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2 Timothy 2:14-26 - How To Interpret Scripture the RIGHT Way · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, howdy their friends and faithful listeners, and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: welcome to the Bible Explained Podcast. I hope you all
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  Speaker 1: are having a wonderful Tuesday morning, and I hope some
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  Speaker 1: of you guys were able to have a day off yesterday.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't realize that it was Martin Luther King Junior
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  Speaker 1: Day until like halfway through the day because I don't
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  Speaker 1: have like a normal job. You know, My job is
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  Speaker 1: sitting at my computer and doing podcast episodes, so I
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  Speaker 1: completely forgot it was a holiday. So I hope you
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  Speaker 1: guys enjoyed it and we're able to take some time off,
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  Speaker 1: but hopefully you're ready to learn about two Timothy two
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  Speaker 1: fourteen through twenty six. We've got a lot of good
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  Speaker 1: topics coming up, and I'll get into that in just
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  Speaker 1: a second, right after a quick word from our sponsor.
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  Speaker 1: All Right, a lot of great topics today. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to be talking about empty chatter, false prophecy, church splits, unity,
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  Speaker 1: vessels made for destruction, not to mention how the Christian
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  Speaker 1: should argue. So we have a million things to talk
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  Speaker 1: about today. Let's read two Timothy two fourteen through twenty six.
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  Speaker 1: As usual, I will be reading from the w eb
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  Speaker 1: remind them of these things, charging them in the sight
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord, that they don't argue about words to
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  Speaker 1: no prophet, to the subverting of those who hear. Give
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  Speaker 1: diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who
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  Speaker 1: doesn't need to be ashamed, properly handling the word of truth.
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  Speaker 1: But shun empty chatter, for it will go further in ungodliness,
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  Speaker 1: and those words will consume like gangreen of whom is
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  Speaker 1: Hymenaeus and Phileatus, men who have erred concerning the truth,
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  Speaker 1: saying that the resurrection is already passed, and overthrowing the
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  Speaker 1: faith of some. However, God's firm foundation stands having this seal.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone
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  Speaker 1: who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.
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  Speaker 1: Now in a large house, there are not onlyvessels of
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  Speaker 1: gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some
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  Speaker 1: are for honor and some for dishonor. If anyone therefore
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  Speaker 1: purges himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor,
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  Speaker 1: sanctified and suitable for the Master's use, prepared for every
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  Speaker 1: good work. Flee from youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness faith, love,
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  Speaker 1: and peace with those who call on the Lord out
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  Speaker 1: of a pure heart, but refuse foolish and ignorant questionings,
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  Speaker 1: knowing that they generate strife. The Lord's servant must not quarrel,
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  Speaker 1: but be gentle toward all able to teach, patient in gentleness,
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  Speaker 1: correcting those who oppose him. Perhaps God may give them
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  Speaker 1: repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth, and
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  Speaker 1: they may recover themselves out of the devil's snare, having
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  Speaker 1: been taken captive by him to do his will. This
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  Speaker 1: entire portion is going to focus on our words, which
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  Speaker 1: is why Paul says in verse fourteen remind them of
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  Speaker 1: these things, charging them in the sight of the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: that they don't argue about words to no profit to
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  Speaker 1: the subverting of those who hear. Now first and foremost.
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  Speaker 1: When Paul says to remind them of these things, he's
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  Speaker 1: telling Timothy to remind the church of all things he
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  Speaker 1: said so far in his letter. But he also tells
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  Speaker 1: Timothy to charge them that they don't argue about words
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  Speaker 1: to no profit to the subverting of those who hear.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, stop focusing on the things that don't
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  Speaker 1: matter and arguing about those things and rather focus on
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  Speaker 1: the Gospel message because that is the most important thing,
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  Speaker 1: and man throughout the generations, churches really like to ignore
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  Speaker 1: this particular verse and split off over some of the
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  Speaker 1: silliest things. I believe there is a denomination many many,
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  Speaker 1: many years ago that split off from another denomination because
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  Speaker 1: they wanted to include the English language in their church services.
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  Speaker 1: And then the Anglican Church, I'm pretty sure splits off
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  Speaker 1: and forms a different denomination of Anglican Church every like
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  Speaker 1: a year or half year or something. I don't know. No,
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  Speaker 1: I'm just kidding of all my Anglican listeners, but the
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  Speaker 1: church has a really hard time being unified instead of
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  Speaker 1: talking things through with each other and trying to make
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  Speaker 1: a cohesive church. Instead, whenever any kind of issue arises,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's biblical or unbiblical, the first thing that the
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  Speaker 1: church likes to do is just split off and create
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  Speaker 1: a brand new church, which is not always the appropriate response.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that church denominations are inherently evil.
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  Speaker 1: Some church denominations have split off for very valid reasons.
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  Speaker 1: And even now, you know, at many of the church denominations,
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  Speaker 1: the pastors and the leaders and the elders are very
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  Speaker 1: biblical and really want to maintain the Bible. So I'm
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  Speaker 1: not saying that if you go to a church that's
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  Speaker 1: a particular denomination, that you know your church is bad
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  Speaker 1: or anything like that. But my point is is that
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  Speaker 1: instead of trying to be unified, which is one of
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  Speaker 1: the most important things a church can be, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of times disunity ends up happening for very small things.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what Paul's trying to avoid here with Timothy
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  Speaker 1: and with the early Church. Basically, he's saying, don't argue
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  Speaker 1: about little things. Don't argue about the things that don't matter.
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  Speaker 1: Argue instead about the gospel message, that is the thing
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  Speaker 1: that is most important. He actually says here, when you
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  Speaker 1: argue about words to no profit, that actually subverts those
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  Speaker 1: who hear. So it might actually cause people to lose
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  Speaker 1: their faith if all of these arguments are taking place
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  Speaker 1: in the church about things that just don't matter. You know,
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  Speaker 1: even if these arguments in the church don't lead to
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  Speaker 1: a church split, still, if a pastor gets up in
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  Speaker 1: front of his congregation and he starts arguing about, you know,
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  Speaker 1: opinions or semantics instead of opening up the Bible and
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  Speaker 1: actually reading it, that could do a lot more harm
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  Speaker 1: than good in the long run. So basely stick to
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, stick to the truths of the Bible and
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  Speaker 1: the morality of the Bible, because that is what's going
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  Speaker 1: to change somebody's soul. Then he says in verse fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman
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  Speaker 1: who doesn't need to be ashamed properly handling the word
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  Speaker 1: of truth. So there's three things that Paul mentions in
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  Speaker 1: that short little verse. The first thing is that Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: as the pastor of this church, must present himself approved
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  Speaker 1: by God. That's the first thing. So before he can
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  Speaker 1: teach anyone else how to live, he himself must be
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  Speaker 1: walking the walk that he teaches. If he is not
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  Speaker 1: presenting himself approved by God, but is telling all these
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  Speaker 1: other people that they need to be approved by God,
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  Speaker 1: then Timothy is being a hypocrite, and that's going to
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  Speaker 1: come out in the long run. So that's the first
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  Speaker 1: thing a pastor must do before he teaches anyone else.
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  Speaker 1: He needs to make sure that his life is on
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  Speaker 1: track with God. Otherwise he becomes a hypocrite. And we know,
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  Speaker 1: oh how detrimental it is for Christianity. When these pastors
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  Speaker 1: have double lives and they're sinning and doing terrible things
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  Speaker 1: behind the congregation's back, and all that comes down to
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  Speaker 1: the open. Sometimes it's like national news stories, you know,
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  Speaker 1: because nobody likes a pastor telling other people what to
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  Speaker 1: do when they can't even follow their own rules. No
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  Speaker 1: one likes that. It gives a bad name to Christianity.
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  Speaker 1: So focus on yourself first to be approved by God. Secondly,
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  Speaker 1: Timothy must be a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed.
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  Speaker 1: So not only does he focus on himself, but he
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  Speaker 1: focuses also on his work, what he is physically doing,
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  Speaker 1: making sure that he is doing the best job that
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  Speaker 1: he possibly can, not with laziness, not with bad motives,
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  Speaker 1: not as a popularity contest, not to gain money for himself,
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  Speaker 1: but doing good work for God, as a servant of God.
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  Speaker 1: That is how Timothy should be handling his job, because
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  Speaker 1: this is a job. Pastors have a very difficult job. Actually,
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  Speaker 1: they are always at their church. They are always on
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  Speaker 1: call for somebody who is struggling. They are always needed,
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  Speaker 1: and so that's why Paul says that they need to
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  Speaker 1: be workmen who are not ashamed. So kind of like
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  Speaker 1: a little kid. You know, when the parent tells the child, like, Hey,
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  Speaker 1: you need to go clean up your room, and I'm
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  Speaker 1: gonna check it. And then and then the child just
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  Speaker 1: like stuffs everything under the bed like I used to.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, when you first walk in, you're like,
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  Speaker 1: oh wow, it looks really clean, and then you actually
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  Speaker 1: start checking around and everything is like thrown in the
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  Speaker 1: closet or thrown under the bed. That's what I used
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  Speaker 1: to do when I was a little kid. And then
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  Speaker 1: my mom would get so mad at me and be like,
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  Speaker 1: clean it again. And I'd be embarrassed, you know, because
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  Speaker 1: I'd have to clean it again, and I have to
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  Speaker 1: go through all the effort of actually doing it the
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  Speaker 1: right way. That's kind of what Paul is talking about here.
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  Speaker 1: When God actually checks your work, don't be ashamed the
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  Speaker 1: long run, because you will be ashamed far more than
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  Speaker 1: a child throwing all of their toys in the closet
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  Speaker 1: and shutting the door. You know, God, when you stand
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  Speaker 1: in front of him, it's going to be far more
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  Speaker 1: shameful when he looks at your work and sees what
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  Speaker 1: you've done. So do it to the best of your ability.
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  Speaker 1: Is basically what Paul's saying here, and also Timothy needs
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  Speaker 1: to properly handle the Word of truth. Depending on the
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  Speaker 1: version that you read, it might actually say properly dividing
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  Speaker 1: out the Word of truth or rightly dividing the Word
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  Speaker 1: of truth. I actually kind of like it phrase that
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  Speaker 1: way a little bit better rather than properly handling the
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  Speaker 1: Word of truth. Because when you divide out scripture, that
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  Speaker 1: means you're giving every single person in your congregation they're
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  Speaker 1: part of it. So there's a way to properly divide
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  Speaker 1: out God's word, and there's a way to improperly do it.
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  Speaker 1: The right way to do it is obviously to read
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  Speaker 1: it and study it for yourself. Research it and make
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  Speaker 1: sure that you have all your facts straight, all your
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  Speaker 1: cris references straight, and then speak it in a skillful way,
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  Speaker 1: you know, practicing if you need to, writing down notes.
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  Speaker 1: That is the right way to handle God's word in
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  Speaker 1: a pastoral setting specifically. Now, this verse obviously can be
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  Speaker 1: applied to any single human being, not just to pastors,
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  Speaker 1: because all of us, as Christians, we should be focusing
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  Speaker 1: on ourselves to make sure we're approved by God, to
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  Speaker 1: make sure whatever ministry we're a part of or work
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  Speaker 1: we are a part of is done well, and you
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  Speaker 1: know we're not going to be ashamed when we stand
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  Speaker 1: before Jesus someday. And then also, every single one of
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  Speaker 1: us is called to the Great Commission, which is us
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  Speaker 1: in a way properly handling the Word of Truth or
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  Speaker 1: dividing it out to the rest of the world. So really,
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  Speaker 1: you know, even though Paul is talking to Timothy a pastor,
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  Speaker 1: this doesn't mean that this verse doesn't apply to every
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  Speaker 1: single Christian that will read it. It certainly does. So
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  Speaker 1: how would the average Joe the Word of Truth in
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  Speaker 1: a good way? Well, similarly to the pastor, he would
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  Speaker 1: make sure that he studies it for himself. He'd pray
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  Speaker 1: over it, he would have a relationship with God and
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  Speaker 1: a daily habit of reading the Bible, so that whenever
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  Speaker 1: there's an opportunity presented to him where he can actually
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  Speaker 1: talk about the Gospel or talk about the Bible to somebody,
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  Speaker 1: he or she has the words to say. I was
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  Speaker 1: actually so impressed with one of my students' youth group
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  Speaker 1: students last week because she was telling me that she
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  Speaker 1: has this list of goals that she wants to do
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  Speaker 1: through the year, and one of the goals that she
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  Speaker 1: has is to encounter twenty people and talk about Jesus
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  Speaker 1: to them. And when I heard that, I'm like, wow,
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  Speaker 1: you know, that is so cool, Like one of the
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  Speaker 1: teenagers has that on her heart, and that was kind
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  Speaker 1: of a teaching moment for me. It's like, I don't
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  Speaker 1: have that kind of list, you know, I don't think
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  Speaker 1: about that. You know, when I I'm going grocery shopping,
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  Speaker 1: I'm thinking about the groceries. I'm not thinking about who
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  Speaker 1: I can interact with for Jesus. So I thought that
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  Speaker 1: was really really cool. You know, she has the Great
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  Speaker 1: Commission on her heart and I absolutely love that, and
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  Speaker 1: all of us, honestly should we should have the Great
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  Speaker 1: Commission on our heart. So reading the Bible for yourself,
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  Speaker 1: understanding the Gospel message specifically is what's going to help
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  Speaker 1: you the most when you eventually do encounter somebody that
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  Speaker 1: may need the Gospel message in their lives. Then he
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  Speaker 1: says in verse sixteen, shun empty chatter, for it will
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  Speaker 1: go further in ungodliness, and those words will consume like Gangreen,
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  Speaker 1: of whom is Hymenius and Philatus, men who have aired
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  Speaker 1: concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past
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  Speaker 1: and overthrowing the faith of some. So we've actually talked
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  Speaker 1: about that belief before. That's called the Pratorist belief, which
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  Speaker 1: is the belief that Jesus has already come for the
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  Speaker 1: second time and captured everybody up and the millennial Age
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  Speaker 1: is already here like you and I right now are
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  Speaker 1: living on the new Heaven and the New Earth. And
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  Speaker 1: when I think about that, I'm like, man, I'm glad
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  Speaker 1: it's not the millennial Age, because man, what a sad
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  Speaker 1: millennial this has been. But anyway, this belief was apparently
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  Speaker 1: kind of popular even when Paul was around, was that
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  Speaker 1: Jesus already came and the resurrection already happened, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: maybe the millennial Age was about to start or something
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  Speaker 1: along those lines. Paul says, this kind of chatter is
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  Speaker 1: ungodly and the words consume like Gangreen and these two
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  Speaker 1: men specifically spread this garbage around, overthrowing the faith of
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  Speaker 1: some people. You know, in Paul's day, people wanted to
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  Speaker 1: see Jesus's second coming, just as right now, you know,
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  Speaker 1: there are so many people looking to the sky absolutely
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  Speaker 1: waiting for Jesus's second return. Just a few months ago.
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  Speaker 1: You may remember me talking about that whole rapture craze
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  Speaker 1: that people were going into. You know, people were like
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  Speaker 1: selling their homes, quitting their jobs, randomly giving money to
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  Speaker 1: strangers on the street, posting on social media how Jesus
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  Speaker 1: was going to come at this specific time and this
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  Speaker 1: specific day, and just absolutely crazy stuff was going on.
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  Speaker 1: And this was just like back in October or something.
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  Speaker 1: And guess what, the rapture didn't happen back in October.
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  Speaker 1: I am sure a lot of people lost their faith
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  Speaker 1: because of that. It was empty chatter because we do
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  Speaker 1: not know. It is very clear in scripture we don't
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  Speaker 1: know when Jesus is going to come again. We do
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  Speaker 1: not know. Even Jesus himself says, only the Father knows
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  Speaker 1: when I'm going to come again. If Jesus, who is God,
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  Speaker 1: chooses not to know that information and only the Father
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  Speaker 1: knows that information, then how the heck are supposed to
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  Speaker 1: know it? So it's just empty chatter. Whenever anybody gets
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  Speaker 1: into talks like that, it's garbage that is going to
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  Speaker 1: overthrow the faith of some people. Another example I can
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  Speaker 1: think of that would be considered in my mind to
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  Speaker 1: be empty chatter is and I'm kind of on a
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  Speaker 1: rampage about this recently, probably because of all the Mike
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  Speaker 1: Winger videos coming out on it. He just dropped a
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  Speaker 1: six hour long video on the prophecy scandal in Bethel
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  Speaker 1: Church specifically that I've watched almost all of it. I
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  Speaker 1: still have an hour left to go. But fake prophecy,
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  Speaker 1: that would be another thing that would be empty chatter,
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  Speaker 1: because when profits get invited to the church to come
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  Speaker 1: and like prophesy over the crowd of people, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of times these prophets will call individual people out by
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  Speaker 1: name because they know specifically that these people are in
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  Speaker 1: the auditorium, and they look up their information online a
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  Speaker 1: lot times before they even get up there to speak.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, these prophets know this innocuous information about
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  Speaker 1: the congregates of this church, and the congregates think that
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  Speaker 1: these prophets are learning all about them through the prophecy
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  Speaker 1: they're receiving right there on the stage by God, without
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  Speaker 1: knowing that their information is just getting looked up ahead
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  Speaker 1: of time. And it's all head games, it's all fakery.
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  Speaker 1: And there's been so many lives destroyed by that, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people losing faith because these prophets will prophesize
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  Speaker 1: something really bad for them, and they believe at the time, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: this is God's will for me. You know, this prophet
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  Speaker 1: knew all this information about me, and he's getting all
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  Speaker 1: that from God, so he must be telling the truth.
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  Speaker 1: And then lives are destroyed and people lose faith after
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  Speaker 1: all of that happens because of this fake prophecy, and
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  Speaker 1: it's all idle chatter. That's why Paul says very strongly
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  Speaker 1: to Timothy and verse sixteen, to shun empty chatter, for
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  Speaker 1: it will go further in ungodliness, is what he says. However,
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  Speaker 1: verse nineteen, God's firm foundation stands having this seal. The
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  Speaker 1: Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who
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  Speaker 1: names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness. So
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  Speaker 1: even though all this empty chatter goes out into the
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  Speaker 1: world turning people from the faith, God's firm foundation still stands.
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  Speaker 1: And that shows right there. You know, a lot of people,
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  Speaker 1: I think, believe that the Bible can be interpreted any
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  Speaker 1: which way you want it to be interpreted, because unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: there are a lot of Christians that twist and misinterpret
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  Speaker 1: the Bible and kind of make it a free for all.
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  Speaker 1: Just you know, the Bible is whatever you want it
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  Speaker 1: to be. It means whatever you want it to mean,
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  Speaker 1: but that is not the truth. God's firm foundation stands.
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  Speaker 1: So the Bible is a firm foundation. It has solid
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  Speaker 1: truth in it. And you might be like, well, Jen,
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  Speaker 1: how do you know what the truth of the Bible
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  Speaker 1: is if so many people misinterpret it? Well, I would
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  Speaker 1: say by reading other portions of scripture. There are close
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  Speaker 1: to sixty four thousand cross references in the Bible. And
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  Speaker 1: because there are so many cross references, that means you
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  Speaker 1: can look up the meaning to pretty much any chapter
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  Speaker 1: of the Bible that you want because it's cross referenced
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  Speaker 1: somewhere else in scripture. I mean, let's do the math.
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  Speaker 1: There are sixty four thousand cross references in the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: and there are sixty six books of the Bible, which
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  Speaker 1: means that every single book of the Bible has been
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  Speaker 1: cross referenced elsewhere in the Bible about nine hundred and
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  Speaker 1: seventy times if you were to do the math. So
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  Speaker 1: what I'm getting at is that the Bible explains itself.
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  Speaker 1: If you want to know what the Bible means, you
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  Speaker 1: just read other portions of the Bible, and you're going
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  Speaker 1: to figure it out. And I have an example of
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  Speaker 1: this right here in verse twenty, which is the next verse. Now,
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  Speaker 1: in a large house, there are not only vessels of
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  Speaker 1: gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some
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  Speaker 1: are for honor and some for dishonor if anyone therefore
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  Speaker 1: purges himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor,
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  Speaker 1: sanctified and suitable for the master's use, prepared for every
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  Speaker 1: good work. Now, without cross referencing that verse, what it
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  Speaker 1: means is that a rich person has all sorts of
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  Speaker 1: different types of vessels in their house. They have beautiful
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  Speaker 1: vessels made out of gold and silver that probably are
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  Speaker 1: used for flowers and decor and things like that. But
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  Speaker 1: then they also have the average type of vessel, which
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  Speaker 1: is made out of wood or clay, and those might
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  Speaker 1: hold trash or you know, compostable things or I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: dog food. Who knows what these things hold. But you're
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  Speaker 1: not gonna put you know, dog food in a beautiful
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  Speaker 1: silver bowl, at least most people wouldn't. You're gonna put
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  Speaker 1: it in like an average metal bowl, because the dog's
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  Speaker 1: slime gets everywhere, and you know, they barf in their bowl.
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  Speaker 1: That's what happened with my dog the other day. I
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  Speaker 1: was looking over and he just like barfed in his bowl.
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  Speaker 1: I'm like, what are you doing? You're not gonna use
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  Speaker 1: the nice vessels for junk, right, But still, every single
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  Speaker 1: mansion has vessels for honor and also for dishonor. And
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  Speaker 1: then Paul compares us to those vessels. He says, some
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  Speaker 1: people are like the vessels for honor, and some people
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  Speaker 1: are like the vessels for trash. But in verse twenty one,
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  Speaker 1: if anyone therefore purges himself from these, he will be
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  Speaker 1: a vessel for honor, sanctified and suitable for the master's use,
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  Speaker 1: prepared for every good work. Now, I'm not gonna lie
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  Speaker 1: when I that verse. It absolutely blew blew my mind
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  Speaker 1: because of Romans Chapter nine, verses nineteen through twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: This is Paul speaking. Will you say then to me,
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  Speaker 1: why does he still find fault for who withstands his will?
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  Speaker 1: But indeed, oh man, who are you to reply against God?
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  Speaker 1: Well the thing formed? Ask him? Who formed it? Why
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  Speaker 1: did you make me like this? Or hasn't the potter
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  Speaker 1: aright over the clay from the same lump to make
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  Speaker 1: one part a vessel for honor and another for Dishonor
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  Speaker 1: what if God, willing to show his wrath and to
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  Speaker 1: make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of
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  Speaker 1: wrath prepared for destruction, and that he might make known
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  Speaker 1: the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which
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  Speaker 1: he prepared beforehand, for glory us, whom he also called
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  Speaker 1: not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles. Now,
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  Speaker 1: when I read that verse until today, I always struggled
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  Speaker 1: with it because it kind of sounds like God created
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  Speaker 1: certain people for a destruction, which is in fact the
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  Speaker 1: Calvinist belief And if you talk to a Calvinist about
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  Speaker 1: their beliefs, eventually they will land on this verse from
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  Speaker 1: Romans chapter nine. And I'm not a Calvinist, not because
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  Speaker 1: of preconceived notions or because I was raised non Calvinist,
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  Speaker 1: but because as I'm reading through Scripture, I just personally
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  Speaker 1: see a lot of verses where God gives us a
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  Speaker 1: choice to choose Him or to choose destruction. And so
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  Speaker 1: I've never quite lined up with the Calvinist beliefs because
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  Speaker 1: of that. But these few verses from Romans always kind
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  Speaker 1: of stumped me a little bit because it did kind
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  Speaker 1: of seem like God created certain people to be destroyed.
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  Speaker 1: But now in two Timothy, chapter two, my mind was
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  Speaker 1: blown when Paul says right here that some people are
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  Speaker 1: for honor and some for dishonor. But in verse twenty
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  Speaker 1: one he says, if anyone therefore purges himself from these
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  Speaker 1: he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and suitable
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  Speaker 1: for the Master's use, prepared for every good work. So
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: that verse right there shows we were all vessels for unholiness.
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  Speaker 1: We were all vessels of destruction at one point in time.
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  Speaker 1: But if we purge ourselves from these things that Paul's
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  Speaker 1: talking about, and we believe in God, we are no
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  Speaker 1: longer going to be vessels of destruction, but we will
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  Speaker 1: become vessels for honor, sanctified and suitable for the Master's use,
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  Speaker 1: prepared for every good work. So that proves two of
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  Speaker 1: my points. Firstly, we have a choice, We have a
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  Speaker 1: choice to choose God and become a vessel for honor.
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  Speaker 1: And that the Bible explains itself all the time. Those
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  Speaker 1: are my two points I was trying to, you know,
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  Speaker 1: snowball together. The Bible is always explaining itself because the
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  Speaker 1: Bible is God's word. It is nothing but the truth.
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  Speaker 1: Paul continues in verse twenty two, flee from youthful lusts,
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  Speaker 1: but pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who
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  Speaker 1: call on the Lord out of a pure heart, but
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  Speaker 1: refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing that they generate strife.
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  Speaker 1: So essentially, Paul is summing up everything he talked about
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  Speaker 1: in these last few verses. He tells Timothy, flee from
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  Speaker 1: the youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, pursue love and peace
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  Speaker 1: with those who call on the Lord out of a
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  Speaker 1: pure heart, but refuse the foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing
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  Speaker 1: that they generate strife. The Lord's servant must not quarrel,
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  Speaker 1: but be gentle toward all able to teach, patient in gentleness,
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  Speaker 1: correcting those who oppose him. So anybody who is a
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: teacher of God's word should not be Quarrelsome is what
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: this says, And I'm not gonna lie. This kind of
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: convicted me a little bit, as somebody who somewhat enjoys
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: getting into arguments online and like reading the comments section,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: even if I'm not arguing myself I enjoy reading the
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: comment sections and like looking at everybody else arguing. Paul says,
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  Speaker 1: we are not supposed to be quarrelsome We are supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be gentle toward all, able to teach patient in gentleness,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: correcting those who oppose. Notice, he says, in gentleness, we're
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: supposed to do this not in an argumentative way, not
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  Speaker 1: in an insulting or condescending way, but in gentleness. That
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: is how we're really going to change somebody's mind. For Jesus,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: there's a proverb that reminds me of this, that says
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: something along the lines of a soft answer turns away wrath,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: but grievous words stir up anger. So as Christians, we're
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: supposed to be soft and gentle toward other people, not argumentative.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Then he says, perhaps God may give them repentance leading
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: to a full knowledge of the truth, and they may
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: recover themselves out of the devil's snare, having been taken
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: captive by him to do his will. These people, people
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: that are arguing against God, maybe, just maybe you can
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: change their minds. And Paul says, perhaps God will give
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  Speaker 1: them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth.
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  Speaker 1: So repentance comes through the prodding of the Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: You know, God uses us as mouthpieces for him. He
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  Speaker 1: uses us to spread the Gospel message. But ultimately God
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  Speaker 1: does the work in a person's heart. So maybe if
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: these people hear the Gospel message in a kind and
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  Speaker 1: gentle way, they might actually turn towards Jesus. So, in
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: a nutshell, all of this is saying, ignore useless chatterings,
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  Speaker 1: ignore things that do nothing but divide the church, and
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  Speaker 1: look toward unity, and be kind and gentle toward everybody,
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  Speaker 1: not arguing with them over silly things, but arguing for
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: the Gospel message, for the morality of the Bible, and
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: for Jesus himself. Faith listeners, here is a quick word
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: from a sponsor before I end today's episode. Well, I
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: hope all of you guys enjoyed today's topic. It was
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: a really long one and a very interesting one to me.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: I loved this portion of Scripture, and I hope all
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: of you guys loved it as well. Faithful listeners, I
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: hope you have a fantastic rest of your Tuesday. I
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: will see all of you guys tomorrow morning for an
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: episode from second to Chronicles. Until then, happy listening and
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: God bless. I just want to take a second to
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if you
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: go to lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.