Hey guys and welcome back to the salt not sweetener
podcast. I'm your host Danielle Townsend I hope
you all are having a wonderful week. We have
Easter Sunday coming up This weekend is Easter
and I do pray that these past couple weeks Leading
up to Easter for you have been a time for you
to pursue your relationship with Jesus I pray
that you have found a closeness with him and
you're really developing a reverence for what
he did on the cross and understanding of how
he died for every single one of us and I do pray
that whatever opportunities y 'all have to Grow
in closeness or to learn more you take them just
to give you all an example of one Tomorrow my
church is offering stations of cross All day
where you can stop in and go through stations.
I haven't done stations in years. So I'm really
excited I'm looking forward to I'm going in there
and bring the family member with me and I'm looking
forward to how I encountered Jesus What he reveals
to me how how I feel it's been a while since
that so I'm interested to even see like how is
this emotionally going to affect me what's gonna
go on like I'm looking forward to it and I'm
also looking forward to Sunday service and I
pray that y 'all take the opportunities that
are being presented to you pursuing a closeness
with the Lord and learning more about Him. So
y 'all, we are continuing 2nd Timothy, but this
is a little bit of a surprise. We are finishing
it today. I know there are four chapters in the
book of Timothy, and we've only done two episodes.
We've done chapter 1 and chapter 2, and at first
I planned to do an episode for chapter 3 and
a separate episode for chapter 4, but the Lord
works in ways that are unexpected, and I recorded
an episode 3 earlier this week. But after recording
it getting it drafted and put up on and ready
to like, you know go through I Really felt the
Lord say this ain't it and we're gonna be rerecording.
There's more there's more there's a better way
and As I was going and actually sitting down
to read chapter 4 preparing for next week's chapter
4 As I was reading it. I was like Lord this really
merges well with chapter 3 I think it's gonna
be really hard to do a separate episode of chapter
4 and like not just combine it with three. I
feel like these two need to be connected. I feel
that they flow really well. It's really hard
to do one without the other, and I don't think
that's what I'm meant to do. And it felt like
the word kind of doink, like hit me on the head,
like duh. Girl, this is what I've been trying
to tell you. So glory be to God. He revealed
that to me and that is what we're doing today
So we're going through chapters three and four
and we're finishing up second Timothy today If
you don't have your Bibles out yet, go ahead
and get them out flip to second Timothy I'll
give y 'all a minute. I'll jab her for a moment
While y 'all get that situated and ready if you
don't have a Bible a physical copy There are
free free apps the Bible app download it and
if you're like, well Danielle, there are lots
of versions which one I personally really like
the ESV. That's my go -to. That's my main is
ESV Today I'm going to be reading from the CSB,
the Christian Standard Bible, which is from my
She Reads Truth Study Bible. But other than that,
I really, my favorite translation, my go -to
is ESV. I love ESV. I'll always recommend ESV.
If you haven't checked out before and you are
looking for like a new Bible even, Check it out.
Check out that version. I enjoy it. I like it.
It flows really well It's easy for me to understand
why I'm reading and from my understanding It
is a very true to the original text, which I
love I do also have I was gifted the amplified
classic edition For Christmas and that's what
I like to use for cross referencing like actually
use that today When I'm reading a piece of scripture
and I don't feel like I'm fully grasping it or
fully understanding it or there's just more I
could be getting I like to cross reference it
I like to open up my amplified edition and like
hold them up next to each other because the amplified
has a lot more of like a detailed description
I will say the amplified is not my favorite when
it comes to memorizing scripture because there
is description than there were The text is kind
of like broken up, where you're not able to just
get like that clear, easy to like tattoo it on
your heart, you know what I mean? But it is great
for studying and cross -referencing. All right,
y 'all, we are going to get into Second Timothy,
chapter three. And we're going to start here
just to give y 'all a little context, a little
bit of background. The person who's talking is
Paul. Paul is locked up in a Roman prison. He's
locked up in a prison because he's a Christian.
It's not popular to be a Christian. It's not
popular to because not only was Paul a Christian
and saying his faith was in Jesus, but he was
rebuking and correcting. And people didn't like
being called out in their sin. People didn't
like being told what they're doing is wrong and
wicked. It wasn't popular to be a Christian.
It was a very similar cancel culture to what
it is today There weren't a lot of people standing
with Paul. He didn't have a lot of reasons to
be as bold as he was like this meet like Worldly
to us we would look at him and be like man. There's
so much pain and suffering Why are you still
doing this? He did because he knew it was what
he's supposed to do All right, y 'all. Let's
start reading. We are in second Timothy chapter
3 and this opening Opening a line, Paul is gonna
be referring to the last days. Okay, this whole
chapter is titled, Difficult Times Ahead, where
Paul is gonna be talking about the hard times
that we are going to face in the last days. If
you don't know what the last days are, I'm gonna
give you a bit of a rundown. Maybe you haven't
read scripture, and if you're Christian, I wanna
tell you today. The most loving way I can say
this you need to read the Bible because you need
to know what you're believing in You need to
know what your faith is in and this isn't to
shame you If it makes you feel any more comfortable
hearing this y 'all as I read the Bible and as
I know the word now I grew up in the church and
I can confidently say that I didn't know 80 percent
Where I do now like as a child I could have told
you like Jesus went to the cross for sins died
and resurrected But I wouldn't have been able
to tell you he ascended to heaven and the Holy
Spirit poured out and been able to say and this
is what we believe is gonna happen we believe
Jesus is gonna return and we believe that you
know Satan's basically gonna be evicted and now
all the people who their faith isn't in Jesus
are going to be evicted to and Jesus is gonna
create a new heaven where there's no suffering
and there's no pain I wouldn't been able to tell
you any of that. I didn't know what I believe
to happen later on I didn't know Now I do And
I just want to encourage y 'all and I pray that
me sharing that with you has just given me a
little bit of comfort You're not alone. This
isn't a condemnation. This isn't a shame, but
this needs to be your encouragement to go and
read Okay, because God has made this information
readily available to you It's in the Bible that
his people perish for a lack of knowledge and
it's not that he hasn't given you Knowledge the
Bible is right here. It's for you to reach out
and grab but you have to be willing to grab it
I believe it's Matthew 7 7 where it's like knock
and the door will be open to you. It's like Ask
and you'll receive seek and you'll find You want
wisdom you want knowledge the Bible's right here.
You've got to be willing to take that step. Okay,
okay But anyway the last days the last days we're
in the last days right now I want to be very
clear about that today. We are in the last days
They were already in the last days with Paul
like once Jesus ascended into heaven because
the last days are literally the time between
the first coming and the second coming of Jesus
we've already had the first coming where he was
born died resurrected ascended into heaven and
then we have that period of time in between and
one day and it's going to happen like a thief
in the night Jesus is going to come back and
when I say like a thief in the night From the
Bible. Okay, and that means it's gonna be an
unexpected time. It's gonna take us all by surprise
There is nobody who's going to be able to prophesy
or say it's gonna be this day in this time Jesus
made that very clear that only the Father knows
so you can know today if someone says Jesus is
coming back like April 17th or Jesus is coming
back in 2028 on this day you can already immediately
mark that as a false prophecy and Likely a false
prophet. Okay, and that's not my opinion. That's
biblical That's why it's so important that you
know the Bible because there are things that
people are walking around saying and declaring
all the time that if you Knew what the word of
God said you could instantly say that's false
doctrine and false teaching And I cannot believe
that so it's so important. Let this be your encouragement
today y 'all but anyway, yeah, the last days
are the days in between so we are in the last
days until Jesus comes back and I'm sure y 'all
have heard in time prophecies a lot of them are
in Matthew where it's talking about wars and
famines and maybe when you hear people talking
about the last days and the end times you hear
about those things and people who The most I
hear those things talked about is actually usually
really out of context with people who call themselves
Christians But don't know the word or people
who aren't Christians But want to pick and use
the Bible when they feel like it suits them and
there are a lot of people who have different
beliefs What's gonna happen one day, you know
that aren't Christian you rely on your own understanding
and myths and different things like that Where
you'll hear them a lot of times saying well,
we know it's gonna happen when there's wars and
there's earthquakes and there's different things
like that This is what they're referring to.
Okay? Because Jesus told us about like the birthing
pains of like they're gonna be signs before he
comes back Where you're gonna be able to say,
okay, we're getting close and it's happening
Jesus God is so good that after he gives us a
prophecy, after he gives us a promise, he'll
often give us signs to look for so that we can
continue to be encouraged and our faith can be
strengthened. And that's kind of what these things
were, right? Amen. It's like Jesus told us there's
going to be, these different things are going
to happen if that's famines, the wars. Well,
Paul is discussing that here in 2nd Timothy,
but he's actually talking more about the moral
and societal decline. We're not going to be hearing
about, like, all the physical things we're going
to be seeing. We're actually going to be hearing
from Paul about all of the moral and societal
things that we're going to be seeing declining
and unfortunately happening. And as I read through
this, y 'all, I want you to keep an open mind
of just, has Paul lists off? the hard things
that we're going to face. Think about how, oh
my goodness, I see this in the world today. This
is something that the world elevates. This is
something that the world exemplifies. This is
something that the world puts on the pedestal.
As I was reading through this, I was like, man,
like most well -known people are known for these
things. Man, before I gave my life to Jesus,
I used to take pride in all these things. I see
these things in society. I see these things.
Just because it's accepted and just because it's
legal in the world doesn't mean it's good in
God's eyes, right? So I want you all to keep
these things in mind as we're reading through
So let's start here second Timothy chapter 3
but know this Hard times will come in the last
days for people will be lovers of self lovers
of money boastful proud demeaning, disobedient
to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable,
slanderers, without self -control, brutal, without
love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
holding to the form of godliness but denying
its power. Avoid these people." And you all,
this last line where it says, Holding to the
form of godliness, but denying its power I was
having trouble fully grasping that and understanding
that and I was actually praying to God like God
Can give me a deeper understanding for what this
means? Can you show me how this is happening
today and the Lord actually? Ended up answering
that prayer by like I was scrolling on social
media And I was watching the celebrity who was
interviewed and I've known the celebrity known
of this celebrity since I was a child and as
a child I thought this person was a very strong
Christian and they talked about being a Christian
but you know As I can look back now, I can see
how they really kind of went into secular and
carnal things. They're really of the world. They
really kind of pushed away from Jesus as they
got. more famous and one day they married someone
who is Definitely a very different religion than
Christian and they had a child with this person
and in this interview They were saying about
how they raised this person to know some Christian
beliefs but then a lot of that other religious
beliefs the mom is the other religion right and
You know immediately my stomach kind of turned
hearing that because I was like man it might
as well just be and I hate to say it this way
but might as well just not be telling them about
Jesus at all because what this person is teaching
them is a false Jesus isn't the real Jesus because
if they knew about the real Jesus if they were
receiving sound doctrine they would be knowing
that they can't be entertaining false gods that
they can't be entertaining the values and the
works -based mindset and the cycles that this
other religion elevates, you know? So the fact
that they're even receiving a Jesus that is enabling
and understanding and like saying it's totally
fine to do that is not the real Jesus, right?
I was like, okay, we're just, I'm going to pray
since this is what's coming up, I'm going to
pray for this person. But it was interesting,
I started hearing this person say things that
sounded very Christian. where they were talking
about pain and suffering and saying like, you
know, everything happens for a reason. Like there's
a plan and there's a reason for the suffering
and it'll be used for your good and all these
things. And I was like, that sounds a lot like
God. It sounds like they're moving through life.
with the mindset of God of how God handles things
of like it's okay that I'm going through the
suffering because God but when I started hearing
the person that they credited they weren't crediting
God they weren't crediting Jesus they were crediting
the universe universal cycles and it sounded
very all truth is the truth and they start saying
the universe aligns people and the universe does
this in the universe and I was like God I see
right here what you mean is they're holding on
to the forms of godliness. They're holding on
to how God moves and like God's laws and God's
promises, but they're denying the power. They're
they're refusing God they're refusing Jesus,
which means they're also refusing the accountability
that comes along with following Jesus the self
denial right the evangelizing the rebuking and
correcting all these things that come along with
suffering and persecution and I was like, oh
god, I see what you mean. I was like man. We
see that all the time I cannot tell you how many
there's so many people who they don't credit
God. They don't credit Jesus. They credit the
universe They just say the universe something
bigger than me there's a celebrity I Used to
love and then once I became Christian like really
gave my life to Jesus You know a false idol thing
really picked up for me where I was like it was
idolizing this person but I also start being
able to see all the ways that they were like
leading people astray and false teaching you
know because they would say Christian but then
a lot of the ideals that they spread weren't
Christian and this person never glorified God
never glorified Jesus by name but would say there
are powers greater than myself and a lot of people
do that as a way to not stir the pot and to keep
everybody comfortable but that's not what we're
called to do that's called lukewarm that's called
false doctrine That's called watering down the
gospel. That's not creating disciples. That's
not spreading the truth That's giving in to the
enemy and that's what we're not supposed to be
doing, right? but yeah, I saw as you'll read
through those I encourage you we're not gonna
stop and talk on those too much because I'm sure
we could go on for hours on how we see that play
out in our society, okay? But I encourage y 'all
to look through and just see how relevant these
things are and I hope that this really reminds
you and helps you to see that like these things
Paul talked about aren't 10 ,000 years from now,
they're now. They were then and they're now the
bible is relevant now the laws that we're told
to live by like god when he the commandments
he gives us love your neighbor as yourself the
gospel jesus spread is Active now it's relevant
now and we see here paul goes on to say for among
them after he says avoid these people Like paul
is saying all these things are going to happen
avoid them Like these aren't the people that
you're supposed to be best friends with. These
aren't the people that you're supposed to be
communing with every day. And if y 'all want
an example of how we're supposed to be moving
through these people, and this is something I've
had to prey on a lot, I think Bryce Crawford
is a pretty decent example. He's someone who,
and he's not perfect, he falls short, he's a
man. But he's someone who leaves the 99 to kind
of go find the one. Like he goes, He mimics Jesus
in that way, if he's not afraid to go into environments
of lost people and try to plant seeds. But those
lost people that you're planting seeds for, just
as Jesus sat with tax collectors and sinners
because it's not the healthy that need a doctor,
it's the sick, those weren't the people Jesus
was around all the time. In fact, he actually
took a lot of time away from even his disciples
that loved him to go pray and be alone with the
Father. Right? I think it's very important to
remember that God will use you to go plant seeds.
Okay? God will use you. If you're only around
people with a like mind, you're not actually
going out and creating disciples. To create disciples
means you're going to have to talk to people
who might not yet be disciples. Right? Evangelizing
is literally going out and telling people about
Jesus. But these aren't the people that you're
supposed to be integrating in your daily life.
These aren't the people that are supposed to
be your besties that you spend all your time
with. These aren't the people that you're supposed
to be talking on the phone with all the time,
getting your advice from, getting your hype ups.
These aren't the people who are supposed to be
knowing about your struggles, especially in your
faith, because they're not the people who are
going to point you down the right path. You are
to avoid these people. These aren't supposed
to be the people in your daily life. People who
elevate these things you are bad company corrupts
good morals and you can be sound in your faith
But this is all you surround yourself with you're
gonna find yourself starting to fall short and
Paul goes on to say For among them are those
who worm their way into households and deceive
gullible women Overwhelmed by sin and led astray
by a variety of passions always learning and
never able to come to a knowledge of the truth
And when I read this, amen, it made me think
a lot on, for those of y 'all who don't know,
and I'm sure you do now, if you've listened to
episodes before, I was raised in the church.
I didn't have a relationship with Jesus. When
I was 17, I left, and as a young adult, I started
to explore New Age, and I put my faith in New
Age for a while until Jesus found me where I
was, convicted me, repented. I repented, and
then I had to do a rewiring of Jesus, rewire
my brain. He deconstructed things and helped
me rebuild. On a firm foundation, which is jesus
christ, right? Um, and when I look back The time
when I actually fell into it and I was the most
susceptible was in a time when I was overwhelmed
by sin I was open to false doctrine I was open
to the new age ideal of you are your own creator
and it's in your power to change this and fix
this and like this false sense of empowerment
Because I was deep in my own sin I had faced
a lot of pain and suffering because of my own
sin whether that be gossiping lust drinking smoking
idolatry like all these things like to excess
all of these things, but I was also the victim
of a lot of other people's sin. I was used to
people hurting me, lying to me, deceiving me,
using me, doing all these things, and I was overwhelmed
by all this sin, and I was seeking a way out.
I was seeking healing. I was seeking comfort.
I was seeking control. I was seeking fulfillment,
and I was ready for something to plop right down
in front of me and say, this is the answer. Because
my heart was hardened to the gospel. I didn't
want to hear the gospel. The gospel comes along
with accountability Where you need saved it doesn't
matter what other people did to you You need
what Jesus did and first Jesus deals with you
and then he'll deal with the other people First
he has to work things out of you and he works
on your heart and as you start producing these
other fruits You can start seeing the changes
and your environment around you. It starts with
you first, right? But I thought I could do that
apart from Jesus. That's what New Age offers
with all the shadow work and the reiki healing
and all this stuff is like healing apart from
Jesus, but it's never actual healing because
that's where my mind went to next on here, y
'all, where it says, always learning and never
able to come to a knowledge of the truth. And
that's why you hear a lot of people, especially
New Age. And I'm sure you all will see this in
other things. I just knew age was what I had
the most experience with. No one can ever come
to a definite truth. That's why it always ends
with we all go to the same place. And as long
as you live this way and everyone's truth is
the truth. And that's why their brain is always
shifting on what our actual purpose is and why
we're actually here every few months. and like
it sounds crazy now when I listen back to it
but there are people who believe you're a star
seed from outer space here to awaken like a new
vibration and to like save the earth and a new
technology or whatever and then like two months
later they believe actually we're reincarnated
and we're dealing with the karma from our past
lives and like working it off and like like a
twisted a twisted new age ideal of like past
religion they never have an actual truth Which
is why they're always so easily swayed, right?
Their stances on things are always shifting and
always changing and that's why they're so used
to Making other people feel uncomfortable and
they easily cave into not making other people
feel uncomfortable and I fell into that for longest
time and I'm looking at and I'm like, oh my gosh
Paul knew that Paul talked about this God knew
this was gonna happen God's not surprised by
any of this And Paul goes on to say, just as
Janes and Johnbrays resisted Moses, so these
also resist the truth. And if y 'all are anything
like me, I was like, who are Janes and Johnbrays?
I've never heard these names. Who are these men?
And I had to go look them up. And I found out
y 'all that these men were the magicians back
with Moses and Pharaoh. If y 'all remember when
God told Moses, go tell Pharaoh to let my people
go and God was with him and worked signs. that
pharaoh rejected and eventually they got so bad
they were like the plagues like bad like like
the plagues of like the death and like the low
it got crazy okay the firstborn well at first
if y 'all if y 'all haven't read i want y 'all
to at some point please go read exodus it's a
very important all everything in the bible is
important okay i'm not even going to act like
it's more important than another part it's all
important but go read it okay because james and
jombrace are the magicians What Pharaoh did when
Moses first came in and was like saying let my
people go God says let my people go and started
doing these signs there was like my magicians
can do that I Know some people who can make who
can do that to God isn't special your God isn't
special I can do that Which sounds like really
similar to the New Age now right of like I can
find healing and shadow work. I can heal this
I can do that I can make this happen. The magicians
back then are comparable to the witches, warlocks,
wiccans that we see today, the new -agers, the
reiki healers, the root work people, the voodoo,
the hoodoo, the pagan ritualistic people. Same
thing. Same thing, okay? And Pharaoh was cocky
at first, and so were the magicians. And at first,
the magicians were able to replicate. They were
able to do things that look similar to what God
did. And because they could do that at first,
their confidence grew. They got overly confident
in it. They got a puffed up chest. They thought,
oh, this is the way. My way is, why do I need
to submit to God's way if I can get the same
results doing it my way? Fun fact, y 'all, that
was actually what led me into new age. When I
first started going, doing some practices, I
felt like I was seeing serious results. And I
was like, Well, if I can get quick results this
way, I'd rather do it this way than God's like
long his way, not my way. This way looks more
like satisfies the flesh, desirable. I'm going
to do it that way. And there are a lot of people,
it's not just me, there are a lot of people facing
that. That's not just new age. There are people
who are agnostic, who are atheists, who choose
their way over God's way because they feel like
they can get the same result. But we go on here
to see they also resist the truth. There are
men who are corrupt in mind, worthless in regard
to the faith, but they will not make further
progress, for their foolishness will be clear
to all, as was the foolishness of James and John
Brace. What happened to James and John Brace?
You may ask. Eventually, God started doing things
that they could not replicate, they could not
duplicate, and they were put to shame. It was
clear that they cannot hold a candle to God man
cannot hold a candle to God and fun fact I don't
care whether or not y 'all believe me. It is
the truth. It is biblical if it's not from God
It's from the devil Goodness is from God if it's
not from God. There's only one other thing it's
fleshly It's fleshly or it's wicked It was so
hard for me, y 'all, when I was in New Age to
believe that. I went so hard to believe everything
was so much more of a gray area. It is not. It's
from God or it's not. It's good or it's not.
It's not about my definition of good. It's God's.
And what happened with James and John Bray's
is they could not replicate. They can't compete
where they can't compare and their demons couldn't
either. the things that are helping in witchcraft
those are demons the things they're talking to
in astrology demons agents of satan just wanting
to deceive you and lead you away from christ
there are people who are like well why is it
when i put my faith in witchcraft or these things
like it seems to work out at first the devil
would love for you to have your faith in that
Like if you feel it a lot of people I remember
hearing this and I believe this when I was in
New Age In which right when people would be like
you actually believe in it I would be like, well,
I'm not doing it because I think it's fake and
I heard so many other people saying that I Wouldn't
spend all my money or invest all this if I thought
it was fake if I thought it wouldn't work Until
y 'all me personally glory be to God he let it
ruin my life God said I have a plan for you and
you're not gonna be allowed to put your faith
in this all your life God loved me so much that
he made me a Jonah. I got swallowed up. It stopped
working out for me. I ended up living in my car,
having people hating me, slander, broken relationships,
everything going on that led me to an existential
crisis where I was like, it doesn't matter how
much money I have, how much, if I had fame or
any of that, nothing would fix the damage that's
been done. The only person who can fix it is
God. And the first time in my life, I was like,
it doesn't matter. Like I can't, it's clear none
of these things work. I'm going to try God. I'm
gonna try God's way. I'm gonna put my faith in
Jesus and I'm just gonna submit to him and Jesus
developed a love and a fear and a reverence Where
even when he did restore my life and fix it where
I have the option to rely on myself and go apart
from Jesus I can't I don't want to I physically
I the convict I I can't I Love God so much and
I have such a fear and a reverence for what he
did. I owe my life to the word where once I'm
faced with opposition, it's like, hey, this opposition
will stop if you just shut up and you stop doing
God's will. I can't. I love God and I fear him
so much. I have to despite what happens to me.
I have to be sacrificial in that way. I can't
not. I can't not. But the first time I understand
Paul and the disciples where it's like, I understand
their love and their reverence for Jesus so much.
It doesn't matter what you do to me here because
my eyes are set on heaven, you know? I get emotionally
even speaking about like that y 'all, but that's
where my mind is It's like you can crucify me
here. You can call me whatever you want to call
me here You can laugh at me. You can make fun
of me. My riches are in heaven. My reward is
in heaven I don't care. It's not about this life
And that's the mentality Paul had and the disciples
have and I hope that and I pray that's the mentality
I'll get to you and I really encourage y 'all
to read This book for yourself multiple times
not just as you're bringing it with me but multiple
times yourself Because it has really brought
this out of me, right? But to go back to this
It's interesting what paul says about james and
john brace. He says they also resist the truth
That's the interesting thing though. They were
there. They saw firsthand the miracles of god
and moses Glorifying god and saying this is from
god. They saw it all firsthand They saw too that
their works did not match god's works that they
couldn't duplicate. They couldn't replicate.
They couldn't fake the fruit for a while they
thought they could and they saw they couldn't
but even when all that realization hit them even
when they saw god delivering the Israelites they
didn't repent they didn't put their faith in
jesus they didn't deny the flesh or at that time
i know this is you know before we had jesus they
they didn't put their faith in god this was before
jesus was here on earth that was new that was
old testament when that happened they didn't
repent for what they did and stop. They doubled
down. And Paul is saying, you know, just as they
did that then, that's what's happening now. How
many people hear the gospel, see miracles of
God, see restoration, hear people's testimonies
because God moves through testimonies and they
reject it all. How many people wake up and see
God move in miraculous ways in their life that
make no sense and they still refuse to glorify
God. They still refuse to see God. How many?
Paul is saying just as it happened then It's
gonna continue to happen But and he says these
men are corrupted mind and worthless in regard
to the faith And that's a crazy thing to feel
worthless in regard to the faith Because we were
literally God created man to steward over God's
creation We were created to take care of God's
creation to serve God to worship him and to praise
him And when He knits us in our mother's womb,
before He even knits us in our mother's womb,
He already has a plan for our lives. He has a
purpose. He has a way that we can evangelize
and create disciples. We're here not to serve
ourselves and our flesh and to feel good. We're
here to further the Kingdom of Heaven, to create
disciples, to bring people closer to Christ,
to further God's will, and to help do our part
ushering in when Jesus comes back. And Paul is
saying here that the people who have their faith
in themselves the people who have their faith
in false doctrine The people who hear the truth
and reject the truth The people who are lukewarm
are not doing anything to bring others closer
to Jesus to actually point people to the cross
Their testimonies aren't being heard like they
could be They're kind of like useless to the
faith they're just here serving themselves but
Paul also speaks to the end result the outcome
for these people and it's that they will not
make further progress and their foolishness will
be cleared all now as we read further Paul says
here but you have followed my teaching conduct
purpose faith patience love and endurance along
with the persecutions and sufferings that came
to me in Antioch Iconium Listeria what persecutions
I endured And yet the Lord rescued me from them
all. And what really stood out to me is right
here, Paul was lifting off a lot of things that
are fruits of the spirit, right? Like love, peace,
patience, endurance, like the endurance throughout
the suffering, the long suffering, which is patience.
A lot of these things he's listing off are things
that develop in us, are produced through having
a relationship with Jesus. And you don't actually
know, someone needs to hear this today, let's
listen to this, you don't actually know how loving
you are, how patient you are, how deep your faith
is until you're put in a situation that actually
puts it to the test. It's really easy to say
you're a loving person when you're surrounded
with people who love you. It's really easy to
say you're a patient person when you aren't really
put in a lot of high stress situations or situations
that... It's another thing to say you're patient
when it's like maybe one or two instances that
day, it's different when you have to go through
long suffering. When it's that thorn in your
side for weeks, four months, four years. And
I really feel like what we should be seeing right
here and what stood out to me and why I feel
like Paul really exemplifies is like, Paul is
showing patience and love and faithfulness and
he's been in and out of prison. Since he gave
his life to Jesus, it's people slandering him
and rejecting him, stoning him, leaving him for
dead, falsely accusing him, he's shipwrecked,
he's going through all this suffering. Like he
does not have a peaceful or calm life. It was
actually when he was blinded, when Paul was blinded
and waiting on God to send that man to come heal
him was his name Ananias. Ananias was like, are
you sure God? Like the Paul that was going around
killing Christians, like persecuting him, are
you sure? And God had made, and this is me paraphrasing
y 'all, Saying to him like Paul is gonna have
enough suffering on behalf of the gospel it Paul
is gonna have this bill God already knew he's
like there's gonna be a lot of suffering Paul
has to face He is not gonna have a life without
like God God made that point Suffering is not
a sign that God's mad at you now there are sometimes
when we face suffering because of our disobedience
like Jonah but a lot of times we're suffering
on behalf of the gospel because If you're walking
like jesus, you're going to look like jesus a
servant is not greater than his master We talked
about this in the previous episodes. We've touched
a lot more on suffering in previous episodes
So I won't get on the last two of second timothy.
So I won't get too deep into it now But we know
that suffering is our portion as a christian,
okay? Um, but it's how you react That says a
lot right like you think about taking your mind
like go back to primary school go back to Middle
school and high school for a moment and think
about like state testing day, where like before
that moment you get, you're in class, you're
learning the stuff, you're getting the homework
assignments, you're doing the workbooks, you're
doing the worksheets to get out of class, the
teacher has a lot of the resources up on the
wall, you have notes, and you think you know
the stuff because you're easily able to go through
and refer back. You're not really being tested,
right? It's not really being put to the test.
And if you fall short, it's not that big of a
deal. It's not that big of a deal. No one knows
because you can just erase it and rewrite it.
But once you go to state testing day where there's
a proctor and it's like a lockdown and you don't
have other resources to look at, where it's right
there in that moment that you can see, do you
really know this material or not? And if you
don't, there's no faking it. There's no faking
it. Especially if you have to have like the written
results It feels that way when our faith is put
to the test when our patience is put to the test
when our love is put to the test Right when you're
put in a situation where it does not produce
feelings of love yet You're still called to show
love and as I was reading this it made me think
about When Jesus I believe this was in the book
of Matthew. This was Matthew 5 I wrote this down
Matthew 5 46 We're talking about like Jesus is
addressing them and he's telling them he's like
It's easy to love someone who loves you. Even
a tax collector, which was supposed to be the
biggest sinner at the time, can do that. It's
easy to love people who love you. It's easy to
be kind to people who are kind to you. It's easy
to give to people who have given to you. It's
harder to love someone who hates you. It's harder
to be kind to someone who just disrespected you.
It's harder to give to someone you know would
never want to give to you. But that's where you're
able to see are you really a giving person? Are
you really a loving person? Are you really a
kind person? And I think we need to we need to
really understand y 'all this isn't just like
Sometimes I mean sometimes it can come out of
like you had a day with like back -to -back things
But sometimes this is weeks or months. I actually
hadn't had me thinking on it. Amen It started
like in November really, really heavy where I
just felt like I was going through a job season
that lasted months, like up until mid February.
And mid February was when God delivered on a
real breakthrough and something I'd been waiting
for in my life. And I look back and there was
so much spiritual warfare. for like months leading
up to this breakthrough. It was just one thing
after another where it felt like I didn't have
any peace. It felt like I couldn't catch a break.
It felt like my patience was always being tested.
My faith was always being tested where it just
never, there was like an underlying anxiety.
I woke up almost every day with just like already
problems having to deal with. But I can look
back and see how it tested my faith, how it tested
my patience and how it tested my love, like my
endurance. And the cool thing with these tests
y 'all is they're not pointless. Okay, because
once you get tested God isn't expecting us to
be perfect and he understands that we're going
to fall short Okay, but I want to be so clear
suffering is not an excuse to sin There is no
suffering no trial no test no tribulation that
you are facing that someone else has not already
faced God makes that very clear that's in the
bible And also he's not going to allow you to
face anything that there's not a way out But
the thing is is you might not like the way out
the way out might be shutting your mouth The
way out might be giving vengeance to God. The
way out might be waiting and saying no to the
opportunity even though you don't have another
door to immediately go to. I can think of multiple
times in my life where I was waiting on God and
before God came through there were opportunities
that presented themselves to me, that painted
themselves up as shiny, short -term, like easy
solutions. I would have had to send or disobey
God to get those things. And I had to say no,
not because I had other provision or another
way out. I actually was in a space of lack. and
had to continue in lack. But I said no because
God's going to come through in a way that doesn't
require me to contradict Him or sin. And then
God's timing, He came through exceedingly and
abundantly and restored everything I needed.
Your suffering is not an excuse to sin. It's
not an excuse to crash out. It's not an excuse
to participate in witchcraft. It's not an excuse
to turn your back on God. It's not an excuse
to spread false doctrine. It's not an excuse
to cut corners. And if you have, I want to tell
you right now, this is your, you can repent.
There's not, there's not condemnation here. Okay,
because what tests do is it reveals to you where
your heart is at, how far you've grown and what
you need to work on. You're able to look and
see, yeah, I didn't handle that well. This needs
work. And you're also able to say, okay, well,
last time I was tested like this, I reacted in
a lot worse way. So I can see that I am starting
to grow. This is good. You can see the progress.
And what was really cool here, And it made me
think about the three men in the fiery furnace.
The Lord Paul says, what persecutions I endured,
and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. And
what I thought about was the three men in the
fiery furnace. These were the men, I believe
this was in the book of Daniel, where they worshiped
God, right? And there was a law, the king brought
about a law, where they were actually, everyone
was supposed to bow down and worship the king.
And these men were like, we bow down and worship
no one but God. like not happening and they knew
that in doing that the king wasn't going to let
that slide and they were probably going to be
harmed but they trusted in god and wanted to
obey god more than they feared man and when they
were about to be tossed in this fairy furnace
and this is me paraphrasing i'm not reading it
word for word y 'all this is off of memory they're
basically saying they're like we know that god
has the power to deliver us Like we know that
God can stop us from even going in this furnace
or can deliver us from the furnace. But even
if God doesn't do it, even if we burn up in this
furnace, God is still good. He is still sovereign.
And that's the same faith I see in Paul. Of where
he says, he's like, God has delivered me every
time. He goes in these situations understanding
in God's ability to deliver him. But it's interesting
as we read through In the next chapter we see
Paul being very clear that like he knows this
time is coming that he's about to die He knows
that there's a day where God isn't going to deliver
him where God is going to allow this to happen
And he's gonna go be with the father and that's
actually gonna be freeing for him Because he
finally gets to be in heaven with the heavenly
father like he gets to be with Jesus, right?
It's actually a relief in a way that's why for
us Christians like death isn't a sad thing. It's
actually a joy because Earth is the closest we
get to hell. The closest we get to the devil.
It's actually a good thing. Your faith is in
Jesus. You know, when you die, you're with the
Father. You're away from this pain and suffering.
You're in a better space with him. But we see
here where Paul is saying, what persecutions
I endured, and yet the Lord rescued me from them
all. He has that same faith, Paul does, of like,
God is good to deliver me. God has the power.
I know who God is. Even if he doesn't, he's still
good. When Paul goes on to say in fact all who
want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will
be persecuted That's the thing we talked about
in previous episodes y 'all. It's not if it's
a win. It's not if you'll be persecuted. It's
a win But Paul goes on to say evil people and
imposters will become worse deceiving and being
deceived and this is a worldview that Christians
have that people who aren't Christian It's hard
for them to grasp and understand Me when I was
a teenager and like early young adult this was
something that actually really aggravated me
with Christians but this was before I read my
Bible and before I had faith in Jesus and Understood
what's actually going to be happening and what
we should be looking towards If you, and this
is again why I encourage you to read the Bible,
read the book of Revelation, read all of this,
okay? You'll know what to expect and what to
look out for and what you should actually be
focusing your time and energy on. And when I
was younger, I thought what we should be focusing
all of our time and energy on is creating a perfect
society. And that came through, you know, cancel
culture and holding people accountable in ways
that don't align with scripture. And that led
to the mentality of Like that group think and
that like conformity. I don't know if there's
a better way to word it than the people pleasing.
Like it really snowballed into that where I started
with thinking this world is a horrible place.
I see the wicked things going on. We need to
make the world better. And I think that a lot
of us have that feeling, right? Of we see the
wickedness and the thing that comes after that
is I want to make it better. and this is where
we see a lot of people who are angry and all
these people are people who don't have their
faith in the Lord that have very extreme views
that elevate a lot of things that don't align
with scripture that fall into the just like enabling
sin and love is love and just all truth is the
truth and a million genders and whatever people
want to you know whatever the way the devil chooses
to package it right but it A lot of these people
look at Christians as they don't care and they're
not doing anything to make society better, making
the world better. Instead they're praying about
it and they're giving it to God. What's it gonna
do? I used to have that same mentality. When
I would get so angry seeing people say like,
you're in my prayers and I'm praying about thoughts
and prayers and you see a lot of people who are
in the world make fun of Christians and thoughts
and prayers because they see it as doing nothing.
When us Christians we see and we know that this
is the ultimate battle strategy is taking it
to God And paul says here that there are many
deceivers and it's going to grow It's going to
get worse paul isn't prophesying and saying it's
going to get better in all of our efforts and
working collectively We're going to create a
perfect earth. No, it's going to get progressively
worse until jesus comes back It's a fact it's
the truth it's going to get progressively worse
And we know that we don't have the power to control
or shift or change what's God. So we as Christians
are operating out of a space of understanding
it is going to get progressively worse. And the
fact that it is getting progressively worse is
our confirmation of Jesus is coming back soon.
All of this is true. All of this is true. So
as we as Christians, how we view the world. We
have the biblical worldview is it is worse and
is going to get progressively worse Because we're
inching closer to Jesus coming back and what
we're supposed to be doing isn't Conforming of
trying to like your truth is the truth and abandoning
morals abandoning God's truth abandoning the
gospel and Taking our own control and just trying
to make everything perfect in a utopia. No, we
understand that these things mean Jesus is coming
back soon and we understand that the only thing
that is going to save you is your faith in Jesus
so we understand it's not about making everyone
feel good it's about winning hearts for the gospel
and pointing people closer to Christ because
all of these things that we're seeing are just
distractions in a way like they're a way for
the devil to get us to focus and invest our energy
in fixing instead focusing our energy on investing
it in what God is calling us to do which is creating
disciples, evangelizing, pointing people to the
cross, being used in that way, using our gifts
not to glorify ourselves, but to glorify God.
Amen. Amen. And we understand that Jesus is coming
back one day and he will create the perfect.
It will be a place where there is no pain, no
suffering, like everyone, every knee shall bow
and tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. That
is only achieved. The only people welcome into
that are the people with their faith in Jesus
There are gonna be a lot of people who don't
have their faith in Jesus who are unfortunately
not going to be here for that They chose not
to want a relationship with him in this life.
He's gonna honor that for them in eternity He's
not letting them into it. He's not gonna let
a stranger into his house They wanted nothing
to do with him here. He is just simply granting
that And once you actually like realize that
this is what's going on. It's good because you
finally have a battle strategy, a game plan.
It gets weary relying on your own control and
your own ways of fixing things. When you finally
realize that prayer is the answer and giving
it to God is the answer, and that our job here
isn't to make everything perfect, but it's to
make a way for the one who is perfect, things
start flowing, okay? And it says here, But as
for you continue in what you have learned and
firmly believe you know those who taught you
and you know that from infancy You have known
the sacred scriptures which are able to give
you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus And this is you know Paul talking to Timothy
and encouraging him like you grew up in the faith
Do not reject what you know do not conform to
those around you. It's gonna be tempting don't
throw it out He says all scripture is inspired
by God, and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking,
for correcting, for training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be complete, equipped
for every good work. I'm sure y 'all have heard
people before, the Bible is man -made, the Bible
is written by men. Why should I believe in it?
I used to be that person too. And it's right
here in scripture. The Bible is God -inspired.
God worked through men to write the Bible. There
are multiple different human authors. All right,
we have different men like Paul. Mark. We have
multiple different people, okay? We have multiple
different people. We have people, Matthew, we
have people that wrote, okay? But it was God
inspired. It was God speaking to them and through
them. No, God didn't sit here with the book and
write it and print it. He spoke to these people.
What's so crazy is that these people were in
different parts of the world, having never met
each other. Yet they all have testimony and have
experienced God Experienced Jesus in ways that
do not contradict each other if anything they
contribute and they add on and if y 'all are
some if y 'all are one of the people who are
like the Smarty pants I have to have like all
these evidence factual historians I encourage
y 'all to go read case for Christ or watch the
documentary. It's free on YouTube. I watched
it wonderful Think that might be something that
interests you if you all know someone like that
show them case for Christ This isn't the episode
today to go in all those details, and I'm honestly
not the perfect person for that I'm not a big
like I love history stuff. I'm I'm I don't have
all the documented historical facts to like feed
you Okay, but there are people who that is what
pointed them to Christ the guy who wrote case
for Christ was actually an atheist his wife was
agnostic and his wife started believing in Jesus
and he actually thought I was ruining his marriage
and he hated it and he was actually he started
looking for facts to prove Jesus was false and
all these things to disprove it and Ended up
putting his faith in Jesus. It's an interesting
one. I recommend you go read watch it Okay, but
it's interesting here how Paul says what the
Bible is for what God has given us the scripture
for and it is for teaching as Helping kind of
I believe what I'm doing is kind of helping teach
y 'all today It's used to teach me in the Bible
says it's to educate us as we said earlier the
knowledge is here You need to go grab it for
yourself the Bible is created for us to be taught
But it was also for rebuking and correcting Meaning
to identify where someone is falling off where
someone is doing something wrong to expose the
misdeed the bad doing But the correcting to say
this is the right path to point them down the
right path You can't have one without the other
and be pointing people closer to Christ If all
you're doing is exposing and saying this person
is wicked this person is evil and this person's
this and this person's that but you're not leading
them to Repentance you're not pointing them to
the cross. You're not reminding them that this
is conviction and not condemnation You're not
doing the work of the gospel You're not doing
the work on behalf of Jesus and you need to check
your motives because you might be doing more
of the work of the enemy and I can think of one
person and I won't name them right now but one
person who's really well known who fits a lot
of these qualities earlier for like slander like
someone who's just really well known right now
for uh conspiracy theories and all they do is
like slander and try to expose other people and
say this person's doing this they run with a
ton of conspiracy theories and like when they
hit a dead end they just jump onto another they
ruin a lot of people's lives and reputations
right like and they they claim to be Christian
and they're saying they're exposing all these
things but you rarely ever see this person talking
about repentance and the gospel and like pointing
them to repentance and showing love and when
someone does repent and when someone does change
you rarely see this person actually accept them
as repented reminds me of you know the pharisees
where jesus is like doing the woes to the pharisees
and he's like um you make them like a prostate
like like he was saying like y 'all go out of
your way to get this person to repent but once
they do you make them twice a child of hell Like,
you go out of their way to expose and lead them
to repentance, but once they do, you don't accept
it. You're irreconcilable, you know? But anyway,
yeah, that's another thing scripture is supposed
to be used for, is we are actually supposed to
use scripture to rebuke someone and to correct
them. They're people who are like you use the
gospel to hurt people like you hear them say
that all the time Christians just they always
use the Bible to say you're doing this wrong
You're doing this is that's literally part of
what we're supposed to use it for is to point
out When something is against scripture to point
out when something is wrong It says here for
training and righteousness so that the man of
God may be complete equipped for every good work
if you want to be Equipped for what God is calling
you to do you need to know the word? Amen. Amen.
Now we're in chapter four. It says here I solemnly
charge you before God and Christ Jesus who is
going to judge the living and the dead and Because
of his appearing in his kingdom preach the word
and this is and I want to pause here. Okay, this
is the instruction from Paul Remember what he
is telling Timothy at this time Timothy is going
through all the things that we're going through
now The world that Paul is living in looks like
the world we're living in right now And I truly
believe that this encouragement and these instructions
Paul was giving Timothy are instructions that
would be very profitable for us today. And it
says here, preach the word, be ready in season
and out of season. I want to pause here. It's
saying preach the gospel, tell people about Jesus,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth in season,
out of season, meaning when it's comfortable
and when it's uncomfortable, when society welcomes
it and when they don't welcome it. When it feels
profitable and when it feels unprofitable you
don't just do it when it's a crowd that you think
would love it and eat it up and Wants to hear
it you also do it when it's a crowd that you
don't think wants to hear it and probably won't
eat it up But they need to hear it anyway You
have to be willing to do it in all circumstances
Says here Correct, rebuke, and encourage with
great patience and teaching. We are supposed
to correct. We are supposed to rebuke. That is
part of the walk. But again, and we can hold
this to other pieces of scripture, we're also,
we know, not supposed to point out the splinter
in someone else's eye when we have a log in our
own. How are you gonna call that person out in
that sin when you are willfully walking in sin
too? You gotta be mindful of yourself. There
are some people who want to jump to correction
but don't want to be corrected. If you're following
God and he's never correcting you and he's just
defending everything you're doing and you're
walking perfectly, you might not be following
God. Like uppercase G, God. You might be following
yourself and your own doctored up version of
Jesus, but you're not really following Jesus.
And I felt convicted for that too. There have
been times where I'm like, mmm, am I ignoring
conviction? Am I explaining away my sin but holding
other people accountable for theirs? Mmm. And
it says here to encourage with great patience
and teaching that as we rebuke and correct It's
not supposed to be a thing of like we're mean
and crashing out and embarrassing and just shaming
people You're supposed to be doing this with
patience and love encouraging people in the gospel
to point them to Jesus It's not a thing about
just shaming them and making them feel stupid
Which is what a lot of people want to do they
want to use the Bible to shame and make people
feel stupid That's not what you're supposed to
be doing You're supposed to expose where they're
walking short, but then point them on the path
that's righteous. Point them on the right path
and pray for them consistently and be willing
to accept when they have a change of heart. Amen.
Amen. It says here, for the time will come when
people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but
according to their own desires, will multiply
teachers for themselves because they have an
itch to hear what they want to hear. And that's
all the whole time is reading this. I was just
thinking a new age. where it was like man and
and just in the world in general where you have
people hear the like all the self -love and the
like manifestation ideals and the speaking things
into existence and affirmations and that's something
paul warned us about he's saying there's going
to be a time that comes when people don't want
to hear the gospel anymore There's gonna be a
time that comes when people do not want to hear
the truth the truth holds them accountable and
calls them higher There's gonna be a time when
people say we don't we're sick of that We don't
want to hear that anymore and they are going
to reject that. That's what we see now y 'all
But according to their own desires what they
want what they feel right now what feels good
to them what they claim is natural for that what
whatever they desire They're gonna lean into
that And they're going to find people who tell
them that's fine, who condone that, who enable
that. They're going to seek out those voices
and they're going to surround themselves with
those voices. They're going to multiply the teachers.
They're going to surround themselves with yes
men and people who do not hold them accountable,
but instead make them feel good for being angry
and resentful and all these things. Haters of
truth, rejectors of truth. All these things,
they're going to surround themselves with people
who just say it's okay to do that. And that's
because they have an itch. They have itchy ears.
They have a desire to hear what they want to
hear. And when they hear the gospel, when they
hear denial of flesh, when they hear accountability,
that isn't what they want to hear. That doesn't
itch that itch. For the people who say, no, you're
right. You're good. Do what you want to do. Love
yourself. Yolo. You only live once. Everyone
else is just judging you. You're just the victim.
That's what they want to hear. So that's what
they surround themselves with. And that's what
we see now today, right? It's so easy to do that
with social media and the block button and algorithms.
You can live in a bubble. And before you know
it, you think everyone in the world has the same
opinion as you when they don't. And says here
they will turn away from hearing the truth and
will turn aside to myths And when I was looking
at my amplified it said actually myths and man
-made beliefs man -made doctrine People who don't
want to hear the truth and they they reject the
gospel and they turn to man -made beliefs they
rely on their own understanding what they think
makes the most sense and they make that truth
and we see that with people who have wandered
off into like old paganism and new age works
that was immediately where my mind went y 'all
because when I was in new age there were a lot
of people who practice like old paganism like
that practice Norse paganism and Greek and Roman
and like worship like Greek deities and I was
someone who before I gave my life to Jesus again
y 'all I fell into those different practices
I was in the mishmash of all these things before
I knew Jesus was the way, the truth, the life.
And you see a lot, it's actually, it's... crazy
y 'all and I think that like social media has
had a big impact and there was a trend a couple
years ago with like witch talk and what people
were really into witchcraft and new age. And
I think people believe that trend died out more
than it did. I think that unfortunately took
roots with a lot of people. We see how popularized
like horoscopes and natal charts is. You can't
log on an app now without like putting in your
birthday and it giving you a zodiac half the
time. Even like Snapchat, it's kind of sad. Or
dating apps, it's kind of sad. We see y 'all
that there are a lot of people who are reverting
back to these beliefs that there are people who
are instead of rejecting the gospel Rejecting
the it's not even though you only even have to
worry about your works. It's not even a work
-based salvation It's a faith -based salvation
actually heals you that we have evidence for
we have proof for a man resurrected from the
dead And you have people who would rather just
reject that because it calls them to hire and
it makes them uncomfortable and they can't just
do whatever they want to do they're told that
some of the things they want to do are wicked
and they're reverting back to like that old age
mythology or you have people that are going to
new age beliefs who are relying on their own
understanding who are taking pieces from different
religions and now you have people who believe
that they're star seeds or you have people that
believe that they're reincarnated and like they're
just going through these different cycles in
life You have people who, they're attaching onto
all these beliefs that are constantly shifting
and constantly changing, right? And this is what
Paul predicted, that there was gonna be, there's
no lie, there's no hiding that new age and deceptive
religion have really risen up in the past couple
decades. People relying on their own understanding
and their own beliefs and passing it off. God
people starting their own religions It's crazy,
but Paul predicted this y 'all He says but as
for you and this is the instruction he's saying
even when all of this is happening exercise self
-control in everything Endure every hardship
do the work of an evangelist to fulfill your
ministry policy Even with all this happening
you have to remain calm and cool and collected
like you can't lose your you can't lose it You
can't crash out. You can't go sideways. You have
to stay rooted He's saying hardships are gonna
come you have to take it on the chin. You have
to accept that it's coming suffer through it
with faith knowing in God's ability to deliver
you Don't back down on your faith or do all these
things to try to avoid it. Take it on the chin
He's saying do the evangelizing work go out and
bring when people for Christ plant seeds we plant
the seeds God changes the heart and Fully step
into your ministry Don't reject your calling
Says here for I am already being poured out as
a drink offering and the time of my departure
is close And this is what I was talking about
y 'all Blake Paul acknowledges. He's getting
close to death He knows and I believe that God
was speaking to him. I believe God was preparing
him by the way He is just you know in past times
he was saying like, you know God's gonna deliver
me God's gonna get me out and this is a time
where he's like I know I'm coming to the end
of my race. I believe God was preparing him for
this and He acknowledges he's like my time for
departure is close Paul is saying I'm gonna be
martyred soon. Like I'm gonna be dying I'm gonna
be freed This life was a bondage for him like
he knew he was being used by god But he also
of course wanted to be with the heavenly father
And this was a freedom, right? And paul says
I have fought the good fight I have finished
the race and I have kept the faith There is reserved
for me the crown of righteousness which the lord
the righteous judge will give me on that day
not only to me but to all those who loved his
appearing. And as I talked about in the episode
earlier, y 'all, that I know that it's not about
the rewards of this earth, that I know that God
has something so much better for me in heaven.
Like, sure, I'll see God in my life and I'll
see him pour out blessings and I'll see him do
things for me here while I'm on earth, but it's
nothing compared to what's in heaven. Our works
do not buy our salvation. Our entry into heaven
is off the faith of Jesus alone. I want to be
so clear about that and I've always been clear
about that. That's why I say that we do not have
a workspace salvation. You've heard me say we
don't have a workspace salvation, but then heard
me mention works. And y 'all know that I often
refer back to the scripture, the one who believes
in Jesus will do the works he does. He says that
in the book of John, the one who believes in
me will do the works that I do. But we also know,
and it's biblical, that the entry, our salvation
is not based off of our works, so that way no
man may boast. It's off of Jesus alone. The only
thing that lets us into heaven is our faith in
Jesus. But we have riches stored up in heaven
once we're in heaven rewards from God based off
of Our like our righteousness here on earth of
just being in right standing with God obeying
God Submitting to God and that's what Paul is
talking about here. Paul is saying I have fought
the good fight. He acknowledges that faith is
a fight Evangelizing your calling is a fight
It's not an easy walk. It's not a cakewalk. He's
saying that I have fought honorably and I have
firmly held on to my faith That's what he's saying.
I have finished the race. I've kept the faith.
I have stayed consistent And he's saying There
is reserved for me the crown of righteousness
Which the Lord the righteous judge will give
me on that day the day that he goes before father
and not only to me, but to all those who have
loved his appearing. And you know, this is Paul's
reminder, Paul isn't just talking about himself,
and he's not saying it's just him specially that
has something certain, but it's all those who
follow Jesus, who love the Lord, who uphold him,
who walk in right standing with him, who are
reverent of him. It's not only Paul, it's those
who love Jesus, who welcomed and yearned for
his return. As I said earlier, y 'all, we are
preparing for Jesus to come back. We're doing
what we can. You remember how John the Baptist
was making a way for the one who comes after
him? He made a way for Jesus before Jesus started
stepping into ministry. John the Baptist was
making a way. And I've really felt that there's
so many times in my heart kind of make that connection
with us and Jesus coming back of like, We're
spreading the gospel so every ear has heard Everyone
has the opportunity to hear about God's glory
And to put their faith in Jesus like we're doing
our part to spread the gospel and try to win
souls for Christ Before Jesus comes back and
that's an amazing thing to be a part of Now here
Paul is closing the letter he says make every
effort to come to see me soon because Demas has
deserted me since he loved this present world
and has gone to Thessalonica and I want to just
make a little pause here and that's our reminder
of like a lot of people left Paul when Paul was
going through hardship and suffering on behalf
of like being a Christian and they saw that it
was more popular to be of the world than to be
set apart a lot of people chose to conform to
the world and this was someone right here Demas
since he loved this present world he loved the
world He didn't want to be set apart. He chose
the world. Says here, Crescent has gone to Galatia,
Titus to Demalta. Only Luke is with me. Bring
Mark with you, for he is useful to me in the
ministry. I have sent Titus to Ephesus. When
you come, bring the cloak I left in Troas with
Carpus, as well as the scrolls, especially the
parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did great
harm to me. The Lord will repay him according
to his works. Watch out for him yourself because
he strongly opposed our words. And I took note
of this y 'all when I was reading this up in
Paul's closing letter. What he decided to do
to end it was he decided to end with giving up
vengeance. As I'm about to read this to y 'all,
he gave up vengeance. He noticed that Alexander
the coppersmith did great harm to him. was a
thorn in his side was opposing the work he was
doing for Christ whatever that looked like and
Instead of trying to seek vengeance in his final
days. He gave it to God He says here the Lord
will repay him according to his works. He said
God will teach him God will do what he needs
to do. He says but then he goes on to warn Because
he understands Alexander has not repented that
there is a pattern here, right and he say It
happened to me and y 'all need to be watchful
because he strongly opposed in the past. This
is a pattern. Don't neglect this warning. Paul
used that moment to warn. And we've touched on
this before y 'all. Guilt and repentance don't
mean the same thing. If you're guilty, you'll
still go do it again. We are to forgive everybody
But just because you forgive someone doesn't
mean you let them back in if they haven't repented
and haven't had to change heart Paul was kind
of reminding and recognizing this Paul was saying
God will teach him a lesson God will defend God
will work it out. But be wary of this person
because he has not repented He has not changed
his ways. He was in opposition then and he'll
be in opposition again Then he goes on to say
at my first defense. No one stood up for me,
but everyone deserted me May it not be counted
against them But the Lord stood with me and strengthened
me so that I might fully preach the word and
all the Gentiles might hear it This was right
here. I wrote down y 'all Paul's next thing after
giving vengeance to the Lord and warning He went
on to forgive all the people who didn't stand
by him the people who might have called him crazy
People said I don't know him the people who left
him when the going got rough he forgave them
he said may it not be counted against them like
i pray like god forgives them for that like god
don't hold it against them and then he went on
to glorify god and he recognized he's like look
i didn't have people strengthening me i didn't
have people encouraging me It wasn't my strength
alone. He said it was God who strengthened me.
It was God who got me through. His final words
in this letter, y 'all, were those of giving
vengeance to God, warning, forgiveness, and then
glorifying God, recognizing that he wouldn't
have gotten through it at all if it weren't for
God. And although he had the moment to take the
glory for himself, he didn't because he knew
the glory didn't belong to him. It says here
so I was rescued from the lion's mouth The Lord
will rescue me from every evil work and will
bring me Safely into his heavenly kingdom to
him be the glory forever and ever amen And goes
on to say greet Priscilla and Aquila in the household
of once if I always mispronounce this y 'all
one Cypherus Erastus has remained at Corinth.
I left to find us sick at Miletus Make every
effort to come before winter I'm glad we got
these two chapters in. I just want to encourage
you all to read this for yourself outside of
this podcast and start praying to the Lord that
he reveals to you what you're not seeing. Every
time you read scripture because as the living
word of God something different is gonna stand
out to you and something different can be revealed
Well as I was reading this and going through
this I felt the Lord giving me revelations of
things in my personal life I'm gonna have to
pray on after I'm done recording this episode
That's how good God is when you just take intentional
time to read his word as we were talking about
earlier y 'all Or like God will direct you on
what you need to do when you just take time to
be alone with him One of those things you can
do just to be alone with him is just reading
his word and not reading it because you're like
Seeking something or seeking an answer you're
looking out for an answer, but just because you
want to be in his presence and know God Like
I was reading the book of numbers earlier y 'all
not because I felt in numbers could relate to
me This was not because I felt like let me read
the book of numbers I'm sure like a lot of stuff
going on there is stuff that will relate to me
today. No, I Was reading it number one because
that's what we're reading as a church Also, just
because that was my way of getting in God's presence
and as I was reading numbers There are certain
things sticking out to me and God speaking to
me and giving me revelation understanding I was
like, oh my gosh, I've been waiting on like this
understanding from God Thank you so much and
it wasn't because I was seeking that understanding.
I was just seeking God Just to know him and to
grow in closeness with him and I'm current and
I'm encouraging y 'all to do that today to just
pursue the word Pursue intimacy with him one
of the biggest compliments I've gotten from people
It's actually been a big compliment again from
people recently that I love to hear and then
It made me really reflect on my relationship
words. I've had people say like I really admire
your intimacy with God Like the way he just speaks
to you I've had other people say like the way
you can just like pick up on that quiet way that
God speaks to you and that nudging like I admire
that. And when I think about that, I'm like,
dude, I thought that was I guess that's not something
everybody like everybody can have it. I'm not
special in that way of like God would have that
relationship with anybody. But I had just gotten
so accustomed to that being how me and God were.
I just thought that was how everybody was. I
didn't think like that was something to glorify
God for and to be thankful for. But when I look
back now I can see how that was developed and
that was through just so much intimate time with
the Lord of just days of reading and seeking
his word of seeking his presence through his
word of prayer of Denying self and fasting how
many times y 'all I've said no and stayed home
from things I want to go to because I knew the
Lord was calling me to just read the Bible and
get in his presence I have this intimacy with
God because of how much time I spend alone with
God, which is every day. Every day I have to
have quiet time apart from people with God. And
I remember reading in the Bible, like when I
was reading the Gospels of how Jesus moved, I
remember seeing how frequently He would leave
places. Even when things were going really good
and people were inviting Him places, He was like,
no, I have to go be alone with the Father. And
it was hours, sometimes days. And He would wake
up at times that were inconvenient. to be able
to get away from the group. And you know, there
were times when God called me, I know that thing
sounds like fun and you want to go out and do
it, but I want you to take this time to be in
my presence instead. Y 'all, I work throughout
the week, so my weekends are like my time off.
But the weekends are also when people want to
hang out and do things. And there are times when
God has said like, no, stay home this weekend.
Stay home this day and dedicate this day to scripture
reading and praying. And although you might feel
like it's a bummer now, you're going to like
happen to say no to things. Like you're gonna
see how this obedience is multiplied and how
I'm just gonna pour out my spirit on you. And
I'm encouraging y 'all today to do that. I'm
encouraging y 'all today to seek the Lord and
just have private time with him. And when I say
private time, I don't mean private time of other
people's time. So I don't mean sit quietly in
your room and listen to a sermon or even on the
walk listening to a sermon. I mean, take that
prayer walk where it's just you talking to God.
That's you pacing around your living room like
I do. Like I am right now talking to y 'all on
the podcast. Fun fact, y 'all, a lot of my prayer
is me pacing back and forth around my living
room. When no one's home, like when I have the
house to myself, I use that as my opportunity
to just pray. Even if it's like not a time where
I'm like ready to go into prayer, I'm like, oh,
this is a time when no one's around. I can just
pray out loud, really fervently and loud. I'm
going to do it. Like, whatever I'm doing, I'm
going to put that aside and just pray. And if
I can't, if that's not going to happen that day,
I go out on my prayer walk and I take a walk
on the trail that I know not a lot of people
go on. And for hours, I'll just talk out loud,
praying to God. And then when I come home, I
still set aside that time. You're like, let me
read in the Bible. God, where are you leading
me today? And it's not always where I think I'm
gonna hear from him, but I end up hearing from
him. It's not about seeking for yourself. It's
just about seeking him. Seek first his kingdom
and his righteousness and all these things are
gonna be added on to y 'all. So thank you all
so much for listening. I'm so glad we finished
like this little series. This is so cool. And
I'm excited to see what God leads us to next.
I have no idea the next thing we're gonna go
to, but I'm looking forward to it. I do ask you
all, hit subscribe wherever it is you're listening
to this podcast. Share it with someone who you
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leave a comment, and I will see you guys next
time bye guys