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Making a Lasting Difference · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: It's always such a privilege to be with you, and
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  Speaker 1: it's always a challenge to know exactly what to speak on,
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  Speaker 1: because you've heard it all. And yet there seems to be,
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  Speaker 1: on occasion, a need for some emphasis, especially at the
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  Speaker 1: time of year in which I'm able to be with you.
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  Speaker 1: Here we are toward the end of this semester, A
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  Speaker 1: number of you are on your way beyond the school.
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  Speaker 1: Others of you ending your semester to return this fall.
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  Speaker 1: But whatever, this is sort of a turning point for
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  Speaker 1: us all. It occurs to me it would be appropriate
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  Speaker 1: that I talk about making a lasting difference in our
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  Speaker 1: lives and in the lives of others. I love being
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  Speaker 1: around people who are committed to that. These are people
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  Speaker 1: who don't want to drift along in mediocrity. They don't
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  Speaker 1: want to be submerged in anonymity or fade away in obscurity.
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  Speaker 1: These are people who want their lives to count and
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  Speaker 1: to make a difference that lasts. If that's you, and
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  Speaker 1: I have a feeling that some of you certainly are
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  Speaker 1: in that category, I can tell you four things about yourself,
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  Speaker 1: even though you and I may not know each other,
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  Speaker 1: because these things are true in the lives of those
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  Speaker 1: who want to make a lasting difference. First of all,
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  Speaker 1: you are not motivated by money or possessions. Second, you
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  Speaker 1: are not interested in impressing people. You're not a people pleaser. Third,
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  Speaker 1: you are not driven by applause and accolades. You do
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  Speaker 1: your work to honor the Lord Jesus, not because others
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  Speaker 1: will take notice. They will, but that's not your motivation. Fourth,
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  Speaker 1: you're not You're not afraid of risk or hardship, difficulties,
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  Speaker 1: or even sacrifice. That's all part of the life of
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  Speaker 1: those who want to make a lasting difference. Only one
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  Speaker 1: thing matters to you, and that is that your life
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  Speaker 1: count for eternity. Such a life never just happens. It's
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  Speaker 1: never automatic. You're not born like that. I don't think
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  Speaker 1: you pick it up in a classroom either. It's the
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  Speaker 1: direct result of who you are, what you do, and
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  Speaker 1: why you do it. Please think about those three. who
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  Speaker 1: you are, what you do, and why you do it.
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  Speaker 1: It also has a lot to do with those you
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  Speaker 1: admire and want to pattern your life after. I've found
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  Speaker 1: that people who want to make a lasting difference choose
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  Speaker 1: their mentors very carefully. You're concerned that you become like
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  Speaker 1: those people who have helped shape your life. My words
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  Speaker 1: are based on a core section of 2 Timothy chapter 3.
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  Speaker 1: If you've brought your Bible or if you have it
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  Speaker 1: on your phone, I want you to look at 2
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  Speaker 1: Timothy 3. verses 10 through 14. I want to read
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  Speaker 1: those verses for you before I address them verse by verse.
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  Speaker 1: Paul writes, Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecution,
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  Speaker 1: and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at
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  Speaker 1: Iconium and at Lystra. What persecution I endured, and out
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  Speaker 1: of them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who
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  Speaker 1: desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
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  Speaker 1: But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse.
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  Speaker 1: deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things
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  Speaker 1: you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom
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  Speaker 1: you have learned them. I want to come back to
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  Speaker 1: the verses in a moment and go through them one
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  Speaker 1: by one. Let me say some things generally about where
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  Speaker 1: we find ourselves in this final letter Paul wrote. First, obviously,
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  Speaker 1: Paul is the older, writing Timothy the younger. Paul is
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  Speaker 1: actually near death. Timothy has more years in front of
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  Speaker 1: him than behind him for ministry. Paul's life is pretty
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  Speaker 1: well complete. Timothy is well underway as he is neck
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  Speaker 1: deep in ministry in the city of Ephesus. Paul is
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  Speaker 1: interested in Timothy making a difference. In fact, I'm convinced
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  Speaker 1: he's more interested in that than Timothy is. I find Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: when I read the letters to Timothy, I find him
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  Speaker 1: somewhat passive. And Paul often is stirring him, prodding him
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  Speaker 1: encouraging him to go farther, to go deeper in his life.
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  Speaker 1: That's why I say he's more interested in it than Timothy.
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  Speaker 1: Let me say a couple of things about the immediate
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  Speaker 1: context of this section of Scripture. First, to make a difference,
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  Speaker 1: you must be different from those around you If you
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  Speaker 1: go back in this passage to chapter 3, verse 1,
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  Speaker 1: you'll see something of the context of Timothy's world. Paul
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  Speaker 1: writes to him in verse 1, realize this, in the
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  Speaker 1: last days difficult times will come. This is not last
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  Speaker 1: days in the sense of the final few days before
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  Speaker 1: Christ returns. This would cover the vast amount of time
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  Speaker 1: between Christ leaving the earth and returning to it. It
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  Speaker 1: would include our time and years before we arrived on
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  Speaker 1: this earth and should the Lord tarry years after we
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  Speaker 1: have spent days and years on the planet. Observe that
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  Speaker 1: the key word is difficult times will come That's a
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  Speaker 1: powerful word. When you check it in the original, you'll
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  Speaker 1: notice it means harsh, hard to deal with, anguishing. It's
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  Speaker 1: used only one other time in the New Testament. That's
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  Speaker 1: in Matthew 8, 28, where Matthew is recording the event
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  Speaker 1: where Christ encounters two demon-possessed men who live among the tombs.
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  Speaker 1: And they are described by Matthew as being exceedingly violent.
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  Speaker 1: Same word rendered here difficult. One of my mentors used
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  Speaker 1: to refer to this word as savage. Timothy, you're living
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  Speaker 1: in savage times. I would add to each one of
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  Speaker 1: you men and women here, preparing for ministry, you will
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  Speaker 1: minister in those kind of times. The second thing I
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  Speaker 1: would say about the context is that to be different
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  Speaker 1: from the majority, you must cultivate qualities that are unlike
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  Speaker 1: the majority. What are they like? When you go through
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  Speaker 1: two through five, you'll hear the context in which you
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  Speaker 1: will be ministering and in which I have ministered through
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  Speaker 1: the years. Please listen carefully. People will be lovers of
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  Speaker 1: self lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable,
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  Speaker 1: malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited,
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  Speaker 1: lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to
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  Speaker 1: a form of godliness, but denying its power. And then
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  Speaker 1: there's an ending at verse 5 worth noting. Avoid such
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  Speaker 1: people as these. I don't know if you've thought about
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  Speaker 1: that in your life and in your ministry to come.
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  Speaker 1: There are people you'll need to deliberately avoid. Doesn't mean
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  Speaker 1: you have nothing to do with them, It means you
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  Speaker 1: do not choose them as close friends, close associates, people
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  Speaker 1: you want to pattern your life after, for they are
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  Speaker 1: the people described in those words I just read. If
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  Speaker 1: you want to make a lasting difference, you have to
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  Speaker 1: be unlike those around you, or you'll blend into the
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  Speaker 1: group that is always in the majority. Over the years
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  Speaker 1: I've served the Lord Jesus Christ, I've noticed these words
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  Speaker 1: are actually taking place. They happened in every church I've served,
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  Speaker 1: in every area where I've ministered. The majority are just
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  Speaker 1: like those words describe. Thankfully, that majority is not in
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  Speaker 1: the church itself, but in the world around us. We
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  Speaker 1: are to avoid such lifestyle as that. Now, to dig
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  Speaker 1: into these words, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, Paul
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  Speaker 1: looks in three directions as I examine them. In verses
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  Speaker 1: 10 and 11, he looks back. He urges Timothy to
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  Speaker 1: think back. And the literary clue for that are these
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  Speaker 1: verbs that end with ed. Listen to them again. You
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  Speaker 1: followed my teaching. That's in the past. As he writes Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: he's looking back to those years when he and Timothy
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  Speaker 1: were closely associated and Timothy was engaged in following Paul's
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  Speaker 1: teaching and conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, and even
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  Speaker 1: was witnessing the persecutions he was going through, sufferings. Such
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  Speaker 1: things happened, there's another word from the past, they happened
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  Speaker 1: to me at Antioch, Iconium, at Lystra, and I endured
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  Speaker 1: another word from the past, or regarding the past. You learned,
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  Speaker 1: you followed, You watched as those things happened and you
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  Speaker 1: saw that I endured all those things as the Lord
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  Speaker 1: rescued me from each one. So he's looking back. I'll
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  Speaker 1: go back into that in a few moments. When you
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  Speaker 1: get to verses 12 and 13, he looks ahead. And
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  Speaker 1: the literary clue here is the word will. Look for yourself. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will
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  Speaker 1: be persecuted. Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad
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  Speaker 1: to worse, deceiving and being deceived. It may not sound
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  Speaker 1: very encouraging, but that's what you will face. You will
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  Speaker 1: encounter you will witness and you will rub shoulders with
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  Speaker 1: those kind of people. You, however, and this is sude,
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  Speaker 1: that's an intense negative contrast. You, however, meaning you, Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: the one who is making a lasting difference As far
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  Speaker 1: as the present is concerned, you continue in the things
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  Speaker 1: you have learned and become convinced of. So let's go
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  Speaker 1: into those three dimensions. First, the past. Verses 10 and 11.
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  Speaker 1: Model the truth you have been taught by those you trusted.
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  Speaker 1: That's what I think the two verses are saying. There's
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  Speaker 1: a helpful principle worth remembering, and it's this. There's a
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  Speaker 1: powerful link between remembrance and continuance. A powerful link between
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  Speaker 1: what we remember from those who taught us, those who
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  Speaker 1: were our mentors, those who established us in our spiritual formation,
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  Speaker 1: And the way we continue today, we link those two
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  Speaker 1: together and that's what Paul is underscoring here. Remember the
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  Speaker 1: things you learned from me and then continue in them, Timothy.
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  Speaker 1: Stop and think as you look back. Think over some
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  Speaker 1: people who have built into your spiritual roots. It began,
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  Speaker 1: quite likely, as it certainly did with me, with our parents.
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  Speaker 1: We were young. We were beginning to learn many things,
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  Speaker 1: among them spiritual truth. It was not taught to me
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  Speaker 1: at a school I attended. It was not taught by
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  Speaker 1: neighbors I attended. played with and had fun with, I
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  Speaker 1: learned spiritual truths first from my mother and dad. As
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  Speaker 1: Bryant and I were driving here together this morning, we
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  Speaker 1: talked about our parents. And both of us said it
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  Speaker 1: was our parents who initially got our attention spiritually. If
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  Speaker 1: it's been a while since you have thanked your parents,
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  Speaker 1: that would be a great thing to do. If they're
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  Speaker 1: still living, make sure that you express to them your gratitude.
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  Speaker 1: Not only parents, but we've been influenced by teachers, Sunday
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  Speaker 1: school teachers. If you were in a Christian school, those teachers.
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  Speaker 1: How about pastors? Who served faithfully. They opened God's word.
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  Speaker 1: And you worked your way through the scriptures. Listening to them.
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  Speaker 1: Learning from them. And then along the way. There were mentors.
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  Speaker 1: I've mentioned the word several times. I'm big on mentoring.
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  Speaker 1: On the importance of choosing. Selecting very carefully those. who
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  Speaker 1: shape our thinking in depth. They know us better than
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  Speaker 1: teachers knew us. In some ways, they know us as
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  Speaker 1: we're growing up better than our parents continue to know us.
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  Speaker 1: They knew us as children, but mentors know us as adults.
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  Speaker 1: They play their role in our lives. And then there
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  Speaker 1: are counselors. You may have received specific help in areas
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  Speaker 1: of your life from counselors and most recently professors. Not
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  Speaker 1: all of them, but most of them cared for your souls.
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  Speaker 1: They guided us. They reproved us. Proverbs 27, 6, faithful
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  Speaker 1: are the wounds of a friend. but deceitful are the
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  Speaker 1: kisses of an enemy. Faithful mentors on occasion will point
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  Speaker 1: out areas of blind spots in our lives, and we
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  Speaker 1: look back and realize the value it was to know
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  Speaker 1: that and to hear their reproofs. They will also be
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  Speaker 1: people who affirmed us, maybe noticed spiritual gifts that no
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  Speaker 1: one else pointed out, but mentors do that for us.
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  Speaker 1: As you are influenced and impacted by those individuals, in
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  Speaker 1: Timothy's case, his mom, his grandmother, remember mentioned in chapter 1,
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  Speaker 1: verse 5, both of them playing a major role in
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  Speaker 1: his earliest years, and Paul himself, a helped Timothy in
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  Speaker 1: his development and in his spiritual formation. Paul even mentions
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  Speaker 1: his own time of persecution and hardship. He said, you
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  Speaker 1: watched as I endured times of persecution. And by the way,
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  Speaker 1: there's no complaining. There's no whining. There are There is
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  Speaker 1: simply an acknowledgement that the Lord rescued him from those
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  Speaker 1: things he endured. Something happens when we witness our mentors
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  Speaker 1: going through times of suffering. When I was going through
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  Speaker 1: my tour of duty in the Marine Corps, I was
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  Speaker 1: stationed for 16 months on the island of Okinawa. While
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  Speaker 1: I was there, there was a man who was a
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  Speaker 1: representative of the Navigators named Bob Newkirk. I lost Bob
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  Speaker 1: recently in his 90s. But as I was on the
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  Speaker 1: island back then, Bob took me under his wing, and I,
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  Speaker 1: as a young Marine, and there were several from the
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  Speaker 1: Navy and Air Force and Army that he also was mentoring,
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  Speaker 1: and Bob meant much to me during those days of loneliness.
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  Speaker 1: And Lots of adjustments living on the island away from
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  Speaker 1: my wife and from my immediate family and all the
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  Speaker 1: friends that were mine in the city of Houston where
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  Speaker 1: I grew up. Bob became for me a stabilizing force.
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  Speaker 1: He went through a very difficult time. To this day,
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  Speaker 1: I never knew exactly what it was. But I... found
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  Speaker 1: out about it from his wife, Norma. I went to
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  Speaker 1: their modest home to be with Bob during that time,
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  Speaker 1: and he wasn't there. Norma said to me, you may
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  Speaker 1: find him at his office down in the village. It
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  Speaker 1: was monsoon time, so the rain was falling. If you've
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  Speaker 1: been through a monsoon, you know that you get soaked
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  Speaker 1: even though you don't realize the rain is coming down.
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  Speaker 1: It's like a heavy, heavy dew that just is constant
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  Speaker 1: and constant. And so the paths were muddy. But I
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  Speaker 1: made my way to his little office. He never knew
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  Speaker 1: I went there. And when I got closer to it,
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  Speaker 1: I looked through the bamboo siding of his office and
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  Speaker 1: I saw my mentor crying out to God. He was
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  Speaker 1: on his knees. And He was singing. I'd never heard
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  Speaker 1: Bob sing before. Come thou fount of every blessing, tune
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  Speaker 1: my heart to sing thy grace. Dreams of mercy never
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  Speaker 1: ceasing call for songs of loudest praise. And on through
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  Speaker 1: that hymn he sang from memory. He was on his knees.
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  Speaker 1: I was standing there and rain dripping off my nose.
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  Speaker 1: And I began to weep as I saw him going
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  Speaker 1: through this, whatever it was that was such a burden
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  Speaker 1: to him, my heart went out to him. I never
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  Speaker 1: told him that I had done that, that I'd stood
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  Speaker 1: out in the darkness and witnessed it. But it was
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  Speaker 1: meaningful to me to see the man that I loved
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  Speaker 1: and admired in his weakness, in his vulnerability. Howard Taylor
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  Speaker 1: writes of that as he refers to his father during
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  Speaker 1: the founding days of China Inland Mission. He refers to
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  Speaker 1: the time when they were all, the little children and
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  Speaker 1: the mom and dad slept in this basement area in
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  Speaker 1: those cold days and inland China and he said my
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  Speaker 1: dad would draw a little curtain between where my mom
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  Speaker 1: and my dad slept and us kids slept and he
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  Speaker 1: said I used to hear my dad pour out his
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  Speaker 1: heart to God in quiet prayer he buried two of
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  Speaker 1: his wives over there lost one fell in love with
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  Speaker 1: another lost her Through all the grief, Howard remembers his
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  Speaker 1: father Hudson enduring affliction. Even wrote in one place of
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  Speaker 1: those biographical volumes, the son never rose for 40 years
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  Speaker 1: in China, but that God didn't find my father on
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  Speaker 1: his knees in prayer. Something happens to you when you
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  Speaker 1: when you know that of someone you respect and you
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  Speaker 1: see them going through difficult times. Don't forget them. You'll
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  Speaker 1: go through them. And witnessing your own mentor or maybe
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  Speaker 1: your own mom or dad going through tough times like that,
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  Speaker 1: or maybe a professor dying of some terminal illness, You
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  Speaker 1: never forget them as the disease ultimately takes them. So
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  Speaker 1: much for the past. Verses 10 and 11. You get
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  Speaker 1: to 12. He now moves to the future. And he says, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will
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  Speaker 1: be persecuted. I want to tell you ahead of time.
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  Speaker 1: you're in for some persecution. You're in for some hardship.
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  Speaker 1: I don't say that to discourage you, I say that
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  Speaker 1: to equip you. You have no idea where it will
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  Speaker 1: come from. Because people are deceitful, it will sometime come
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  Speaker 1: from those you trusted, but their trust was deceiving. It
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  Speaker 1: may come from an associate that was a part with
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  Speaker 1: you in the ministry, who turned on you. I've had
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  Speaker 1: that experience. It's absolutely heartbreaking. It may come from someone
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  Speaker 1: in the world system that's determined to make life miserable
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  Speaker 1: for you. Kent Hughes writes in his work on 2 Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: these words, if anyone accepts a set of standards that
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  Speaker 1: is different from the world's standard, he is bound to
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  Speaker 1: have trouble Some form of opposition will come if we
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  Speaker 1: attempt to witness to a world that hates to be
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  Speaker 1: told the truth and loves darkness. You'll be doing that
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  Speaker 1: in your ministry, telling the truth to people who love darkness.
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  Speaker 1: Timothy knew all this, but to hear it from Paul
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  Speaker 1: again in the period just before his death was bracing,
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  Speaker 1: I like that word, bracing. Paul's words were bracing to Timothy.
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  Speaker 1: This was reality and the acceptance of it placed Timothy
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  Speaker 1: on solid ground for whatever was to come. So my
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  Speaker 1: point here about your future is there's a price you
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  Speaker 1: will pay. If you determine to make a lasting difference
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  Speaker 1: To the people you serve, you'll pay a price. Not
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  Speaker 1: everyone will be applauding and grateful for you. Some will
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  Speaker 1: work against you. And they will do things that will
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  Speaker 1: be designed to silence your message. They'll sometimes, as I
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  Speaker 1: said earlier, be deceitful things. Second thing I will say
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  Speaker 1: about the future is deceitful people will increase and intensify.
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  Speaker 1: If you question that, you've been asleep the last 10
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  Speaker 1: or 15 years because we've all witnessed an intensity of
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  Speaker 1: deception people lie regularly people will promise that they're telling
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  Speaker 1: you the truth when in fact they're not you'll counsel
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  Speaker 1: people and confront things that they need to hear And
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  Speaker 1: they will give you their word that they will work
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  Speaker 1: on these things in their marriage all the while they
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  Speaker 1: continue on with an affair that's going on on the side.
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  Speaker 1: That hurts because you want to help them do what
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  Speaker 1: is right and they are deceiving you into thinking that
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  Speaker 1: what you're saying is making a difference but in fact
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  Speaker 1: in their lives it is not. What it will take
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  Speaker 1: to hang in there, not just knowledge, will take convictions.
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  Speaker 1: And I've learned over the years that I didn't really
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  Speaker 1: gain convictions in the classroom. Convictions come from one's character,
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  Speaker 1: from one's training, from one's experience. When our class graduated
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  Speaker 1: back in 1963, There were 48 of us, as I recall,
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  Speaker 1: in the class of graduates. Dr. Wahlberg was the president
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  Speaker 1: of the school, and he addressed our class. And he
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  Speaker 1: was alone. We were alone with him in a smaller
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  Speaker 1: room before we put on our caps and gowns to
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  Speaker 1: walk across the platform and receive our degrees. He made
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  Speaker 1: a statement I wrote in my Bible and I've referred
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  Speaker 1: to it on a number of occasions. He said this
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  Speaker 1: to us as we were graduating. I am concerned that
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  Speaker 1: some of you are graduating with a great deal of knowledge,
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  Speaker 1: but not enough convictions. As I look back over the
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  Speaker 1: past 59 years, I can tell you and testify to
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  Speaker 1: the wisdom of his warning. He was right. The major
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  Speaker 1: challenges I've faced in these years of ministry have not
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  Speaker 1: required of me a greater amount of knowledge, though I've
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  Speaker 1: grown in knowledge in my study of the scriptures. But
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  Speaker 1: they've required from me Firmer convictions. The ability to face
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  Speaker 1: people with truthful information. As we often say, to call
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  Speaker 1: a spade a spade. To come to a passage of
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  Speaker 1: scripture and not dance around it, but to dig into
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  Speaker 1: it and apply it, even when it speaks volumes to you.
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  Speaker 1: convicting words that address areas of your own life. Let
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  Speaker 1: me go back to that earlier quote. There's a powerful
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  Speaker 1: link between remembrance and continuance. As I remember Dr. Walvoord's words,
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  Speaker 1: I continue reminding myself what I need is mainly stronger convictions,
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  Speaker 1: firmer convictions, you will too. That's what he's saying to
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  Speaker 1: Timothy here. Since there are those who will go from
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  Speaker 1: bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Stand firm, Timothy.
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  Speaker 1: Don't let that shake you. Stay at it. Don't give in,
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  Speaker 1: don't give up. The grass will often seem greener on
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  Speaker 1: the other side, and you'll think, well, if I change churches,
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  Speaker 1: it'll be different. I'll tell you, the grass is often
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  Speaker 1: not even edible on the other side, and you'll think
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  Speaker 1: it is because it's so tough where you are. Stay
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  Speaker 1: where it's tough. Stay right there. Don't look for some
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  Speaker 1: place that's going to be easier because you're weary of
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  Speaker 1: the testing. The testing is good for you. Let it be.
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  Speaker 1: Timothy could fall back on the words of his mother
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  Speaker 1: and grandmother, Eunice and Lois. I've always loved the words
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  Speaker 1: of John Calvin, who said Timothy was reared in his
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  Speaker 1: family in such a way that he could suck in
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  Speaker 1: godliness along with his mother's milk. Terrific way to put it.
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  Speaker 1: If you were growing up and your mother taught you
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  Speaker 1: early on in your life about Christ, and as my
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  Speaker 1: mother memorized verses with you and challenged you to learn
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  Speaker 1: them and to learn them exactly as the scripture states them,
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  Speaker 1: you'll give thanks for that for the rest of your ministry.
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  Speaker 1: As you think back and call to mind from your past,
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  Speaker 1: Look at verse 14, continue in the things you have
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  Speaker 1: learned and become convinced of. Things you've learned would be
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  Speaker 1: your knowledge. You've learned them in the classroom at the seminary.
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  Speaker 1: You've learned them from your own study of the scriptures.
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  Speaker 1: You've learned them from your spouse. You've learned the knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of the truth from colleagues that you admire, from mentors.
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  Speaker 1: But becoming convinced of them is convictions. You'll learn that
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  Speaker 1: on your own. There's no class on teaching you convictions.
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  Speaker 1: You cultivate that on your own. And I'll say again,
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  Speaker 1: this is a great time for you to give thanks
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  Speaker 1: that you're able to continue in the things you learned
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  Speaker 1: and have become convinced of. No one has ever said
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  Speaker 1: it better than Amy Carmichael, that dear lady who left
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  Speaker 1: the comforts of home and made her way to southern
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  Speaker 1: India and spent her life working with those even back
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  Speaker 1: then who were subject to human trafficking, sex slaves, even
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  Speaker 1: though young girls, orphans, those that had no one to
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  Speaker 1: love them, she loved them deeply. She made a lasting
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  Speaker 1: difference in who knows how many lives. I love her works.
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  Speaker 1: She writes, from prayer that asks that I may be
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  Speaker 1: sheltered from winds that beat on thee, from fearing when
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  Speaker 1: I should aspire, from faltering when I should climb higher,
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  Speaker 1: from silken self, oh, Captain, Free thy soldier who would
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  Speaker 1: follow thee from the subtle love of softening things, easy choices, weakenings.
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  Speaker 1: Not thus are spirits fortified, not this way with the crucified.
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  Speaker 1: From all that dims thy calvary, O Lamb of God,
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  Speaker 1: deliver me. Give me the love that leads the way,
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  Speaker 1: the faithfulness The faith that nothing can dismay. The hope
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  Speaker 1: no disappointments tire. The passion that will burn like fire.
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  Speaker 1: Let me not sink to be a clod. I love
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  Speaker 1: that line. Let me not sink to be a clod.
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  Speaker 1: Make me thy fuel. Flame of God. That's my prayer
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  Speaker 1: for you. men and women. I care that when you
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  Speaker 1: leave the halls of Dallas Seminary, that you stay strong,
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  Speaker 1: that you stay straight, that you love this book and
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  Speaker 1: you teach this truth. And every time you have the
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to encourage others, you make a lasting difference By
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  Speaker 1: opening the word to them and helping them see the truth.
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  Speaker 1: And then you get out of the way. As God
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  Speaker 1: does his work in their lives. Just as I step
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  Speaker 1: away from your life today. I have no idea where
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  Speaker 1: the Lord will take you. You think you know. You
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  Speaker 1: don't have any idea. You have no clue how the
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  Speaker 1: Lord is going to use you. You couldn't even guess
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  Speaker 1: how the Lord is going to test you. But he will.
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  Speaker 1: And your life will become like Job's who wrote, he
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  Speaker 1: knows the way that I take when he has tried me.
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  Speaker 1: I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held
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  Speaker 1: his steps and not declined. Neither have I gone back
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  Speaker 1: from the command of his lips. for I have esteemed
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  Speaker 1: the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
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  Speaker 1: What a word to say, and his body is covered
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  Speaker 1: with sores from head to foot. God knows the way
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  Speaker 1: I take. Bow with me, will you? Thank you, Father,
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  Speaker 1: for speaking to us in terms that we can all understand.
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  Speaker 1: We've all looked back, albeit briefly. We've remembered some who
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  Speaker 1: have built into our lives, and we give you thanks
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  Speaker 1: for each. We've looked ahead and realized that difficult times
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  Speaker 1: are coming, savage times. Exceedingly violent times. We'll need your strength.
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  Speaker 1: Strength when we are weak. We need you to become
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  Speaker 1: our all in all. Not just a part-time partner. We
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  Speaker 1: need you to be our constant guide. Thank you for
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  Speaker 1: your spirit who indwells us and guides us and convicts
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  Speaker 1: us and uses us. May we, by your grace, make
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  Speaker 1: a lasting difference in the lives of others in the
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  Speaker 1: years ahead. In the name of Christ, I pray. Everybody said... Amen.
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  Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited.