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Timothy chapter 4, as we look at verses 6 through 10.

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We live in a dangerous world.

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I was in Chicago for a couple of days this last week and learned there are two kinds

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of pedestrians, the quick and the dead.

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We live in a dangerous world and those dangers include violence, crime, disease and wars.

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But the greatest danger in all of the world is in another category.

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The greatest danger in the world is the danger of false ideas.

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For these have the power to destroy not just the body, but the soul.

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The Holy Spirit predicted that the later times would be especially intensely characterized

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by false ideas spun off by spiritual beings.

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The Holy Spirit tells us that demons will use humans as mouthpieces for their deceptive

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notions.

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These agents of the darkness will hypocritically lie, claiming things that are not so and they

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will do so, he says, without a pang of guilt in their conscience.

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From whatever realm of society they come, be it science, entertainment, politics, education,

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the media, these pimps for the devil spread their false ideas so as to lead men away from

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the true knowledge of the living God.

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I believe we are living in those later times.

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These are perilous times.

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It is possible even for a child of God to become entangled in their deceptions.

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Not to become an apostate, I remind you, but yet to become ensnared so as to be tricked

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and ambushed by the devil.

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The cost of that can be great.

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It means time, life wasted.

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It means others around us influenced in the wrong way.

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It means the possibility of being set aside as disqualified in this race of eternal life.

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It is not enough, however, for us to be warned about the danger, the menace that false ideas

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present.

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We must, on the other hand, be proactive.

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We must take certain measures to guard ourselves.

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While we do indeed face dangers in a world like ours from false teachings, we can build

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walls of defense around us.

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We guard ourselves and build these walls when we take at least the three actions that are

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suggested by Paul as he writes to Timothy in these verses.

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In pointing out these things to the brethren, he says to Timothy, you will be a good servant

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of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine

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which you have been following, but have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old

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women.

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On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, for bodily discipline

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is only of little profit.

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But godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life

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and also for the life to come.

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It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, for it is for this we labor and

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strive because we have fixed our hope on the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially

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of believers.

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The first wall of defense that we can build around ourselves is to nourish ourselves with

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a healthy spiritual diet.

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We see that in verses 6 and 7.

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You and I become what we eat.

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With apologies to King David, someone has written the Dieter's Psalm.

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It says, My weight is my shepherd.

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I shall not want low-calorie foods.

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It maketh me to munch on potato chips and dip.

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It leadeth me into thirty-one flavors.

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It restoreth my fried foods.

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It leadeth me in the paths of cream puffs and bakeries.

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Yea, though I waddle through the valley of weight watchers, I will fear no skimmed milk,

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for my appetite is with me.

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My hostess twinkies and ding-dongs, they comfort me.

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They anointeth my body with calories.

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My scale tippeth over.

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Surely chubbiness and contentment shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell

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in the house of Marie Callender Pies forever.

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We become what we eat.

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It goes from the lips to the hips, doesn't it?

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Somebody has said, don't wail on the scale if you cheat when you eat.

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I suppose you've heard about the new Chinese diet, have you heard about that?

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You can eat all you want to, you just get one chopstick.

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Unlike clothing that we can put on and take off, what we put into our mouths becomes part

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of us.

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So if we eat junk food, we become unhealthy, overweight, and toxic.

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When we eat junk food, we are slowly poisoning ourselves.

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On the other hand, nutritious food builds strong bodies, resilient bodies, healthy bodies.

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We become what we eat.

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That's not only true of the physical body and the physical appetite, it's true also

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of the mind and the soul.

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Our soul food determines the state of our inner man.

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Whether we are strong and vibrant inwardly, or sick and vulnerable, we need to nourish

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ourselves with a healthy spiritual diet.

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There is spiritual junk food, and Paul talks about it here.

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He describes it as worldly fables fit only for old women.

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This is a sarcastic epithet that Paul brings from the literature of that day.

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He is talking about the tall tales that grandmothers would often share with their grandchildren.

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He is using that term to talk about the fanciful views, the opinions of false teachers.

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He is talking about false ideas that people are spreading, the speculations that originated

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in human thinking through demonic suggestions.

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We still have spiritual junk food today, and it is even more in abundance today than ever

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before like all other kinds of junk food.

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Whether it be modern philosophies, or the writings of sociologists, the views of commentators

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on our times, authors who write about subjects that they truly are ignorant of, or entertainers

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who are steeped in a man-centered worldview, there is spiritual junk food on every shelf

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in our society.

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What the apostle tells us is that we must refuse spiritual nonsense, the junk food.

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We are not to waste spiritual energy on useless controversies, silly ideas, meaningless debates

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that don't produce spiritual health in us and the advance of God's Kingdom.

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It is easy for us to get sucked into this whole thing of spiritual junk food.

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That's why he tells us that we are to be nourished constantly on the words of the faith and of

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Jesus Christ.

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These words of the faith and of sound doctrine are words of truth that we find in the Bible.

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He's talking here about good doctrine.

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We are to nourish our minds and our souls on the truth of the Bible.

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When we do that, we build walls of defense around us so that when false ideas come along

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we're healthy.

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We don't succumb to the germs, the infections, and the food poisoning that comes from false

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teaching and false ideas.

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Nourish ourselves.

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He says on the faith and on healthy doctrine.

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How nourished are you in the Bible?

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How much time do you spend ingesting the truth of God's Word for your soul?

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Or are you reading the junk food of our day?

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Do you have good Christian books?

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Solid, doctrinal books that you work your way through.

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One reason that we have a bookstore in our church is to make available those kinds of

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books.

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The kinds of books that will nourish you in the faith, in what you believe, in the person

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of Jesus Christ, and the knowledge of God.

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I was talking with one well-known Christian author at a conference this last week, and

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with tongue in cheek he said, I'm going to start writing fiction.

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It's the only thing people are buying.

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You look at the bestseller list of Christian books and you find that time after time it's

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the fiction that rises to the top.

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Nothing wrong with good Christian fiction, but it's not the kind of stuff that's going

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to nourish you in the faith.

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The kind of books that teach you about the Bible, that teach you the doctrine of Jesus

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Christ.

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Timothy had already made this a matter of lifestyle.

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Paul tells us that he had already been following this.

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He understood, he practiced a robust spiritual diet.

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May that be said of all of us, that we are eating the kinds of things for our souls that

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will nourish us inwardly and protect us.

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Failure to provide for yourself a healthy diet will leave you without defense against

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spiritual dangers.

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There's a second action that we can take that will build an important wall and that

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is we need to commit ourselves to regular spiritual discipline.

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Again verses 7, 8 and 9 talk about this.

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Don't you wish you were possible to live without discipline?

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Suppose that you could just go out and spend without any restraint.

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Didn't have to worry about the charge coming back to you.

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Didn't have to worry about not having enough money in the bank.

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No discipline in your spending.

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Wouldn't that be kind of fun?

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Just for a day.

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Don't you wish that you could sit down at the table and not have to think about gaining

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weight?

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That you could eat without limit.

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Don't you wish that you could be active all the time and didn't have to spend at least

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a third of your life sleeping?

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Think how many hours we're unconscious in our lives.

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If you live to be 75 years old you've spent 25 years in bed asleep.

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Don't you wish you didn't have to discipline yourself?

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But we do.

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We have to discipline ourselves in every realm if we want to live a fulfilled life and no

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one can be disciplined for us.

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We're responsible to be disciplined ourselves.

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So he says to us, discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness.

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Discipline yourself.

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This word is from a verb, gum-nazo, from which we get our word gym.

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The gym in that day was the place where young men would go and strip down and work out in

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order to perfect their physiques.

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It refers to athletic training.

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He tells us that we are to enter into athletic training.

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Last night I was on a stair climber and looked down and saw that message again that says

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stop exercising if you feel faint, pain or short of breath.

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I felt all of those things just looking at that stupid machine.

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But I have to get on it anyway.

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We have to discipline ourselves.

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Paul here does not denigrate physical exercise when he says that it's not as profitable as

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spiritual exercise.

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But he does want us to know that while we discipline our bodies and exercise our bodies

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and that's good, it's even better to be spiritually disciplined.

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Like an athlete we are to give our full effort to achieving spiritual goals in our lives.

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We are to lay aside any and every encumbrance of unnecessary weight and besetting sin.

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We are to keep our eye on the goal which is godliness he says.

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By that he means that we are to aim so that our lives are god centered, godliness.

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That isn't the way that we're naturally brought up in the world is it?

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Godliness doesn't come naturally.

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It only comes when we discipline ourselves spiritually.

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So regular spiritual discipline in prayer, in meditation on the word of God, of setting

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right priorities in our lives.

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Regular spiritual discipline promises the full experience of life that is in Jesus Christ.

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It brings benefit now in this life as does physical exercise.

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But beyond that it brings the benefit of life to come.

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It prepares us for heaven.

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Spiritual laziness is an invitation to the devil to do his work.

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But spiritual discipline is a wall of defense that protects us.

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But there's a third action that builds another wall that's important to our defense in this

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world of dangers.

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It is that we should involve ourselves in rigorous spiritual duty.

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Pearl Buck said, we need to restore the full meaning of that old word duty.

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It is the other side of rights.

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Thankfully our society is beginning to understand that.

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That while we talk about rights, there's another side to the story.

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It's called responsibility.

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It's called duty.

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Paul talks about that in verse 10 when he says, for this, that is the promise of life

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to come, for this he says, we labor and we strive.

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We have to remember that the spiritual life involves duty.

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A mother was having a hard time getting her son to leave for school one morning.

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And he said to her, nobody likes me at school.

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The teachers don't.

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The kids don't.

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The superintendent wants me to transfer.

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The bus drivers hate me.

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The school board wants me to drop out.

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And the custodians have it in for me.

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I don't want to go.

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She said, you have to go.

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You're healthy.

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You have a lot to learn.

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You've got something to offer others.

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You're a leader besides you're 49 years old and you're the principal.

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Life has its duties.

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Life has its responsibilities, whether we feel like it or not.

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And often we don't.

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Paul is saying here that we enter into struggling with opponents as in an arena.

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That is the word here for laboring and striving.

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He's talking about one who enters into the arena there to do battle.

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He is talking about the powers of darkness.

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And they're spinning off of these false ideas to lead men away from God.

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He says that we are in the arena.

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We are striving with them.

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Then dare we be less than strict and tough on ourselves when it comes to this responsibility.

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Paul is not working for salvation here, but he is working for godliness.

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Salvation is by grace.

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It is a gift.

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But my friend, godliness takes responsibility.

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Godliness takes being rigorous in our duty for Jesus Christ.

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Someone has written, I cannot work my soul to save, for that my Lord has done, but I

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will work like any slave for love of God's dear Son.

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We see the apostle Paul here giving it all that he had.

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He was holding nothing back.

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He was giving everything to the duty, the responsibility that he had in this world.

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And you and I need to do the same thing.

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I agree with Pearl Buck.

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We need to restore the full meaning of that old word, duty.

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The faith of believers does not rest upon the sinking sands of changing societal values,

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upon the shifting, faddish notions about life that are present in our world.

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Our faith rests upon something that is fixed and certain.

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That is the living God Himself.

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This living God is our Savior.

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The apostle Paul says that He is the Savior of all men.

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Now, don't misunderstand him.

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He's not saying that all men are someday going to be saved by the Savior.

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He's not teaching universalism here.

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But he is saying that He, Jesus Christ, the living God, is the only Savior there is for

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all men.

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He's it.

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There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

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He is the Savior of all men.

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And he goes on to say, in a special sense, He is the Savior of those who believe.

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That's because there's a relationship there between believers and the Savior.

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Do you have that relationship with Him?

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He is your Savior whether you have trusted Him or not.

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He's the only Savior you can ever have.

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And is He rather your Savior in this special sense that you have placed your faith in Him?

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If you have, and if you're living in obedience to His Lordship in your life, then we invite

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you to come to the Lord's table with us and to remember the sacrifice that makes it possible

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for us to have eternal life.

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The shedding of His blood, the offering up of His body on the cross of Calvary where

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He paid for our sins.

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You see, our faith rests upon what these elements represent.

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That is, the finished work of Jesus Christ.

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But though our faith rests solidly, what the apostle is warning us about here is the danger

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that we face in this world, and the awful possibility of having believed on Jesus Christ

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but then being disqualified in serving Him.

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Because we succumb to one of the tricks of the devil in getting us to think incorrectly,

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to adopt some false notion.

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To guard against that, we must nourish ourselves with a healthy spiritual diet.

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We must commit ourselves to regular spiritual discipline.

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We must involve ourselves in rigorous spiritual duty.

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If we dare to attempt to live undernourished, undisciplined, uninvolved, the result will

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be disaster.

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We will be easy targets for the devil's infantry.

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That's why these walls of defense must be put in place in your life and in mine.

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When we do put them in place, then like Timothy, we will be good servants of Jesus Christ.

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The water spider is an amazing little creature.

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Some people call it the frog man of the spider world because this spider lives in rivers

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and in streams.

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It lives in an alien place that doesn't seem to be appropriate for it.

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How does it live underwater?

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The answer is that it spins a tough, basket-like web of silk.

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It builds for itself a sort of diving bell.

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And then it anchors that diving bell underwater on a plant or some other object.

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Having done that, it goes to the surface and it captures a bubble of air which it pulls

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down and injects into that diving bell.

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And then it enters itself so that it has the atmosphere that it needs in that place that's

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dangerous for its life.

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It's amazing, isn't it, how evolution has done that over the centuries?

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God has designed His creation in such a fabulous way.

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He has designed for us, too, a protection in this alien world.

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Spiritual protection.

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Let's put it in place so that we're not tricked by the devil.

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So that we don't fall along the way into false teaching.

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Let's pray together right now.

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Father, I pray that all of us will put in place the defense system that You have made

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available for us.

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May we guard ourselves against the danger of false teaching, false ideas.

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To some degree, every one of us has already incorporated false thinking, a false worldview.

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We look at life.

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We look at You.

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We look at ourselves from false positions with false notions.

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What we really need, Lord, is for all that falsehood to be exposed so that we can cast

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it out and get our thinking right.

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God, if there are some of us here trying to live without the defenses being in place,

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I pray that today we'll begin putting up the walls.

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If they've been in place before and we've let them fall down, may we today rebuild them

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so that we might live in this world, this alien world, and be kept secure from the dangers

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of the enemy.

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In Jesus' name I pray, amen.