0:05 [Music]
0:07 welcome to back to the Bible radio
0:09 featuring best-selling author and
0:11 internationally known Bible teacher
0:13 Warren where's B let's read together
0:16 first Thessalonians chapter 2 beginning
0:20 at verse 9 for you remember brethren our
0:24 labor and toil for laboring night and
0:27 day that we might not be a burden to any
0:30 of you we preach to you the gospel of
0:34 God you are witnesses and God also how
0:37 devoutly and justly and blamelessly we
0:39 behaved ourselves among you who believe
0:43 as you know how we exhorted and
0:45 comforted and charged every one of you
0:48 as a father does his own children that
0:52 you would have a walk worthy of God who
0:57 calls you into his own Kingdom and glory
1:00 we have here another picture of what it
1:02 means to minister we've been talking
1:05 about the athlete in verses 1 & 2 and
1:08 then in verses 3 through 6 the steward
1:10 we need the trustworthiness of the
1:13 steward and now we're looking at the
1:15 family we need the tenderness of the
1:19 parent Paul compared himself to a mother
1:22 in verses 7 and 8 we were gentle among
1:24 you as a nursing mother sharing her own
1:27 life that's what preaching really is
1:29 that's what ministry really is sharing
1:32 our lives with others so he became a
1:35 nursing mother a gentle nursing mother
1:38 but he was also an encouraging father in
1:41 verses 9 through 12 let's talk about
1:43 what the father does and then how he
1:47 does it and then why he does it what
1:49 does the father do 1st Corinthians
1:54 chapter 4 verse 14 I do not write these
1:57 things to shame you but as my beloved
2:01 children I warn you for though you might
2:04 have ten thousand instructors in Christ
2:08 yet you do not have many fathers for in
2:11 Christ Jesus I have begotten you through
2:12 the gospel
2:15 now here's an amazing statement a father
2:18 begets the children now this means when we
2:18 we
2:21 share the gospel of Jesus Christ with
2:24 others the Spirit of God can take that
2:28 and generate life now Paul is not saying
2:30 that he caused people to be born again
2:33 our Lord Jesus made it very clear that
2:36 we're not born again through the will of
2:38 man or the will of the flesh this is all
2:41 done of God but God uses human
2:45 instruments to share the Word of God now
2:48 not only does the father beget them but
2:50 the father also has to discipline them
2:54 in verse 17 of 1st Corinthians chapter 4
2:57 for this reason I have sent Timothy to
2:59 you who is my beloved and faithful son
3:00 in the Lord
3:02 Paul had begotten him through the gospel
3:06 who will remind you of my ways in Christ
3:09 as I teach everywhere in every church
3:12 now some are puffed up as though I were
3:14 not coming to you but I will come to you
3:16 shortly if the Lord wills and I will
3:18 know not the word of those who are
3:21 puffed up at the power for the kingdom
3:24 of God is not in word but in power what
3:26 do you want shall I come to you with a
3:29 rod or in love and a spirit of
3:31 gentleness there were problems in the
3:34 church at Corinth in fact chapter 5
3:37 describes the awful sexual immorality
3:39 that was going on now Paul said I'm your
3:41 spiritual father I have begotten you and
3:43 I'm going to discipline you the
3:45 spiritual father not only begets these
3:47 children but he disciplines these
3:50 children to make sure that they are
3:54 walking in the ways of the Lord
3:57 discipline is not easy but discipline is
4:00 essential this brings us to that problem
4:02 of discipline in the local church some
4:03 churches have a tendency to sweep things
4:06 under the rug there really is no
4:08 discipline in fact nowadays it's
4:10 becoming a rather serious thing almost a
4:12 dangerous thing to discipline church
4:16 members because you might be sued and so
4:17 here we have a matter of church
4:19 discipline seems to me that anyone who
4:23 joins a local church who agrees to the
4:25 rules and regulations of the church and
4:27 what the Bible teaches ought to be
4:30 willing to submit to discipline because
4:32 Paul tells us not to sue one
4:34 another chapter six of first corinthians
4:36 dare any of you having a matter against
4:38 another go to law before the unrighteous
4:41 and not before the Saints what a tragedy
4:44 it is when the lemon the dirty linen is
4:46 hung out in public for everybody to see
4:50 well the father begets the children and
4:52 he disciplines the children he has to be
4:55 careful to see that there is food for
4:56 the children on the mother does the
4:58 feeding but the father has to be sure
5:01 that the food is there in Chapter three
5:04 of first Corinthians in verses 1 to 3
5:07 Paul talks about feeding these children
5:10 I fed you with milk and not with solid
5:13 food he says in verse 2 for until now
5:14 you were not able to receive it and even
5:19 now you are still not able as a father I
5:21 always enjoyed seeing my children learn
5:24 how to feed themselves Oh sometimes it
5:25 was an interesting experience
5:28 the transition they are weaned away from
5:29 mother and they have to learn how to
5:32 feed themselves and they where their
5:35 food in so many ways and they spill
5:38 their food but they're learning they're
5:40 learning to feed themselves to grow what
5:42 a tragedy would be if a child always had
5:45 to depend upon someone else for food
5:48 alas some of our people in our churches
5:51 are still being spoon-fed because they
5:54 are utterly dependent upon older and
5:56 more mature Christians it's time to grow
5:59 up now the father helps the children to
6:02 grow up through food through exercise
6:04 through discipline but that's not all
6:09 turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse
6:13 2 for I am jealous for you with godly
6:16 jealousy now there's a difference
6:19 between jealousy and envy envy is a sin
6:22 jealousy is a holy feeling of protection
6:25 I am jealous over my wife I am jealous
6:28 over my children and grandchildren the
6:30 father is there to protect for I have
6:34 betrothed you to one husband that I may
6:37 present you as a chaste virgin to Christ
6:40 here is a father who has a daughter who
6:43 is engaged there are others who want to
6:46 seduce her they want to defile her
6:48 and the father's job is to keep that
6:51 daughter pure so that when she goes to
6:54 the marriage altar she can present her
6:57 purity to her husband you see you and I
6:59 have been engaged to the Lord Jesus
7:01 Christ we've not yet been married the
7:03 marriage supper is yet to come we're
7:06 engaged to Christ now the spiritual
7:08 father has to protect the children so
7:11 the devil doesn't come along and seduce
7:14 them and give them wrong thoughts and
7:17 divide their hearts this has happened I
7:20 fear to some of God's people we have
7:22 pastors and elders and Sunday School
7:25 teachers who want to protect God's
7:27 people from being seduced by the
7:31 cultists being seduced by false religion
7:35 being seduced by the world and the flesh
7:38 some people don't like when preachers
7:40 preach about sin they want to go to
7:42 church and live in a devotional dream
7:43 world that is unreal
7:46 and so the preacher warns us about the
7:48 things that are going on in this world
7:50 that's the pastor's job that's the job
7:53 of the spiritual father to warn and to
7:56 protect so that when Jesus Christ comes
7:59 back his people may stand before him as
8:03 a pure virgin not having divided hearts
8:07 and divided lives so the spiritual
8:09 father begets the children and he
8:12 disciplines the children and he feeds
8:14 the children along with the mother and
8:17 he protects the children now back to 1st
8:20 Thessalonians chapter 2 what does the
8:22 father do well he encourages the
8:25 children notice verse 9 for you remember
8:29 brethren our labor and toil for laboring
8:31 night and day that we might not be a
8:34 burden to any of you we preach to you
8:35 the gospel of God he's talking here
8:36 about money
8:40 the Father works for the family the
8:43 father works and and takes care of the
8:45 needs of the family and this is what
8:47 Paul did in Thessalonica he did not
8:50 accept money from the converts he did
8:52 not accept money from the church he did
8:53 get some help from the church at
8:57 Philippi but Paul worked day and night
8:59 as a tent maker at him
9:02 trade that he might support himself and
9:04 Silas and Timothy that they might
9:07 present the gospel free of charge now it
9:09 isn't wrong to support those who are
9:11 preaching the gospel in fact it's right
9:14 the laborer is worthy of his hire Paul
9:15 said those who preach the gospel should
9:19 live from the gospel but the father as
9:22 an encouragement works not only does he
9:27 encourage the children by his works by
9:29 laboring and toiling that word toil
9:34 means hardship laboring day and night
9:37 but he also encouraged them by his walk
9:40 he was a good example to them a father
9:44 has to be a good example a father cannot
9:47 just give lectures or warnings or
9:50 spankings he has to be a good example in
9:53 fact in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 verse
9:55 16 Paul said to the Corinthians
10:00 therefore I urge you imitate me did you
10:03 get that imitate me in another place he
10:05 says now you be followers of me as I am
10:08 of Christ it's a marvelous thing when a
10:11 child has a good example in the father
10:13 when the father is the kind of an
10:16 example he ought to be Paul was an
10:18 example to them verse 10 of 1st
10:21 Thessalonians 2 you are witnesses and
10:26 God also how devoutly and justly and
10:30 blamelessly we behaved ourselves among
10:33 you who believe it amazes me that today
10:35 people who call themselves Christians
10:38 can live any way they please and then
10:41 they get angry if you point out their
10:45 sin they can be financially lying they
10:47 can be caught doing things they
10:48 shouldn't do and then they're surprised
10:50 when somebody says well you shouldn't do that
10:51 that
10:54 Paul lived devoutly that means his inner
10:58 relationship to God justly his conduct
11:01 towards society blamelessly his
11:04 relationship to other people Paul was
11:08 godly in his walk well we'll continue
11:11 this study to find out how Paul encouraged
11:12 encouraged
11:15 the children and how you and I can
11:17 encourage the children of the Lord in
11:20 the local church we have a great
11:24 privilege we also have a great responsibility
11:25 responsibility [Music]
11:28 [Music]
11:32 what does a spiritual father do well we
11:34 have discovered that the spiritual
11:37 father begets the children he does this
11:38 through the preaching of the gospel
11:40 through the sharing of the word his
11:43 personal witness and the spiritual
11:45 father has to discipline the children
11:47 sometimes of course the spiritual father
11:50 provides food for the children and of
11:52 course the spiritual father has to
11:54 protect the children that's what a
11:56 spiritual father does now how does he do
11:58 it well number one he works verse 9 of
12:02 first Thessalonians chapter 2 for you
12:07 remember brethren our labor and toil for
12:10 laboring night and day that we might not
12:12 be a burden to any of you we preach to
12:16 you the gospel of God the Father works
12:19 and Paul when he was in Thessalonica did
12:22 not demand support from the people and
12:25 he could have has an apostle verse 6 he
12:28 says this nor did we seek glory from men
12:31 either from you or from others when we
12:33 might have made demands as apostles of
12:37 Christ Paul did not live by demanding
12:40 respect he lived by commanding respect
12:42 his example was so good that those who
12:44 were with him wanted to pray for him
12:47 work with him and encourage and support
12:50 him so the father works laboring night
12:54 in day ministry is hard work but you
12:56 know it's a labor for a wonderful master
13:00 we don't complain Bible study to me is
13:03 hard work oh I enjoy it I delight to
13:06 study the Word of God but it's hard work
13:08 studying the word and praying and
13:12 meditating well the father does his work
13:16 by working he helps the children to grow
13:19 by working secondly by his walk his
13:22 example verse 10 of first Thessalonians
13:26 chapter 2 you are witnesses and God also
13:29 how devoutly and justly and blamelessly
13:31 we behaved ourselves among you who
13:34 believe we who have children and
13:36 grandchildren have to be very careful
13:38 how we act our children do not do what
13:40 we say they do what we
13:44 do Paul said to his converts you be
13:47 followers of me even as I am of Christ
13:50 in fact they did imitate him chapter 1
13:52 of first Thessalonians and verse 6 and
13:56 you became followers of us and of the
13:58 Lord now we don't want people to follow
14:01 us simply to follow us that becomes a
14:05 cult a fan club sometimes people come up
14:07 to me at meetings and say oh brother
14:09 where's be I'm one of your fans and I
14:12 know what they mean but I quietly reply
14:15 in love please don't say that I don't
14:18 have a fan club well he was a good
14:21 example and that's what a father has to
14:24 be now verse 11 not only by his works
14:28 and his walk but also by his words by
14:30 his words he was an encouragement to
14:34 these young Christians verse 11 as you
14:37 know how we exhorted and comforted and
14:41 charged every one of you as a father
14:45 does his own children that you would
14:49 have a walk worthy of God who calls you
14:53 into his own kingdom and glory now words
14:56 are so important when God wanted to
14:58 communicate his heart and his mind to us
15:02 he did it through the word he sent the
15:05 Lord Jesus Christ the Living Word the
15:08 Holy Spirit inspired the written word
15:10 and they agree there's nothing in the
15:13 Bible that contradicts what is in Jesus
15:16 Christ the Living Word when God wants to
15:19 communicate to me he says open your
15:22 Bible I talk to you through your Bible a
15:25 friend of mine is habitually saying when
15:27 you open your Bible God opens his mouth
15:30 and that's true that's why it's
15:31 important to meditate on scripture to
15:34 memorize Scripture that way when you
15:37 have an hour or so and you are just
15:40 thinking and praying the word comes to
15:42 your mind even just a few minutes of
15:46 meditation notice what he did as you
15:50 know how we exhorted and comforted and
15:53 charged that we're charge means implore
15:57 or or gave personal witness it was Paul
15:59 saying now look this is what happened to
16:02 me this is what God did for me and this
16:04 is what God can do for you he told them
16:06 this is what God says now people don't
16:09 like this I've had phone calls from
16:11 people wanting me to approve what they
16:14 are doing and I can't approve of it I'll
16:15 say no look here's what the scripture
16:17 says and then they get very angry and
16:20 say well that's your interpretation I
16:21 suppose children do this to their
16:24 parents mother or father will say now
16:25 don't go down there
16:27 don't do that it's going to hurt you
16:29 well I can take care of myself and
16:30 before long they come back and they are
16:34 hurt some people never learn except
16:37 through difficult experience why should
16:39 we do that when we can learn the easy
16:43 way well he exhorted them he comforted
16:46 them now that word comfort in the
16:48 English language comes from two Latin
16:50 words that means with strength with
16:54 strength to comfort someone does not
16:57 mean just to sympathize with them to
17:00 have sympathetic feelings toward them to
17:03 comfort someone means so to love them
17:05 that you strengthen them and they don't
17:08 quit doesn't mean to Pat them on the
17:10 head and say well I'll kiss it and make
17:13 it well no no it means so to minister to
17:16 people that they don't give up children
17:18 have a way of quitting I'm going to quit
17:20 school I'm gonna quit my job I'm gonna
17:23 do this or that and father says now wait
17:25 just a minute you can make it it looks
17:27 difficult I know but you can make it
17:32 it's always too soon to quit Paul was an
17:35 encouragement through his words now why
17:38 did he do it what did he do well he
17:41 begat the children he fed them he
17:43 disciplined them he protected them how
17:44 did he do it
17:47 through his works and through his walk
17:50 and through his words now why did he do
17:52 it verse 12 he was teaching them how to
17:54 walk little children have to learn how
17:58 to stand and how to walk that you would
18:03 have a walk worthy of God who calls you
18:06 into his own Kingdom and glory you see
18:07 in Chapter 1 this church was
18:10 born in chapter 2 the church was
18:13 nurtured in chapter 3 the church was
18:17 established that is taught to stand and
18:20 not to shake notice chapter 3 verse 2 I
18:22 sent Timothy to establish you and
18:25 encouraged you that no one should be
18:29 shaken so chapter 1 the church is born
18:32 chapter 2 the churches nurtured chapter
18:35 3 the church is taught to stand
18:39 stability chapter 3 verse 13 so that he
18:42 God may establish your hearts chapter 3
18:46 verse 8 for now we live if you stand you
18:49 can't walk until you stand first your
18:51 title around you crawl and then you
18:53 start standing and then you can start
18:57 walking I recall when my father picked
19:00 up our firstborn son a David had been
19:02 crawling around and dad thought that
19:04 that was about time he walked he just
19:05 picked him up put him on his feet
19:07 stabilized him gave him a portion the
19:09 boy began to walk sometimes you have to
19:12 do that don't you then in chapters 4 and
19:15 5 he deals with the walk of the Lord
19:18 chapter 4 verse 1 just as you received
19:21 from us how you ought to walk and to
19:25 please God now what does a father do he
19:28 guards the children he disciplines the
19:30 children he guides them he sets an
19:32 example before them he helps to nourish them
19:33 them
19:36 he works for them why so they can stand
19:40 on their own two feet and walk one of
19:42 our problems in the church today is we
19:45 have too many immature dependent
19:48 children who have not been weaned they
19:50 have not learned how to stand and how to
19:54 walk that you would have a walk what
19:56 kind of a walk worthy of God every
19:59 father is concerned that his children
20:02 not ruin the family name here's a father
20:04 and a mother and they have worked hard
20:06 they've lived for God they've built up
20:09 their family and their family has a good
20:13 name and any child can go out and in 20
20:16 minutes wreck the family name I want you
20:18 to have a walk worthy of God it's
20:21 interesting to find this word word
20:23 in the New Testaments use only six times
20:27 this Greek word in Romans 16 - he says I
20:31 want you to live worthy as Saints do
20:34 that which is worthy of the Saints don't
20:36 do anything that will bring disgrace to
20:39 the Saints to other people in God's
20:43 family Ephesians 4:1 he tells us to walk
20:46 worthy of our calling in other words
20:49 don't do anything that brings disgrace
20:52 to your calling as a Christian
20:55 Philippians 1:27 we should live worthy
20:56 of the gospel you know what that means
21:00 that means I should so live that I don't
21:02 make it difficult for you to witness to
21:05 a lost sinner you start witnessing to
21:07 some unsaved person he said oh yeah I
21:10 saw what Warren wears we did I saw what
21:11 he did don't talk to me about the gospel
21:13 he's supposed to be a Christian we
21:15 should live worthy of the gospel
21:19 Colossians 1:10 worthy of the Lord don't
21:21 do anything that will ruin the
21:25 reputation of the Lord now this is
21:26 serious business
21:28 in verse 12 he says I want you to walk
21:31 worthy of God why because God is your father
21:32 father
21:34 you see our children and our
21:37 grandchildren carry our name and
21:40 therefore they are able to bring either
21:43 glory or disgrace to that name now we're
21:45 a part of God's calling that's grace
21:48 we're a part of God's kingdom that's
21:51 government we're a part of God's glory
21:54 now if these three things don't motivate
21:56 us to have a godly walk there's
21:58 something wrong with us we belong to God
22:01 God is our Father Jesus is our Savior
22:03 the Holy Spirit is our comforter let's
22:06 walk worthy of God worthy of his calling
22:10 worthy of his kingdom worthy of his glory
22:11 glory
22:15 that's what fatherhood in the Lord is
22:18 all about raising the children to have a
22:22 godly walk that brings glory to the
22:28 thanks for being a part of our back to
22:30 the Bible listening family so be sure to
22:32 come back again for more wisdom from
22:35 God's Word back to the Bible leading you
22:37 forward in your relationship with Jesus
22:39 Christ that's all we have time for today
22:42 please join us again tomorrow for more
22:43 back to the Bible radio [Music]
