Realize This: The Last Days Are Here

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray opened 2 Timothy 3 by reading the whole chapter, two paragraphs at once, because leaving the congregation in the middle of the passage while he traveled to Kenya for two weeks felt wrong. The chapter gives two contrasting lists, and the sermon walked through both of them in order. The first list comes from Paul's warning to Timothy: "Realize this, that in the last days, difficult times...

Read together

1. Psalm 139:1-7 read aloud as an opening prayer and song, about God knowing everything about us and His presence we cannot escape
2. 2 Timothy 3:1-16 the main preaching text for the sermon, covering the full chapter in two paragraphs
3. 1 Timothy 6:10 quoted to clarify that the love of money, not money itself, is a root of all sorts of evil
4. Exodus 7:11 referenced as background for Jannes and Jambres opposing Moses with their staffs and snakes
5. Exodus 8:7 referenced alongside Exodus 7:11 for the account of the Egyptian magicians replicating the plagues
6. Acts 14:1-26 cited as the record of Paul's persecutions at Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, including the stoning
7. Luke 12:31 read from the New Living Translation as a closing benediction: seek the kingdom of God above all else and He will give you everything you need
8. Hebrews 10 mentioned in passing as the chapter CBS was studying, with a brief partial quote about drawing close without wavering in the confession of faith

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray read through a long list from 2 Timothy 3 describing how people will behave in the last days. Which items on that list surprised you most to see there, and why?
2. Paul told Timothy to avoid people who hold to a form of godliness while denying its power. What do you think that kind of hollow godliness actually looks like in practice, and how do you tell it apart from the real thing?
3. Paul pointed Timothy back to his own teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and perseverance as a model to follow. Who has played that kind of role in your own faith, and what specifically did you learn from watching their life?
4. Paul said flat out that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Does that match your experience? What has living differently from the list in the first paragraph actually cost you?
5. The sermon closed on the idea that scripture makes the person of God adequate and ready for the here and now, not just someday but for the immediate present. Where in your life right now do you most need that kind of readiness, and what would it look like to lean on God's word there?