Scripture referenced 7 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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1 Timothy 6:10 quoted to explain that the love of money, not money itself, is a root of all sorts of evil and pierces people with many griefs
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
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Keep this verse
Exodus 7:11
cited as where the pharaoh's magicians appear, opposing Moses by imitating what only God can do
11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.
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Exodus 8:7
cited as a second passage where the Egyptian magicians appear opposing Moses
7 The magicians did the same thing with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.
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Acts 14:1-26
referenced as the account of Paul's first missionary journey covering Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, which Timothy would have known
1 In Iconium, they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed.
2 But the disbelieving Jews stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brothers.
3 Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
4 But the multitude of the city was divided. Part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
5 When some of both the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, made a violent attempt to mistreat and stone them,
6 they became aware of it, and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, Derbe, and the surrounding region.
7 There they preached the Good News.
8 At Lystra a certain man sat, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked.
9 He was listening to Paul speaking, who, fastening eyes on him, and seeing that he had faith to be made whole,
10 said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” He leaped up and walked.
11 When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”
12 They called Barnabas “Jupiter”, and Paul “Mercury”, because he was the chief speaker.
13 The priest of Jupiter, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and would have made a sacrifice along with the multitudes.
14 But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their clothes, and sprang into the multitude, crying out,
15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them;
16 who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.
17 Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
18 Even saying these things, they hardly stopped the multitudes from making a sacrifice to them.
19 But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
20 But as the disciples stood around him, he rose up, and entered into the city. On the next day he went out with Barnabas to Derbe.
21 When they had preached the Good News to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,
22 confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom.
23 When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.
24 They passed through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia.
25 When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
26 From there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.
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Ephesians 2:8-9
quoted to contrast the gift of grace through faith with boastfulness, the first list
8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, that no one would boast.
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Ephesians 2:10
cited to show that believers are created in Christ Jesus for good works established beforehand
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
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Luke 12:31
read from the New Living Translation at the close of the sermon: seek the kingdom of God above all else and He will give you everything you need
31 But seek God’s Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor walked through the whole of 2 Timothy 3, letting the two paragraphs and their two lists do the work. The first list describes the character of people in the last days, and the second describes the antidote. Both are practical and neither is comfortable.
What was said
Paul opens the chapter with a warning: "realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come." The pastor noted that Paul was writing from prison around 64-66 AD, and that even then he was already seeing some of what he was describing. The list that follows is long and specific, and the question put to the congregation was simple: does this list describe the society we live in, and does any of it describe what is happening inside the church?
The first list runs from "lovers of self" through "lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers" and keeps going: disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. The pastor paused on several of these. Reviling, he explained from the Greek, means reversing spiritual and moral realities, calling what God has declared good something evil, and calling what is evil good. Marriage was offered as an example: God instituted it, and running it down is a form of that reversal. Irreconcilable showed up in the list too, and he noted that "irreconcilable differences" is also the most common stated reason for divorce.
The list closes with people who hold to a form of godliness while denying its power. The pastor connected this to the Egyptian magicians Jannes and Jambres, whose names come from Jewish tradition rather than the Exodus text itself. They could imitate the early signs Moses performed, and for a while they made God's work look like just another trick. But as the plagues continued, their ability ran out. There is a limit to human imitation, and there is no limit to the power of God.
Paul then turns sharply: "now, you." The second paragraph addresses Timothy directly and offers a second list, which the pastor called both the immunization and the antidote for the first. Timothy had followed Paul's teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and perseverance. He had watched Paul get beaten, stoned, and imprisoned, and had seen him keep going. That pattern of life, rooted in scripture and centered on Christ rather than self, is what Paul holds up against everything in the first list.
The passage lands on the warning that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. The pastor was direct about this: if you are standing for the gospel, opposition is not a sign something has gone wrong. It is normal. Paul wrote that from prison, still saying the Lord had rescued him out of every difficulty, and still planning to carry the gospel further.
The chapter ends with the declaration that all scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, "so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." The pastor spent time on that word "adequate," which in the Greek carries the sense of mature and complete for this present moment rather than flawless in an abstract sense. A peach seed is perfect as a seed. Maturity is a process. The point is that the word of God does the equipping, and a person resting in it is ready for whatever God has for them today.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Paul's list in 2 Timothy 3 describes people who are 'lovers of self' and 'lovers of money' before anything else on the list. Where do you see those two traits showing up in your own life, and how do they tend to pull you away from God?
- The sermon pointed out that 'reviling' means reversing spiritual and moral realities, calling what God has called good something evil. What are some examples from your own experience where you have seen that happen, either in society or inside the church?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,555 words
0:01
Good morning, everybody. How are you? Good morning. Would y'all stand with us and we're gonna sing hymn number three thirty. We're a little bit behind today.
0:10
We gave you a little bit of extra time to get here because of the depth of snow from from last night, alright? There you go. Are you washed in the blood? Hymn number three thirty. We just pick up the tempo a little.
0:21
Say catch up on time, right? This is good. Jesus for the cleansing power snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? That's fine.
2:46
All you basses are. Alright. Like it. Hymn number three twenty seven. I'm a few and y'all can have a seat.
6:39
We are having Monday nights tomorrow night. Monday nights at first B are meal music and a message. So we have a meal. We have the music but tomorrow, the message is gonna be mostly music. So, we're doing meal first.
6:52
We start the music and we're going to go throughout interchanging with Psalm and hymns and spiritual songs and some scripture and testimony in between and it should be a good peaceable time of just sharing what God has done and what he is doing and what he will do. So, if you would, come on and join us at Monday night. Also, so we'll end the service tomorrow night with communion. Monday nights at First B, Carl's favorite animal if you didn't know, right there. We are actually going.
7:24
This is here to remind me to tell you that we are all going to Africa. So, I am going, Carl going Pascal and Tanya are both going. So, the four of us from First B are meeting up with one, two, three, four, five other people and we're going to be ministering at a school, a preschool that was built outside of a dump in Nakuru, Kenya. Nakuru, Kenya which is about an hour and a half outside of Nairobi. That's where we're going.
7:50
It's the front side of a mission trip. I dare not say what we're going to do but I know what we've been invited to do and I'll mention that in the sermon. So, if you think of us this week, think of us being in Africa for the next two weeks is when we're going to be gone. Next week, Mike D, Mike Demetrius will be preaching and then Scotty Eichen will be here the next Sunday to be preaching. So, that'll be fun for y'all while we're gone.
8:13
I wanna still happening. It happens 05:45 in this room right here to 07:30 pouring scripture into kids' minds and that'll come up in the sermon again. Young Life, volunteers who connect with teenagers, young life. If you are interested in that and think that might be you, jacksonhole.younglife.org with Ally Lane and that's her. If you feel like, you know what?
8:37
I think that I need to reach out and do that. Please call her and get the process started because they'd love to have you. Community Bible study is going here at Earth B, CBS Prayer Group. It starts at 09:30 on Wednesday morning or 06:30 on Wednesday evening. They're up to Hebrews 10 right now which is, oh my goodness, one of the best chapters in the New Testament, one of my favorite and so they're studying in Hebrew.
9:06
Now, Wednesdays, 09:30 in the morning or 06:30 in the evening. Turning Point has started the '20 nineteen baby bottle campaign. So, that is happening too. We have some baby bottles out there on the table in the back and if we need to get more, we'll get more. It's a one month long fundraiser and so if you would grab a bottle on your way out, fill it with your pocket change or with bills, big bills, whatever you want to do, checks.
9:30
You can fill those up and then bring em back to the church and we'll get em to turning point. That is a big part of their budget each year. So, if you can do that, it's a fun way of doing it. Precept study is study in Acts that starts on Thursdays at nine down in the fellowship hall and this morning, Eileen Marsteller was baptized right here. So, Eileen has been a believer and she knew, she knows the date.
9:55
She said this morning that she's been praying about baptism and she wanted to thank her parents and it's just great. So, Eileen, y'all know she's grown up for the last seven years here in this church and so she's come to the place of obedience to Christ and then, Jim Reed also was baptized. I don't have a picture of him but Jim Reed, a CPA here in town, is coming to First B now. Usually comes to the first service and he was baptized too. There's a connect hour between services and the breakfast lately have been fantastic.
10:24
So, that is about 10:00. It usually starts and for anything else, is there anything else I forgot? Diane, anybody? Anybody? Okay.
10:34
Well, the prayer request are in the bulletin and I know we have a few and I want to pray for em right now and then before I ask you to get up and greet one another, would y'all pray with me? Lord, I know that there are people who are here this morning, lord, who's who are hurting. Some of em hurting spiritually sick and some of em are hurting just physically and then everyone of us lord is attached to someone who is ailing right now physically and I know that that's true. God, would you be ever may we ever be cognizant of your presence. We know you're omnipresent.
11:08
We know you're here and you're in Africa and you're in every hospital operating room. Lord, we know that you're everywhere. We ask that we would sense your presence and and lord that we be surrendered to your spirit. God, I pray that you would be glorified through all of these infirmities and maladies, all these things that people are going through. In Jesus name, lord, I pray that you would be lifted up, you'd be trusted, and that you would be working in those lives.
11:36
Jesus name, amen. Now, y'all can stand up and greet one another. Jesus Christ Hymn number three zero five, Jesus paid it all. It's good because nothing in our hands we bring. I invite the frontline team to come forward What an example of white as snow he gave us overnight.
17:23
Just to get up this morning, see that blanket all across the driveway and to think that his mercies are new every morning. Though our sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. God, I thank you that you meet us where we are. We are in this world of time and space and our understanding is in a lot of ways, lord, confined to our senses but you give us sensory images and you allow us to perceive things the way that we can feel them, lord. I thank you that you've given us not a spirit of fear or timidity but of a sound mind, lord.
18:05
I thank you that you've given us power. You've given us a power to understand. Lord, I thank you that through the gospel, you've saved us and brought us to yourself. You give us an incorruptible hope and joy now and abundant life now and God, I pray that we would be constantly and continually sharing that with people that don't know you. So, lord, whether they be here in Teton County, Wyoming, or Idaho, if they be just someone we see occasionally or someone we interact with on a daily basis or lord, if they be on the other side of the Earth, eight hours ahead of us in time, I pray that we would constantly, lord, be considering the teaching, the conduct, the love, the patience, the perseverance, lord, that you've taught through your word.
18:54
In Jesus name, lord, we we trust you and we're saying so right now as we take up these tithes and offerings. We're saying to you, lord, do your will on earth as it is in heaven. We want to be a part of that and comply obediently and with joy. In Jesus name, do your work, lord. Amen.
22:28
Amen. Thank you, Judy. So, we're in our chronological study, the New Testament. We're up to Timothy, second Timothy three and it's gonna be the whole of chapter three this week. Now, the whole of chapter three is made up of two paragraphs and there are two lists and when we're going through it, I think you'll see why I didn't wanna leave you.
22:49
I usually go for a paragraph at a time. That's what I try to do because a sentence often times you can take out a context. Paragraph usually gives you the frame for it. So I try to go at least one paragraph at a time but today you'll see why I didn't stop after one and had to feel like I went to the here we're going to start off but realize this, he starts off. This is Paul from prison right to Timothy who he left in charge at Ephesus who's going through some hard times and he's inviting Timothy to come visit him but he also wants for him to know a few things before he does get up and come on before winter.
23:26
He says, but realize this, that's a that's a decent translation. Mark this or maybe take note. Write this down if you're George Strait. Write this down. Take a little note to remind you in case you didn't know.
23:41
Realize this, realize this, that in the last days, the latter times, in the last days, difficult times will come. So, it's future. He's saying it's future but you can tell from what he's saying that he's experiencing this already. He's seeing some of it and if we were to read a grandparents letter in Greek about, you know, the second generation after them, they would complain about the morality of the upcoming generation. Oh, these kids today.
24:11
Nothing changes there but I want you to see if this lines up with where we are living life today in our society and perhaps even in our churches. Mark this, Paul said, in about '64, '65, sixty six AD, somewhere right around there. Realize this, that in the last days, difficult days will come for men will be, its future looking, will be and then he gives us list number one. So this is paragraph one, list number one right here. It starts off and he says, men will be lovers of self.
24:46
I will break in and kind of give you Greek definitions as I feel like they're necessary but this means they're in love with themselves. They love themselves, okay? In the latter days, difficult times will come for men will be lovers of themselves and they will be lovers of money. That will be their pursuit, self and money so far and we know that from first Timothy six ten, Paul tells Timothy then, for the love of money, not just money, you hear it repeated all the time. For money is root of all evil.
25:16
No, no, no. Money can is neutral. Money can be used either direction for good or for ill but the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some people by longing for it, money, have wandered away from the faith and they have pierced themselves with many griefs. The love of money is it is alluring but ultimately, it does not satisfy and it pierces people with many griefs. First Timothy six ten says that.
25:43
So, we have the list continuing. For men will be lovers of self and lovers of money and boastful. Boastful is out loud speaking arrogantly, okay? It's out loud speaking and it's Super Bowl Sunday. Have you all heard any boastful speaking this week?
25:59
There are people that don't exercise or know anything that have chosen a team and they boast about em. It that is illustrative of boasting in itself like to me, you know, who are we before God to boast? For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, they'll be boastful and if we didn't catch boastful as out loud arrogance, it's quiet arrogance too. Arrogant. Revilers.
26:26
Now, the word for revilers, I thought was interesting. In Greek, it is blasphemoid, blasphemoid, which looks like blasphemy. It is slanderous or evil speaking and this is interesting too in the Thayer's Lexicon. It says, that which is blasphemous reverses spiritual and moral realities. That which God has called good, blasphemy, or reviling calls evil.
26:52
Does that make sense? I think that if and my example this morning that I thought of is, how many times do you hear marriage run down? It's God's idea. God instituted it in the garden. He started it out.
27:05
He is the one who continues to put people together and bless but how many times in our society and life do we hear people just running down marriage? That is reviling. That's evil speaking. It is getting spiritual and moral realities exactly in reverse. It's evil and wrong.
27:23
So, in the last days, men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, and disobedient to parents. That one to some people seems like it's out of place in this list but it's not. God also instituted family as the primary means by which we gain instruction. In Timothy's case, he learned the faith from Eunice, his grandmother, and Lois, his mother and Paul is setting up and saying, in the last time people are going to be in love with themselves and their own opinions, lovers of self love is money, all of this and they'll be disobedient to parents. Do you see disobedience to parents today?
28:00
Yeah, we do. Mark this. And at this point, a lot of times people say, what if my parents are awful people You can still honor them and if you go back to the paragraph we covered last week, if if they need correction or they are opposing you for seeking after God and that is entirely possible because the gospel is new and can be accepted by a generation that didn't learn it from their mama or their daddy. If feel that way, then gently correct them so that the Lord may turn them. Gently, disobedient to parents is in this list and this is one of the longest vice catalogs in the in the New Testament and there are lots.
28:46
There there are five or six others that are a long list like this but there are some of em that we don't find in this one that we do and others and disobedient to parents seems like a small thing. It's no small thing. God has given a command, honor thy father and mother that your days may be long upon the earth. Disobedient to parents is actually sin. Lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, not thankful for that which God has provided.
29:12
Unholy, not set apart for God's use, not set apart at all, looking like everyone else around you, not consecrated or sanctified, not set apart as holy. Unloving. That means unloving. They just don't love. Irreconcilable.
29:33
This is probably why I thought of marriage as the example for reviling people running down marriage because the only time we ever see this word. How often do you see irreconcilable? Maybe a CPA would see it. These books are irreconcilable. I can't figure this out.
29:48
There are no happy zeros here. But irreconcilable differences and that's the reason for a lot of divorces. It's irreconcilable differences. Can't be reconciled. That's a tough one.
30:02
That's a tough word to get over. Gossips, not just gossips but malicious gossips. Not just speaking about someone behind their back without their knowledge but doing so in order to cause them harm. Malicious gossips. Have y'all watched the news lately?
30:16
Have you have you heard anything lately that fits this category? I'll I'll tell you something. When I was working on this slide the other day, I was on this slide and I was up to right about here and somebody came in the office and they were burdened and it was obvious. And they started talking and the more they started talking, I was like, yep, not saying much back. And then she read the screen and she said, I am right now maliciously gossiping.
30:49
I didn't even say anything to her. But we got to the second paragraph before she left. This is the first paragraph, first list. Without self control. That's what it means.
31:04
Not able to control themselves but going for whatever they want to. Brutal, not caring about what someone else thinks but going and taking what you want. Brutal. Haters of good. All of these things are opposite of God.
31:22
Haters of that which is good, treacherous, like dealing loosely with things that are sacred. Reckless, getting right up to the edge of and tempting. Fate, right? Recklessness. Conceded, it goes along with boastful and arrogant and all of these things.
31:43
It gets you to the point where you think you are the end yourself. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. So far on the list, does this look like the society we live in? To some extent, does it look like the church? I think that's it's not supposed to but I think that this is because Paul is writing to Timothy who's pastoring a church, a a regional church probably.
32:10
Paul is speaking to him as the, you know, Christ apostle and he's saying, this is the way it's going to be and you're going to notice it and it's not good. He he he goes on. The list goes on. Holding to a form of godliness. How many people do you know that say, well, I don't, you know, I'm not I'm not, I wouldn't say I'm a Christian but I'm a spiritual person.
32:34
They hold to a form of godliness. Like, I believe that there's something more than this but me and God, we're we're cool. They held to a form of godliness. Although they've denied its power. They've denied that there's actual power in God.
32:48
So, they must do it all themselves or go after their own inclination. Well, I, you know, I think that we need to remind ourselves that there's a way that seems right to a man but in the end, it's the path of destruction. That that, do you get me? There's a basis. We need some sort of basis to live our lives on.
33:06
What Paul says next after this list and this is the whole list right here. List number one, we'll call it is lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers. They've mixed up what God calls good and they're calling it bad. Blasphemers might be a good translation. Disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, and they deny God's power.
33:44
I think of the words from the thief on the cross, one to the other. They were both called revilers actually and one of the gospels it says and both of them were the the thieves that were hung with him were reviling him and then, we think more of the penitent thief when there's he's there upright on the cross next to Jesus and looks over and he says to the other one who is still mocking Jesus. Jesus has just prayed father, forgive them for they know not what they do and something changes that man's heart. At at any point, people can turn from this list. At any point, there's hope.
34:15
The gospel is the solution. If you're living on in that list right there. Denying God's power strikes me right now with thief, the penitent thief we'll call him, leans out and calls out to the one on the other side of Jesus and says, don't you fear God. We deserve the punishment we're getting but he's done nothing wrong and then he says, Jesus, remember me. When you come into your kingdom and he does.
34:45
So, salvation is available. At any point when someone calls out to Jesus, it's always available but you're never going to in this list. Let me just keep going. Let Paul say it instead of me. He says, avoid such men as these.
34:57
Avoid these. Avoid them. Now, we know that Jesus was a friend of sinners and tax collectors and we know that he hung out with people that were bad folks, you know, nowhere does he say we should shun all sinners. It says that if there is sin among you So, within the church, he's saying, if there are people who are trying to lead others pastor Timothy, you're the pastor these people and you need to know that those guys that are living like that, avoid them. Avoid them completely because they will lead you down the wrong road.
35:31
If they're looking like society and they're not looking holy, then, that's bad. And then he goes on and he's he's already kind of finished with his list but he says, among these, among them are those that's among the such men as these, among them there are those who enter into households, homewreckers, that captivate weak women that are weighed down with sins and they're led on by various impulses. Now this is not to say that women are weak, this is to say that there are some weak women and that there are people, actually the list there, these guys that are brutal and haters of the good and reckless and conceited and love pleasure rather than than love loving God. Those guys will do whatever they wanna do. He's saying be careful with those.
36:24
Actually, in Ephesus, we know that there were several widows and Paul was trying to make sure that they were cared for well but he says, among these bad guys that are living like this, even in the church, There are those who enter into households and they captivate weak women. They're way down with sins, led on by various impulses, and they are always learning. So they're getting better at what it is that they do, and they're never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. So if this list is where you are putting your energy and your focus and your time and your effort and your passion, you're never gonna come to the truth by this. Does that make sense?
37:08
You might hit rock bottom and then turn to the truth, but these things in themselves will never bring you to a knowledge of the truth. Does that make sense? He's going to say in second in the second paragraph we're covering in the second list, he'll talk about what does but if you are a lover of self and you just keep on living that direction you'll never get to truth by doing that. I don't care what anybody says about inner peace. You don't get to a place of truth by seeking after self.
37:37
You don't get to a place of peace by seeking after money, financial wherewithal. It's it's nice but if that's all that you care about, you're never going to hit truth from there. All of those, I could go down the whole list Denying God's power. If you keep on denying God's power, then you're going to live a life where you think I've got to do this all on my own and you are never gonna hit truth from that place. So always learning.
38:08
In fact, those bad guys actually learn and and get better and better at being a predator and finding a way in to people's lives. Always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And then he goes on. This is kind of an old testament example. Just as Janus and Jabras opposed Moses, so these men also opposed truth.
38:32
You have the video this time, Blake. So, we're going to watch a little. Mother, mother, you turned your staff into a codma. Nothing of his will harm you, my son. The power of your God is a cheap magician's trick.
39:09
Janus. The Lord is God. Okay. So that, let me get these. That's Janus and assume presumably, the other one is Jambres and it does not list their names in Exodus seven eleven or eight thirteen.
39:43
Those are the next places. That's the places where you'll see the the pharaoh's magicians came forward and they turned their staffs into snakes too. And so it looked like, well, the power of God did this to begin with. Wow and then, they said, but we can do that. They imitate that which only God can do.
40:01
They imitate it. So, to go on in scripture, it says, just as in the same way that Janus and Jambres opposed Moses and that's by Jewish tradition. We get the names from Jewish tradition. The Targums had it, the Midrash has it, they've been blamed for all kinds of stuff but Janus and Jambres are the folks who opposed Moses. Just as Janus and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men, these bad guys also oppose the truth.
40:29
They're men of depraved mind and they're rejected in regard to faith even if they claim to be of the faith. Does that make sense? If they're living that life in that first list, then that shows you that they are rejected in regard to the faith. So, it's an old testament example of that. Like I said, Exodus seven eleven and Exodus eight seven, if you want to read those, I don't have em printed out but they, these people will not make further progress because they're always learning but never come to acknowledge of the truth.
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They will not make further progress, Timothy, for their folly will be obvious to all. Think about Janus and Jambres or those Egyptian magicians When it came time that the the Nile River ran blood red, the pharaoh called him in and they had a little bowl of water and they put red dye in it and it turns red. Oh, wow. Made Moses look silly kind of but as the plagues progressed, there were only two or three of em where Janice and Dranburst had anything to say and they look like, woah, those guys are good too. But it hits a limit.
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There's a limit to human understanding. There's a limit to human deceit. There's a human a limit to human trickery and illusion. And the power of God does not have limits and keeps on going. So, their folly will be obvious to all just as Janis and Jambres folly was also.
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It's like, okay. They couldn't replicate the rest of those plagues and it was beyond them. Even if their power was actually spiritual and demonic, they didn't have the same kind of power as almighty God. As revealed through Moses, his servant. So, that's first paragraph right there and if I were to just leave you there and call the invitation, what you'd just be like?
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Good grief. I'm glad I went to church this morning. Second paragraph, I like. Now, you. Not last week.
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Last week, we had, you worry about yourself, right? The little girl in the car seat. You worry about yourself. Now, you. You, Timothy, pastor, Timothy, you.
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You know this. You followed my and here we get list number two. The list number two, is the immunization and the antidote for list number one. You followed my teaching. What was it that Paul taught?
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He taught scripture. He taught in the synagogue to begin with because they were supposed to know and he taught from Torah. He taught from the prophets. He taught about Christ. You followed my teaching, Timothy.
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You got good, sound, scriptural teaching. You followed my conduct. Paul sought to live his life. He considered himself even though he was saved and knew it and redeemed and was saying so, he considered himself the chief of sinners. He never forgot that he had sinned and that he had sinned in his life and that Jesus was the answer for that.
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So, you followed my teaching and my conduct corresponded with that which I was teaching. My mind because I had been crucified with Christ, my mind was renewed and transformed. You followed my teaching. You followed my conduct. You followed my purpose.
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What was his purpose? Wow. Getting the gospel to as many people as he could. Getting the good news of the gospel out to the uttermost parts. Even when he died in prison, he still had plans to go further, to take it further, and all of the prison guards around him, wherever he found himself, he had purpose to carry that gospel light forward and he says, Timothy, you saw it.
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You followed my teaching. You followed my conduct. You followed my purpose. You followed my faith. You followed it and this is, like I said, the both the immunization and the antidote for that first list.
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It is faith in Christ and trusting in him and seeking after God instead of pleasure, seeking after him and being humble because God resist the proud but he gives grace to the humble. That's the faith. Patience. You followed me, my teaching conduct purpose faith and my patience. Imagine what it's like for Paul going from town to town being beaten and abused, carrying on and he goes to the next synagogue and he starts over again and he starts the same process and he stays sometimes, I mean, Ephesus, he was there for up to three years.
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He had patience and Timothy saw that. Love, agape, godly, unconditional love, seeking the best of the other and he truly was because he was seeking not only their temporal wellness but their eternal well-being. Now, you follow my teaching conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance. You saw me just keep going. Even when the times were hard and I didn't know whether I would get out of my entanglements.
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I'm still persevering. Here I am in jail, still persevering. Persecutions and then sufferings. Now, I think it's been about seven and a half months since we've had a sermon that didn't mention suffering. It just comes up every Sunday.
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We hadn't had any prosperity gospel moments. But persecution and suffering shows up almost every sermon and we're just saying what it says. We're going forward a paragraph at a time except for today. There's two but list number two looks like this. Now, Timothy, you followed my teaching and my conduct and my purpose, my faith, my patience, love, my perseverance.
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You know what it's like to walk this way of suffering. You also know my persecutions and my sufferings and then he says, such as happened to me in Antioch, you know that time. The city in Antioch probably. At Iconium and at Lystra. So, he he list those.
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Now, Timothy is from around Lystra and Derby. He's right in that area. Acts fourteen one through 26. If you want to read it, it's Paul's first missionary journey and he has some things go on when he was at Lystra. He healed or God healed through him.
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God healed a man who had been lame for a long time and when he did, the people saw his healing power and instead of giving glory to God like he was preaching and telling them that they should, they burnt offerings to him and they mistook him for being a god and it says and Paul, it seemed like he was more upset by that than anything else he went through. He tore his clothes. He rent his garments. So, he tore his clothes and he was upset by that going on to the next town to get away from that hub hullabaloo. He's then stoned outside the city wall.
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So he list that. He goes, persecutions and suffering. You know, like what happened at Antioch and Iconium and Lystra. Oh, an exclamation. What persecutions I endured and out of them all, the Lord rescued me.
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That's what he's saying. From prison, he's still saying this. I'm I'm still here because God got me through that situation. He's not trusting himself. He's not looking out for self.
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He's looking out for God. Indeed, that's an amplifier there. Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be dot dot dot. What do you think is going to put, is it going to be exalted? Is it going to be glorified?
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Is it going to be perfected? Used? Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. If you stand up for the gospel and for the truth of the gospel of grace, you will receive opposition and persecution and Timothy was living that right then. He was and Paul's writing to say, don't give up.
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Just keep on going forward. You know what you learned. You know how it is and all of that other bad stuff, it looks like they're going forward and it looks like that gospel or that pseudo gospel is going forward. He says, you stick to what you know. You know, my teaching conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, and the persecutions and sufferings and if you're being persecuted, that is perfectly normal.
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If you're seeking to live a godly life in Christ Jesus and he goes on to say, but evil men, these are actual bad guys. They are ones who are evil and impostors. Impostors are people who pretend to be somebody that they're not. Okay? An impostor is someone who pretends to be someone that they're not.
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So if it's an evil guy, yeah, he's a bad guy. He might not even mind saying so. I'm bad. So what? There's nothing after this.
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I can live however I want to. If I can get in to get pleasure for myself, then I'm gonna do it. There's nobody over me. That's an evil man. But an impostor might be, oh, having wonderful words that your itching ears wanna hear while they're reaching for your wallet or while they're reaching to do you harm.
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Evil men and impostors, it says, we'll proceed from bad to worse. We already have charlatans and we already have bad guys, pagans here. Paul says, but it's not gonna get better. It's gonna get worse. Deceiving and being deceived.
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So, he leaves room for it. It's not just people who are intent on deceiving someone like those bad guys who enter into households and captivate weak women. Not just deceiving them intentionally but also that they themselves are being deceived and so, they're acting out of something they believe to be true which is not true. They are deceived or being, they are deceiving or being deceived and then we get back to you. You, Timothy, you.
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You worry about yourself. You, Timothy. However, you continue in the things that you have learned. You learn from what? Teaching, conduct, patience, perseverance, all that.
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Continue in the things you have learned. All of those things. Knowing from whom you have learned them. You've known me. At this point, probably for about thirteen, fourteen, fifteen years, somewhere in there.
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Over ten years, he's been traveling with Paul and knows him and has known him. You know, from whom you have learned them but I think that Paul was saying, it's not really just me. It's the message that I carry for Christ. You're believing in Christ. Now, you're seeing my example in front of me.
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You know who you've learned them? These new guys that are around? Do you really trust them to go tell you what it is that you know? Actually, he lines it up right here. It says, and not only do you know who from whom you've learned them, you also have known since childhood, you've known the sacred writings.
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Oh, scripture. There's the foundation that we're looking for. That first list is centered around self and the second list is centered around scripture. It's the antidote for the first list. But if you get it in childhood, it's like an immunization from the first list.
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Can be. From childhood, you've known the sacred writings. That's why we spend so much time and effort and so many volunteers put so much into Awana because getting scripture into their minds reaches way down the road. Because of what? From childhood, you've known the sacred writings which are able.
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There's the power there to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. You can't just like put all of your worship into the book or you can be boastful about how much scripture you know but within that scripture is contained the good news and it has the power that leads to salvation If you put your faith in Christ Jesus Now, we're going to end up on this and I'm going to come back to these two verses. Imma start here the next time I preach but I didn't want to leave you hanging for two weeks just in that first list or that first paragraph All scripture, this is talking about the word of God. All scripture is inspired by God. Literally, it's God breathed.
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God breathed it out. All scripture is inspired by God and it is profitable for teaching which he just listed up above as you followed my teaching, teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. I'll come back and we'll pick these two verses up again next time. I won't go forward from here. So that the man of God may be and what do you think there?
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After this long of me saying persecution every time I put a question mark, you're probably thinking this. So, the the God of man of God may be persecuted but it's not. It's not that. Actually, it's an unusual turn and that's the reason I I stop and pause right there. It says, so that the man of God may be adequate.
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Now, this is a new American standard translation of Bible. If you have a different translation and you have your Bible out on the page, would you read out loud your translation as it is? Do you have yours? Complete, alright? Perfect.
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Thoroughly equipped. Anybody else? Perfect, all right. So adequate is what it says and it surprised me. I go through these things sequentially myself and I saw that and I laughed out loud because I thought not perfect, not in the new American standard at least.
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It says just adequate, Good enough. I think it's talking about maturity and how we progress in maturity. We progress in sanctification and we progress in maturity. Actually the word is artias, artias, artias is translated here as adequate. Does mean perfect and it does mean complete and y'all got that both in your translations but perfect to us, we think a perfect is perfect.
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It's absolutely without flaw. The Greek understanding of perfection is mature as it can be at this point. So a peach that is in a seed is it's a perfect seed. It's potentially peach but it's perfect in what it is and then as it grows into a tree, into buds, into blossoms, into, I'm no horticulturalist but as it grows, it can be perfect and still not be finished. Does that make sense?
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Are you with me? So but adequate for where you are in your growth right now, That's what he's talking about. So if I go to this, RTS is from now. That's what that's what hearty means is now. And so viewed in terms of the present, the here and now.
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It's not by, it's by grace that you're saved through faith, okay? Ephesians two eight nine. Think about this. It's by grace that you're saved through faith and that's not of yourselves so that no one would boast. That's first list stuff, boastful.
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It's a gift of God so that no one would boast. So, it's freely received as a gift. And then two ten says, we're created in Christ Jesus for good works that he establishes beforehand that we should walk in em. Now, it's immediately when you become a Christian, something has changed in the spirituality, spiritual realities are different and you are now being equipped. I don't think that anybody gets saved apart from the word of God.
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It just does not happen that way. It is God's word. Christ Jesus that saves. Properly, Hartias is ready now or prepared to function efficiently in this immediate present moment. I've mentioned many times that there is a guy here in this church that his testimony for about the first year, he couldn't get anything more out of this but there was such a dramatic change and when people ask him about, what's the difference, man?
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He always said, Jesus, man? And that was his testimony and that at that moment, that was where he needed to be. So, when it says, so that the man of God may be adequate, it's equipped for this moment. I'm pushing this right now. I know it means complete.
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I know it means perfect. I know that but I want for us to expand our definition a bit and see that it's saying that you are ready for what God has for you to do this afternoon if you're resting in his word because all scriptures God breathe and all of it is profitable for teaching, reprove, correction, training, righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Does that make sense? Okay. So, we this week are planning on going to Africa.
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We're taking off and I I'm a little trepidatious whenever we go somewhere to say what we're going do ahead of time. I don't want to I don't I don't know. I don't really know. We have been asked to work with a school, a preschool in a dump outside of Nakuru. They call it the Hilton.
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I think that that's a term of derision but I'm not sure. That little dump site because there are people that live there and we've been asked to help with the school and we've been asked to help with one church that has planted multiple other churches so they're going to call together a lot of pastors and there are lot of young pastors in Kenya and they're calling these folks in for kind of a training day and I don't have anything to share with them except for the word. So, what we have been hearing in first Timothy, first Peter, and second Timothy is what I'll be carrying with me and I don't know till I get there exactly how that's going go. Carl is going to do what he does here every Sunday. He's going to be doing it the whole time we're gone.
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He's going be leading music and preaching and I'll be doing that. We'll be helping out in the school as much as we can. Would you all pray that God would just bless as we seek to go forward and do that and we'll be praying for you that you would go forward, equip for every good work that the Holy Spirit would be reminding you of the right scripture at the right time for the person in front. I think that that's all I have for us today. Would you all stand with me?
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I'll ask Judy to come up to the front. Diane, did I forget anything? Thank you. Sometimes I do forget some stuff. Oh, that's fun.
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Just as I am. Nothing in our hands we bring without a plea except for his blood. Let's sing the next Amen. I've got a from Luke twelve thirty one. This is the New Living Translation.
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Just says very simply, seek the kingdom of God above all else and he, God, will give you everything that you need. So, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Scripture is right here with us and for us. It's for us and if you feel like I just don't understand it, keep on reading. Keep on going.
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Keep on reading. He will do the equipping. Lord, would you apply your word to our hearts and our lives this week as we seek your kingdom above all else. In Jesus name, amen.
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