WEBVTT

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Day 340, or December 6th. Your leaders need your

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support. Our thoughts today come from 1 Thessalonians

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5, verse 13. Hold your leaders in the highest

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regard in love because of their work. Live in

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peace with each other. And now the big picture surrounding

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this verse. Paul emphasizes the need to keep

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focused throughout this letter, and is assisted

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by Timothy, to whom he later writes a couple

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of letters that are in our Bibles. He concludes

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his letter with instructions to help you stay

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on target, eleven verses towards the end of the

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last chapter that will revolutionize our lives

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if we get to grips with what they contain. And

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now our action step for today. There seems to

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me to be a marked lack of respect in our society

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today oh I know my parents said the same as did

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my grandparents and it goes all the way back

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to the Bible, today's verse however is specifically

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about respect for pastors and teachers It's worth

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linking this with James chapter 3 verse 1, which

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reminds us, we who teach will be judged by God

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with greater strictness. Having served as a pastor,

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I can tell you that some church members seem

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to go out of their way to discourage in love.

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I clearly remember a lady coming round to see

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me one Monday morning after I had preached the

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previous day. I was the associate minister, and

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as such was not a regular preacher for which

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I was grateful, as I have always felt much more

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at ease teaching in a seminar format or house

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group. She pompously told me that her husband

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and her felt preaching was not my gifting, and

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I shouldn't do it any more. If she had brought

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a bucket of cold water with her, she couldn't

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have dampened my spirits more effectively. I

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found it particularly unhelpful, not because

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there was a lack of respect, but because there

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was a basic lack of love and empathy. Respect

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your leaders and remember they have feelings

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too. They get discouraged too. They need a kind

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word too. Support them in every way and you will

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get the best out of them. That way, we all win.