Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Two Eternal Investments │ Msg 414 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Two Eternal Investments │ Msg 414 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: It just may be that, as you have come into
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Speaker 1: this service of worship today, truth be told, it may
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Speaker 1: not be well with your soul now. The one who
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Speaker 1: wrote that song had just lost four daughters at sea,
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Speaker 1: and his wife made it to England and wrote back
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Speaker 1: to him in Chicago and to tell him that all
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Speaker 1: four daughters were lost and that terrible drowning as a
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Speaker 1: result of the shipwreck. And when he took the next
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Speaker 1: ship over across to be with her and came to
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Speaker 1: the place where the skipper told him this is where
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Speaker 1: it all occurred, and he wrote that song. It's important
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Speaker 1: for all of us to know that when we sing
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Speaker 1: our words, it is just as if we were stam
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Speaker 1: here preaching our words to the Lord. For whatever reason
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Speaker 1: there may be for it not to be well with
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Speaker 1: your soul. It may tie in with a sense of
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Speaker 1: bewilderment or absence from peace that you once did enjoy
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Speaker 1: or you thought you had as a part of your life.
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Speaker 1: It may be that you have found yourself in these
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Speaker 1: recent days at a distance from God, and even though
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Speaker 1: you know he's there, and you know he's created you
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Speaker 1: and brought you to where you are today, you may
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Speaker 1: have never had a sense of closeness with him, and
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Speaker 1: for that reason it may not be well with your soul.
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Speaker 1: When you know the story behind the song, you realize
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Speaker 1: that things don't have to be free of grief or
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Speaker 1: free of difficulty for that to be well with your soul,
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Speaker 1: but thinks have to be right between you and the Savior,
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. We're engaged in a study of Paul's last words.
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Speaker 1: They happen to have been written to a younger man
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Speaker 1: about thirty five forty years of age named Timothy. This
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Speaker 1: is his second and final letter to Timothy. These are,
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Speaker 1: in fact Paul's final words in recorded form, and because
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Speaker 1: of that they are especially meaningful to all of us.
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Speaker 1: I'll be reading for you Verses thirteen through eighteen of
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Speaker 1: the first chapter. Though the man is writing from a dungeon,
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Speaker 1: it is well with his soul, and he writes to
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Speaker 1: remind us of the two things that are eternal, eternal
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Speaker 1: in life, worth our investment. We love our Lord, and
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Speaker 1: we love his word. And because it is well with
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Speaker 1: our souls before him, we stand before him as we
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Speaker 1: hear the reading of the scriptures today two Timothy, Chapter one,
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Speaker 1: verse thirteen retain the standard of sound words which you
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Speaker 1: have heard from me. In the faith and love which
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Speaker 1: are in Christ, Jesus guard through the Holy Spirit who
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Speaker 1: dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.
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Speaker 1: You are aware of the fact that all who are
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Speaker 1: in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Fajealous
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Speaker 1: and Homogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onocephorus,
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Speaker 1: for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of
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Speaker 1: my chain. But when he was in Rome, he eagerly
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Speaker 1: searched for me and found me. The Lord granted him
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Speaker 1: to find mercy from the Lord on that day, and
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Speaker 1: you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.
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Speaker 1: Words written by a man in the dark cell, perhaps
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Speaker 1: late one night under torchlight, preserved for us to this
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Speaker 1: day you may be seated. Father, Thank you today for
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Speaker 1: your goodness that is always a part of the pleasure
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Speaker 1: of your company. Thank you for your massive arms that
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Speaker 1: reach around us, not only in our days of celebration
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Speaker 1: and delight, but in the days of mourning and loss,
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Speaker 1: in days when the future seems bright, in days when
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Speaker 1: it seems cloudy, overcast, and dark. Thank you for reaching
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Speaker 1: our souls with your truth, for getting beyond just the intellect,
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Speaker 1: and touching our hearts and moving them with compassion over
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Speaker 1: those who can't keep up. Thank you for those people
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Speaker 1: you bring into our lives that make eternal investments in us,
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Speaker 1: and for that contribution which goes with us the rest
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Speaker 1: of our days. Close. Timothy must have held this letter
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Speaker 1: to his own chest as he read it and wept.
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Speaker 1: May we see the value of words on this page,
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Speaker 1: and beyond that, may we see the value of truth
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Speaker 1: for our times touch us, move us to decisions that
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Speaker 1: are compelling and long overde that will make us more
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Speaker 1: like Christ. And even as Joseph was changed from what
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Speaker 1: would have been bitterness and blame to a life of
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Speaker 1: forgiveness and grace, remind us Lord that even though others
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Speaker 1: mean it for evil, you mean it for good, for
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Speaker 1: good which causes all things to work together for good
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Speaker 1: to those who love you. Drill that into our hearts
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Speaker 1: today as we give our gifts, as we hear these
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Speaker 1: words from this song, maybe be moved deeply in our souls.
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Speaker 1: These gifts are yours, and first you have our hearts,
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Speaker 1: and we give them gratefully, joyfully and generously in the
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Speaker 1: name of Jesus and everyone said Amen. For the next
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Speaker 1: few moments, I want to invite you to a place
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Speaker 1: you've never been before. I want you to imagine what
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Speaker 1: it would be like to be there. I want you
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Speaker 1: to imagine yourself captive in a dungeon. Your captors have
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Speaker 1: the power of life and death. They can torture you,
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Speaker 1: they can kill you, they can interrogate you. There's no
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Speaker 1: way you can escape. It's almost impossible to imagine ourselves
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Speaker 1: in such a setting. But until we do, we'll not
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Speaker 1: really appreciate the way Paul writes what he does and
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Speaker 1: how he says what he says in this last letter
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Speaker 1: that ever came from his hand. While I was away
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Speaker 1: on a time of vacation. Recently I looked over again
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Speaker 1: the wonderful book by Congressman Sam Johnson titled Captive Warriors.
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Speaker 1: Long before Sam Johnson was a congressman, he was a
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Speaker 1: fighter pilot flying missions over enemy territory among the Viet Cong.
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Speaker 1: He was shot down. Amazingly, he parachuted to safety, but
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Speaker 1: not for very long. His captors found him, and the
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Speaker 1: torturing began and continued for the better part of seven years.
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Speaker 1: While in various places, living on rats and roaches and
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Speaker 1: lizards and spiders for the only protein he could take in.
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Speaker 1: He survived. The fingers of his hands were broken, bones
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Speaker 1: of his body broken in the torturing experiences of interrogation,
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Speaker 1: and he never broke. He remains, in my mind and
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Speaker 1: many of our minds, a true hero. You owe it
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Speaker 1: to yourself to read his story. He will help you
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Speaker 1: identify with life in a dungeon, a cell on occasion
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Speaker 1: not long enough for him to stretch out in. I
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Speaker 1: wrote from sections of his book, Malnutrition, filth, and grossly
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Speaker 1: inadequate conditions finally took their toll. No part of my
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Speaker 1: body was spared the huge hot boils. Every movement was painful.
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Speaker 1: The rough, coarse fabric of my prison clothes scratched and irritated.
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Speaker 1: The oozing sores. I wondered if I might die. I
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Speaker 1: was starving. Listlessness and depression hung on me. I had
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Speaker 1: no energy. I estimated that I had dropped from about
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Speaker 1: one hundred and ninety pounds to one hundred and thirty pounds.
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Speaker 1: I was more a skeleton than a man. Had to
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Speaker 1: fight to retain my sanity. I struggled to think. Cohesive thoughts,
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Speaker 1: memories became all absorbing. In that dark cave of a cell,
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Speaker 1: surrounded by the stench of death. The present was unbearable,
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Speaker 1: the future almost unthinkable. Only the past had meaning. I
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Speaker 1: brooded on memories. I was amazed at what the mind
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Speaker 1: could retain after years of storage. I remembered Bible stories
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Speaker 1: from Sunday School. Songs and verses I hadn't heard since
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Speaker 1: grade school came back to me with perfect clarity. I
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Speaker 1: was able to picture in living color toys I had
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Speaker 1: played with at three and four years old. Family Members
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Speaker 1: I hadn't seen in more than three decades came rushing
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Speaker 1: back to my memory. Sometimes I wondered if I really
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Speaker 1: was the child I saw in those images. I turned
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Speaker 1: my attention toward God. I still talk freely to him.
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Speaker 1: I knew with certainty that He was present in the darkness,
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Speaker 1: in that dark, cramped closet of a cell. He listened
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Speaker 1: when I prayed this, I know without a doubt he
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Speaker 1: answered me. When Bible stories and verses of comfort came
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Speaker 1: into my thoughts, I knew he placed them there. I
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Speaker 1: was comforted and encouraged, and I began to know my
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Speaker 1: creator in a way I had never known him before.
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Speaker 1: I now know in retrospect that God's intimate interaction with
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Speaker 1: me strengthened me and built my faith so that I
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Speaker 1: would be able to trust Him in the darkness of
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Speaker 1: the terrible days that still lay ahead from me. It's
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Speaker 1: almost impossible for you, you and me, sitting in a
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Speaker 1: comfortable place like this, with more than enough to eat
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Speaker 1: for breakfast, lunch, and supper and meals in between, with
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Speaker 1: a car to drive and freedom to enjoy. It's almost
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Speaker 1: impossible for us to enter into a world that is
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Speaker 1: reduced to a soul not long enough to stretch out
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Speaker 1: in for months and years and years. That's life and
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Speaker 1: a dungeon. Not a word of bitterness or blame, not
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Speaker 1: a lingering complaint. You know the man today. He's a
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Speaker 1: man of joy and great humor and delight, but deep,
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Speaker 1: deep convictions regarding the sustaining of our liberties which are
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Speaker 1: rapidly being taken from us, and the power of Jesus
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Speaker 1: Christ at work in a life the crucible will bring
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Speaker 1: the greatness out of us, and so it did in
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Speaker 1: the life of the apostle Paul. Not a word of
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Speaker 1: bitterness or blame, not a complaint. In fact, frequently we
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Speaker 1: will read words of gratitude and joy even praise to
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Speaker 1: his God as Shulshan eats, and put on one occasion,
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Speaker 1: thank you prison for having been in my life. What
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Speaker 1: a treasure. This second letter is the last letter Paul
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Speaker 1: ever wrote. For all we know, only hours after the
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Speaker 1: final stroke of the stylus, he heard the bootsteps above him,
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Speaker 1: and the whole is opened, and they drag him up
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Speaker 1: out of the dungeon and take him to the Austrian
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Speaker 1: Way where his head would be severed from his body.
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Speaker 1: Final words two Timothy, no wonder. Bishop Mule said, on
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Speaker 1: one occasion, I can scarcely read these words without a
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Speaker 1: mist forming over my eyes. You remember where we've been
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Speaker 1: in these past number of days together. In the letter
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Speaker 1: a brief review, I've given you an outline to follow.
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Speaker 1: You'll find in your worship folder. You may wish to
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Speaker 1: turn to that now and fill it in as we
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Speaker 1: work our way through this. But do not forget these
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Speaker 1: are words of a man and a dungeon. Easy to
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Speaker 1: forget that, because they are words of uplifting value and courage.
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Speaker 1: A There's not a reluctant bone in Paul's body. He
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Speaker 1: is contagious with enthusiasm. As he had the torch still
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Speaker 1: flaming to Timothy, the younger man you read in verse one.
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Speaker 1: This is from Paul an apostle verse two to Timothy.
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Speaker 1: He writes directly to Timothy, my beloved son, Grace, mercy,
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Speaker 1: peace from God our Father, not heartache, misery. What a
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Speaker 1: dreadful circumstance in which I find myself. It's grace, mercy
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Speaker 1: and peace all the way through the letter. How closely
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Speaker 1: Timothy must have clutched the letter when he received it.
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Speaker 1: How many times he must have read it over and
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Speaker 1: over again. This is followed by his thanking the Lord
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Speaker 1: whom he served with a clear conscience verse three, the
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Speaker 1: way his forefathers had done. See how his memory going
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Speaker 1: back to those days yet passed. He said verse four,
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Speaker 1: I long to see you even as I recall your tears,
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Speaker 1: that I may be filled with joy. I remember them, Timothy.
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Speaker 1: That happens when you're in a dungeon. That happens when
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Speaker 1: you know you'll never escape. You're lost in the memory
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Speaker 1: of the way things were. He will say. Before the
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Speaker 1: end of the letter, come before winter, I long to
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Speaker 1: be with you again. Lonely he must have felt, and he,
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Speaker 1: like Congressman Johnson, is brooding with memories. As he comes
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Speaker 1: to verse five, I'm mindful of your own roots, the
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Speaker 1: sincere faith within you that first welt in your grandmother
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Speaker 1: Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I'm sure is
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Speaker 1: in you as well. For this reason, I remind you, Timothy,
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Speaker 1: rekindle the gift of God which is in you through
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Speaker 1: the laying on of hands. And Timothy, do not let
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Speaker 1: your temperament guide your ministry, because God has not given
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Speaker 1: us a spirit of timidity, but a power and love
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Speaker 1: and discipline. Timothy, step up, as we say today, man up,
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Speaker 1: Step into it, Timothy, don't hold back. My life has
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Speaker 1: been spent. I finished the course. I've kept the faith.
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Speaker 1: Here's the torch. Run with it, don't drop it, don't
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Speaker 1: extinguish it. No wonder, he says in verses eight through twelve,
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Speaker 1: not to be unashamed, not to be unafraid, but to
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Speaker 1: be courageous, because God is able to guard what we
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Speaker 1: have entrusted to him. The end of verse twelve reads,
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Speaker 1: and he will do that till the day we stand
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Speaker 1: before him. Now it's in that context. Can you believe
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Speaker 1: it's written from a dungeon? I mean, you would think
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Speaker 1: he's sitting in a high rise apartment with ease all
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Speaker 1: around him. On the contrary, these are his last words,
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Speaker 1: But that explains the passion with which he writes. Now,
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Speaker 1: let me say this before I go any further into
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Speaker 1: verses thirteen to eighteen. There are only two things on
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Speaker 1: this earth that are returns. Only two things. The first
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Speaker 1: is God's Word. The truth of the Holy Scriptures is eternal.
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Speaker 1: It will go with us all the way through eternity
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Speaker 1: Azia forty verse eight. The grass withers, the flower fades,
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Speaker 1: but the word of our God will what it will
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Speaker 1: live forever, writes the prophet. Matthew adds these words from Jesus.
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Speaker 1: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will
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Speaker 1: never pass away. God's Word is eternal. When we are
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Speaker 1: in the heaven of heavens, and when we are with
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Speaker 1: our Savior, we will see evidences of the Word of God.
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Speaker 1: We will hear the Word of God again proclaimed by
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Speaker 1: the one of whom it speaks. How marvelous will that be.
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Speaker 1: Please do not think heaven will be a great big
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Speaker 1: Bible class. We will sit around learning things. You'll already
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Speaker 1: know the things that are to be learned on this earth.
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Speaker 1: You will know it as we are known now, so
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Speaker 1: the truth will unfold, and we will hear and see
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Speaker 1: the witness of the promises fulfilled. All of that will
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Speaker 1: be ours. Because God's word is eternal. The whole point
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Speaker 1: of Paul in the next section is treated with sacred care.
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Speaker 1: It is eternal, Timothy. Now. The second that is eternal
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Speaker 1: is people. People. People have eternal souls. Second Peter three
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Speaker 1: ten tells us everything on this earth will be burned up,
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Speaker 1: except you can count on it. God's word will not
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Speaker 1: be destroyed and obliterated, and the eternal souls of people
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Speaker 1: will never become temporary. Think of it like this. Everyone
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Speaker 1: has eternal life. Everyone has eternal life. Some will spend
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Speaker 1: it with the Living Lord because of their relationship with Christ.
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Speaker 1: Others apart from God, in a place of eternal punishment,
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Speaker 1: away from all the bliss and blessings we will know
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Speaker 1: in heaven. But we all have eternal life. We're all eternal.
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Speaker 1: Every person you talk to has an eternal soul. That
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Speaker 1: includes your teenager, That includes your little kiddos, That includes
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Speaker 1: people that turn against you, as we'll read of in
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Speaker 1: a moment. That includes those who are best friends and
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Speaker 1: those who are your worst enemies. Who know the Savior.
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Speaker 1: They're eternal. It'll do something to you when you realize
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Speaker 1: that both are eternal investments. I love reminding the men
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Speaker 1: and women at seminary when I have the privilege of
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Speaker 1: speaking there, that you are preparing for a lifetime of
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Speaker 1: working in the realm of the two things that are eternal.
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Speaker 1: You will be spending your time in the Word of God,
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Speaker 1: teaching it, preaching it, living it out. And you will
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Speaker 1: spend your time with people, all of whom are eternal.
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Speaker 1: I'm not surprised Paul would write Timothy about both. In
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Speaker 1: verses thirteen and fourteen, he addresses the eternal word of God.
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Speaker 1: In verses fifteen to eighteen, he addresses the eternal souls
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Speaker 1: of people. Let's look at both. First, is the passionate
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Speaker 1: charge regarding the truth. Okay, here we go thirteen. Timothy,
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Speaker 1: retain the standard of sound words which you have heard
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Speaker 1: from me in the faith and love which are in
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. Timothy, use the words that I have taught
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Speaker 1: you as a pattern for your life. The whole idea
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Speaker 1: of retaining is the thought of making a pattern out
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Speaker 1: of something. Pattern your life according to these words. See
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Speaker 1: the words sound sound words retain the standard of sound words.
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Speaker 1: It's the word for healthy, wholesome. I've invested in you,
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Speaker 1: the the wholesome, healthy word of God. Follow what I've
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Speaker 1: taught you, carry it out as I have taught you
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Speaker 1: the truths of the scriptures. These words, these truths are
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Speaker 1: to be claimed by faith, and they are to be
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Speaker 1: modeled in love. Timothy, go there. You heard them from me,
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Speaker 1: and now they are yours to live out. Before I
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Speaker 1: go to the next one, pause for a moment at
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Speaker 1: this point of retaining the standard. By God's grace, each
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Speaker 1: one of us has known other individuals who have been
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Speaker 1: our palls. Stop and think in your own life, and
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Speaker 1: I'll do that in mind. Perhaps it was a believing
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Speaker 1: coach and you were playing on the team, and that
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Speaker 1: coach was the one who aroused your interest in spiritual
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Speaker 1: things and led you to a deeper walk with Christ.
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Speaker 1: Maybe it was a former pastor or a current pastor.
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Speaker 1: It may have been a neighbor who who introduced you
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Speaker 1: to Christ, and the result was a relationship that began
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Speaker 1: to grow and you had a whole new vista of
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Speaker 1: truth open before your eyes. In my case, the first
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Speaker 1: one for me was my mother who loved Christ long
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Speaker 1: before I did, and walked with him, and my father
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Speaker 1: ultimately walking with the Lord as well. And a brother
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Speaker 1: and a sister who loved the Lord Jesus Christ. What
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Speaker 1: a heritage is mine. It may be a mentor, it
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Speaker 1: may be a professor, a teacher you had at school,
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Speaker 1: someone was your Paul. Every once in a while it's
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Speaker 1: nicest to pause from the pace of life and reflect
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Speaker 1: back on that individual or those few individuals that invested
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Speaker 1: the truth in you. What an eternal investment. Just think
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Speaker 1: of what they taught you. Remember the truths, the techniques
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Speaker 1: they passed along, the arrangement, the comfort, the time they
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Speaker 1: spent building into your life. I'm grateful for each one,
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Speaker 1: and in my case you would honestly know very few
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Speaker 1: of them. But they have all invested in me, and
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Speaker 1: hardly a day passes I don't thank the Lord for
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Speaker 1: one or more of them. Paul is saying, Timothy, I've
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Speaker 1: invested in your life. Now retain the standard of sound words,
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Speaker 1: carry out the plan, model them in grace and in faith.
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Speaker 1: Now look at the next guard, the treasure see verse fourteen.
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Speaker 1: There are a lot of words between guard and the treasure.
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Speaker 1: So let's look past them right now. Verse fourteen begins
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Speaker 1: guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure.
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Speaker 1: There you have the sentence guard the treasure. For a moment,
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Speaker 1: focus on the word guard. Since we're talking about eternal truth,
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Speaker 1: we need to understand what it means to guard it.
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Speaker 1: This term fulasso is a funny sounding Greek verb fulasso.
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Speaker 2: It really means to protect by taking careful measures to
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Speaker 2: guard something so that it is neither lost nor damaged.
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Speaker 1: Protect is a good synonym protect the treasure. It's a treasure.
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Speaker 1: In fact, the treasure has been entrusted to you. See
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Speaker 1: the word in trust. It's the word for deposit, a
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Speaker 1: deposit committed to someone's trust. When you place your check
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Speaker 1: at the bank, you deposit your check into the trust
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Speaker 1: of those who will hold it in your account. You
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Speaker 1: entrust to them your money. They hold it for you.
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Speaker 1: In this case, it's an eternal treasure that has been
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Speaker 1: entrusted to you. The Greeks had a wonderful word for
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Speaker 1: this treasure. It was a parathaka. Big word that has
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Speaker 1: in mind in the ancient world the sacred duty of
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Speaker 1: safeguarding a deposit so that when it is in need
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Speaker 1: of being returned. All of it is returned exactly as
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Speaker 1: it was deposited. One man writes, in the ancient world,
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Speaker 1: there was no more sacred duty than the safeguarding of
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Speaker 1: such a deposit and the returning of it when in
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Speaker 1: due time it was claimed. Or Are you a teacher
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Speaker 1: of the truth? Let me change it. Are you a
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Speaker 1: preacher of God's word as you hear my words today?
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Speaker 1: Are you a person who speaks at conferences and helps
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Speaker 1: people grasp spiritual things? Are you a musician who sings
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Speaker 1: songs of the faith. Are you a counselor who takes
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Speaker 1: the word of God and invests that treasure in the
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Speaker 1: ears and hearts of those who need to hear them.
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Speaker 1: Whatever may be the category, my words to you are
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Speaker 1: very simple. Guard the trust. Be careful that you treat
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Speaker 1: the Word with clarity and with respect. Make sure that
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Speaker 1: in your life and lifetime you are faithful to guard
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Speaker 1: the treasure through the power of the Holy Spirit which
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Speaker 1: has been deposited in you. Thank God for the deposit,
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Speaker 1: and thank God for your presence as you guard that
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Speaker 1: treasure and make it known. It is easy, when we
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Speaker 1: traffic in spiritual things to begin to think of the
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Speaker 1: scriptures almost in a perfunctory manner. Never let that happen
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Speaker 1: to you. Never let that occur. And I will tell
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Speaker 1: you this. If you become a person who is drenched
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Speaker 1: in the scriptures, who is passionate about the scriptures, who
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Speaker 1: is faithful to guard the scriptures and retain the standard,
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Speaker 1: you will become contagious. People will love to be in
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Speaker 1: your presence because they long for truth. Clarence Edward McCartney
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Speaker 1: relates the true story of those days when George Whitfield
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Speaker 1: and the Days of the Great Awakening, was getting the
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Speaker 1: people of Edinburgh out of their beds at five o'clock
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Speaker 1: in the morning to hear his preaching. Listen to this.
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Speaker 1: A man on his way to the Tibernacle to hear
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Speaker 1: Whitfield that morning, met David Hume, the Scottish philosopher and skeptic.
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Speaker 1: He was surprised to see Hume in the darkness on
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Speaker 1: his way to the chapel to hear Whitfield. I'm surprised
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Speaker 1: to see him on his way to hear Whitfield. The
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Speaker 1: man said to him, I thought you I did not
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Speaker 1: believe in the Gospel. Hume replied, I don't, but he does,
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Speaker 1: and I can't stay away. That is the truth. There's
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Speaker 1: something about a hungry sheep that will draw them to
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Speaker 1: the good word of God. People long for songs that
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Speaker 1: remind them of the truths of the scriptures. People love
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Speaker 1: it when we take the scriptures and break it down
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Speaker 1: into practical terms so they can understand how those words
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Speaker 1: relate to their lives. So they've been entrusted to you,
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Speaker 1: and I urge you to be a good model, a
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Speaker 1: contagious model of one who guards the scriptures, guards the treasure.
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Speaker 1: I hope you will always know at Stonebrier Community Church
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Speaker 1: that the Word of God will continue to be highlighted
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Speaker 1: and emphasized and taught and believed. We stand firmly upon
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Speaker 1: we guide our ministry by it. And interestingly, we live
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Speaker 1: in a day when that is becoming a rarity. And
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Speaker 1: I say that with a sigh. In my almost fifty
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Speaker 1: years in ministry, I've watched the erosion and nothing breaks
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Speaker 1: my heart like that. Once strong churches no longer strong,
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Speaker 1: once powerful preachers now weakened because they bought into the
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Speaker 1: culture that doesn't guard the eternal treasure of God's Word.
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Speaker 1: Pray that I will never lose the passion. Pray that
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Speaker 1: our teachers will be forever good models of that contagion
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Speaker 1: I mentioned a few minutes ago. Now, without announcing a
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Speaker 1: change of subject, Paul slips into the other eternal investment
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Speaker 1: in verse fifteen as he turns to people, and he
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Speaker 1: offers a realistic reminder regarding people. Remember those two things
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Speaker 1: on a returnal God's word verses thirteen and fourteen and
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Speaker 1: people fifteen to eighteen. And in this case he gives
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Speaker 1: us people in two categories. Two categories first, those who
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Speaker 1: disappoint us, in Paul's case, those who disappointed him. Listen
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Speaker 1: to verse fifteen. You are aware of the fact that
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Speaker 1: all who are in Asia turned away from me. Hold
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Speaker 1: your place right here, and look at chapter four, verse sixteen.
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Speaker 1: At my first defense, no one supported me, but all
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Speaker 1: deserted me. May it not be counted against them? Isn't
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Speaker 1: that a gracious statement he makes? May it not be
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Speaker 1: counted against them? Not everyone stayed with me and supported me,
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Speaker 1: but in my first defense no one did. Now back
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Speaker 1: to chapter one, verse fifteen. All who are in Asia, Now,
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Speaker 1: let's give Paul a little slack here. Okay, he's in
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Speaker 1: a dungeon. Surely not all deserted him. Timothy hadn't, and
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Speaker 1: he's in Asia. The next man we'll read about in
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Speaker 1: verse sixteen hadn't and on Acipherus for was from Ephesus,
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Speaker 1: so he has a few. But the point is many
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Speaker 1: you are aware of the fact, and the Greek says
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Speaker 1: you know this, Timothy, You know this. Timothy and Paul
33:36
Speaker 1: were close. When you're close to someone, you know the
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Speaker 1: people who have given them grief are broken their hearts
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Speaker 1: or disappointed them. Timothy, you remember the situation among whom
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Speaker 1: are Fagellous and Hermogenes. Wouldn't you like to know more
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Speaker 1: about Fagellous and Homogenes since they're singled out here as
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Speaker 1: people who walked away from Paul. Well, so would everybody else,
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Speaker 1: because this is all we know. There's nothing more found
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Speaker 1: anywhere in the scriptures, nothing anywhere else, so we're left
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Speaker 1: to the imagination of preachers, and that is a scary,
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Speaker 1: scary thought. So imagine with me who they were. Why
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Speaker 1: would he single these two out of many? Maybe these
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Speaker 1: were two who had earlier said to Paul, even though
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Speaker 1: all the others may walk away from you, I'm going
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Speaker 1: to be with you to the end, just like Peter
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Speaker 1: said to his master, and then they walked away. Could
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Speaker 1: it be that these two led a number of other
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Speaker 1: people to walk away and to encourage them, influence them
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Speaker 1: to leave. And Paul remembers them by name because they
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Speaker 1: were the ring leaders of a group who walked out
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Speaker 1: when Paul was standing fast and standing alone. There's a
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Speaker 1: sting in the words they all turned away from me.
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Speaker 1: And you had that happen in your life, if you've
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Speaker 1: lived very long, you have, surely you have. Ah It's
35:11
Speaker 1: noteworthy that Paul doesn't mention any of the details of
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Speaker 1: their deserting him. Nice of him not to tell the
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Speaker 1: specifics about how Homogenes and Fagelous walked away. The man
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Speaker 1: who wrote a biography on John Calvin tells a moving
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Speaker 1: account in his life. He writes, John Calvin experienced similar
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Speaker 1: hurts when he was expelled from Geneva, abandoned by once
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Speaker 1: loyal friends. He later remarked that such deserters invariably became accusers.
35:49
Speaker 1: It's an interesting line. Deserters invariably became accusers, who wandered
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Speaker 1: through the streets of France to a establish their own
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Speaker 1: innocence by directing against us all the accusations they can
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Speaker 1: So what happens among those who choose to no longer
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Speaker 1: walk with us. Often those who walk away become accusers.
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Speaker 1: I love it that Paul doesn't spend a lot of
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Speaker 1: time defending himself. It's almost as if he's to say,
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Speaker 1: after all, he's in a dungeon, he's going to die soon.
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Speaker 1: He says, that'll all be left up to the Lord
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Speaker 1: to take care of that account. It's a good time
36:35
Speaker 1: for me to add that not all who walk away
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Speaker 1: are heretics. Be careful about judging those who break fellowship
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Speaker 1: with you and putting them in a category they don't deserve.
36:49
Speaker 1: They simply don't agree with you anymore. They don't wish
36:53
Speaker 1: to follow your leadership or be under your teaching. Every
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Speaker 1: pastor needs to remember these words. Even Paul had Fajealous
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Speaker 1: and Homogenes to mention. By the way, it also doesn't mean,
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Speaker 1: even though they are eternal in their souls, that they
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Speaker 1: cannot be carnal. Some of them act out, and carnality
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Speaker 1: is this biographer rights of Calvin. The point is stay
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Speaker 1: objective as best you can. For a while. You'll lick
37:28
Speaker 1: your wounds, but then you'll get over it. Time will
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Speaker 1: go on, You'll recover. Paul names them here for a
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Speaker 1: reason that's not set forth, and then he goes quickly
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Speaker 1: to the next man. And this would be the category
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Speaker 1: of those who refresh us. This is one of my
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Speaker 1: favorite people in all the Bible. First of all, I
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Speaker 1: respect it because he lived with a name like Onacipherus.
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Speaker 1: By the way, don't name your son Onocipherus, or while
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Speaker 1: I'm at it, Fagellous or hormog are not good names
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Speaker 1: to tag on your son. You need to take care
38:04
Speaker 1: of what you name your kids, because you can say, well,
38:07
Speaker 1: you're in the Bible. But look, look, honestly, Onnocipherus looks
38:11
Speaker 1: like a misprint. Look at the name. The Lord grant
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Speaker 1: mercy to the house of Ona Sipherus. Could anything good
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Speaker 1: come out of a life named Onocipherus. As a matter
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Speaker 1: of fact, while we have a little fun with him,
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Speaker 1: he's dripping with goodness, which says you cannot tell a
38:28
Speaker 1: lot by a name. Look at what he says of Onacipherus.
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Speaker 1: He often refreshed me a fetter love. That at the
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Speaker 1: very heart of the word translated refreshed is the English
38:44
Speaker 1: word soul, so oul. His refreshment was like fresh water
38:52
Speaker 1: to my soul. He was a soul refreshing man. This Onocipherus.
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Speaker 1: Look at what else it says, he was not ashamed
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Speaker 1: of my chains. Was easy to be that in those days.
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Speaker 1: When Nero put you in chains and locked you in
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Speaker 1: stocks and dropped you in a dungeon, you're a marked
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Speaker 1: man when Nero gives you the thumbs down death is near.
39:23
Speaker 1: And if you're a friend of one who is now
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Speaker 1: in the dungeon, you are a marked person for being
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Speaker 1: near them and spending time with them, which gives on
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Speaker 1: Aocipherous even greater character. Because he wasn't ashamed of Paul's chains,
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Speaker 1: we'll come back to that in a moment. There's a
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Speaker 1: sermon in that that I don't want you to miss.
39:47
Speaker 1: He doesn't stop there, Verse seventeen. When he was in Rome,
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Speaker 1: he eagerly searched for me and found me. Remember what
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Speaker 1: I told you months ago that are really weeks now,
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Speaker 1: that Paul was in the Memortime dungeon in Rome not
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Speaker 1: easy to find, even for tourists today. Only a few
40:11
Speaker 1: guides can lead you to it. But if you go
40:14
Speaker 1: to Rome, you must visit the mammertime. In those days,
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Speaker 1: it must have been a labyrintha prisms, and an ugly,
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Speaker 1: horrible place of filth, foul smelling, sewer like conditions where
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Speaker 1: they lived on rats and roaches and lizards and spiders.
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Speaker 1: But o Nisipherus found me. Can't you picture his coming.
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Speaker 3: And Paul, Paul, it's me again, maybe dropping a hot dog,
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Speaker 3: maybe maybe a little bag of water.
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Speaker 1: It's for you, Paul. I love you, man. Life isn't
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Speaker 1: the same without you, Paul, Lord grant mercy to the
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Speaker 1: house of Ancypherus. He refreshed me in my soul. He
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Speaker 1: wasn't ashamed of my chains, and he often eagerly search
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Speaker 1: for me, and he found me. He repeats, the Lord
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Speaker 1: grant mercy to that man on that day. And you
41:38
Speaker 1: know very well what services he rendered at Ephesis. He
41:41
Speaker 1: wasn't just chumming up to Paul. He did that as
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Speaker 1: a regular part of his life. Do I look into
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Speaker 1: the face of an Onnocipherus today, I think, so you
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Speaker 1: have an aging parent who can't give much now because
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Speaker 1: she's given much more than she gave when she was younger.
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Speaker 1: She can't do that anymore. Or maybe a dad who
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Speaker 1: soils himself and there's no one to care for him.
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Speaker 1: Some one with a congenital disease they can't help. Rousseau
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Speaker 1: tells a moving story in one of his brief accounts
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Speaker 1: of how he was a friend with a man who
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Speaker 1: was an epileptic, and he was on the streets of
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Speaker 1: France when suddenly the epileptic friend had a seizure and
42:34
Speaker 1: he twisted and turned and dropped to the street, and
42:38
Speaker 1: Rousseau says he ran and hid. He was ashamed to
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Speaker 1: be near him, and he said, I lived with regret
42:44
Speaker 1: to this last day of my life that I wasn't
42:47
Speaker 1: near my friend when he needed me the most honest
42:52
Speaker 1: a count. You have a friend in prison. You haven't
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Speaker 1: forgotten him, have you? Or her? You have someone that
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Speaker 1: just I don't know, just hard to love. You have
43:11
Speaker 1: to work real hard to love. You still love them,
43:15
Speaker 1: don't you? For years I've loved the writings of Alexander White,
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Speaker 1: Scottish pastor for forty seven years at the Free Church
43:25
Speaker 1: in Edinburgh. Listen to what he says about Onocipherus. Paul
43:33
Speaker 1: might be the greatest of the apostles to Onosipherus, and
43:36
Speaker 1: he may be all that and far more than all
43:39
Speaker 1: that to you and to me, But he was only
43:41
Speaker 1: number so, and so to the soldiers of his day,
43:46
Speaker 1: you would not have known Paul from any incognizable convict
43:51
Speaker 1: in our own penal settlements. Paul was simply number five,
43:56
Speaker 1: or number fifty, or number five hundred, or some such number.
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Speaker 1: From one barrack prison therefore to another Onocipherus went about
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Speaker 1: seeking for Paul day after day, week after week, often insulted,
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Speaker 1: often threatened, often ill used, often arrested, and detained, till
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Speaker 1: he was set free again, only after great suffering and
44:19
Speaker 1: great expense, till at last his arms were around Paul's neck,
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Speaker 1: and the two old men were kissing one another and weeping,
44:30
Speaker 1: to the amazement of all the prisoners who saw the scene.
44:34
Speaker 1: Noble hearted on a cypherus, we bowed down before thee.
44:43
Speaker 1: My heart skipped a beat while I was away. And
44:46
Speaker 1: the wonderful project that our church was involved in for
44:50
Speaker 1: a number of months was finished. Roy Williamson sort of
44:55
Speaker 1: led the pack for that, And Roy and his team
44:58
Speaker 1: of workers men and women are alone like, had built
45:01
Speaker 1: this house from the ground up, And then it had
45:03
Speaker 1: been moved to a little plot of land, and the
45:06
Speaker 1: house was made available to a single parent and her children,
45:12
Speaker 1: and that day came when they were able to stand
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Speaker 1: there with her, and they took the key and they
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Speaker 1: handed it towards her house. Noble hearted own a sypherus.
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Speaker 1: We salute you. If you were on that project, we
45:31
Speaker 1: salute you. That is Christianity at its best, at its best,
45:40
Speaker 1: when the truth of Christ comes into the life and
45:43
Speaker 1: it moves us to compassion. Take time when you go
45:47
Speaker 1: by those in wheelchairs and lean over and put your
45:50
Speaker 1: arm around them and thank them for staying at it,
45:54
Speaker 1: and then look into the eyes of the one pushing
45:56
Speaker 1: their chair and thank them, thank them for their thankless role.
46:05
Speaker 1: I may have told some of you in my experience
46:07
Speaker 1: with Johnny ericson Tata, who, by the way, recently is
46:12
Speaker 1: turning sixty, very unusual for her quadriplegic to reach that age.
46:18
Speaker 1: We all love her. She's everybody's hero, certainly mine. I
46:23
Speaker 1: was sitting at a table with her, and her assistant
46:25
Speaker 1: had to be called away for a phone call, so
46:29
Speaker 1: I was there alone with Johnny, and they served our
46:31
Speaker 1: meal at the restaurant, and I picked up my fork
46:35
Speaker 1: and knife and started to cut my food, and she
46:38
Speaker 1: looked at me and she said chuck. I said, yeah.
46:41
Speaker 1: She said, would you feed me? Oh? Man, would I feed?
46:53
Speaker 1: I would do anything for you. Johnny ericson Tata. They
47:00
Speaker 1: can't even feed themselves if we go through two Timothy,
47:13
Speaker 1: But it doesn't go through us. We've spent our time
47:15
Speaker 1: in vain. You have the truths laid before you. Regularly
47:24
Speaker 1: are the recipients of a treasure. Retain it, guard it.
47:32
Speaker 1: I urge you, who handle the word in whatever manner,
47:36
Speaker 1: stand firm on it, never apologize for it, speak it
47:42
Speaker 1: openly and freely and courageously. You may be the only
47:46
Speaker 1: one in your office who has a love for Christ Jesus.
47:51
Speaker 1: Don't keep it to yourself, only one on the team
47:57
Speaker 1: that may no one love the Lord. Oh, don't be
48:01
Speaker 1: afraid to let the teammates know it. It comes out
48:06
Speaker 1: in your life, of course, But this is talking about
48:09
Speaker 1: guarding it and retaining it deliberately. And you, who work
48:13
Speaker 1: with people, I urge you to see the value in them.
48:17
Speaker 1: May I add even fad, jealous and Homogenes who no
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Speaker 1: longer walk with you. It's okay. It's okay. The answer
48:29
Speaker 1: for their lives, just as you must answer for yours.
48:32
Speaker 1: It's a great moment in my time away that I
48:35
Speaker 1: released feelings of hurt and pain that have come over
48:39
Speaker 1: the years from people who've walked away, and I realized
48:45
Speaker 1: that it's okay. Lord knows, he knows each one, and
48:53
Speaker 1: he will take care of whatever needs to be done.
48:57
Speaker 1: He certainly knows what needs to be done in my
48:59
Speaker 1: own life as a result of the pain that brings.
49:03
Speaker 1: And for you who are owned a cipherous is, if
49:08
Speaker 1: you've never thought of yourself as that, probably shouldn't share
49:11
Speaker 1: it with anybody. You know. I'm an own a ciperus.
49:14
Speaker 1: They'll think you've got some disease that came in from
49:17
Speaker 1: some ship somewhere. You just model it. You just drive
49:25
Speaker 1: that extra distance and spend time with those that are
49:27
Speaker 1: still incarcerated. You just tell them you love them, or
49:34
Speaker 1: if you can't get there, write them. If you're unable
49:38
Speaker 1: to reach them, then call them, connect with him, Connect
49:41
Speaker 1: with a friend who has a touch with him. These
49:46
Speaker 1: are eternal investments for which we will give an account.
49:53
Speaker 1: Maybe bow our heads together, just sit quietly for a
49:57
Speaker 1: few moments and think about what you've heard. Two eternal investments.
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Speaker 1: Let's start with the first. Do I speak today to
50:17
Speaker 1: someone who has gotten soft in the scriptures? Perhaps you
50:22
Speaker 1: once were strong, but for whatever reason you've you realize
50:26
Speaker 1: now there's been compromise that's taken the place of courage.
50:32
Speaker 1: Today it can be a turning point for you. As
50:34
Speaker 1: you ask the Lord to deepen your commitment to the
50:39
Speaker 1: eternal truths of the scriptures, you may encourage the hearts
50:47
Speaker 1: of others. And I urge you to use the scriptures.
50:50
Speaker 1: In doing so, counsel with the scriptures, write your songs
50:57
Speaker 1: with scripture in mind. And now, people, is there someone
51:03
Speaker 1: you need to forgive and go on with your life?
51:07
Speaker 1: Someone you need to stop blaming, You need to get
51:12
Speaker 1: past their departure. During my time away, I had a
51:20
Speaker 1: chance to do that, and I feel refreshed from having
51:23
Speaker 1: done so. And I'm grateful for the Lord's work in
51:26
Speaker 1: my own life, in the homogenes and the jealousies of
51:31
Speaker 1: my life. How about someone who could use encouraging, refreshing
51:39
Speaker 1: touch from your hand, some single parent, someone laid aside illness,
51:53
Speaker 1: perhaps a parent of yours, a friend. How good it
52:01
Speaker 1: is when we make our way through life that we
52:04
Speaker 1: pause alongside people in wheelchairs and lean down and thank
52:09
Speaker 1: them for their courage to stay at it, for being
52:13
Speaker 1: people who haven't given up and thanking those who often
52:17
Speaker 1: push their chairs. And once again, you may be one
52:23
Speaker 1: who've never come to Christ, and the Lord is ready
52:28
Speaker 1: to receive you. I urge you to turn to him now. Father,
52:35
Speaker 1: Thank you for the Word of God that lives and
52:36
Speaker 1: abides forever. Thank you for the pleasure of worshiping your name.
52:42
Speaker 1: We minister today through the power of your spirit. And
52:45
Speaker 1: may the Word of God under his anointing, reach our
52:50
Speaker 1: hearts and change areas that need attention, especially those who've
52:56
Speaker 1: never trusted in your Son. Do I pray turn the
53:00
Speaker 1: hearts toward yourself, lift the hearts of the grieving and
53:04
Speaker 1: the broken. May they be refreshed with even the teaching
53:09
Speaker 1: of the scriptures as well as the lives of others.
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Speaker 1: I asked this in the name of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
53:17
Speaker 1: Everyone together said Amen. The preceding message to Eternal Investments
53:25
Speaker 1: was copyrighted in two thousand and nine and twenty fifteen,
53:29
Speaker 1: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty fifteen by
53:32
Speaker 1: Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
53:37
Speaker 1: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.