Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Timothy 3:6-17- Put What You've Learned in Your Heart
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, howdy there, friends and faithful listeners, Welcome
- 0:06Speaker 1: to the Bible Explain Podcasts. On this lovely Tuesday morning,
- 0:09Speaker 1: we're going to be finishing up two Timothy, chapter three,
- 0:12Speaker 1: discussing Charlatan's in the church and also talking about how
- 0:16Speaker 1: scripture is the inspired word of God. We'll get into
- 0:18Speaker 1: all of that in just one second, and, of course,
- 0:27Speaker 1: faithful listeners, before I begin today's episode, here's a quick
- 0:29Speaker 1: word from a sponsor or two now, speaking of how
- 0:34Speaker 1: I always start the podcast by saying howdy and good morning.
- 0:37Speaker 1: I bought myself a shirt the other day. It says
- 0:40Speaker 1: howdy across the front in bright blue and then there's
- 0:43Speaker 1: little cows on it, and I was like, that shirt.
- 0:45Speaker 1: I need it. I need that shirt. So that is
- 0:48Speaker 1: what I'm wearing this morning to do the podcast. Now,
- 0:52Speaker 1: Faithful listeners, I haven't been getting a lot of emails recently,
- 0:55Speaker 1: so contact me and tell me what you've been doing recently,
- 0:59Speaker 1: how the weather is where you live, and also how
- 1:02Speaker 1: you found the podcast. I'd love to hear about all
- 1:04Speaker 1: of those things, faith listeners. Let's go ahead and read
- 1:07Speaker 1: it Second Timothy three, starting in verse six. Now, we
- 1:10Speaker 1: did talk about verses six through nine a little bit,
- 1:13Speaker 1: but I had to cut the podcast short because I
- 1:16Speaker 1: had somewhere I had to be, so I didn't get
- 1:18Speaker 1: a chance to finish talking about these verses. So I
- 1:20Speaker 1: will talk about them in more depth today, but just
- 1:24Speaker 1: for a quick recap, we are discussing how in the
- 1:26Speaker 1: end times, which is right now, and also the days
- 1:29Speaker 1: of Paul, basically from the time Jesus ascended into heaven
- 1:33Speaker 1: to the time he comes back down that is called
- 1:35Speaker 1: the last Days, that evil people are going to get
- 1:39Speaker 1: worse and worse. They're going to be lovers of self
- 1:41Speaker 1: and lovers of money, and I'm thankful and unholy, but
- 1:44Speaker 1: they're going to pretend to be really good people, and
- 1:46Speaker 1: they're going to slip in the church and just try
- 1:48Speaker 1: to cause all sorts of damage, both for their personal
- 1:51Speaker 1: gain and also possibly because they hate the church. So
- 1:54Speaker 1: we'll get into more of that topic today. So let's
- 1:56Speaker 1: go ahead and read Second Timothy three, starting in verse
- 2:00Speaker 1: to the end of the chapter. As almost always, I'll
- 2:03Speaker 1: be reading from the Web version, but I will be
- 2:05Speaker 1: switching over to the GNT as well today, which is
- 2:09Speaker 1: the Good News translation. But grab your Bible out of
- 2:12Speaker 1: the version that you prefer, and also your delicious cup
- 2:14Speaker 1: of hot coffee. Right now, I've got lukewarm coffee that
- 2:18Speaker 1: I have to go heat up, and I made it
- 2:20Speaker 1: a different way today. I actually didn't use my coffee maker.
- 2:24Speaker 1: I used the drip method where you put like a
- 2:27Speaker 1: little like almost like a tea bag, but you strain
- 2:31Speaker 1: the coffee in the top of your cup and then
- 2:33Speaker 1: like pour water through it. It's really interesting. It actually
- 2:36Speaker 1: gives a unique flavor to the coffee. So that's what
- 2:39Speaker 1: I've been doing recently, because I only want like one
- 2:42Speaker 1: or two cups of coffee if I do drink it,
- 2:44Speaker 1: and I just never feel like it's worth it to
- 2:46Speaker 1: make it in the coffee maker. All right, favor listeners,
- 2:49Speaker 1: grab your cup of coffee or your cup of tea
- 2:51Speaker 1: this morning. For you crazy tea drinkers, let's read Second
- 2:53Speaker 1: Timothy three, starting in verse six. For some of these
- 2:57Speaker 1: are people who creep into houses and captive, gullible women,
- 3:01Speaker 1: loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always
- 3:05Speaker 1: learning and never able to come to the knowledge of
- 3:07Speaker 1: the truth. Even as Jonas and John Bres opposed Moses,
- 3:11Speaker 1: so these also oppose the truth. Men corrupted in mind,
- 3:14Speaker 1: who concerning the faith are rejected, But they will proceed
- 3:18Speaker 1: no further, for their folly will be evident to all men,
- 3:21Speaker 1: as theirs also came to be. But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness,
- 3:28Speaker 1: persecutions and sufferings. Those things that happened to me at Antioch,
- 3:32Speaker 1: Econium and Lystra. I endured those persecutions. The Lord delivered
- 3:36Speaker 1: me out of all of them. Yes, and all who
- 3:39Speaker 1: desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
- 3:42Speaker 1: But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse,
- 3:45Speaker 1: deceiving and being deceived. But you remain in the things
- 3:49Speaker 1: which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing
- 3:51Speaker 1: from whom you have learned them. From infancy, you have
- 3:55Speaker 1: known the holy scriptures which are able to make you
- 3:57Speaker 1: wives for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
- 4:01Speaker 1: Every scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
- 4:05Speaker 1: for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person
- 4:09Speaker 1: who belongs to God may be complete thoroughly equipped for
- 4:12Speaker 1: every good work. Now, as I discussed earlier, we already
- 4:16Speaker 1: talked about the first portion of two Timothy three, and
- 4:19Speaker 1: I left off on verse six where it says, for
- 4:22Speaker 1: some of these are people who creep into houses and
- 4:25Speaker 1: take captive, gullible women, loaded down with sins, led away
- 4:28Speaker 1: by various lusts, et cetera, et cetera. And we discussed
- 4:31Speaker 1: how women tend to be more gullible toward charming individuals
- 4:36Speaker 1: than men are in a lot of cases. And I
- 4:39Speaker 1: actually gave some examples from my personal life of how
- 4:42Speaker 1: I've seen this actually play out, and unfortunately it is
- 4:44Speaker 1: the truth. You know, women are just far more gullible,
- 4:48Speaker 1: especially if somebody seems nice or has a nice smile,
- 4:52Speaker 1: or is very charming. They are willing to take that
- 4:54Speaker 1: person's word, even if it isn't necessarily the truth. So
- 4:57Speaker 1: I gave a warning to all Christian women back on
- 5:00Speaker 1: Thursday that you need to be careful, You need to
- 5:03Speaker 1: read the Bible for yourself. You need to protect your
- 5:06Speaker 1: spiritual health and the spiritual health of your family, because
- 5:09Speaker 1: women they're kind of the gatekeepers for the family. And
- 5:14Speaker 1: that's why Paul is mentioning this, by the way, is
- 5:16Speaker 1: because women do have a lot of power when it
- 5:19Speaker 1: comes to their own homes. These women that Paul's talking
- 5:23Speaker 1: about could have been women that hosted home churches. A
- 5:28Speaker 1: lot of the early converts of Christianity were actually women.
- 5:31Speaker 1: And these women, especially if they were widows or if
- 5:35Speaker 1: their husband converted later on, they would host home churches.
- 5:40Speaker 1: And that's who these wolves in sheep's clothing would target.
- 5:43Speaker 1: Were these women possibly hosting these home churches. And don't
- 5:47Speaker 1: forget these women, a lot of them were new Christians
- 5:52Speaker 1: or didn't understand Christianity very well yet. But instead of
- 5:56Speaker 1: fact checking, a lot of times these women would be
- 5:59Speaker 1: swayed by the charming behavior of these Charlatans coming into
- 6:04Speaker 1: their homes, and then they would spread the message of
- 6:07Speaker 1: the Charlatan, whatever it was, to their friends, to the
- 6:11Speaker 1: other church members, and it would cause all sorts of problems.
- 6:15Speaker 1: But Paul mentions in two Timothy three, verse six that
- 6:19Speaker 1: these women were burdened by the guilt of their sins,
- 6:23Speaker 1: and they were also driven by all kinds of desires.
- 6:27Speaker 1: And if you read verse seven, actually from the GNT
- 6:30Speaker 1: translation or the Good News translation, it says these women
- 6:35Speaker 1: are always trying to learn, but can never come to
- 6:38Speaker 1: know the truth. And I find that verse very interesting.
- 6:41Speaker 1: There's a lot of people that can hear the truth
- 6:43Speaker 1: one hundred times, but they never take it to heart. Instead,
- 6:49Speaker 1: they just want to learn more. They're never fully convinced.
- 6:52Speaker 1: They have to have something else, some other bit of
- 6:56Speaker 1: fact or truth or proof. They say, Oh, if Jesus
- 6:59Speaker 1: would just give me a sign, than I would believe
- 7:01Speaker 1: in him, Or oh, if I could just find, you know,
- 7:04Speaker 1: truth about this thing that's going on in my life,
- 7:07Speaker 1: then I'll believe. Or I just need to learn a
- 7:09Speaker 1: little bit more about this scriptural passage before I can
- 7:12Speaker 1: come to believe. But faith is not about how much
- 7:16Speaker 1: you know. Psalm eight, verses one through four says this,
- 7:21Speaker 1: yahweh our Lord, how majestic is your name, And all
- 7:24Speaker 1: the earth you've set your glory above the heavens from
- 7:27Speaker 1: the lips of babes and infants. You've established strength because
- 7:31Speaker 1: of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and
- 7:33Speaker 1: the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of
- 7:37Speaker 1: your fingers, the moon and the stars which you've ordained,
- 7:40Speaker 1: What is man that you think of him? What is
- 7:42Speaker 1: the son of Man that you care for him? And
- 7:44Speaker 1: there's another verse in the Psalms that says, the heavens
- 7:48Speaker 1: declare the glory of God. That means that you can
- 7:52Speaker 1: look at creation and have faith in God, have faith
- 7:56Speaker 1: that somebody designed all of this. That's what Paul says
- 8:00Speaker 1: in the Book of Romans, actually Romans ten, verse eighteen.
- 8:04Speaker 1: Sticking in the GNT translation, it says, but I ask
- 8:08Speaker 1: is it true that they did not hear the message?
- 8:10Speaker 1: Of course they did, for as the scripture says, the
- 8:13Speaker 1: sound of their voice went out to all the world.
- 8:16Speaker 1: Their words reached to the ends of the earth. That
- 8:19Speaker 1: passage is saying, even though some people have not heard
- 8:22Speaker 1: the message of Jesus, they still have seen proof and
- 8:26Speaker 1: evidence of him because they can look at creation and
- 8:30Speaker 1: understand that there is a designer of all of this.
- 8:34Speaker 1: They can understand on a core level, like deep inside them,
- 8:39Speaker 1: that there is God. So faith has nothing to do
- 8:43Speaker 1: with how much you know. Faith has everything to do
- 8:46Speaker 1: with believing the evidence that is put in front of you,
- 8:49Speaker 1: because God shows himself to everybody. So when Paul says
- 8:54Speaker 1: that these women are constantly learning, but they're never able
- 8:58Speaker 1: to come to the knowledge of the truth, he is
- 9:01Speaker 1: talking about people that just refuse to put their knowledge
- 9:05Speaker 1: of what they see into faith. And so I encourage
- 9:09Speaker 1: all of you listening to this podcast. You might be
- 9:12Speaker 1: listening because you want to learn more information about the Bible,
- 9:16Speaker 1: and that's not a bad thing. It is great to learn.
- 9:19Speaker 1: It is good to learn more information, especially about the Bible,
- 9:22Speaker 1: in my opinion. But if you're not taking what you're
- 9:25Speaker 1: learning and put it into faith, then it doesn't even
- 9:30Speaker 1: really matter how much you learn in the long run.
- 9:34Speaker 1: So that's what Paul is warning Timothy about right here,
- 9:37Speaker 1: that there's going to be people in his church that
- 9:39Speaker 1: are constantly learning but never putting it into faith, never
- 9:44Speaker 1: truly coming to the knowledge of truth. And that's who
- 9:47Speaker 1: these Charlatans are going to target. These people are easy
- 9:51Speaker 1: to control because all they have to do is some
- 9:53Speaker 1: sort of magic trick or mind game or manipulation and say, oh,
- 9:58Speaker 1: I just got a message from God, or look at
- 10:01Speaker 1: this sign that God just accomplished through me. And so
- 10:04Speaker 1: now because this sign has been done, you need to
- 10:06Speaker 1: give me a whole bunch of money and a whole
- 10:08Speaker 1: bunch of praise and honor and all of this stuff.
- 10:11Speaker 1: That is why instead of learning and always needing to
- 10:14Speaker 1: see more, you just need to come to the knowledge
- 10:17Speaker 1: of truth. Just do it. Put it in your heart
- 10:20Speaker 1: right now, understand that God is real and that you
- 10:24Speaker 1: don't need to see signs and wonders and prophecies and
- 10:28Speaker 1: messages from God in order to believe that God is
- 10:32Speaker 1: the truth. Even as Johnis and Johnbres opposed Moses, so
- 10:37Speaker 1: these also oppose the truth. Men corrupted in mind, who
- 10:40Speaker 1: concerning the faith are rejected. So again it's not just
- 10:44Speaker 1: the women Paul's targeting here. He is calling out anybody
- 10:48Speaker 1: who refuses to listen to the truth. And he mentions
- 10:51Speaker 1: two people by name, these two guys named Jonas and
- 10:55Speaker 1: John Breeze. He says, these two opposed Moses. Now, there
- 11:00Speaker 1: is nobody mentioned in the Old Testament in the days
- 11:02Speaker 1: of Moses named Jonas and John Brees. So church tradition
- 11:06Speaker 1: says that these were the names of Pharaoh's prophets. I
- 11:10Speaker 1: don't know if you guys remember the story of Moses,
- 11:12Speaker 1: but he went to the Pharaoh multiple times, begging the
- 11:16Speaker 1: pharaoh to let the people go into the wilderness so
- 11:18Speaker 1: that they could sacrifice to Yahweh. In fact, Moses, unlike
- 11:22Speaker 1: what most people believe, never actually asked for the Israelites
- 11:27Speaker 1: to be freed from their slavery. He only asked that
- 11:29Speaker 1: they can go take a vacation in the wilderness to
- 11:33Speaker 1: sacrifice to Yahweh, but the pharaoh refused to let the
- 11:37Speaker 1: people go. So Moses showed multiple miracles and signs to
- 11:41Speaker 1: the pharaoh so that the pharaoh could see that Yahweh
- 11:44Speaker 1: is God and wants his people to go sacrifice in
- 11:47Speaker 1: the wilderness to him. But the pharaoh called his own
- 11:50Speaker 1: prophets in for whatever Egyptian gods they were prophets of,
- 11:54Speaker 1: and these supposed prophets were able to imitate the miracles
- 11:59Speaker 1: that Moses was able to do, and so the pharaoh
- 12:03Speaker 1: refused to believe the message of Moses. Now, later on,
- 12:07Speaker 1: as the miracles got more and more intense, the fake
- 12:13Speaker 1: prophets were not able to replicate them anymore, but still
- 12:17Speaker 1: the pharaoh refused to believe anyway. A lot of people
- 12:20Speaker 1: think that the prophets of Pharaoh were named Johnas and Jombres.
- 12:25Speaker 1: Paul says, these oppose the truth. They are men corrupted
- 12:28Speaker 1: in mind, who concerning the faith, are rejected. But they
- 12:33Speaker 1: will proceed no furthers what it says in verse nine,
- 12:36Speaker 1: for their folly will be evident to all men. As
- 12:39Speaker 1: theirs also came to be. Now he's talking about Johnnys
- 12:43Speaker 1: and Johnbrees again. Eventually, like I said, Johnas and John
- 12:46Speaker 1: Brees were not able to replicate the miracles that Moses
- 12:50Speaker 1: was doing. And that is how it's going to be
- 12:52Speaker 1: for all false prophets or false teachers in the future.
- 12:56Speaker 1: Eventually they're going to come to nothing, and people are
- 12:59Speaker 1: going to see the fakery that they have been doing
- 13:02Speaker 1: and leading people astray with for so many years. They
- 13:06Speaker 1: will proceed no further, is what Paul says, and their
- 13:09Speaker 1: folly will be evident to all. But now Paul switches
- 13:12Speaker 1: the subject to talk about Timothy and how Timothy is
- 13:16Speaker 1: doing the right thing verse ten. But you followed my
- 13:20Speaker 1: teaching conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, persecutions and sufferings
- 13:27Speaker 1: those things that happened to me at Antioch, Econium and Listra.
- 13:31Speaker 1: I endured those persecutions. The Lord delivered me out of
- 13:34Speaker 1: them all. And this is where a lot of people
- 13:37Speaker 1: think that Paul was very arrogant because of verses like this,
- 13:41Speaker 1: where he's just like I was faithful and patient and
- 13:44Speaker 1: loving and steadfast, and I suffered so many things. But
- 13:49Speaker 1: the fact, but the fact of the matter was Paul
- 13:53Speaker 1: actually was all of those things. He tells Timothy, Timothy,
- 13:57Speaker 1: you followed my teaching. Now, what was Paul's teach? Obviously
- 14:01Speaker 1: the gospel message. You followed my conduct. What was Paul's
- 14:06Speaker 1: conduct to be a kind and patient preacher, he says, Timothy,
- 14:10Speaker 1: you followed my purpose. What was Paul's purpose? Well, obviously
- 14:13Speaker 1: the gospel message. Once again, you followed my faith. We
- 14:17Speaker 1: know that Paul's faith was greater than most people's faith
- 14:22Speaker 1: ever can be or ever will be. But Timothy apparently
- 14:25Speaker 1: had the same level of faith as Paul had, which
- 14:28Speaker 1: is really interesting. He says, you followed my patience. We
- 14:32Speaker 1: know Paul was patient, especially at Antioch, Econium, and Alystra,
- 14:35Speaker 1: which is what he specifically mentions here. Don't forget that
- 14:38Speaker 1: when Paul first went to those cities, he was regarded
- 14:43Speaker 1: as a god and then stoned to death like fifteen
- 14:46Speaker 1: minutes later, So the people in those cities were nuts. Essentially,
- 14:51Speaker 1: Paul was very patient, very kind and loving toward all
- 14:55Speaker 1: of those people. In fact, after he was stoned and
- 14:59Speaker 1: brought back to life again potentially we don't know if
- 15:01Speaker 1: he died or not, but after he got back up
- 15:06Speaker 1: from being stoned. He went straight back into the city
- 15:10Speaker 1: after those people stoned him. He went right back in.
- 15:13Speaker 1: I mean, if that's not steadfastness and patience and love
- 15:17Speaker 1: and faith, I don't know what is. Because if that
- 15:21Speaker 1: was me and I somehow miraculously survived a stoning, I
- 15:26Speaker 1: would be getting at a dodge. I would be going
- 15:29Speaker 1: the other way. I wouldn't be walking right back into
- 15:31Speaker 1: the city where everybody stoned me from because I don't
- 15:35Speaker 1: have the same level of patience, love and faith and
- 15:38Speaker 1: steadfastness that Paul had. And yet Timothy followed Paul in
- 15:43Speaker 1: all of these things, in his persecutions and his sufferings. Again,
- 15:49Speaker 1: those things that happened to me at Antioch, Econium and Listra.
- 15:52Speaker 1: I endured those persecutions, but the Lord delivered me out
- 15:56Speaker 1: of them. All. Yes, and all who desire to live
- 15:59Speaker 1: godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. So all of us,
- 16:03Speaker 1: every single person that wants to be a Christian, is
- 16:08Speaker 1: going to suffer some level of persecution. And you know,
- 16:12Speaker 1: some of you might be rolling your eyes at that,
- 16:14Speaker 1: because Christians in America have it very easy, and we
- 16:17Speaker 1: sometimes have a tendency to be really dramatic where we're
- 16:20Speaker 1: just like, oh, everybody is against me. You know, no
- 16:22Speaker 1: weapon formed against me shall prosper. And yet you know
- 16:26Speaker 1: I'm living here in my comfy office with running water
- 16:29Speaker 1: and my heat on behind me, in a nice fireplace
- 16:33Speaker 1: out in the living room. We have a tendency to
- 16:36Speaker 1: be kind of dramatic when here in America we have
- 16:39Speaker 1: things very easily. But Paul promises, and Jesus promised this
- 16:43Speaker 1: as well, that everybody who truly wants to follow Jesus
- 16:47Speaker 1: is going to experience persecution. This doesn't necessarily mean that
- 16:52Speaker 1: you're going to die for your faith, though it could
- 16:55Speaker 1: mean that. You know, there's plenty of Christians around the
- 16:57Speaker 1: world that are currently dying for their faith. They are
- 17:02Speaker 1: currently being tortured and everything they have taken from them
- 17:07Speaker 1: because of their faith in Christ. That does and can happen.
- 17:12Speaker 1: But even if it doesn't happen to you, persecution is
- 17:15Speaker 1: still going to come because people are going to reject
- 17:19Speaker 1: you and dislike what you have to say. You're going
- 17:24Speaker 1: to experience some form of bullying or shunning from your
- 17:28Speaker 1: family members, even you might be ostracized because of your faith.
- 17:32Speaker 1: I actually know somebody who goes to my church whose
- 17:37Speaker 1: kid was severely bullied because her mom and dad are Christians.
- 17:43Speaker 1: That's going to happen to you if you truly follow
- 17:47Speaker 1: what Jesus says to do. Now that being said, there
- 17:51Speaker 1: are plenty of people in America that claim to be
- 17:53Speaker 1: Christians but don't actually follow the teachings of Jesus. I
- 17:58Speaker 1: would argue that those people might not experienced persecution because
- 18:01Speaker 1: they're not really following what Jesus tells them to do.
- 18:05Speaker 1: And that's kind of what Paul says here. He says,
- 18:07Speaker 1: all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will
- 18:10Speaker 1: suffer persecution. So not everybody that claims to be a
- 18:13Speaker 1: Christian is going to suffer persecution, but the people who
- 18:16Speaker 1: desire to live godly will. That is a promise to
- 18:21Speaker 1: all of you. And then it continues. But evil men
- 18:24Speaker 1: and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
- 18:30Speaker 1: But you remain in the things that you've learned and
- 18:32Speaker 1: have been assured of knowing from whom you have learned them.
- 18:35Speaker 1: And at this point you might be like Jen, this
- 18:37Speaker 1: is depressing. Why would I want to become a Christian
- 18:40Speaker 1: if I'm just going to experience persecution. If evil men
- 18:44Speaker 1: and impostors are going to grow worse and worse, deceiving
- 18:47Speaker 1: and being deceived like this just seems miserable. Well, don't
- 18:51Speaker 1: forget what Paul said just a couple verses before this.
- 18:55Speaker 1: He said, the Lord delivered me out of all of
- 18:58Speaker 1: the persecutions I suffer. Here's the thing. Life on earth,
- 19:03Speaker 1: whether you're a Christian or not, is going to be hard.
- 19:07Speaker 1: There is nobody on this earth that doesn't have a
- 19:11Speaker 1: difficult life. There's sickness, there's death, there's struggle, there's trials.
- 19:18Speaker 1: All of these things are going to happen to you.
- 19:20Speaker 1: I would rather go through life being a Christian than
- 19:23Speaker 1: going through life and dealing with other trouble and trauma
- 19:27Speaker 1: and problems without God on my side. I want to
- 19:31Speaker 1: be on the side that God is on. When God
- 19:34Speaker 1: is on your side, what can men do to you?
- 19:38Speaker 1: That's a verse repeated through the Psalms multiple times. If
- 19:42Speaker 1: God is on your side, what can merror men do
- 19:46Speaker 1: to you? Nothing? Even in the case of Paul, where
- 19:50Speaker 1: he gets stoned what seems like to death, he just
- 19:54Speaker 1: gets right back up because God was on his side.
- 19:58Speaker 1: And that's the side I want to be on is
- 20:01Speaker 1: the one that God is on. So, yeah, persecution is
- 20:04Speaker 1: going to come, but you have somebody with you that
- 20:07Speaker 1: is so much greater and stronger than any of these
- 20:11Speaker 1: people that are going to target you. Yeah, it is
- 20:14Speaker 1: going to be hard, but God can get you out
- 20:17Speaker 1: of all of those situations. And not to mention that
- 20:21Speaker 1: when you die, you have eternal security when you believe
- 20:25Speaker 1: in Jesus. And God gives us other benefits for believing
- 20:29Speaker 1: in him, not necessarily physical benefits like wealth, but he
- 20:34Speaker 1: gives us spiritual benefits like joy and happiness and freedom
- 20:40Speaker 1: and love and patience, things that the world knows is
- 20:44Speaker 1: good and tells everybody else to have. God gives you
- 20:49Speaker 1: those things. So that's why I want to be a Christian,
- 20:53Speaker 1: even if it's going to be difficult. Paul says to Timothy,
- 20:58Speaker 1: you remain in the things which you have learned and
- 21:00Speaker 1: been assured of, knowing from whom you've learned them. From infancy,
- 21:04Speaker 1: you've known the holy scriptures which are able to make
- 21:06Speaker 1: you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
- 21:11Speaker 1: So he tells Timothy, look, you have known the Bible
- 21:14Speaker 1: since you have been an infant, and That shows how
- 21:17Speaker 1: good of a job Timothy's mom and grandmother did. We
- 21:21Speaker 1: talked about that several weeks back, how Timothy had a
- 21:25Speaker 1: believing mother and a believing grandmother as well. He did
- 21:29Speaker 1: not have a believing father, but his mother and grandmother
- 21:32Speaker 1: taught him the scriptures from the time he was a
- 21:35Speaker 1: little infant. And you might be like, how do you
- 21:37Speaker 1: teach an infant the Bible? Well, you don't necessarily quote
- 21:41Speaker 1: the Bible to them and expect them to memorize it.
- 21:44Speaker 1: You teach an infant the Bible by living the principles
- 21:48Speaker 1: of the Bible yourself and instilling those principles in your baby,
- 21:53Speaker 1: and teaching them more and more as they get older.
- 21:55Speaker 1: You know, even though Timothy was a young man, Paul
- 21:58Speaker 1: trusted Timothy as being a pastor of the church because
- 22:04Speaker 1: Timothy knew the Bible from his infancy because of the
- 22:09Speaker 1: good work his mom and his grandmother did. So, he
- 22:13Speaker 1: reminds Timothy, stay steadfast in these things. Remain in them.
- 22:17Speaker 1: You know them. You've been fed this stuff since you
- 22:21Speaker 1: are a tiny baby, So remain in these things that
- 22:24Speaker 1: you have learned. Verse sixteen. Every scripture is God breathed
- 22:28Speaker 1: and profitable, for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for
- 22:32Speaker 1: instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God
- 22:36Speaker 1: may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. So
- 22:39Speaker 1: there you go. The scriptures are all God breathed. Every
- 22:44Speaker 1: scripture from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation.
- 22:48Speaker 1: Those verses were breathed by God. You might say, jen,
- 22:52Speaker 1: but you know men wrote the Bible. Well, yes, but
- 22:54Speaker 1: they were prophets. They wrote the Bible with the prodding
- 22:59Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit telling them what to write. I mean,
- 23:03Speaker 1: for example, we just talked about this not too long
- 23:05Speaker 1: ago on the podcast to last week. We mentioned how
- 23:08Speaker 1: Elijah sent a letter to King Jehorah. But Elijah was
- 23:14Speaker 1: already up in heaven. So how in the world did
- 23:17Speaker 1: a letter arrive from Elijah when he was already up
- 23:20Speaker 1: in heaven. Well, because he was a prophet, and God
- 23:23Speaker 1: told him what to write down beforehand, and then afterward
- 23:28Speaker 1: this letter got sent to King Jehorah. These men that
- 23:32Speaker 1: wrote the Bible were clearly inspired, They were clearly prophets.
- 23:37Speaker 1: You can see that with each and every book we
- 23:39Speaker 1: have gone over so far. For example, the first five
- 23:44Speaker 1: books of the Bible were credited to Moses. Moses was
- 23:49Speaker 1: certainly a prophet. In fact, it says that God and
- 23:53Speaker 1: Moses would talk to each other as friends. God would
- 23:57Speaker 1: go like visit Moses in the tent and like a
- 24:00Speaker 1: hang out with him, as like two friends hang out
- 24:03Speaker 1: with each other. Clearly, Moses was a prophet. And then
- 24:06Speaker 1: the books of the Kings were written by Samuel and
- 24:09Speaker 1: Ezra and the other prophets. We know that they were
- 24:12Speaker 1: in communication with God all the time. So these men, yes,
- 24:16Speaker 1: they were writing it down, but God was dictating what
- 24:20Speaker 1: was to be written down. And here's the thing. If
- 24:22Speaker 1: God is all powerful, like I believe him to be,
- 24:25Speaker 1: like scripture tells us he is, then certainly it's no
- 24:30Speaker 1: big thing for him to preserve his words. So the
- 24:34Speaker 1: Bible is God breathed, or it's inspired by God, and
- 24:39Speaker 1: it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for
- 24:43Speaker 1: instruction in righteousness. It says that each person who belongs
- 24:48Speaker 1: to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
- 24:51Speaker 1: So that's how we become complete and equipped for every
- 24:55Speaker 1: good work. Paul answers it right here. We read the
- 24:58Speaker 1: inspired scriptures we have because they are God breathed. So
- 25:05Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed learning about Second Timothy chapter three.
- 25:09Speaker 1: But of course, before I end today's episode, please take
- 25:11Speaker 1: a listen to a word from a sponsor. I think
- 25:16Speaker 1: the one last thing I'd like to end this episode
- 25:17Speaker 1: with is verse nine. It says they will proceed no further,
- 25:22Speaker 1: for their folly will be evident to all men as
- 25:24Speaker 1: theirs also came to be. I love that verse because
- 25:28Speaker 1: even though it seems like evil people and Charlatan's and
- 25:33Speaker 1: wolves in sheep's clothing are running rampant doing whatever they
- 25:38Speaker 1: want to do, they're not going to succeed for very long.
- 25:41Speaker 1: The truth will always win out. God is always going
- 25:46Speaker 1: to reveal these people as liars, as fraudulent as the
- 25:50Speaker 1: Charlatans that they are, So that's really encouraging. I actually
- 25:54Speaker 1: had a friend tell me not too long ago, and
- 25:56Speaker 1: this cracks me up when she told me this, and
- 25:58Speaker 1: I took this to heart. When people in your church
- 26:01Speaker 1: come in, they seem like they're doing a lot of damage,
- 26:03Speaker 1: and they dislike you, and they treat you really trashy,
- 26:06Speaker 1: you just have to wait them out. And my friend
- 26:08Speaker 1: is like, you know, two years later, I look around
- 26:12Speaker 1: and they're not at the church. Anymore and I am
- 26:14Speaker 1: still there. You wait them out because God is always
- 26:17Speaker 1: going to reveal who these people are, and either those
- 26:21Speaker 1: people will leave the church or hopefully they will turn
- 26:25Speaker 1: away from the bad things that they're doing and come
- 26:27Speaker 1: to repentance and get integrated into your church the proper way.
- 26:31Speaker 1: So if something like that is happening to you, or
- 26:33Speaker 1: someone is mistreating you or seemingly spreading a lot of
- 26:38Speaker 1: garbage in your church, all you have to do is
- 26:42Speaker 1: wait them out. That doesn't mean that you can't leave
- 26:44Speaker 1: the church. Sometimes it is important to protect yourself or
- 26:48Speaker 1: to go to a church that is more biblically sound.
- 26:51Speaker 1: But just know they're not going to get away with
- 26:53Speaker 1: what they are doing forever. Faith Listeners, I hope you
- 26:56Speaker 1: have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. I
- 26:59Speaker 1: will see all of you guys on the podcast tomorrow
- 27:01Speaker 1: because we will be discussing Second Chronicles, chapter twenty three,
- 27:06Speaker 1: I think, and discussing the only female leader in Judah's history,
- 27:11Speaker 1: and spoiler alert, she was not a good person, but
- 27:15Speaker 1: we'll be talking about that tomorrow. Friends and faithful listeners,
- 27:18Speaker 1: have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. Happy
- 27:22Speaker 1: listening and God bless. I just want to take a
- 27:30Speaker 1: second to thank the team at Life Audio for their
- 27:32Speaker 1: partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
- 27:35Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you'll find dozens
- 27:38Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
- 27:41Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.