection day or easter
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commonly known as easter and uh today is
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a great day that we ought to celebrate
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because
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without the resurrection there is no
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salvation if you go back to romans
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chapter 1
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verse 1 through 5 god shows that the
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reason why we are saved today is because
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he accepted the sacrificial death of
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christ which are toned for our sins and
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today we have peace with god
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as a result of jesus work on the cross
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so we cannot dismiss that because
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without the resurrection
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there is no salvation by raising jesus
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from the dead
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god showed that he was pleased with the
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sacrifice and that ties into the book of
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hebrews
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because in a letter to the hebrews the
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writer is mainly addressing um believers
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of jewish background so he's basically
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telling them that the sacrificial system
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with all these practices is no longer
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really needed because when jesus said it
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is finished and breathed his last
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the veil was torn in half and then
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access to the holy of holies was made
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possible because with one sacrifice by
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his death jesus accomplished what
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thousands of years of blood bloody
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sacrifice couldn't achieve
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so
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he's been trying ever since the
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beginning of his letter to show his
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readers that jesus is
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pretty much the the reason why the law
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and the prophets were written they were
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supposed to point us to jesus and now
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that he has come
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there's no longer need to share that
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blood of goats and all that and all
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these practices are no longer really
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needed now that doesn't mean that
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because some people believe uh a lie
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they say well jesus died so we no longer
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under the law no that means we are no
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longer under the principle of sin and
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death in the sense that us believers in
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christ we've been saved so the law
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doesn't save us so to speak because
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if you go back to the book of acts
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and in acts 16 i think the jerusalem
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council and if you go to galatians
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paul pretty much talks about the
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some of these traditional judaizers we
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wanted to tell believers that unless
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they were circumcised they couldn't be
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saved so paul says that no we are saved
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by by grace through faith alone and it's
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those practices you know we we still
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keep the law it doesn't mean that we
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stop keeping the law because the holy
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spirit of god in us loves the law of god
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so you can't claim to be a christian and
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deny the law of god saying that we are
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no longer on the law that is false
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because the holy spirit in you
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loves to do the will of god so but what
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what the scripture was saying in hebrews
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is that those practices are not really
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known that are no longer needed
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not because they were useless but
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because they were pointing to christ and
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now that christ has come christ is the
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what the end of the law for salvation
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the end of the law meaning the goal of
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the law the law was supposed to point us
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to christ and now that he has
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accomplished the work on the cross
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there's no longer need to share the
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blood of animals and stuff like that so
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with that said i want to jump into
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chapter 12 today so last and the last in
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our last session
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we talked about the discipline of god
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and we talked about how
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god disciplined his children because he
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loved them again the scripture says no
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discipline is pleasant at the time but
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later on it leads to a harvest of
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righteousness for those that have been
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trained by it so we looked at chapter 12
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verse 1 through 11 and today we're going
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to begin with verse 12 and we're going
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to talk about the response to god's
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discipline how do we respond to god's
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discipline what do we do and we talked
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about the fact that the reason why god
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discipline his children is because he
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wants us to share in his holiness now in
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the case of the hebrew believers that he
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was addressing they had to go through
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the persecution in order to what to
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refine their faith because they were
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told they had to turn away from certain
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things and turn to jesus and then that's
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what he talks about from verse 1 through
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11. now i'm going to read verse 12 to 16
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today and that's what we're going to be
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looking at for the most part so
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i'm going to read from
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the esv so the scripture says
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therefore
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lift your droopy hand your drooping
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hands and strengthen your weak knees
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and make straight paths for your feet so
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that what is lame may not be put out of
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joint but rather be healed
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strive for peace with everyone and for
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the holiness without which no one will
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see the lord
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see to it that no one fails to obtain
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the grace of god that no root of
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bitterness springs up and causes trouble
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and by it many become defiled that no
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one is ex sexually immoral or unholy
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like esau
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whose soul is birth right for a single
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meal for you know that afterward when he
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desired to inherit the blessing
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he was rejected
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for he found no chance or no room to
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repent
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though he sorted with tears again
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this is the word of god and take it as
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such so now let's try to understand what
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the scripture is trying to tell us
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in these passages here
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so
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basically we talk about what is our
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response to
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the discipline of the lord
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and he gives us uh in this verses he
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gives us the plan okay so he basically
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says
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if you go through from verses 12 to 17
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he says the writer says to us like
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i want to give you some exhortations and
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he's addressing his original readers
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he's not us like we are the indirect
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recipient he was addressing the church
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the hebrew church
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i don't know if the way they were
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located but those were hebrew believers
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so he's saying
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in light of understanding the necessity
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of the discipline of the lord
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in their case it was the ongoing
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persecution
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they ought to do what to lift their
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drooping hands and strengthen their
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weakness now that's the first
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exhortation
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so basically he's utilizing the the
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physical body to drive his point she's
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drooping hands
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and weakness have to do with watch with
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what that which is sagging
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bending down us from physical weakness
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so basically drooping hands and and
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weakness they have to do with what
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sagging something that's like
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losing his strength and just sagging and
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bending down
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because of physical weakness okay so and
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i'm sure that the original readers
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understood what drooping hands and
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weakness meant
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because if you go he he mentioned
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spiritually maturity in the earlier
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chapters so in chapter 12 he reminds
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them why it was necessary that they
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became what spiritually mature so that
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has to do with spiritual maturity see
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drooping hands and weakness may cause
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people to become lame and maybe put out
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a joint because he mentions it right
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physically that can happen
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because of weakness but
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the point that he's trying to drive is
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this
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spiritual immaturity leads to far
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worse consequences again i'll repeat
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that again
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spiritual immaturity
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leads to far
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worse consequences see so he's calling
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his readers therefore to accept the
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discipline of the lord for the sake of
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what for the sake of their spiritual
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maturity he wanted them to wake up to to
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die which the lord was working in their
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lives
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and sometimes it takes extreme
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persecution and suffering to awaken our
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spiritual senses and the other
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exaltation is to strive for what
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holiness
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and it comes with a consequence because
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he says
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those who want to experience the
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presence of god
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ought to take what personal holiness
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seriously
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not only does he have implications for
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our lives like immediately but also for
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the future because i just don't want you
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to make any mistakes okay if there's a
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lack of holiness in your life
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you may not be a child of god
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this is why a man and a woman ought to
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do what examine yourself to see if you
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are in the faith because the scripture
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says strive for holiness without which
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no one will see the lord and then it's
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interesting because if you look at it
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literally
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the reason why we don't see god with our
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optics with our eyes is because we are
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unholy still i mean we are being
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sanctified but
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the scripture says no one can see god
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and live because he requires us to be
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holy so the holy spirit now is doing
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what's sanctifying us for that day so
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he's changing us day by day but he's
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also there's also an immediate um
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consequence to this because
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if you want to experience god in your
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life
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if you want the holy spirit to work in
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your life and there's a lack of holiness
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in your life you won't hear the voice of
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god
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because we are so filled with filth
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that he wants to do away with all these
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things so that we can be what vessels
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for you is used
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so we have to strive for holiness that's
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important because i don't believe this
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is why i said earlier what i said
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earlier about people believe that now
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that jesus has come we are no longer
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under law we are no longer under the
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principle of the lord the law of sin and
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death in a sense that we are saved we
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are secure in christ
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but
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now we have freedom to do our freedom to
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do the will of god we have been freed
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from the power of the the sinful nature
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now to serve god give me a minute let me
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take a sip of my drink
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and and now we have the power and the
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ability because of the spirit of god to
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do the work of god
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so that's important for us to remember
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that so because without holiness we will
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not experience god
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so let's go to the next thing
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now i want us to read verse 15 through 7
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together again
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the scripture says
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see to it that no one fails to obtain
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the grace of god that no root of
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bitterness springs up and causes trouble
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and by it many become defiled that no
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one is sexually immoral or unholy like
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esau
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who sold his birth right for a single
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meal for you know that afterward when he
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desired to inherit the blessing he was
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rejected for he found no chance to
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repent or no room to repent though he's
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sorted with tears
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so basically verse 15 is like a summary
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of chapter 4 and chapter 10
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because they are they are a warning to
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the readers and us today
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because these people were facing what
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persecution
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and some of them wanted to forsake their
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faith and go back to the old sacrificial
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system in order to avoid the suffering
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and the persecution
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so we talked about the children of
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israel in the wilderness and how some
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failed to enter the rest of god because
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of unbelief
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so verse 15 is a reminder of that and
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the writer is calling his readers and us
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today to allow to not allow any root of
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bitterness to spring up and defile us
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because listen like long suffering when
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you suffer for a long time
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there's a tendency there's like there's
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a strong chance that you can become
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resentful and that has happened you can
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become resentful and bitter so he was
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telling these people i know you guys
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have been suffering for a long time and
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the tendency and the the
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the
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the temptation to to like resent this
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suffering is pretty pretty strong so
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he's telling them listen
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long suffering is it is a fruit of the
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spirit so he's telling them no don't
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allow any root of bitterness to spring
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up in your heart don't do that
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and and the antidote is to go back to
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work to the lord and ask him to expose
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those areas in our lives that need
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correction
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because sometimes after a long time of
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suffering we become very bitter and we
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become very resentful
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so we can't cure bitterness on our own
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this is not something that you can do on
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your own okay and the reader is the
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writers addressing these readers telling
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them don't let that happen okay because
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only the spirit of god can do this
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so he's telling them rely on the spirit
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of god
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faith comes by hearing and hearing by
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the word of god it's not something that
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we can manufacture it is not something
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that we can do but it is with
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cooperation with the spirit as we we we
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express what is going on within our
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heart to to the lord and then he takes
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those things and he works in us both to
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will and act according to his purpose
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so in the case of those believers they
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were being tempted to go back to avoid
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the persecution listen it's easy if
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because this is this is the thing
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they are believers in christ and as a
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result they are being persecuted
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and so now they have the choice to say
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hey listen we can make an end to this
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persecution by just accusing to the
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status quo
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and the right is saying no we're not
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going to do that because we believe
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and we know that this is no longer
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needed
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keep your eyes on christ this is why he
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said let's figure let's let's fix our
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eyes on christ the author and perfect of
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our faith who for the joy that was set
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before him and toward the cross and
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despised shame
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so
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he told them earlier keep your eyes on
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christ and look at this cloud of
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weaknesses
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and then do not lose hope because do not
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lose your heart because the lord is
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discipline you he's disciplining you
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he's working something
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right now it is not pleasant but later
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it will lead to what a harvest of
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righteousness
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so to avoid bitterness we need to go
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back to the lord constantly okay and the
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next thing he talks about is sexual
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immorality
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that's very that was back then he was
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strong is still stronger today
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this is something that's always plaguing
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both men and women and we have to be
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extremely careful okay because sexual
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immorality will certainly lead anyone to
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miss the presence of god
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if you're sexually immoral
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it's just something that god doesn't
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take lightly okay the scripture tells us
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in first corinthians 6 verse 17 to 19
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but he who is joined to the lord becomes
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one spirit with him
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flee
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from what from sexual immorality
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every other sin a person commits is
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outside the body but the sexually
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immoral person
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sins against his own or her own body or
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do you not know that your body is the
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temple of the holy spirit within you
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whom you have from god you are not your
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own
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see your body does not belong to you it
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is the spirit body the holy spirit
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indwells you so you can take your body
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and do whatever you want with it because
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you've been purchased with the blood of
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christ
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he paid he paid the ransom so that now
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we are he is we are basically slaves of
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god in a good way
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so our legion is to the lord
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because our bodies are now at the temple
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of the holy spirit this is why sexual
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immorality is so destructive
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all right
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and then he makes his point even clearer
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because he mentions esau and the spirit
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of god calls him unholy in the scripture
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okay because the scripture again was
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written by
15:04
the author of the book of hebrew but the
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method the matter order author is the
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holy spirit okay because the holy spirit
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oversees all things so he wanted the
15:13
scripture to be to to refer to esau as
15:16
being unholy
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so we have to understand that
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uh why he mentions
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uh he calls esau unholy we have to go to
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genesis 25
15:28
29 through verse 34. so i want to go to
15:30
that scripture and we're going to read
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it real quick
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so the scripture tells us
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once
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when jacob was cooking stew
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esau came in
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esau came in from the field and he was
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exhausted
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and esau said to jacob let me eat some
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of that red stew from exhausted
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therefore his name is called edom jacob
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said sell me your birthright now
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esau said i'm about to die
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of what uses the birthright to me and
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jacob said swear to me now
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so you swore to him and sold his birth
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right to jacob then jacob gave esau
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bread and lentils too and he ate and
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drank and rose and went his way thus
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esau
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despised his birthright now i want you
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to see what the writer is trying to say
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here this he's making like his point so
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clear
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so esau as we see here despised the most
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precious thing
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that he could have ever had okay because
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in verse 31 he says
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jacob's telling tells him sell me your
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birth right now and see esau said i'm
16:41
about to die
16:43
of what uses a birth right to me
16:45
so he had no regard for his birthright
16:48
he didn't care about what that
16:49
represented because he was more
16:51
concerned about preserving his flesh
16:54
satisfying what his own sinful nature
16:57
the immediate gratification so he gave
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up the most precious thing which is his
17:02
birthright in an irreverent manner and
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we have to understand why that was so
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important because as the firstborn he
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was supposed to do what to inherit
17:11
all of his father's possession if you go
17:13
to deuteronomy 21 verse 15 to 17. and
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what i just want to stress this out real
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quick listen to what the scripture says
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in deuteronomy 21 verse 15 to 17
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if a man has two wives the one loved and
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the other unloved and both the loved and
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the unloved are born in children and if
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the first one if the firstborn son
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belongs to their loved
17:35
then on day when he assigns his
17:37
possessions as an inheritance to his son
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he may not treat the son of the lord as
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the firstborn in preference to the son
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of the unloved who the first one but he
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shall acknowledge the firstborn the son
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of the unloved by giving him a double
17:51
portion of all that he has for he is the
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first fruits of his strength the right
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of the first one is his
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technically
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the right of the firstborn was supposed
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to be
18:03
esau but he
18:05
despised it and sold it for a piece of
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for a meal for stew and lentils so he
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didn't care
18:13
about
18:14
his uh inheritance and he just gave it
18:17
up he's like i don't care about these
18:18
things i just don't care
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so
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basically the first one right was a big
18:23
deal because esau
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but esau had no regard for it he gave it
18:28
up
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he gave up his father's inheritance for
18:31
a single meal that could only satisfy
18:33
him but temporarily it was only like a
18:36
temporary satisfaction and we have to
18:38
remember why
18:40
the writer is mentioning esau example
18:42
and he has a purpose in mind for doing
18:44
that because if you go to 16 what does
18:47
he say that no one is sexually immoral
18:49
or unholy like esau who sold his birth
18:52
right for a single meal for you know
18:54
that afterwards when he desired to
18:55
inherit the blessing he was rejected for
18:58
he found no room to repent though he
19:00
sought it with tears
19:02
he's essentially saying to his readers
19:04
to consider what is at stake
19:06
jesus promises us what his followers
19:08
eternal life and the original readers
19:11
were being tempted to go back to the old
19:13
practices in order to avoid the
19:15
persecution in the same way
19:18
esau just wanted to just get a quick
19:20
meal quick fix
19:22
to avoid just waiting a little longer to
19:24
satiate his hunger
19:27
which means for those people it means
19:29
that they could be safe temporarily
19:31
right but what good is it to gain the
19:33
whole world and forfeit your soul so the
19:35
writer is calling them to calling that
19:37
to attention and i believe that the
19:39
writer mentions esau to teach them and
19:41
to teach us a valuable lesson about what
19:43
really matters in life see esau didn't
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care
19:46
about his inheritance and forfeited it
19:48
he didn't care in the same way those who
19:51
neglect the great salvation jesus
19:54
wrought for the sake of the temporary
19:56
pleasures
19:58
of life they will also forfeit what
20:00
their soul in the kingdom of god so
20:02
basically if you are so caught up in
20:04
pleasing people and doing what pleases
20:07
people to avoid persecution to live a
20:08
comfortable life now
20:11
at the expense of the gospel at this at
20:14
the expense of the truth you are
20:15
forfeiting your soul and this is the the
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strong warning the writer was sending to
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his readers he's saying listen don't be
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like esau
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because he despised his inheritance for
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a single meal
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and you are in the same boat if you
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despise this gospel
20:32
and then
20:33
go back and be in that comfortable place
20:35
where you just want to associate you
20:36
just want to satisfy your temporary
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pleasures now
20:40
think about it
20:42
right
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and the worst part is this is off he
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later on tried to inherit the blessing
20:47
but he was rejected
20:49
and the scripture tells us that he found
20:51
what no room to repent even though he
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saw it with tears
20:55
he never repented of his sin of
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rejecting that first he never repented
21:00
the scripture said he never found room
21:01
to repent he started with tears but he
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wasn't he was repentant
21:06
so he was only interested in what he had
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lost but never repented of his initial
21:10
actions
21:11
so in the same way the writer is warning
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his readers and us they say
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i don't want you to suffer the same
21:18
faith
21:18
so clearly
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the scripture says that today if you
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hear his voice do not what do not harden
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your heart okay so if the spirit of god
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is talking at your heart right now then
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do not harden your heart if this these
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words are like
21:33
touching you and then speaking to you
21:35
then
21:36
the the your logical response is to to
21:40
to bow before the lord and repent i
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don't know what you're going through in
21:43
your life and you don't know what i'm
21:44
going through but one thing i know is we
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are warned here in this scripture
21:49
that we should not be like esau who for
21:51
a single meal
21:53
forfeited his inheritance
21:56
and we don't want to do that for the
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sake of
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comfort
22:00
in this life and forfeit the gospel
22:02
that's what's at stake some people are
22:04
ashamed of the gospel
22:06
and they claim well i don't want to be
22:07
offensive
22:08
you really don't want to be offensive
22:10
this is the truth this is the way the
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truth in life this is the only gospel
22:14
that we have so why are you ashamed
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of sharing the gospel with people
22:18
because you don't want to be
22:20
seen as backward
22:21
right
22:22
and we we all do that
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we all get ashamed because we don't want
22:26
to offend or we want to be liked we want
22:28
to be pleased we want to be people who
22:30
please us so we hide this that the light
22:33
of the gospel for the sake of temporary
22:35
pleasure
22:38
and this is the one we should be ashamed
22:39
of ourselves when we do that
22:42
so
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what's the warning today
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well today is the resurrection day so
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are you ashamed to talk about the
22:47
resurrection of christ do you think
22:49
people are gonna think you you silly for
22:51
thinking that men died and rose from the
22:53
dead
22:55
you know it's interesting because god
22:57
chose the the weak things of this world
22:58
to shame the wise
23:00
this is how we are saved through the
23:01
resurrection of christ but we don't want
23:04
to talk about it because somehow it
23:06
sounds like well this is kind of like
23:08
fairy tale stories
23:10
i believe the resurrection
23:12
and i thank god that
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this is not something that you can
23:15
manufacture
23:17
so i i just thank him for his work
23:20
and i pray there you know like it's it's
23:22
hard to be a believer
23:24
because we have our own sinful nature
23:26
that we are dealing with and then
23:27
pressure from the outside
23:29
you know romans 7 is really a reminder
23:31
of the daily battles within our own soul
23:34
the flesh and the spirit of god but
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thank god that the spirit of god always
23:38
has victory
23:40
so on this day i wish you all the best
23:43
and i'll see you next time for our next
23:45
uh session okay thank you and have a
23:48
wonderful evening