Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Clear Commandments of Godliness │ Msg 810 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Clear Commandments of Godliness │ Msg 810 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: The grace of God is a marvelous theme. I've been
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  Speaker 1: preaching about it for years. But let me say upfront
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  Speaker 1: that grace does not mean we can adopt and anything
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  Speaker 1: goes attitude. That's not grace. Rather, grace motivates our godly behavior.
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  Speaker 1: It frees us to obey. Being strong in grace goes
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  Speaker 1: hand in hand with being committed to godliness. There's no
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  Speaker 1: contradiction in those two commitments. Grace provides the context for
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  Speaker 1: God's commands to be taught. Truth equips our minds and
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  Speaker 1: then shapes our lives. Truth, therefore must be taught, resulting
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  Speaker 1: in godly living. Godliness is easy to talk about, of course,
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  Speaker 1: but it's pretty hard to nail down in practical terms.
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  Speaker 1: The apostle Paul does that for us. He helps us
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  Speaker 1: see the truth of it in One Timothy chapter six,
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  Speaker 1: verses eleven to sixteen. So if you have your Bible,
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  Speaker 1: please turn with me to First Timothy chapter six. I'll
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  Speaker 1: begin our reading at verse eleven. But flee from these things,
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  Speaker 1: you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance,
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  Speaker 1: and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold
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  Speaker 1: of the eternal life to which you were called, and
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  Speaker 1: you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
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  Speaker 1: I charge you, in the presence of God, who gives
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  Speaker 1: life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified
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  Speaker 1: the good confession before conscious pilot, that you keep the
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  Speaker 1: commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the
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  Speaker 1: proper time, He who is the blessed and only sovereign,
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  Speaker 1: the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone
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  Speaker 1: possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man
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  Speaker 1: has seen or can see. To him the honor and
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  Speaker 1: eternal dominion. Amen. If you would allow me to oversimplify life,
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  Speaker 1: I think we could divide its instructions into two subjects.
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  Speaker 1: Are two realms, precepts and principles. Let me explain. If
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  Speaker 1: you go to your physician and you're having some struggles
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  Speaker 1: with some part of your your physical life. Your physician
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  Speaker 1: takes the time to diagnose your ailments. He or she
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  Speaker 1: will listen closely to your complaints, and in a process
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  Speaker 1: of time and in a process of certain procedures, this
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  Speaker 1: physician will offer you precepts and principles. The precepts will
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  Speaker 1: come in the form of what we would call prescriptions,
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  Speaker 1: very clearly defined medications that you are to take one
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  Speaker 1: a day for the next ten days, or two every
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  Speaker 1: four hours for the first two days, and then reduce
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  Speaker 1: it to one every four hours until the little container
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  Speaker 1: is empty. It was a precepts. The principles will come
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  Speaker 1: in the form of I think you need a little
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  Speaker 1: more rest, Perhaps you should drink more fluids, you should
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  Speaker 1: do everything you can to reduce your stress level. Those
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  Speaker 1: are principles. There are not black and white, heart and
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  Speaker 1: fast specific things, but they are judgmental things. Okay. Precepts
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  Speaker 1: have to do with the specific, clearly defined, easy to follow,
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  Speaker 1: simple guidelines. Principles call for wisdom a measure of judgment.
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  Speaker 1: Here's another one. When we learn to drive, we learn
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  Speaker 1: to read the signs that are on the highway. The
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  Speaker 1: precepts are clearly defined. Some of the precepts read speed
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  Speaker 1: limit forty five or parallel parking only or wrong way
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  Speaker 1: on those exits out of the freeway, or stop or
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  Speaker 1: do not enter. Those are precepts along the highway. And
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  Speaker 1: you could be a person who has had a license
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  Speaker 1: only one week, but you're just as able to follow
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  Speaker 1: those directions as if you had driven for thirty years.
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  Speaker 1: Principles are different. Principal signs read like drive carefully, road
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  Speaker 1: slick when wet. There's not a word about how fast
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  Speaker 1: you can drive, how close to the edge you should drive.
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  Speaker 1: You're not told how wet wet is before you should
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  Speaker 1: drive even slower. You're just told, in so many words,
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  Speaker 1: use your judgment here because you are in dangerous territory
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  Speaker 1: when this is wet or one that's one of my favorites,
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  Speaker 1: watch out for falling rocks. I've often thought, what do
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  Speaker 1: I do if I see the falling rock coming down
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  Speaker 1: on me. I can watch all I want to, but
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  Speaker 1: it's going to land on me. Another is deer crossing.
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  Speaker 1: Drive carefully and so you have to be alert. It
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  Speaker 1: calls for judgment, and hopefully you have a few years
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  Speaker 1: under your belt as a driver, so you know how
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  Speaker 1: to judge and what to do if in fact there
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  Speaker 1: is the crossing suddenly, the darting across your pathway of
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  Speaker 1: a deer from the forest. Those are principle signs. Now,
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  Speaker 1: what is true in the medical field, what is true
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  Speaker 1: in the world of driving is also true in the
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  Speaker 1: rearing of children, isn't it. I notice as our children
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  Speaker 1: get older, the more principles I offer, and the less precepts.
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  Speaker 1: With our little grandson, there are constant precepts, but no principles.
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  Speaker 1: I have never heard his mother or father say to him, now,
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  Speaker 1: eat this very carefully, son. No, he knows only one
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  Speaker 1: way to eat, and that's to suck, you know, put
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  Speaker 1: it in and he'll take it down. He knows nothing
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  Speaker 1: about principles for life. He can only handle don't touch that, no, yes, good, bad? Stop? Come.
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  Speaker 1: Those are precepts for that little boy. Now, what is
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  Speaker 1: true for the rearing of children? What is true for driving?
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  Speaker 1: What is true in your physical life? Is true in
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  Speaker 1: the scriptures God's word, as far as its instructions are concerned,
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  Speaker 1: God's Word is full of principles and precepts. The principles
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  Speaker 1: offer instruction on how to handle those questionable areas of life.
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  Speaker 1: But you are never told how much is too much.
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  Speaker 1: You are not given a fine line of demarcation that
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  Speaker 1: says from here on it's wrong, and up until then
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  Speaker 1: it's right. You're told use your judgment. There may be
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  Speaker 1: a weaker brother you need to be concerned about. So
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  Speaker 1: don't be foolish with your liberty, or there is danger
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  Speaker 1: in this area, be careful. For example, Philippians too says
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  Speaker 1: let the mind be in you, which was also in
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  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, meaning the mind of humility. In fact, it says,
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  Speaker 1: prior to that fifth verse, do nothing through strife or vainglory,
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  Speaker 1: but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better
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  Speaker 1: than themselves. That's a principle. You're not told where humility
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  Speaker 1: starts and where pride stops. You're given principles for living,
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  Speaker 1: and you're told to use your judgment as you handle
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  Speaker 1: yourself humbly as a child of God. However, there are
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  Speaker 1: times in the Bible when we have things spelled out
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  Speaker 1: in precept. Let me show you. First Thessalonians, Chapter four
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  Speaker 1: comes to my mind. There's no question when you get
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  Speaker 1: to the subject of sexual impurity as to where God stands.
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  Speaker 1: And I always shake my head in amazement at Christians
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  Speaker 1: who try to give God a lot of cushion with
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  Speaker 1: regard to to sexual morals. I always think of verse
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  Speaker 1: three in chapter four of First Thessalonians. This is the
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  Speaker 1: will of God. This is your sanctification, That is that
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  Speaker 1: you abstain from sexual immorality. You don't even have to
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  Speaker 1: pray about it. This is the will of God that
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  Speaker 1: there be total abstinence outside marriage with regard to sexual
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  Speaker 1: intimacy with another person. This is the will of God.
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  Speaker 1: That's a precept. Look at chapter five and verse fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: This is a precept. See that no one repays another
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  Speaker 1: with evil for evil. That's a precept. Someone do us wrong.
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  Speaker 1: The answer is never, you do wrong back, and don't
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  Speaker 1: misread that. The point is we are not in a
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  Speaker 1: retaliation mentality as Christians. My younger daughter just conveyed to
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  Speaker 1: me before I left for this meeting that one of
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  Speaker 1: her girlfriends has really disappointed her, and she mentions a
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  Speaker 1: particular thing that is of deep concern to her as
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  Speaker 1: a friend. And the details are not important, but her
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  Speaker 1: natural response was to strike back. And it took a
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  Speaker 1: few moments time to help our daughter see that the
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  Speaker 1: scriptures teach in precept fashion. Striking back is not the answer.
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  Speaker 1: That's not the way a Christian solves the problem. That's
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  Speaker 1: a precept. It's very clear. You don't even have to
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  Speaker 1: be twenty years old. You don't even have to be
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  Speaker 1: twenty days old. In Christ to know what the precept says.
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  Speaker 1: Let me show you another one first, Timothy four twelve.
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  Speaker 1: One Timothy four to twelve. Here's a series of precepts
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  Speaker 1: for the minister. Let no one look down on your youthfulness.
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  Speaker 1: That's a command. But rather in speech, conduct love, faith
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  Speaker 1: and purity. That's a mouthful. In speech, conduct love, faith,
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  Speaker 1: and purity. Show yourself an example of those who believe
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  Speaker 1: as a minister of the gospel. Because this is addressed
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  Speaker 1: to a pastor, and this is pastoral instruction. I am
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  Speaker 1: told by God what I am to work on when
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  Speaker 1: I am in ministry, and there are five named right here.
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  Speaker 1: Verse thirteen tells me how to conduct a worship service
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  Speaker 1: in its basic sense. I am to give attention to
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  Speaker 1: the public reading of scripture. I am to exhort, and
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  Speaker 1: I am to teach. That is my command. And I
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  Speaker 1: am not given principles. I'm given a precept. Do this.
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  Speaker 1: These are commands. They are called imperatives. Fact, he says
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  Speaker 1: in the next verse, do not neglect the spiritual gift
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  Speaker 1: within you verse fifteen. Take pains with these things. Be serious,
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  Speaker 1: fact even a little intense at times. Be absorbed in them,
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  Speaker 1: so that your progress may be evident to all. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I could go on and on. You've got the point.
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  Speaker 1: On occasion, we're given principles to live by, and we're
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  Speaker 1: always left with judgment. We're always required to draw upon wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: Sometime we need counsel and to carry out the principles.
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  Speaker 1: But on other occasions it's fairly clear what we are
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  Speaker 1: to do with precepts. We don't need any counsel. We
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  Speaker 1: just need to do it. There's only one response that's
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  Speaker 1: appropriate when it comes to precepts, obedience. That's the only response.
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  Speaker 1: When it says stop on the street, then you're to stop.
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  Speaker 1: If you don't stop, you break the law. It's a precept. Now,
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  Speaker 1: let me give you a couple of three or four
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  Speaker 1: things about commands. Often precepts come in the form of commandments,
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  Speaker 1: and they, again I say, don't take a lot of
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  Speaker 1: wisdom to understand, but they do take obedience. First thing
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  Speaker 1: I would say is that commands are usually brief, simple
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  Speaker 1: and clear. You can put those all under one heading.
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  Speaker 1: Commands are brief, simple and clear. God doesn't stutter, God
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  Speaker 1: doesn't get complicated, and God doesn't hide his commands in mystery.
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  Speaker 1: Do this and you will live brief simple and clear. Secondly,
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  Speaker 1: commands are for our good and God's glory. The second
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  Speaker 1: thing I would say about commands or precepts, when He
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  Speaker 1: gives them to us, they are invariably for our good
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  Speaker 1: and they are invariably for His glory. People have the
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  Speaker 1: erroneous idea that when God commands, he sort of takes
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  Speaker 1: our fun away. No, No, A thousand times no. When
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  Speaker 1: God gives a command and we obey, we will discover
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  Speaker 1: in the long run, hey, that's good. That was good
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  Speaker 1: for me, and best of all, it brought him glory. Third,
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  Speaker 1: commands call for one response, obedience. You don't even have
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  Speaker 1: to discuss commands have to rethink them. You don't have
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  Speaker 1: to go to seminary to learn how to understand them.
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  Speaker 1: You don't even have to dialogue with some other friend
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  Speaker 1: about them. You may, but it isn't necessary. They just
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  Speaker 1: call for obedience. And Fourth, you would expect me to
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  Speaker 1: add this. If disobeyed, serious consequences result. I've never seen
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  Speaker 1: it fail. When I don't obey God's precepts, I lose something.
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  Speaker 1: I lose peace, or I lose a relationship, I lose
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  Speaker 1: fellowship I lose. When I obey, I gain and it's
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  Speaker 1: one hundred percent experience. Now, as Paul moves toward the
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  Speaker 1: end of his first letter to Timothy, he moves from
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  Speaker 1: principles into precepts. Let me show you what I mean.
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  Speaker 1: He has been talking about people who don't believe the
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  Speaker 1: truth up in verse three of chapter six one, Timothy
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  Speaker 1: sixty three, if anyone advocates a different doctrine, meaning different
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  Speaker 1: than he has been spelling out in this letter, really
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  Speaker 1: different heteros, different kind entirely. If anyone advocates an antithetical
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  Speaker 1: message and doesn't agree with sound words those of our
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ and with the doctrine conforming to godliness,
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  Speaker 1: several things characterize that person. He's conceited. He really understands nothing.
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  Speaker 1: Verse four, he continues, he has a morbid interest in
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  Speaker 1: controversial questions. He is in a word battle with you
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  Speaker 1: and with God. And out of that word battle arise envy, strife,
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  Speaker 1: abusive language, evil, suspicions, and constant friction. You will see
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  Speaker 1: that again and again among those who argue over truth.
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  Speaker 1: Now he goes on to describe a person in this light,
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  Speaker 1: and he says verse five, they suppose that godliness is
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  Speaker 1: a means of gain to put it in another way,
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  Speaker 1: they really believe that religion is a way to get rich.
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  Speaker 1: They would teach that it's not a bad profession to follow.
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  Speaker 1: It's a pretty good way to make an easy living,
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  Speaker 1: and you'll make a lot of money. So rather cynical.
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  Speaker 1: It's certainly a cynical view of ministry, but there are
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  Speaker 1: many who believe that. And then with that in mind,
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  Speaker 1: Paul goes into the subject of money. You may remember
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  Speaker 1: from our last study. He talks about those verse nine
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  Speaker 1: who really want to get rich. They fall into temptation
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  Speaker 1: and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires that
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  Speaker 1: plunge them into ruin and destruction. Verse ten, he gives
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  Speaker 1: the principle the love of money is the root of
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  Speaker 1: all sorts of evil, and by it some have wandered away.
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  Speaker 1: Now we're ready verse eleven. But you, o, man of God,
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  Speaker 1: flee these things. There's a contrast when you get to
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  Speaker 1: verse eleven. He's been talking about those who don't follow
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  Speaker 1: the truth up in verse three, verse four, verse five,
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  Speaker 1: verse eight, verse nine, verse ten. Then when he gets
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  Speaker 1: to verse eleven, he says, but you, you man of God,
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  Speaker 1: you're different. You don't advocate a different doctrine. Verse three,
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  Speaker 1: you understand what God is saying. Verse four, you don't
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  Speaker 1: believe that godliness is a means for getting rich. Verse
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  Speaker 1: six or verse five. You're not among those that want
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  Speaker 1: to get rich. Verse nine and verse ten. You flee
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  Speaker 1: these things. By the way, following our last study, I
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  Speaker 1: had a wife stop me and say, as you described
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  Speaker 1: in that lesson, the portrait of a person who is
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  Speaker 1: determined to get rich, you described my husband to a
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  Speaker 1: t and she said. I sat there and I listened,
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  Speaker 1: and I thought, he's not even the same man I married.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, as I heard you, she said, as I
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  Speaker 1: heard you talk about this love of money being the
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  Speaker 1: root of all sorts of evil, and by it some
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  Speaker 1: have wandered away from the faith. She said, I just
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  Speaker 1: I just envisioned the man who ten years ago I
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  Speaker 1: took as my husband, and in the following years that
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  Speaker 1: have passed, I've watched the erosion in his life, and
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  Speaker 1: I've seen him change. He looks the same on the outside,
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  Speaker 1: but he's a different man entirely. She said. I just
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  Speaker 1: couldn't believe how vividly the scriptures portray the truth. But
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  Speaker 1: you woman of God, you man of God, You flee
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  Speaker 1: those things. See the precept, it's suddenly getting out of
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  Speaker 1: the realm of the grave. When it doesn't talk about
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  Speaker 1: how much money is too much money, it doesn't give
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  Speaker 1: you the line where where greed starts and motivation stops,
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  Speaker 1: proper kind of motivation. It leaves that up to your judgment.
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  Speaker 1: But when it gets to verse eleven, there's a long
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  Speaker 1: index finger that pushes hard against your breastbone and says, no,
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  Speaker 1: now you you run from that. You flee that. By
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  Speaker 1: the way, it's a present imperative. Keep on running away
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  Speaker 1: from that. All of those things he's described. That's what
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  Speaker 1: we're to flee. We're to flee a life of greed,
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  Speaker 1: a life motivated by monetary gain. Men and women who
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  Speaker 1: are in ministry are to be motivated by the sheer
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  Speaker 1: joy of serving the Lord Christ. You may say that
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  Speaker 1: sounds pious. It isn't true. I'll tell you in return
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  Speaker 1: it is true. It isn't empty piety. Show me an
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  Speaker 1: individual who enters ministry for what he or she is
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  Speaker 1: going to get out of it, and I'll show you
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  Speaker 1: someone that's just on the way to shipwreck. It just
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  Speaker 1: won't be very long. Now we are to flee those things.
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  Speaker 1: What are we to pursue among these precepts that He
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  Speaker 1: gives us. Well, take a look. It's right here for you.
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  Speaker 1: Going through the scriptures verse by verse is the way
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  Speaker 1: to handle them, because you just take them in order
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  Speaker 1: and you have all of the instruction you need. Take
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  Speaker 1: a look. Verse eleven continues. Pursue let's just work our
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  Speaker 1: way through the list. Righteousness. This is the state of
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  Speaker 1: the heart and mind that operates in harmony with the
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  Speaker 1: living God. Operate your life in harmony with God and
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  Speaker 1: his word. That's righteousness. Pursue Godliness. This is an authentic
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  Speaker 1: and abiding desire to glorify Him. Pursue that. Pursue godliness.
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  Speaker 1: Pursue faith rather than living by sight, rather than framing
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  Speaker 1: all of your opinions based on the scene, the tangible
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  Speaker 1: walk by faith. Pursue a life of faith. Trust God
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  Speaker 1: to open doors rather than you're opening them. Let Him
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  Speaker 1: open them. And it's very tough. Because many of us
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  Speaker 1: are strong natural leaders, and we have done a lot
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  Speaker 1: of lock picking. We are pretty good at reaching through
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  Speaker 1: windows and opening doors from the inside. Spiritually speaking, we
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  Speaker 1: get so good at it. We even are better at
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  Speaker 1: that than we are at trusting and we have to
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  Speaker 1: unlearn manipulating people and situations. Pursue faith. Determine that you
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  Speaker 1: will wait on God to open doors and to clear
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  Speaker 1: the pathways, and to solve the conflicts. When you have
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  Speaker 1: done all that you can do, let him work. I
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  Speaker 1: could go on and on. Pursue faith. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: remember Hebrews eleven. Without faith, it is impossible to please him.
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  Speaker 1: Pursue faith. Number four, Pursue love. That means seeking the
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  Speaker 1: highest good of the other person. Pursue that. Perseverance is
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  Speaker 1: yet a fifth. It means to abide under. We have
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  Speaker 1: often talked about the word. It's rendered endurance often in
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament. Don't live in spurts. Make your moves
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  Speaker 1: fluid moves if you please. I heard it said of
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  Speaker 1: an individual. He doesn't simply move through life. He ricochets.
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  Speaker 1: Don't ricochet through life. Handle your life in a stable manner.
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  Speaker 1: Abide under the load. As one man puts it, have
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  Speaker 1: a life of long obedience in the same direction, and gentleness.
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  Speaker 1: Pursue gentleness. It's easy to leave this one, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: When I think of gentleness in my younger years, I
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: would have thought of a doormat. I would have thought
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: of being taken advantage of. But I have learned a
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: lot about gentleness. I have learned, for example, that Moses
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: was the meekest man at the time of his death
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: of all men on the face of the earth. But
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: what a leader. I learned from James, for example, that
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: the word meekness there in the early part of chapter
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: one has reference to the taming of a wild horse,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: and it's the picture of a horse under control, strength,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: under control. There's nothing wimpy about a wild horse that's
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: under control. You have all the strength and all the
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: power and all the ability that you've always had, but
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: now under the domination of the spirit, you are controlled.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: That's gentleness. I often describe it as having much more
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: behind the counter than you ever have need to display.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Isn't it wonderful to be with people like that, that resourceful.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: You know that there's a reservoir of wisdom available and
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: it has to almost be pulled out of them. They're
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: not name droppers, they're not prayer droppers. They simply are
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: people of deep character and in gentleness. They're under control. Now,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: while we're at it, look at verse twelve. Here's another
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: precept fight, the good fight. The term is agonidzomai. We
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: get our word, of course, agony from it, or agonize.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Let's put it in that way. Agonize the good agony,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Thayer says, it means to contend with adversaries. The background
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: suggests exerting every ounce of energy to win the fight,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: fight the good fight. You might have thought that by
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: now you could sort of take it easy and lean
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: on your laurels and rest. You cannot. If you love
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: to play piano and you're good at it. The remarkable
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: thing about it is that you become really addicted to practicing. Now.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: People who hear you play often would think, my, that
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: individual can just sit down and go across the keyboard
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: and just knock them dead. But what they don't see
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: is that behind the scenes, you are committed to four
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: to six hours, perhaps a day on that instrument. As
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: I heard it said of one great artist, I miss
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: a week in practice. My audience knows when I miss
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: a day, I know it just a day. In this
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: business of agonizing the good agony, we are up against
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: a fight, and the fight goes on regularly, and we
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: can't let down for a day. Keep on fighting. It's
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: a picture of discipline. And staying in good conditions spiritually.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Now we've had a number of present imperatives. Keep on
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: fleeing these things Verse eleven. Keep on pursuing after these things,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: and then the list follows the third. Keep on fighting
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: the good fight. They're all present tents. When you get
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: to that next one, take hold of the eternal life.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Suddenly it's not a present tense. It's a tense that
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: suggests culmination. And so because of the change of tents,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: I would change the rendering to read get a grip
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: on eternal life. It doesn't mean salvation because we are
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: born again people. This passage is addressed to a young
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: pastor who is, of course born again. Timothy is a
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Christian man, so it isn't a reference to coming to
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: know Christ, but getting a grip on that which is
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: eternal kind of living. That's the thought. It's called a
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: culminative arrest, and it has in mind grabbing hold of
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: something so as to keep it firmly in grip or
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: in hold. Get hold of your life, Timothy, and conduct
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: your life in the right manner. It's the opposite of
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: being spineless and what we say today wishy washy lucy
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: goosey easy, come easy, go take it easy man, This
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: is just today, you know whatever. It's the opposite of that.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Get a grip on your life, Timothy Get a grip
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: on It. In one of his fine books, I believe
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: it's the effective Father Gordon MacDonald tells a moving story
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: of a man who is many, many miles from home,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: and while away from home, he, in a low moment,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: takes a walk down a rather sleazy section of town
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: and he comes to an X rated movie house and
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: he walks by the marquee, and there are some very
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: seductive pictures that appear for him to look at, and
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: he's tempted to go inside. And as he stands and
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: wigs whether he should do that, these thousands of miles
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: from home or not, he suddenly reviews in his mind
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: his past and he remembers a song, the song he
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: sang as a little boy, and as a teenager, and
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: as a young adult in church. I would be true,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: for there are those who trust me. I would be true,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: for there are those who care. And he walked on by.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: By walking on by, he got a grip on his life.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: He took hold of life. He made a deliberate decision
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: to say no, there was no one around to make
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: it for him. That's what he has in mind. Here,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: fight the good fight of faith. Get a grip on
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: the eternal life. Take hold. Don't play at it, Timothy,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: get serious about it. Let me just read for you
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: from Second Timothy Chapter two, without a comment, the words
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: that appear in the first seven verses Second Timothy two
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: one to seven. You, therefore, my son, be strong in
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: which you have heard from me in the presence of
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: many witnesses. These intrust to faithful men who will be
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: able to teach others also suffer hardship with me as
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: that he might please the one who enlisted him as
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: a soldier. And also, if anyone competes as an athlete,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: he does not win the prize unless he competes according
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: to the rules. The hard working farmer ought to be
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: first to receive his share of the crops. Consider what
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: I say, for the Lord will give you understanding and
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: everything I have encircled. Soldier, athlete and farmer. But the
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: method all the way through is the same. It's discipline.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: It's discipline. It's discipline. Timothy, get a grip on your life.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: Verse twelve of chapter six and one, Timothy, take hold
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: of the eternal life to which you were called, and
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: probably a reference to his baptism. One of the reasons
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: we ask our baptismal candidates to testify is that they
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: might firmly fix not only in their minds, but the
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: mind of those who listen the truth of their conversion.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: It becomes an what I call an etched memory. It's
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: like a laser, a spiritual laser that burns it into
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: the creases of the mind. On such and such a day,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: at such and such a place, I publicly told of
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: my faith in the Savior. I declared that I had
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: been converted, turned around in an opposite direction to walk
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: a new kind of life. That's the confession that was
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: made public. That's what he refers to in verse twelve.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Fight the good fight. Take hold of the eternal life
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: to which you were called. And remember, Timothy, when you
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: stood in baptismal waters, and you testified before the presence
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: of many witnesses. You made a good confession, lived out, Timothy,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: live it out. By the way, it is so easy
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: to agree to all of this when we're sitting together,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: isn't it. It's just the most natural thing in the world.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: It's almost unheard of, certainly in this era, to have
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: people stand up and shout back and say I don't
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: believe that, and walk out. But give us twenty four hours.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: And we are twenty four hours removed from this comfortable
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: womb called church fellowship. We're on our own, aren't we.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: We're in a world that is not a friend of
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: grace to help us on to God. We're in a
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: rapid current in a river that's moving in opposite direction
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: from the glory of God, and we, like salmon, have
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: to keep swimming upstream. These words will come in handy
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: at those times when you think of them. Then he
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: charges Timothy tells him how to obey. I charge you
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: in the presence of God, who gives life to all things,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: And I charge you in the presence of Christ Jesus.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: He could go no higher Christ Jesus, who testified the
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: good confession before Pontious Pilate. I charge you, Timothy, that
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: you keep the commandment. Here's how to do it without
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: staying or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: I want to be careful with what I say here,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: because I don't want anyone to be misled. But I
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: want to be true to this passage. It has been
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: my observation that when people in ministry compromise with their calling, they,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: in the words of verse fourteen, bring stain and reproach
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: upon their lives, and something is lost that is seldom regained.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: It is terribly important for you who are considering a
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: life of ministry in vocational Christian service, regardless of the
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: of the geography or the specifics of what that would mean,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: it's terribly important that you realize the very thin wire
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: that that trust hangs on. You are to obey this
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: command without stain or reproach until the appearing of our
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: proper time. And look at the description he gives of
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: the Savior. This isn't a day in which they said
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Caesar was God. Caesar is sovereign. Caesar is the name
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: that is above every name. The Lord who is above
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: all lords. The word is curios, curios above all other curios. No,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: that's Christ, not Caesar, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: He will bring about all of this at the proper time.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: He who is the blessed and only sovereign. He is
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: the King of kings and Lord of lords. You know
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: what that means. That means king above all? Who would
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: call themselves king? And Lord over all? Who would call
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: themselves lord? Did you realize that when we say king
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: of kings and Lord of lords, we mean that king
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: above all, who would say I'm King and Lord of all?
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Who would say I am Lord. That's Christ. That is significant.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: Now you talk about titles, you'll have none any higher
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: than these titles found in this passage. He alone possesses immortality.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: He alone dwells an unapproachable light whom no man has
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: seen or can see. It's not great. He will not
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: make himself visible. He remains our infinite, invisible, almighty Sovereign God.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: I love the story of the little child who was
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: in kindergarten and the teacher has told everyone to draw
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: a picture of what's important to them, and little Johnny's
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: in the back of the room, and he continues to
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: labor over his drawing, and everybody body else finishes and
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: hands in the picture, and he doesn't finish. He's still
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: working at it. And the teacher graciously comes back and
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: puts her arm around Johnny's shoulder and says, Johnny, what
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: are you drawing? And he doesn't even look up, feverishly
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: works at his picture. He says God, and she remembers
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: yesterday at church when the pastor said that He is invisible,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: and no one has seen God at any time, and
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: he is high above all and the invisible one, and
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: so she gently says to him, Johnny, she says, no
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: one knows what God looks like. He says, they will
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: when I'm through. And that's sweet, little child. Would think
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: that draw any picture you wish, and chances are good
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: your picture of God will look like the picture you
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: have of your parent, or your dear friend, or maybe
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: some minister that's meant a great deal to you. Your
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: pature will look like you. That's our concept of the
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: living God. He is unlike that, he hasn't features like we.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: All of those anthropomorphisms are given to us in Scripture
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: so that we can understand God. He hasn't hands as
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: we have hands. He hasn't arms as we have arms.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: He hasn't a face as we have a face. He
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: hasn't a body as we have a body. That isn't
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: the concept of the living God. He is invisible, high,
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: above all, sovereign, infinite, indescribable, immortal, invisible God only wise,
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: in light and accessible, hid from our eyes. That's our God.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: He is the basis of our calling and of our living.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: We need a clear concept of him. You see why
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: it's so important that we not worry about whether man
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: is pleased with our ministry. But it should keep us
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: up late at night being concerned that God is honored
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: in it. You see how he puts it in verse sixteen.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: Why am I to obey? Look at the last sentence,
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: to him be honor and eternal dominion a man. Why
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: am I to obey? Because the bottom line of it
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: all is to honor and glorify his name. If I
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: write music for his ministry, it is to honor him.
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: If I sing for his glory, it is to honor him.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: If I proclaim his message, it is for his honor
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: and eternal dominion. If I write that which is to
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: be read by members of his body. It is for
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: his honor and eternal dominion, Amen, one thousandfold. There is
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: no other reason than that to him be honor an
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: eternal dominion. Now, if you're not careful when you take
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: precepts from God's word, you sort of grit your teeth
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: and say, I'm going to do this if it's the
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: last thing I do, I'm going to do this, and
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: just sort of go into life like this. And you
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: don't have attitudes that are easy to live with. You
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: become intense. In fact, you are a basket case emotionally
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: in a matter of months, if that long. So as
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: I weave my way through these verses, I come up
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: with some attitudes that are to be a part of
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: the obeying process. Verse eleven, I see the attitude of
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: unswerving devotion. Verse twelve, I see the attitude of discipline determination.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Verses thirteen and fourteen I see the attitude of absolute purity,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: and fifteen and sixteen I see the attitude of true humility.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: It's all right there, unswerving devotion, discipline, determination, absolute purity,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: true humility. I would be true, for there are those
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: who trust me. I would be true for there are
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: those who care. But I would be true for other reasons.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: I would be true because there is a God who
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: knows all the secrets of my life and desires to
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: be honored in everything I do. That'll do a lot
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: for your week, won't it. It will certainly do a
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: lot for my week. I want to be accountable to you.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: I want you to know that I will review these
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: things this week. In my life. I will give attention
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: to that which I find in His word, in the
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: realm of precepts. I will pursue righteousness and godliness. I
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: will pursue the things that He tells me to take
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: as his commands. And I'd like you to do that
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: with me. I'd like us to make that a mutual project.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: And I'd like us not to forget about that in
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: the heat of Tuesday afternoon or the busyness of Wednesday morning.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: Are the assignments of a Thursday or Friday. I'd like
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: us to make it a different kind of week as
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: we step into this uncharted waters of our tomorrow. Lord,
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: this has been a very helpful and an important time
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: with you. In your word, we've considered the words of
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: a wonderful piece of music. I would be true, for
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: there are those who trust me. I would be true,
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: for there are those who care. Those words speak for
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: us today. Father, we would be true to you, our
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: living God, not only because you know all the secrets
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: of our lives and you know everything we would try
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: to hide from you. But more importantly, we want to
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: honor you. We want to show our respect for you
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: with a life that is well lived, marked by an
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: unswerving devotion, and disciplined determination, and absolute purity. Lord that especially,
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: and true humility wrapped around all of it. We're accountable
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: to you, our Father, and at the same time to
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: one another. So help us to be completely honest with
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: ourselves before you and with one another. We not only
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: want to be like David amount of integrity, whose life
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: was marked by that, but more importantly, we want to
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: be like Christ. So may the teaching of your word
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: bring us to that marvelous place where we exemplify the
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: qualities that characterized his life, and maybe do it through
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: the of the Holy Spirit, not in the energy of
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: the flesh. Work these things out. We pray at our work,
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: in our play, and certainly as we are at our
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: homes with those we love. The most I ask these
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: things Father, through the name of and because of the
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: importance of Christ, Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen. The
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: preceding message, Clear Commandments of Godliness, was copyrighted in nineteen
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: eighty four and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.