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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Comparing the Flavors: C... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: We're learning together how to get into the Word of
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  Speaker 1: God for ourselves. We're learning how to be spiritually self
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  Speaker 1: sustaining through God's help and of course, through a serious
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  Speaker 1: and in depth study of His word. God does not
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  Speaker 1: reveal his will in cloud formations during the day or
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  Speaker 1: in night visions as you rest in your bed. He
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  Speaker 1: does not speak audibly, either within or outside your home
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  Speaker 1: or your car. God has revealed his word in the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Book of God called in our language the Bible, and
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  Speaker 1: because of his magnificent revelation when he gave his word
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  Speaker 1: and inspiration when he oversaw the recording of it, he
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  Speaker 1: also takes great delight in illuminating our minds with an
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  Speaker 1: understanding of it. We're learning of the value of observation,
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  Speaker 1: seeing what God has written, reading it for ourselves, interpretation,
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  Speaker 1: understanding what that means these sections of black print on
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  Speaker 1: white pages. What does it mean? It's interpretation today will
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  Speaker 1: be correlation, the whole idea of comparing verses with other
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  Speaker 1: verses so as to gain a balanced and reasonable understanding
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  Speaker 1: of His truth. Next time will be application, where we
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  Speaker 1: understand what it means to us personally and to others
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  Speaker 1: as those truths are put into action. I want you
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  Speaker 1: to take your outline for today's message and place it
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  Speaker 1: at Second Timothy chapter two. I'll do that, and then
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  Speaker 1: once you've done it Second Timothy two, I'll begin my
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  Speaker 1: message there a little later. And after that, please turn
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  Speaker 1: to Second Peter over toward the end of your Bible.
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  Speaker 1: If you're not familiar with the books Second Peter, not
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  Speaker 1: the first letter, but the second. And we'll look at
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  Speaker 1: two parts of this second letter, first from chapter one
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  Speaker 1: and then from chapter three. You with me Second Peter
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  Speaker 1: chapter one, And once you find your place, will you
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  Speaker 1: stand with one another for the reading of his word.
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  Speaker 1: The version I may read from may be different from
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  Speaker 1: the one you have. That's fine. This is the new
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  Speaker 1: Living translation. Follow along as I read for you, beginning
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  Speaker 1: at verse sixteen of Second Peter Chapter one. Might be
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  Speaker 1: good if I turned to Second Peter chapter one, verse sixteen.
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  Speaker 1: For we were not making up clever stories when we
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  Speaker 1: told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes. When
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  Speaker 1: he received honor and glory from God the Father. The
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  Speaker 1: voice from the majestic glory of God said to him,
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  Speaker 1: this is my dearly loved son who brings me great joy.
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  Speaker 1: We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were
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  Speaker 1: with him on the Holy Mountain. Because of that experience,
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  Speaker 1: we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by
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  Speaker 1: the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote,
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  Speaker 1: for their words are like a lamp shining in a
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  Speaker 1: dark place until the day dawns and Christ, the morning
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  Speaker 1: star shines in your hearts. Above all, you must realize
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  Speaker 1: that no prophecy in scripture ever came from the prophet's
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  Speaker 1: own understanding or from human initiative. No, those prophets were
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  Speaker 1: moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.
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  Speaker 1: In the chapter three, same letter, Chapter three, the last
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  Speaker 1: several verses beginning in verse fifteen. And remember, our Lord's
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  Speaker 1: patience gives people time to be saved. This is what
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  Speaker 1: our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you, with the
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  Speaker 1: wisdom God gave him, speaking of these things in all
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  Speaker 1: of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand,
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  Speaker 1: and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his
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  Speaker 1: letters to mean something quite different, just as they do
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  Speaker 1: with other parts of scripture, and this will result in
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  Speaker 1: their destruction. I'm warning you ahead of time, dear friends,
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  Speaker 1: be on guard, so that you will not be carried
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  Speaker 1: away by the errors of these wicked people and lose
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  Speaker 1: your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the
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  Speaker 1: grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: Oh Glory to Him, both now and forever. And everyone said, amen,
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  Speaker 1: you may be seated. The piece of music we're about
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  Speaker 1: to hear from our brass choir and organ will be
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  Speaker 1: a familiar tune, and I would wish that the words
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  Speaker 1: would be just as familiar to you. When peace like
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  Speaker 1: a river attends my way, and sorrow like see Billow's roll,
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  Speaker 1: whatever my lot, you have taught me to say, it
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  Speaker 1: is well with my soul. The only way it can
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  Speaker 1: be well with our soul is if our souls had
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  Speaker 1: been invaded by the Living God through faith in his son.
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  Speaker 1: It won't be well with you just because you're sitting
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  Speaker 1: in a church service, or singing from a hymnal, or
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  Speaker 1: listening to great music, or even learning the words of
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  Speaker 1: these songs. It'll be well with you when Christ takes
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  Speaker 1: up his residence in your life. It isn't automatic. You
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  Speaker 1: may have been attending church all of your life, but
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  Speaker 1: unless you have personally on your own, individually trusted in Christ,
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  Speaker 1: who paid the complete penalty for your sins. Be well
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  Speaker 1: with your soul. You're not really ready to live until
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  Speaker 1: you're ready to die, And those who are ready to
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  Speaker 1: die find that they are ready to live because it
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  Speaker 1: is well with their soulbo with me. Please, thank you
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  Speaker 1: for meeting with us in a special way during this
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  Speaker 1: time of worship. Forgive us, our Father, for the hours
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  Speaker 1: we have wasted engaged in things that had no eternal significance,
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  Speaker 1: for trying to fill our lives with the cotton candy
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  Speaker 1: of our times that seemed to taste so good when
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  Speaker 1: we bit into it, but had such a hollow ring
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  Speaker 1: to it once we tasted it. Show us afresh and
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  Speaker 1: anew the importance of even just a few minutes a
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  Speaker 1: day spent poring over your truth. May we come to
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  Speaker 1: treasure it like the Psalmist who wrote evening and morning
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  Speaker 1: and noon, will I pray and cry aloud, and he
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  Speaker 1: will hear my voice. Show us the importance Father, of
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  Speaker 1: walking with you, so that we do not fulfill the
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  Speaker 1: desires of our selfish flesh. Bring us to an end
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  Speaker 1: of our own way, that we might awaken to realize
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  Speaker 1: that your way is the only way. Our hearts go
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  Speaker 1: out to day to those indistant places who've lost loved
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  Speaker 1: ones through the treachery and torture of human savages, who
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  Speaker 1: have taken heads from bodies, who have invaded the peace
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  Speaker 1: of homes and hearts. We pray for those in very
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  Speaker 1: difficult places to day that you would, by your own
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  Speaker 1: grace and power, help them escape the edge of the sword,
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  Speaker 1: guide them, Lord, and if not relieving them, give them
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  Speaker 1: the courage to face it, even to death. Watch over
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  Speaker 1: us as a nation, our Father, as we stand against
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  Speaker 1: such tyrants, those who would block even what we enjoy today,
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  Speaker 1: the open declaration of your truth, and lead us again
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  Speaker 1: to a deeper understanding of how to get into your
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  Speaker 1: word for ourselves. Instruct us in the value of observing
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  Speaker 1: what you have said, that we might see the truth,
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  Speaker 1: and then interpreting the meaning of your word that we
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  Speaker 1: might grasp what it means to us. And today the
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  Speaker 1: correlation of your word as we compare scripture with scripture,
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  Speaker 1: and ultimately the application of your truth, as we observe
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  Speaker 1: and see and claim what it means to us personally.
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  Speaker 1: What a privilege it is to be under the sound
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  Speaker 1: teaching of your word. May we never take that for granted.
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  Speaker 1: And for this reason especially, we find that even this day,
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  Speaker 1: because of these privileges, it is well with our souls.
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  Speaker 1: We give our gifts today with gratitude, knowing that they
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  Speaker 1: will be used for the dissemination of the good message
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  Speaker 1: of God. May it spread widely, and may it be
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  Speaker 1: heard and grasped even by those who have never heard
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  Speaker 1: it before. We entrust to you the gifts of your
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  Speaker 1: people today in the name of Christ, our Savior. Everyone said, amen,
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  Speaker 1: if your childhood was like mine, the only Bible you
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  Speaker 1: were aware of was the King James version, not the
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  Speaker 1: New King James, but the sixteen eleven edition. I wasn't
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  Speaker 1: alive then, but I know it was published then, and
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  Speaker 1: in fact I was told if it was good enough
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  Speaker 1: for Paul, it was good enough for us. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: the person who said that forgot. There's about fifteen hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty years difference between when it was published and
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  Speaker 1: Paul died. But nevertheless, we got used to the these and
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  Speaker 1: the bowels, and the therefoors, and the heretoforees and charity
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  Speaker 1: in place of love, remember, and thenceforth that was another one,
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  Speaker 1: and he'll be able to judge the quick and the dead.
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  Speaker 1: Remembers a little boy thinking the dead I understood, but
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  Speaker 1: the quick must be those trying to outrun him when
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  Speaker 1: he was coming after them, And we came to realize
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  Speaker 1: it meant the living and the dead, so we got
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  Speaker 1: used to it. One I could never quite get used
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  Speaker 1: to is found in Act Seen five comes to mind
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  Speaker 1: when a group of men who were hating what Paul
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  Speaker 1: was doing in thessal and Ika, so they got together
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  Speaker 1: a bunch of wicked men to come after him, and
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  Speaker 1: the King James says that they were lewd fellows of
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  Speaker 1: the baser sort. Isn't that a great rendering? Whatever it means,
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  Speaker 1: lewd fellows of a baser, I'm not making light of it.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just saying it's unusual wording, which brings me to
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  Speaker 1: a verse of scripture that was in every list of
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  Speaker 1: verses we should memorize. Second Timothy, Chapter two, verse fifteen
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  Speaker 1: was always in the list. And you who memorized it
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  Speaker 1: way back then, just listen. Your lips will move.
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  Speaker 2: Study to show by self approved show sh e W,
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  Speaker 2: which when I was a kid called it you studies
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  Speaker 2: shew thyself approved onto God, a workman that needeth not
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  Speaker 2: to be ashamed.
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  Speaker 1: Rightly dividing the word of truth sounds great. I just
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  Speaker 1: don't know what rightly dividing means, and most likely you
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  Speaker 1: don't either. So we learned words that we didn't understand,
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  Speaker 1: but that was the best they could do when they
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  Speaker 1: rendered that back in the King James English tewod Timothy
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  Speaker 1: to rightly dividing. I heard one teacher say, you divide
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament from the New Testament. Has nothing to
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  Speaker 1: do with what that verse is talking about. I was
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  Speaker 1: taught later that you divide the Bible into dispensations, so
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  Speaker 1: it's to understand the dispensations from Genesis through Revelation, then
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  Speaker 1: talk about dispensations in two Timothy two fifteen. I heard
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  Speaker 1: one Bible teacher at a particular conference I was attending
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  Speaker 1: as a young man, say that, really it means that
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  Speaker 1: people who teach the Bible take it apart, kind of
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  Speaker 1: divide it up, and then put it back together. Has
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  Speaker 1: nothing to do with that. As a matter of fact,
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  Speaker 1: this particular verse, look at it. The keyword is divide
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  Speaker 1: ortho tom met o o r t h o ortho
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  Speaker 1: t O m e o ortho tomo from two Greek words,
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  Speaker 1: originally orthos. We get a word orthodox from orthos orthopedic.
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  Speaker 1: We get it from that original root orthos. Tim No
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  Speaker 1: is a verb that means to cut, to cut straight.
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  Speaker 1: Orthos is straight. Tennah is to cut, and we're getting closer.
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  Speaker 1: It was used in the first century for cutting a
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  Speaker 1: path through a forested area. See the aisles in this
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  Speaker 1: church where you're sitting. You have had a path cut
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  Speaker 1: that's straight, which allows you to walk to the place
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  Speaker 1: you wish to sit. On a freeway, you have had
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  Speaker 1: a road that's been cut, and it is for the
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  Speaker 1: most part straight towards the destination. So the verse is saying,
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  Speaker 1: be diligent, not study, be diligent to find approval before God.
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  Speaker 1: A workman who has no reason to be ashamed, since
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  Speaker 1: we're being approved by God because we have cut a
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  Speaker 1: straight path to the truth, allowing the truth to speak
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  Speaker 1: a straight word to us. That's the idea. That's what
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  Speaker 1: it means to rightly divide. I love the way. The
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  Speaker 1: new American Standard version renders this accurately handling the word
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  Speaker 1: of truth. That is about as good as we can
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  Speaker 1: get accurately handling the word of Truth, the New Living
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  Speaker 1: Translation says correctly explaining the Word of truth, don't twist it,
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  Speaker 1: don't distort it, don't try to find an alternate route
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  Speaker 1: that will make people feel better about what the Word
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  Speaker 1: of Truth is teaching. Hear it straight, say it straight,
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  Speaker 1: cut it straight, so that people can go directly to
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  Speaker 1: the truth and count on it to mean what it says.
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  Speaker 1: I don't have life versus, but if I were to
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  Speaker 1: choose one for my calling, that this would be it.
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  Speaker 1: My goal in life is to accurately handle the Word
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  Speaker 1: of Truth. I will give an account for that before
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  Speaker 1: my God. I stand before congregations week after week, and
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  Speaker 1: I have for over fifty years, and I'm responsible for
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  Speaker 1: making sure that I cut a straight path from the
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  Speaker 1: truth into truth so that we are led together into
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  Speaker 1: an understanding of the truth. There are those who don't
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  Speaker 1: do that. They are called false teachers. They take a
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  Speaker 1: portion of a verse and make it say something it
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  Speaker 1: was never meant to say, or they will take a
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  Speaker 1: whole verse and twist it, you know, cut a straight path.
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  Speaker 1: They distort the path so that you're led to believe
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  Speaker 1: that's what the Bible is teaching, but in fact it
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  Speaker 1: isn't I thought of that? When I read Stephen Ardeburn's
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  Speaker 1: book Toxic Faith. He begins his introduction with a story
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  Speaker 1: about his grandmother. My grandmother died in nineteen eighty nine.
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  Speaker 1: He writes, if there were ever a person of strong
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  Speaker 1: faith and conviction, it was Nanny all alone. She reared
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  Speaker 1: her three children, including my mother, after the suicide of
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  Speaker 1: my grandfather. She never gave up, never stopped believing, never
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  Speaker 1: lost faith. For her death was merely a step into
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  Speaker 1: a better place. She didn't fear it. Her faith kept
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  Speaker 1: her at peace, motivated her to care, and provided constant hope.
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  Speaker 1: At Nanny's funeral, the minister told of one of the
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  Speaker 1: frustrations my grandmother had to endure an audit by the
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  Speaker 1: Internal Revenue Service. The IRS went to a lot of
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  Speaker 1: trouble to make sure that someone who made every bit
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  Speaker 1: of eight thousand dollars a year paid her fair share
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  Speaker 1: of income taxes while others were hiding millions of dollars
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  Speaker 1: from the federal government. Special agents were hard at work
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  Speaker 1: on the case of Pearl Russell, making sure the country
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  Speaker 1: would not be shortened a few hundred dollars by a
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  Speaker 1: sweet old lady in Athens, Texas. He continues. An issue
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  Speaker 1: was Nanny's large deduction of charitable contributions. The government could
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  Speaker 1: not believe that a woman making so little could give
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  Speaker 1: thirty five in some years forty percent to the church
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  Speaker 1: and still have enough money left over to pay her bills.
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  Speaker 1: The IRS finally backed off when she dug out of
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  Speaker 1: the attic. All the cancel checks to television ministers, radio preachers,
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  Speaker 1: and her local church agents did not understand it, but
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  Speaker 1: they were convinced that she had given every penny she
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  Speaker 1: had deducted. My grandmother not only gave away almost half
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  Speaker 1: her income, she paid off her car loans, early paid
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  Speaker 1: off her mortgage, and still had enough money left to
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  Speaker 1: make her special pies for hurting people. Nanny was an
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  Speaker 1: amazing woman of faith. There was nothing toxic about Nanny's faith.
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  Speaker 1: She never gave to a particular minister, but always to
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  Speaker 1: a ministry, such as to a children's home or to
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  Speaker 1: a project to feed the homeless. When she gave a dollar,
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  Speaker 1: she knew how that minister was going to spend it,
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  Speaker 1: at least she thought she did. Some of the individuals
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  Speaker 1: to whom she gave her money were not so admirable.
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  Speaker 1: Their toxic faith robbed my grandmother of the great blessing
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  Speaker 1: of knowing her money had been used to further the
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  Speaker 1: Kingdom of God. They took her money and spent it
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  Speaker 1: on themselves and their big plans, schemes that had nothing
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  Speaker 1: to do with my grandmother's desire to tell the world
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  Speaker 1: about God's love or to feed in clothe orphans. Some
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  Speaker 1: of those ministers that she so faithfully supported wound up
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  Speaker 1: in jail, divorced their wives, or were arrested for indecent exposure,
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  Speaker 1: or fell into other public sin. They proclaimed of faith
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  Speaker 1: on television or over the radio, but they lived something else.
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  Speaker 1: They did shrink from asking my grandmother and others like
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  Speaker 1: her to sacrifice their food money so they could buy
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  Speaker 1: jet fuel to flyt to Palm Springs for a weekend getaway.
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  Speaker 1: What they did was dishonest, unfair, and very human. Of
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  Speaker 1: faith they lived looked radically different from the one they
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  Speaker 1: proclaimed on the public airways. Those unfaithful men and women
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  Speaker 1: who spent Nanny's money put more faith in themselves than
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  Speaker 1: they did in God. They relied more on their manipulations
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  Speaker 1: than on God's providence. They were more concerned about their
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  Speaker 1: own comforts than they were for the people who gave
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  Speaker 1: them money or for those whom the donations were intended
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  Speaker 1: to help. Their faith was toxic. It poisoned many who
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  Speaker 1: trusted them, and it distorted remember the word. It distorted
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  Speaker 1: the view of God held by many who watched as
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: these media ministers fell from grace. These cynics have derived
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  Speaker 1: a toxic, unhealthy view of faith from the toxic examples
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  Speaker 1: they saw in the media. On and on I could read,
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  Speaker 1: but I wanted you to get how they could do that.
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  Speaker 1: They distorted the word of God. Not all, certainly, not all,
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  Speaker 1: but some to this day twist the meaning of scripture
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  Speaker 1: so that naive audiences who watch or listen are sucked
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  Speaker 1: into that false kind of religion. As I heard just
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  Speaker 1: two weeks ago, one stood up in front of a
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  Speaker 1: television audience and said, this isn't our word. Ship isn't
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  Speaker 1: about God. It's about us. God wants us to be happy.
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  Speaker 1: We come together to be happy. It's about God. It's
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  Speaker 1: about us men and women. That is a lie. That
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  Speaker 1: is a twisted view of holy scripture, that is blasphemous,
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  Speaker 1: and it still goes on. If you do not know
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  Speaker 1: how to accurately handle the word of God. You could
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  Speaker 1: easily be sucked into that whole concept that wraps itself
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  Speaker 1: around the name of religion. You gain discernment when you
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  Speaker 1: make a study of the scriptures. You become mature as
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  Speaker 1: you grow in anther knowledge of what God has actually said.
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  Speaker 1: When you cut that straight line towards the destination of
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  Speaker 1: what exactly does God say? What exactly does God mean?
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  Speaker 1: And how exactly is it applicable to me in my life?
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  Speaker 1: Otherwise your fair game, you're next. You can be drawn
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  Speaker 1: into it and have no idea that you're being drawn
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  Speaker 1: into error. How do you think the cults have made
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  Speaker 1: it so far? How have these false teachers gained such
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  Speaker 1: an audience? And there are followers of false teachers around
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  Speaker 1: the globe. We had insight for living or looking into
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  Speaker 1: an opportunity to reach into other countries. In one very
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  Speaker 1: large country of enormous population must face constantly the impact
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  Speaker 1: of the cults that are feeding on their country. The
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  Speaker 1: reason you can sleep at night when you teach false
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  Speaker 1: information is you've distorted the truth. This is called distortion,
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  Speaker 1: twisting the text to make it say what you want
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  Speaker 1: it to say, and then to become so competent with
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: that twisting of the truth, you can convince others that
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: that's really what it means. You've made it say something
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: it never was meant to say, and so you encourage
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: people to name it and claim it. It's yours to claim.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Just pray whatever you wish, and God will give it
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: to you. And you give him this, he'll give you
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: twice or three times more in return. Another lie, another
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: lie based on a distortion of something God never said
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: or meant. That isn't pride on my part. It's simply
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: a warning saying watch out. Take these things seriously, learn
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: how to read what the text says. Because the reliable
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: antidote that will help you with the poison of that
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: kind of false teaching is the word of God in
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: print on the page of the Bible. It is a
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: divorce that you wait for. It isn't it a cloud formation?
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: It isn't the face of Jesus in an enchilada. Please,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: that's not sense. That's voodoo religion. We wait upon his word,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: and we desire to know it and use it and
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: rely on it because He has revealed it and has
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: preserved it for our understanding that we might accurately handle
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: the Word of truth. We're learning in our time together
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: that when you take the time to observe scripture, you
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: read what it says, not what you want it to say.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: You don't read into it what it doesn't say. You
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: let it speak for itself. Scripture doesn't stutter. God has
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: no impediment of speech. He's put his words in his book,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: and he expects his followers to read the print on
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: the page carefully. And then we've learned also that you
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: need to interpret, come to the understanding of the meaning
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: of what you have read. And as we learned last time,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: there's a way to go about that. Today we move
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: to the third step, and that's correlation, because you see
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: a reliable antidote for a toxin or a poisonous faith
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: is allowing scripture to interpret scripture. You don't have to
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: rely on the manipulation of some speaker or some preacher,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: some teacher. You can go to the Word of God
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: and see that it cuts a straight line to truth.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: If you let it say what it says, and if
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: you interpret it carefully, you steer clear of toxic faith.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: When you go directly to the Word of God, correlating
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: one verse with another, comparing what Paul writes, and Peter writes,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: what Isaiah has written, and Job and Moses and Elijah
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: and the others. In the scriptures. It's comparing scripture with scripture,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: precept upon precept, line upon line. Here a little and there,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: a little correlation amplifies your understanding of what the Bible
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: is teaching. It says this about prayer here, but not
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: only here. In Matthew. It says something about it in
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: James four, and in Psalm sixty eight, and something else
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: altogether in First John chapter five. If you don't know that,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: you will find one verse. It will be your proof
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: text for you to name it and claim it, and
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: you'll be left with a disillusionment. You see, those are
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: the people I deal with, those who have been victims
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: of a toxic faith and come disillusion wondering why God
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: didn't keep his word when in fact he never promised that.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: You were lied to by someone who said they were
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: showing you from the Bible. Every religious sect or cult
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: I've ever heard of bases its teaching on what they
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: call the Bible or some part of it. So the
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: best Bible teachers are those who know the value of
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: comparing one scripture with another in their excellent book Howard
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Hendrix and his son William Hendrix have left for us
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: to read, Living by the Book. In it they mentioned
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: one of the great Bible teachers of yesteryear, and a
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: few of us are old enough to remember, Donald Gray Barnhouse,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: thirty three years pastor of tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: They write this. Donald Barnhouse used to put it so clearly, quote,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: you very rarely have to go outside of the Bible
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: to explain anything in the Bible. Do you hear that
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: you rarely have to go to some source outside the
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: Bible to explain what is written in the Bible. The
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: reason for that? Don't miss this. The Bible is the
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: only perfectly correlated book on earth, perfectly correlated. There are
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: no contradictions. Cynics will tell you there are contradictions, so
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: they will twist your faith in the Bible. They hope
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: to turn you against trusting the word. The Bible is
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: always the watershed issue in every generation. This one included,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: the last one included, the next one will be included.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: We have sixty six books that fit together in one
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: system of thought. Forty writers but one author, the Holy
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: Spirit hovered over the revealing of truth, the writing of truth,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: the preserving of the truth, and our understanding of the truth.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Our task is to handle it carefully, Paul writes in
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: two Timothy two fifteen. Handled carefully guard against twisting and
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: straying from that straight path. I've studied it for over
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: fifty years. I have yet to find bad information in
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: this book. Not one piece of bad information, not one
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: bit of poor advice, not one needless warning. It is
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: filled with truth, and our job is to cut a
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: path to it, not twist it, not stray from it,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: but to dig into what it's saying. Let me show
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: you something in First Timothy chapter one, or just a
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: quick little sideline as I correlate what we just read
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: in tewod Timothy two with First Timothy one. Look at
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: verse five, Paul states his purpose as a minister of
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: the gospel. Look at it the purpose of my instruction.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: It means exactly what it says. Paul is giving us
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: his purpose. The purpose of my instruction is that all
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: believers would what would be filled with love that comes
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: How magnificent. Look at the next verse but remember what
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: we learned under observation. That's a contrastive particle. It's getting
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: ready to introduce something in contrast to what Paul has
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: just written. That's my purpose. But please observe some people
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: have missed the whole point. They have turned away from
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: these things. What things, the things I just stated. They've
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: turned away from these things, and they spend their time
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: in meaningless discussion. They want to be known as teachers
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: of the Law of Moses, but they don't know what
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: they're talking about, even though they speak so confidently. Same
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: letter one Timothy, Chapter six one Timothy six, verse twenty.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: Turn their next Timothy. He writes to this younger man
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: in ministry, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: godless and foolish discussions with those who oppose you with
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: their so called knowledge. Now, notice some people have wandered
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: from the faith by following such foolishness. What have they done.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: They've twisted the meaning. They've said it really means this
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: when it doesn't mean that. And there are people who
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: have not made a study of the same scriptures, and
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: so you take it at face value. Of course, that's
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: the danger of the false teacher. That's how cults get
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: under weigh certain sects believe sects, certain sects believe a
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: certain way because the teachers have twisted the truth to
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: mean what they want it to say. You're right, Paul,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: You're always right. They look like they know what they're
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: talking about, and Mike, can they sell their goods. But
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: you realize when you probe deep enough, you have been
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: led astray. And I'll tell you the fallout is dreadful.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: Like the man who wrote that about his grandmother, and
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: his heart sank when he realized as he saw where
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: those gifts had gone. Grandmother never knew she was supporting
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: a false religion, a toxic faith. So correlation helps us
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: compare one scripture with another. Now let me help you
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: know what will help you correlate your verses in the Bible.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: Here we go write them down. You need a good
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: study Bible. You choose the Bible. You choose the version
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: that you wish. I suggest for a study Bible, Rory
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: study Bible, the New American Standard version if you want
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: the best book to study the scriptures, in my opinion,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: that will stay closest to the original text of Old
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: and New Testament. His footnotes at the bottom are reliable.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: You need to own a good study Bible. That's just
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: my choice. You may choose another, and that's fine. But
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: you need a study Bible, one that gives you some
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: room to write things in the margin, as well as
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: some helps in the bottom. Doctor Ririy does a wonderful,
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: wonderful job of giving you information that is reliable. I
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: studied under him, as did many others, and I know
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: of a few teachers more spot on than Charles Ririy.
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: Now you also need a concordance con cor d a ncee,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: a concordance. It's like an index to the Bible, alphabetical
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: listing of all the words in the Bible. If you
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: get an exhaustive concordance Young's, Strong's, or whatever may be
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: your preference, you will get every word that's listed in
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: the Bible, every single one of them, and often you'll
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: get a few words of context with that word. You
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: can get that online as well, and we explained how
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: to do that last time. Without a concordance, you're left
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: to search from one passage to another, and you need
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: an index. You need a guide. By the way, make
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: sure your concordance corresponds to the version of the Bible
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: you're using. If you're using the NIV, you'll need to
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: get an NIV concordance because those are the words that
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: are traced. If you're using the New American Standard, you
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: need one that will trace that. If you're using the
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: King James, you need the Young or the Strong concordance.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: You need to connect or correspond the concordance with the
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: particular Bible. It'll help you to tie it in with
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: the version of the Bible. Third, you need a Bible dictionary.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: It's invaluable for explaining background material and Bible history. Without it,
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: you will be a wash unless you are one remarkable
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: soul where you already know most of that. And if
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: you don't, you need all the help you can get,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: and a reliable Bible dictionary will give you the help.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: I happen to use Unger's Bible Dictionary. There are a
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: number of The Zondervan Bible Dictionary is a reliable source.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: There are others. You can ask at your bookstore, or
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: if you go online to the source I gave you
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: last time, you will see the various kinds of dictionaries
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: that you might tap into. You may wish to have
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: a one volume Bible handbook. One I have is Hayley's
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: Bible Handbook. It gives you, in one simple, one volume
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: sort of an encyclopedia of the scriptures, and gives it
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: to you and reform. Since time is short for most
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: of us. It'll help you cover a lot of bases.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: And you may wish to use commentaries written by those
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: who have made the lengthy study of the book. I
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: know of several that I could recommend. For two Timothy
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: have always used commentaries when I prepare, after I've done
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: my own study in the text, I rely on those
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: who have studied it longer than I have and know
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: a lot more about it than I do, And invariably
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: I will get insights from qualified authors who have written
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: these commentaries. So those things will help you correlate the scriptures.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you something, lest you haven't guessed already,
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: it's hard work. It's hard work. Those who throw the
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: Bible around and quote have verses or take verses out
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: of context to prove their point or to manipulate people
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: haven't worked hard in the text. They've worked hard in
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: their salesmanship. They've worked hard in knowing how to entertain
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: an audience. They've worked hard, and how to peak your interest,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: hold your attention, tell you stories about how you can
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: become all you've dreamed of becoming. You can name it
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: and claim it. Whatever is on your mind. Just count
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: on God and he'll give it to you, because after all,
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: the Bible says whatever you ask, he will give it
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: to you. We'll get to that in a few moments.
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: But those who do work in the text count on it,
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: have sweated, They've worked at it, they prayed over it,
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: They've spent time in quietness alone seriously studying God's where
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: you may only have thirty minutes, commit yourself to thirty minutes.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: Cut off the television, turn off the radio, shut out
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: all other interruptions, and focus your attention on what you're
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: looking at, and you'll seek an understanding of it by
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: finding other verses that mention the same subject. Now we're
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: ready for tewod Peter chapter one, So turn please from
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: one Timothy six to Second Peter Chapter one. Peter wants
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: his readers to keep on growing spiritually even when he's
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: out of the picture, even when he's gone, and so
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: pay close attention now verse five, in view of all
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: this second Peter one, make every effort to respond to
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: God's promises, and he goes on supplement your faith with
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: generous provisions of moral excellence, and then to moral excellence,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: add knowledge, and then add with knowledge self control. They're
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: like dominoes that bump up against one another. Has a
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: whole list of eight or nine things. Peter wants his
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: readers to keep growing strong in the faith, so he
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: writes to them about that verse twelve. Therefore, I will
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: always remind you about these things, even though you already
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: know them and are standing firm in the truth you
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: have been taught. Peter taught them He went straight to
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: the scriptures and drew straight from the Bible information about
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: the truth. He had led them into the truth. It
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: is only right that I should keep on reminding you
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: as long as I live, he describes. The Lord Jesus
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: has shown me I must soon leave this earthly life,
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: so I will work hard to make sure you always
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: remember these things after I'm gone verse nineteen. Because of
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: that experience, meaning the transfiguration of Christ. Because of that
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: experience we've been we have even greater confidence in the
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: message proclaimed by the prophets. He's correlating his knowledge his
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: experience with what was written by the prophets. Notice the
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: reference doesn't name a particular prophet, but he says he's
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: examined their writings and what his experience ties in with
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: what the prophets wrote. Look at what he says next.
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: their words are like a lamp shining in a dark
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: place Verse twenty. Above all, you must realize that no
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: prophecy in scripture ever came from the prophet's own understanding.
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: Your Bible may read a little differently, is the result
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: of one's own interpretation, you may read, It's not the
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: result of a human initiative. No, he says, those prophets
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: were moved by the Holy Spirit as they spoke from God. Now,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: then look closely. God originated the scriptures, and he revealed them.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: It's called the doctrine of revelation. He picked certain individuals
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: on earth during the time of the writing of the Bible,
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: and he inspired the receiving of the message and the
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: recording of it, so that it was recorded in its
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: original form without error. This is called the doctrine of inerrancy.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: The doctrine of inspiration. God watched over the revealing and
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: the recording of his word. He did that with the prophets.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: He did that with and with Peter, and with John
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: and Jude and James. Each time you read from the scriptures,
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: you're reading that which has been given by inspired by God.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: And please observe the prophet himself may not have even
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: realized at the time of writing fully what it meant.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: But he wrote it. And as you work through it,
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: you must compare one scripture with another, knowing that you
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: will be led by God to an understanding of what
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: it means. In fact, look at the end of this verse.
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: Those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: spoke from God. See the word moved. Interesting word pH
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: e r sounds like the old Egyptian pharaoh. Pharaoh in
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: this case means moved out of their own power. It's
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: a nautical term of a ship at sea without a
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: rudder and without sales, and of course in those days
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: there were no engines. So here is a ship at
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: sea or a boat at sea at the mercy of
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: the whim the waves, the currents and the swells of
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: the sea, and it's being moved out of its own power.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: That's the way the prophets wrote, The Lord moved them
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: apart from their own initiative or their own ability. You
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: can count on the Lord guiding you into His truth.
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: In the same way. You have the right to interpret scripture,
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: but you don't have the right to distort scripture when
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: you interpret it. Back in the dark ages of the Church,
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: was told you can't understand what the scripture is teaching,
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: and that's why the clergy must tell you. And the
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: Bible was in Latin chained to a pulpit to be
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: read only by a unique body of individuals called priests.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: When the Protestant Reformation came, the word got out that
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: you are your own priest. You don't need a priest.
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: You go before God on your own Hebrews four fourteen
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: to sixteen. We're able to go before the throne of
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: grace and obtain mercy, to find grace, to help in
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: time of need. You represent your own need. You don't
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: pray through me as if I were your priest. I
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: don't pray through some priest as though he is my
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: representative to God. I go directly to God by his grace.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: Now that Christ has come and fulfilled the law. Understand
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: that if you don't know that, you'll keep going back
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: to a priest to confess your sins. You'll keep going
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: to a priest to find out what the Bible is teaching.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: You don't need a priest. You have the Book of God,
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: and it frees you from any human agency, so that
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: you can compare scripture with scripture, and you will therefore
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: be led into the truth. You will cut that straight path.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: So Pharaoh means to be moved outside your own ability,
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: your own strength. Now go from chapter one to chapter three.
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: Gets very exciting here, at least to a preacher. I
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: get very excited about sections like this. Look at verse fifteen.
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: Remember our Lord's patience gives people time to be saved.
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote. You
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: realize how unusual that is. Peter is referring to another
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: writer of scripture, Paul, And notice what he says. Our
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: beloved brother Paul wrote to you with the wisdom God
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: gave him. Keep reading speaking of these things in all
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand.
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: Now I find comfort in that if they're hard for me,
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: well they were hard for Peter. I'm in good company.
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: Peter says, I read some of the things Paul writes.
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: It's hard to understand you, But he says, please notice
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: they're hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: unstable hang on have twisted. They've twisted his letters to
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: mean something quite different. Let me find my note on
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: that this is so good. Through no ability of my own,
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: I found this in other sources. Strebla oh is the
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: word st r e b l oo strebla oh. It
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: means to twist. Walter Bauer, in his Outstanding Lexicon, says
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: it means to distort a statement so that a false
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: meaning results. There are those who will read Paul and
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: they will distort a statement that he makes. Barkley adds this,
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: paulse Doctor of Grace was twisted into an excuse and
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: reason for sin. Paulse doctrine of freedom was twisted into
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: an excuse for license pause, doctrine of faith was twisted
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: into an argument that Christian action is unimportant. That twists
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: the meaning of it. I've been told my teaching on
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: grace is leading people into sin. Whoever tells me that
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: doesn't know what they're talking about. Not that I'm above criticism.
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: I just know in my heart I'm careful not to
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: do that. But they're afraid of grace because grace gives
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: you freedom to make a choice, and some of you
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: may go too far, and if you do, you suffer
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: the consequences of living in license. There are people who
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: twist Paul's writings to say that G. K. Chesterton once
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: said that orthodoxy was like walking along a narrow ridge.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: One step to either side was a step to disaster.
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: Jesus is God and man. God is love and holiness.
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: Christianity is grace and morality. The Christian lives in this world,
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: and we live in the world of eternity, overstress either
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: side of those great two sided truths and at once
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: destructive heresy. Emergen Isn't that helpful? I pray all the time, Lord,
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: keep me balanced. Don't make me afraid of preaching grace.
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: Just help me to preach it correctly, so that people
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: know they are freed from the legalistic demands that other
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: people would want to put on them. But don't dare
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: Lord let them think that that means they're free to
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: do whatever they want to do. That's license. So we
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: need the kind of liberty that frees us from legalism
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: and guides us into the marvelous truths of the scriptures.
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: Can I show you one more? Thanks? Look at Matthew, Look,
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: look at Matthew twenty one. Okay, I'm gonna show you
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: and name it and claim it. Verse This is where
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: they get it. Okay, it's right out of what Jesus.
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: They say what Jesus taught Matthew twenty one, twenty one
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: and twenty two got it? Here we go twenty one.
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: Jesus told him, I tell you the truth. If you
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: this and much more. You can even say to the mountain,
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: may you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: and it will happen. Look at the next verse. You
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: can pray for anything. If you have faith, you'll receive it. Wow.
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: Thus ended the reading of the Lesson. Huh, you'd love
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: it if that would stop there. But it doesn't. First,
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: John five eleven and twelve says I'm supposed to ask
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: according to the will of God. James four says, I'm
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: supposed to pray with a clear motive. You ask and receive,
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: not because you ask with the wrong motive, So I
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: gotta guard my motive. Psalm sixty six eighteen says, if
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: I regard a niquid in my heart, the Lord will
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: not even hear me. So I've got to correlate Psalm
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: sixty six eighteen with one John, five, with James, four,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: with Matthew twenty one. So be careful, Be careful about
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: building a doctrine based on one verse, especially obscure verses.
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: For example, King Saul, when he reached the end and
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: was so depressed he didn't nowhere else to go, visited witch,
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: the Witch of Indoor. We read of it in for Samuel,
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: chapter twenty seven. He goes to a witch and the
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: witch does all kinds of things in the power of
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: the devil. And you read about it and you go, wow,
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: look at that, and there's this little obscure section, and
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: you're ready to build your whole doctrine of devil and
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: demons from that wrong plan. Let me take you back
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: a few years two when The Exorcist was released from Hollywood.
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: Remember that a long time ago, and all kinds of
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: information began to flow around our country, and I imagine around
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: the world about demons and about demonology and about Satan.
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: The people were afraid of their shadow when they went
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: to see this film. I went to see it, see
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: what it was about, find out where all the stuff
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: was coming from, shoe. You know what I did when
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: I got home. I did not buy the film. I
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: got home and I did a study of demons and
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: the devil. Here it is. You can't see it from
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: where you are. It's a two sided chart of every
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: reference to demons and the devil when assaulting individuals, every
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: one of them, right here, right there. And you know
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: what happened when I did that study. Why I'm not
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: afraid of the devil. There's no such thing as demon
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: possession or demon operation. Neither word is mentioned in the scriptures.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: It's all called demonised. What does that mean? Well, read
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: my chart. No, I found out what it meant. And
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: I was delivered from all of these nuances that people
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: were tossing around about demons and the devil. You know why.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: I simply took my Bible and my concordance and I
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: checked every reference the New Testament here all the way through,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: and I checked the victim. I checked the tormentor, I
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: checked the victim's experience. I checked the method that was
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: used to expel demons. I checked the demon response, and
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: I checked the final result right there. I'm not that bright.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: I just work hard. I just got busy about it
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: because I'd never seen a chart like this, and I'm
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: so grateful I did this study. You know what I did.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: I correlated and I've guarded myself against superstition, against false
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: information because I made a study in the scriptures of
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: what the Bible says about it. Let me wrap all
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: this up, may I'm.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: One.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: Are the benefits of correlating. Let's write them down. I'll
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: give you four A clear discernment instead of vague opinions.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: When you correlate verses with verses, you will get clear discernment.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: It'll take the place of vague opinions. And you'll hear
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: opinions all your life. I get them regularly from people.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: Most of them are wrong. They mean, well, they're sincere,
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: but they've not done a study of the scriptures. Clear
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: discernment Number two. As your knowledge broadens, your understanding will deepen.
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: As your knowledge broadens, your understanding will go deeper. Here's
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: the third. You will cultivate a reasonable and balanced faith.
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: That's what we want. Reasonable and balanced. You'll be protected
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: from extremes. Satan is the expert of extremes. Jesus is
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: the bulwark of balance. Number four, you'll be able to
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: separate truth from error quickly. You'll have them knock on
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: your door. They want to tell you about their Bible study,
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: which really isn't Bible study. It's a plan to get
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: you into their religion. So you know from scripture. You
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: don't invite them into your house. You don't even bid
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: them God's speed, you don't insult them. You simply confront
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: them with scripture. And you're not afraid to do that
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: because you've made your study of the scriptures and you
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: know that that person represents a cult, and you're able
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: to stand very calmly and tell them, by the way,
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: they don't visit our home anymore. The word the word
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: got out to stay away from that guy. So we've
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: had some interesting talks. Nice way to put it. Now,
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: let me give you three essentials and threw here we go.
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: Number one, be diligent. Be diligent. Don't rely on my teaching,
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: You do your own study. Be diligent, even if you
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: have thirty minutes a day, shut off the TV, shut
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: off off your radio. If the only place to be
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: alone is your car, get in your car or your bathroom.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: Get in your bathroom, get a loan thirty minutes. Be diligent,
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: conscientious discharging your task as a careful student of the scriptures. Second,
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: please God, you're not looking to please your your relative.
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: Most of us have relatives that are kind of messed
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: up in their faith, and so your your plan is
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: not to help them feel good about themselves or to
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: like you more. You want to study the scriptures. You
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: want to be approved by God. That's what two Timothy
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: two point fifteen says. Be diligent to find approval from God.
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: Please him. Careful work, by the way honors God. He
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: smiles on every moment you spend in His word. He
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: loves it. And the time you spend in prayer asking
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: for God to guide you, he loves that. If you will,
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: he applauds that so be Please God. Number three, stay straight,
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: don't wander. If you sense that it's out of balance,
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: it probably is. Don't go there. Seek truth, cut a
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: straight line for it, make a b line for it,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: and never get away from it. Let's pray, Father, I
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: pray that you will take what has been said in
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: a bit of a hurry, and you'll give us time
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: to digest it. Enable us to realize the value of
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: what we have heard. Guard us from falling into the
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: trap of the phony, the charlatan, the leader of cults,
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: those who use your name but do not represent your
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: power or your son. Enable us to fall back in
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: love with Gus, to acknowledge that he is the lord
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: of our lives. Give us the patience to pore over
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: the words, the verses, the chapters, the books of the Bible.
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: And may we come from that equipped with discernment and courage.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: And may we grow in grace and knowledge. Guard us
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: from simple knowledge which puffs up. May we balance knowledge
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: with grace. And we pray that you will use your
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: word to guide us into all truth. In the blessed
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: name of Jesus Christ, we pray everybody said next week.
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: Application application.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 3: The preceding message comparing the flavors correlating the text was
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 3: copyrighted in two thousands fourteen, and the sound recording was
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 3: copyrighted in twenty sixteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 3: rights are reserved worldwide. In the preceding message, Charles Rswindall Inc.
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 3: Is grateful to a live literary agency for permission to
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 3: quote from Toxic Faith by Stephen Ardeburn and Jack Felton,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 3: copyrighted in nineteen ninety one and two thousand one by
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 3: Stephen Ardeburn and Jack Felton and published by WaterBrook Press.
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 3: Contact the author by email at stephen Ardeburn at new
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 3: life dot com. All rights are reserved worldwide.