Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / Tabernacle Tidbit - 2 Timothy 4:15

Transcript

Tabernacle Tidbit - 2 Timothy 4:15 · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

• 0:00
  This is a Tabernacle tidbit, a bite sized Tabernacle talk of 5
• 0:05
  minutes or less to help you get through your day when you only
• 0:09
  have a little bit of time. We hope this helps you to know
• 0:11
  Christ, groan His Word, and show His love to others.
• 0:14
  Let's get started. Hello and welcome back to
• 0:18
  Tabernacle Tidbits. Today we are in Second Timothy
• 0:20
  chapter 4 and verse #15 we are in the apostle Paul's last
• 0:26
  letter that he writes that we have penned in Scripture, and
• 0:29
  he's writing to his son in the faith, Timothy.
• 0:31
  And right now at the end of the book, he's writing to warn
• 0:35
  Timothy about a particular individual that Timothy's going
• 0:40
  to have some interactions with. And Paul wants him to know the
• 0:43
  kind of person that he's dealing with.
• 0:45
  Paul planted the church at Ephesus that Timothy was at.
• 0:50
  And so kind of from the founding pastor, if you will, to to
• 0:53
  another pastor, Pastor Paul says this.
• 0:56
  I'm going to start in verse 14. Alexander the coppersmith did
• 0:59
  great harm to me. The Lord will repay him
• 1:02
  according to his works. Watch out for him yourself
• 1:06
  because he strongly opposed our words.
• 1:10
  Watch out for him yourself, because he strongly opposed our
• 1:15
  words here. Paul says this to Timothy.
• 1:19
  You need to like a guard, like a Sentinel watching over here, in
• 1:26
  this instance, watching out for the church, he says watch out
• 1:31
  for Alexander the coppersmith. He's a person that will attempt
• 1:36
  to come around. He will attempt to be a part of
• 1:40
  this, this group of believers like he knows some people, he
• 1:44
  says. But I don't want you to allow
• 1:47
  him to do again what he did before, if you will.
• 1:52
  I just came to Tabernacle. It's been 16 or 17 months ago
• 1:57
  now. And this would be much like if
• 2:01
  the the previous pastor here, Doctor Andy Bell, he called me
• 2:06
  up and he said, hey, I want you to watch out for, you know, I'll
• 2:11
  just throw in the name Clark Kent.
• 2:12
  I want you to watch out for Clark Kent.
• 2:15
  You know, he works in, you know, sales and he was a bad influence
• 2:23
  at the church. And he, he really hurt me and he
• 2:26
  hurt our church through what he said and what he did.
• 2:30
  And he was strongly opposed to the the direction that we had
• 2:35
  for the church. And here now Paul is saying this
• 2:39
  to Timothy. And I think there's something
• 2:42
  practical for us here today. It is OK if you don't always
• 2:47
  agree with everything that someone else says, but I'll say
• 2:53
  this. Strong opposition from a
• 2:57
  Christian towards another Christian or from a professing
• 3:00
  Christian towards another Christian, strong opposition
• 3:04
  should be reserved for those things that are most important,
• 3:09
  the gospel right doctrine and right living and, and not just
• 3:14
  like your pet doctrine. I'm saying things that are very
• 3:18
  clear in Scripture, like the fact that God the Father, God
• 3:22
  the Son and God the Holy Spirit that that they are God the
• 3:26
  Trinity, that should be non negotiable.
• 3:28
  If someone's disagreeing on that and they're saying, well, it's,
• 3:31
  it's just, you know, like one, one person, you know, putting on
• 3:35
  some different hats or like different roles that one person
• 3:38
  can take. That ought to bring some strong
• 3:42
  opposition in a kind, loving way.
• 3:45
  But but that would be what is known as heresy, serious
• 3:48
  deviation from the faith. If someone says, well, you know,
• 3:53
  believing in Jesus alone, that's not really the only way of
• 3:56
  salvation. I think you can still get to
• 3:59
  heaven if you believe in Jesus and your works or Jesus and
• 4:03
  taking communion or Jesus and baptism.
• 4:06
  And I think that's how you get saved.
• 4:08
  That's how you can know that you're on your way to heaven.
• 4:11
  Those types of things ought to be strongly opposed by God's
• 4:14
  people. I'll put it this way.
• 4:18
  There's not much else that we should strongly oppose in
• 4:24
  another believer if it's, hey, you know, all, all I know I've
• 4:30
  got some friends all across this area of Southeast Baltimore,
• 4:37
  let's say Bethlehem Church, My friend Matt Robinson.
• 4:40
  I don't know anything that's going on at their church right
• 4:42
  now. So I'm, I'm not, I'm not
• 4:44
  prophesying anything. I'm not outing anyone's stuff.
• 4:48
  So let's say Pastor Matt's like, all right, guys, here's what
• 4:50
  we're going to do. We're going to be doing an
• 4:53
  outreach to our neighborhood in in two months.
• 4:57
  And we're going to put a little card that says, I prayed for you
• 5:00
  today and it's going to have, you know, a, a coupon for, you
• 5:05
  know, a free drink at, at our church on this particular
• 5:09
  Sunday. It's going to be friend day.
• 5:11
  And if the people they are strongly oppose that and they
• 5:15
  say, oh, no, we, we could never like we should never go to
• 5:19
  someone's door. Like if we send them a letter,
• 5:21
  that's fine, but we're never going to place anything on
• 5:24
  anyone's door. Not only that, but we should
• 5:27
  never entice anyone with, with anything other than the Bible
• 5:32
  will be preached that day. And so we're not going to tell
• 5:35
  them that they can, you know, have a coffee or something if
• 5:37
  they come on that day. They're strong opposition to the
• 5:40
  pastor as he's trying to lead the church in outreach.
• 5:44
  That would be a bad thing to do. That's not a godly response
• 5:48
  here. This is what Alexander did.
• 5:50
  And Paul tells Timothy, watch out, keep on guard.
• 5:55
  Protect the church from people that will strongly oppose the
• 5:59
  way that God is leading here. Timothy, this pastor of the
• 6:03
  church at Ephesus. Watch out for the people that
• 6:06
  have strong opposition to spiritual leadership.
• 6:10
  I'll say this in closing. I know I'm already over time.
• 6:13
  This is something that it is natural for us to fall into
• 6:18
  individually and so I want us to all look at our own hearts and
• 6:23
  say, OK God, am I being a little cantankerous?
• 6:26
  Am IA little too insistent on me, or am I submitting to those
• 6:31
  that God has in my life? Thanks for tuning in, appreciate
• 6:34
  your time. See you next time.