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 son 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 stand
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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
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Speaker 1: Savior Jesus Christ. We're engaged in a study of Paul's
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Speaker 1: last words. They happen to have been written to a
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Speaker 1: younger man about thirty five forty years of age named Timothy.
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Speaker 1: This is his second and final letter to Timothy. These
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Speaker 1: are in fact Paul's final words in recorded form, and
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Speaker 1: because 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
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Speaker 1: intellect and touching our hearts and moving them with compassion
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Speaker 1: over those who can't keep up. Thank you for those
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Speaker 1: people you bring into our lives that make eternal investments
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Speaker 1: in us, and for that contribution which goes with us
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Speaker 1: the rest of our days. Close. Timothy must have held
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Speaker 1: this letter to his own chest as he read it
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Speaker 1: and wept. May we see the value of words on
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Speaker 1: this page, and beyond that, may we see the value
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Speaker 1: of truth for our times touch us, move us to
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Speaker 1: decisions that are compelling and long overdue, that will make
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Speaker 1: us more like Christ. And even as Joseph was changed
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Speaker 1: from what would have been bitterness and blame to a
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Speaker 1: life of forgiveness and grace, remind us, Lord that even
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Speaker 1: though others mean it for evil, you mean it for good,
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Speaker 1: for good which causes all things to work together for
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Speaker 1: good to those who love you. Drill that into our
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Speaker 1: hearts today as we give our gifts, as we hear
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Speaker 1: these words from this song, maybe be moved deeply in
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Speaker 1: our souls. These gifts are yours, And first you have
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Speaker 1: our hearts, and we give them gratefully, joyfully and generously
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Speaker 1: in the name of Jesus. And everyone said, Amen, for
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Speaker 1: the next few moments. I want to invite you to
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Speaker 1: a place you've never been before. I want you to
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Speaker 1: imagine what it would be like to be there. I
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Speaker 1: want you to imagine yourself captive in a dungeon. Your
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Speaker 1: captors have the power of life and death. They can
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Speaker 1: torture you, they can kill you, they can interrogate you.
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Speaker 1: There's no way you can escape. It's almost impossible to
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Speaker 1: imagine ourselves in such a setting. But until we do,
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Speaker 1: we'll not really appreciate the way Paul writes what he
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Speaker 1: does and how he says what he says in this
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Speaker 1: last letter that ever came from his hand. While I
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Speaker 1: was away on a time of vacation. Recently I looked
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Speaker 1: over again the wonderful book by Congressman Sam Johnson titled
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Speaker 1: Captive Warriors. Long before Sam Johnson was a congressman, he
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Speaker 1: was a fighter pilot flying missions over enemy territory among
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Speaker 1: the Viet Cong. He was shot down. Amazingly, he parachuted
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Speaker 1: to safety, but not for very long. His captors found him,
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Speaker 1: and the torturing began and continued for the better part
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Speaker 1: of seven years. While in various places, living on rats
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Speaker 1: and roaches and lizards, and spiders for the only protein
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Speaker 1: he could take in. He survived. The fingers of his
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Speaker 1: hands were broken, bones of his body broken in the
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Speaker 1: torturing experiences of interrogation, and he never broke. He remains,
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Speaker 1: in my mind and many of our minds, a true hero.
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Speaker 1: You owe it to yourself to read his story. He
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Speaker 1: will help you identify with life in a dungeon, a
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Speaker 1: cell on occasion not long enough for him to stretch
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Speaker 1: out in. I wrote from sections of his book, Malnutrition, filth,
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Speaker 1: and grossly inadequate conditions finally took their toll. No part
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Speaker 1: of my body was spared the huge hot boils. Every
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Speaker 1: movement was painful. The rough, coarse fabric of my prison
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Speaker 1: clothes scratched and irritated, the oozing sores. I wondered if
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Speaker 1: I might die. I was starving. Listlessness and depression hung
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Speaker 1: on me. I had no energy. I estimated that I
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Speaker 1: had dropped from about one hundred and ninety pounds to
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Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty pounds. I was more a skeleton
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Speaker 1: than a man. Had to fight to retain my sanity.
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Speaker 1: I struggled to think. Cohesive thoughts, memories became all absorbing
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Speaker 1: In that dark cave of a cell, surrounded by the
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Speaker 1: stench of death. The present was unbearable, the future almost unthinkable.
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Speaker 1: Only the past had meaning. I brooded on memories. I
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Speaker 1: was amazed at what the mind could retain after years
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Speaker 1: of storage. I remembered Bible stories from Sunday School. Songs
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Speaker 1: and verses I hadn't heard since grade school came back
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Speaker 1: to me with perfect clarity. I was able to picture
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Speaker 1: in living color toys I had played with at three
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Speaker 1: and four years old. Family Members I hadn't seen in
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Speaker 1: more than three decades came rushing back to my memory.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes I wondered if I really was the child I
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Speaker 1: saw in those images. I turned my attention toward God.
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Speaker 1: I still talk freely to him. I knew with certainty
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Speaker 1: that He was present in the darkness, in that dark,
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Speaker 1: cramped closet of a cell. He listened when I prayed this,
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Speaker 1: I know without a doubt he answered me. When Bible
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Speaker 1: stories and verses of comfort came into my thoughts, I
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Speaker 1: knew he placed them there. I was comforted and encouraged,
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Speaker 1: and I began to know my creator in a way
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Speaker 1: I had never known him before. I now know in
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Speaker 1: retrospect that God's intimate interaction with me strengthened me and
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Speaker 1: built my faith so that I would be able to
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Speaker 1: trust Him in the darkness of the terrible days that
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Speaker 1: still lay ahead from me. It's almost impossible for you, you
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Speaker 1: and me, sitting in a comfortable place like this, with
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Speaker 1: more than enough to eat for breakfast, lunch, and supper
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Speaker 1: and meals in between, with a car to drive and
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Speaker 1: freedom to enjoy. It's almost impossible for us to enter
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Speaker 1: into a world that is reduced to a cull, not
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Speaker 1: long enough to stretch out in for months and years
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Speaker 1: and years. That's life and a dungeon. Not a word
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Speaker 1: of bitterness or blame, not a lingering complaint. You know
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Speaker 1: the man today. He is a man of joy and
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Speaker 1: great humor and delight, but deep, deep convictions regarding the
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Speaker 1: sustaining of our liberties which are rapidly being taken from us,
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Speaker 1: and the power of Jesus Christ at work in a
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Speaker 1: life the crucible will bring the greatness out of us,
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Speaker 1: and so it did in the life of the apostle Paul.
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Speaker 1: Not a word of bitterness or blame, not a complaint.
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Speaker 1: In fact, frequently we will read words of gratitude and
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Speaker 1: joy even praise to his God, as Shoulshanitzen put on
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Speaker 1: one occasion, thank you prison for having been in my life.
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Speaker 1: What a treasure. This second letter is the last letter
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Speaker 1: Paul ever wrote. For all we know, only hours after
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Speaker 1: the final stroke of the stylus, he heard the bootsteps
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Speaker 1: above him, and the whole is opened, and they drag
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Speaker 1: him up out of the dungeon and take him to
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Speaker 1: the Austrian Way where his head would be severed from
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Speaker 1: his body. Final words two Timothy, no wonder. Bishop Mule
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Speaker 1: said on one occasion, I can scarcely read these words
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Speaker 1: without a mist forming over my eyes. You remember where
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Speaker 1: we've been in these past number of days together. In
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Speaker 1: the letter a brief review, I've given you an outline
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Speaker 1: to follow. You'll find in your worship folder. You may
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Speaker 1: wish to turn to that now and fill it in
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Speaker 1: as we work our way through this. But do not
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Speaker 1: forget these are words of a man and a dungeon.
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Speaker 1: Easy to forget that, because they are words of uplifting
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Speaker 1: value and courage. There's a There's not a reluctant bone
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Speaker 1: in Paul's body. He is contagious with enthusiasm, as he
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Speaker 1: had the torch still flaming to Timothy, the younger man
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Speaker 1: you read in verse one. This is from Paul an
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Speaker 1: apostle verse two to Timothy. He writes directly to Timothy,
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Speaker 1: my beloved son, Grace, mercy, peace from God our father,
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Speaker 1: not heartache, misery. What a dreadful circumstance in which I
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Speaker 1: find myself. It's grace, mercy and peace all the way
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Speaker 1: through the letter. How closely Timothy must have clutched the
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Speaker 1: letter when he received it. How many times he must
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Speaker 1: have read it over and over again. This is followed
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Speaker 1: by his thanking the Lord whom he served with a
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Speaker 1: clear conscience verse three, the way his forefathers had done.
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Speaker 1: See how his memory of going back to those days
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Speaker 1: yet passed? He said verse four. I long to see
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Speaker 1: you even as I recall your tears, that I may
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Speaker 1: be filled with joy. I remember them, Timothy. That happens
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Speaker 1: when you're in a dungeon. That happens when you know
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Speaker 1: you'll never escape. You're lost in the memory of the
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Speaker 1: way things were. He will say. Before the end of
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Speaker 1: the letter, come before winter. I long to be with
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Speaker 1: you again. How 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 of 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 set 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 1: It really means to protect by taking careful measures to
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Speaker 1: 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 parathay ka. Big word that
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Speaker 1: has in mind in the ancient world, that the sacred
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Speaker 1: duty of safeguarding a deposit so that when it is
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Speaker 1: in need of being returned. All of it is returned
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Speaker 1: exactly as it was deposited. One man writes, in the
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Speaker 1: ancient world, there was no more sacred duty than the
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Speaker 1: safeguarding of such a deposit and the returning of it
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Speaker 1: when in due time it was claimed. Or Are you
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Speaker 1: a teacher of the truth? Let me change it. Are
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Speaker 1: you a preacher of God's word as you hear my
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Speaker 1: words today? Are you a person who speaks at conferences
27:49
Speaker 1: and helps people grasp spiritual things? Are you a musician
27:56
Speaker 1: who sings songs of the faith. Are you a counselor
28:00
Speaker 1: who takes the word of God and invests that treasure
28:04
Speaker 1: in the ears and hearts of those who need to
28:06
Speaker 1: hear them. Whatever may be the category, my words to
28:10
Speaker 1: you are very simple. Guard the trust. Be careful that
28:17
Speaker 1: you treat the Word with clarity and with respect. Make
28:26
Speaker 1: sure that in your life and lifetime you are faithful
28:30
Speaker 1: to guard the treasure through the power of the Holy
28:34
Speaker 1: Spirit which has been deposited in you. Thank God for
28:41
Speaker 1: the deposit, and thank God for your presence as you
28:45
Speaker 1: guard that treasure and make it known. It is easy
28:49
Speaker 1: when we traffic in spiritual things to begin to think
28:52
Speaker 1: of the scriptures almost in a perfunctory manner. Never let
28:56
Speaker 1: that happen to you. Never let that occur. And I
29:00
Speaker 1: will tell you this. If you become a person who
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Speaker 1: is drenched in the scriptures, who is passionate about the scriptures,
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Speaker 1: who is faithful to guard the scriptures and retain the standard,
29:13
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
29:23
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
29:31
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.
29:38
Speaker 1: A man on his way to the tabernacle to hear
29:41
Speaker 1: Whitfield that morning, met David Hume, the Scottish philosopher and skeptic.
29:47
Speaker 1: He was surprised to see Hume in the darkness on
29:51
Speaker 1: his way to the chapel to hear Whitfield. I'm surprised
29:55
Speaker 1: to see him on his way to hear Whitfield. The
29:58
Speaker 1: man said to him, I thought you I did not
30:00
Speaker 1: believe in the gospel. Hume replied, I don't, But he does,
30:05
Speaker 1: and I can't stay away. That is the truth. There's
30:12
Speaker 1: something about a hungry sheep that will draw them to
30:15
Speaker 1: the good word of God. People long for songs that
30:20
Speaker 1: remind them of the truths of the scriptures. People love
30:24
Speaker 1: it when we take the scriptures and break it down
30:27
Speaker 1: into practical terms so they can understand how those words
30:31
Speaker 1: relate to their lives. So they've been entrusted to you,
30:36
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.
30:45
Speaker 1: I hope you will always know at Stonebrier Community Church
30:49
Speaker 1: that the Word of God will continue to be highlighted
30:54
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
31:16
Speaker 1: my heart like that. Once strong churches no longer strong,
31:23
Speaker 1: once powerful preachers now weakened because they bought into the
31:28
Speaker 1: culture that doesn't guard the eternal treasure of God's Word.
31:35
Speaker 1: Pray that I will never lose the passion. Pray that
31:38
Speaker 1: our teachers will be forever good models of that contagion
31:43
Speaker 1: I mentioned a few minutes ago. Now, without announcing a
31:48
Speaker 1: change of subject, Paul slips into the other eternal investment
31:52
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
32:21
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
32:32
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
32:48
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
32:55
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,
33:08
Speaker 1: let's give Paul a little slack here. Okay, he's in
33:11
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,
33:26
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
33:33
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
33:39
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
33:53
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,
34:01
Speaker 1: because this is all we know. There's nothing more found
34:04
Speaker 1: anywhere in the scriptures, nothing anywhere else, so we're left
34:08
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
34:27
Speaker 1: to be with you to the end, just like Peter
34:30
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
34:45
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
34:54
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
35:04
Speaker 1: lived very long, you have, surely you have. It's noteworthy
35:12
Speaker 1: that Paul doesn't mention any of the details of their
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Speaker 1: deserting him. Nice of him not to tell the specifics
35:21
Speaker 1: about how Homogenes and Fagelous walked away. The man who
35:28
Speaker 1: wrote a biography on John Calvin tells a moving account
35:31
Speaker 1: in his life. He writes, John Calvin experienced similar hurts
35:35
Speaker 1: when he was expelled from Geneva, abandoned by once loyal friends.
35:41
Speaker 1: He later remarked that such deserters invariably became accusers. It's
35:49
Speaker 1: an interesting line. Deserters invariably became accusers who wandered through
35:57
Speaker 1: the streets of France to establish their own innocence by
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Speaker 1: directing against us all the accusations they can, so what
36:09
Speaker 1: happens among those who choose to no longer walk with us.
36:15
Speaker 1: Often those who walk away become accusers. I love it
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Speaker 1: that Paul doesn't spend a lot of time defending himself.
36:24
Speaker 1: It's almost as if he's to say, after all, he's
36:26
Speaker 1: in a dungeon, he's going to die soon. He says,
36:30
Speaker 1: that'll all be left up to the Lord to take
36:32
Speaker 1: care of that account. It's a good time for me
36:36
Speaker 1: to add that not all who walk away are heretics.
36:41
Speaker 1: Be careful about judging those who break fellowship with you
36:46
Speaker 1: and putting them in a category they don't deserve. They
36:49
Speaker 1: simply don't agree with you anymore. They don't wish to
36:53
Speaker 1: follow your leadership or be under your teaching. Every pastor
36:59
Speaker 1: needs to remember these words. Even Paul had Fajealous and
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Speaker 1: 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
37:16
Speaker 1: cannot be carnal. Some of them act out, and carnality
37:20
Speaker 1: is this biographer rights of Calvin. The point is stay
37:24
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
37:31
Speaker 1: go on you'll recover. Paul names them here for a
37:36
Speaker 1: reason that's not set forth, and then he goes quickly
37:39
Speaker 1: to the next man. And this would be the category
37:42
Speaker 1: of those who refresh us. This is one of my
37:44
Speaker 1: favorite people in all the Bible. First of all, I
37:47
Speaker 1: respect him because he lived with a name like Onacipherus.
37:51
Speaker 1: By the way, don't name your son Onocipherus or while
37:57
Speaker 1: i'm at it, fagellous or not good names to tag
38:02
Speaker 1: on your son. You need to take care of what
38:04
Speaker 1: you name your kids, because you can say, well, you're
38:07
Speaker 1: in the Bible. But look, look, honestly, Onnocipherus looks like
38:11
Speaker 1: a misprint. Look at the name. The Lord grant mercy
38:15
Speaker 1: to the house of Ona Sipherus. Could anything good come
38:18
Speaker 1: out of a life named Onocipherus. As a matter of fact,
38:22
Speaker 1: while we have a little fun with him, he's dripping
38:25
Speaker 1: with goodness, which says you cannot tell a lot by
38:29
Speaker 1: a name. Look at what he says of Onocipherus. He
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Speaker 1: often refreshed me. Oh better love that at the very
38:41
Speaker 1: heart of the word translated refreshed is the English word soul,
38:46
Speaker 1: so oul. His refreshment was like fresh water to my soul.
38:54
Speaker 1: He was a soul refreshing man. This Onocipherus. Look at
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Speaker 1: what else it says, he was not ashamed of my chains.
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Speaker 1: It was easy to be that in those days. When
39:12
Speaker 1: Nero put you in chains and locked you in stocks
39:15
Speaker 1: and dropped you in a dungeon. You're a marked man
39:19
Speaker 1: 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: Acipherous even greater character. Because he wasn't ashamed of Paul's chains.
39:42
Speaker 1: We'll come back to that in a moment. There's a
39:44
Speaker 1: sermon in that that I don't want you to miss,
39:47
Speaker 1: and he doesn't stop there. Verse seventeen. When he was
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Speaker 1: in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me.
39:58
Speaker 1: Remember what I told you months ago that are really
40:02
Speaker 1: weeks now, that Paul was in the Mamertime dungeon in Rome,
40:07
Speaker 1: not easy to find even for tourists today. Only a
40:11
Speaker 1: few guides can lead you to it. But if you
40:14
Speaker 1: go to Rome, you must visit the Mamertime. In those days,
40:18
Speaker 1: it must have been a labyrintha prisms, and an ugly,
40:23
Speaker 1: horrible place of filth, foul smelling, sewer like conditions where
40:29
Speaker 1: they lived on rats and roaches and lizards and spiders.
40:35
Speaker 1: But o Nisipherus found me. Can't you picture his coming
40:40
Speaker 1: and Paul, Paul, it's me again, maybe dropping a hot dog,
40:54
Speaker 1: maybe maybe a little bag of water. It's for you, Paul.
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Speaker 1: I love you, man. Life isn't the same without you, Paul,
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Speaker 1: Lord grant mercy to the house of Alcipherus. He refreshed
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Speaker 1: me in my soul. He wasn't ashamed of my chains,
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Speaker 1: and he often eagerly search for me, and he found me.
41:32
Speaker 1: He repeats, the Lord grant mercy to that man on
41:37
Speaker 1: that day. And you know very well what services he
41:40
Speaker 1: rendered at ephesis. He wasn't just chumming up to Paul.
41:44
Speaker 1: He did that as a regular part of his life.
41:50
Speaker 1: Do I look into the face of an Onnocipherus today,
41:54
Speaker 1: I think, so you have an aging parent who can't
42:01
Speaker 1: give much now because she's given much more than she
42:04
Speaker 1: gave when she was younger. She can't do that any more.
42:09
Speaker 1: Or maybe a dad who soils himself and there's no
42:15
Speaker 1: one to care for him some one with a congenital
42:18
Speaker 1: disease they can't help. Rousseau tells a moving story in
42:24
Speaker 1: one of his brief accounts of how he was a
42:26
Speaker 1: friend with a man who was an epileptic, and he
42:28
Speaker 1: was on the streets of France when suddenly the epileptic
42:32
Speaker 1: friend had a seizure and he twisted and turned and
42:36
Speaker 1: dropped to the street, and Rousseau says he ran and hid.
42:40
Speaker 1: He was ashamed to be near him, and he said,
42:43
Speaker 1: I live with regret to this last day of my
42:46
Speaker 1: life that I wasn't near my friend when he needed me.
42:49
Speaker 1: The most honest account, you have a friend in prison.
42:57
Speaker 1: You haven't forgotten him, have you? Or her? You have
43:04
Speaker 1: someone that just I don't know, just hard to love.
43:11
Speaker 1: You have to work real hard to love. You still
43:14
Speaker 1: love them, don't you? For years I've loved the writings
43:20
Speaker 1: of Alexander White, Scottish pastor for forty seven years at
43:25
Speaker 1: the Free Church in Edinburgh. Listen to what he says
43:29
Speaker 1: about Onacipherus. Paul might be the greatest of the apostles
43:34
Speaker 1: to Onosipherus, and he may be all that in far
43:37
Speaker 1: more than all that to you and to me. But
43:40
Speaker 1: he was only number so, and so to the soldiers
43:43
Speaker 1: of his day, you would not have known Paul from
43:48
Speaker 1: any incognizable convict in our own penal settlements. Paul was
43:55
Speaker 1: simply number five, or number fifty, or number five hundred,
44:01
Speaker 1: or some such number. From one Barck prison therefore to
44:05
Speaker 1: another Onocipherus went about seeking for Paul day after day,
44:09
Speaker 1: week after week, often insulted, often threatened, often ill used,
44:14
Speaker 1: often arrested, and detained, till he was set free again,
44:18
Speaker 1: only after great suffering and great expense, till at last
44:22
Speaker 1: his arms were around Paul's neck, and the two old
44:26
Speaker 1: men were kissing one another and weeping, to the amazement
44:31
Speaker 1: of all the prisoners who saw the scene. Noble hearted
44:35
Speaker 1: on a cypherus, we bowed down before thee. My heart
44:43
Speaker 1: skipped a beat while I was away. And the wonderful
44:48
Speaker 1: project that our church was involved in for a number
44:51
Speaker 1: of months was finished. Roy Williamson sort of led the
44:56
Speaker 1: pack for that, And Roy and his team of workers
44:59
Speaker 1: men and women are alw had built this house from
45:02
Speaker 1: the ground up, and then it had been moved to
45:04
Speaker 1: a little plot of land, and the house was made
45:07
Speaker 1: available to a single parent and her children, And that
45:12
Speaker 1: day came when they were able to stand there with her,
45:16
Speaker 1: and they took the key and they handed it towards
45:20
Speaker 1: her house. Noble hearted own a Sepharus. We salute you.
45:30
Speaker 1: If you were on that project, we salute you. That
45:34
Speaker 1: is Christianity at its best, at its best, when the
45:40
Speaker 1: truth of Christ comes into the life and it moves
45:44
Speaker 1: us to compassion. Take time when you go by those
45:47
Speaker 1: in wheelchairs and lean over and put your arm around
45:51
Speaker 1: them and thank them for staying at it, and then
45:54
Speaker 1: look into the eyes of the one pushing their chair
45:57
Speaker 1: and thank them, thank them for their thankless role. I
46:05
Speaker 1: may have told some of you in my experience with
46:09
Speaker 1: Johnny ericson Tata, who, by the way, recently is turning sixty,
46:14
Speaker 1: very unusual for her quadriplegic to reach that age. We
46:18
Speaker 1: all love her. She's everybody's hero, certainly mine. I was
46:23
Speaker 1: sitting at a table with her, and her assistant had
46:25
Speaker 1: to be called away for a phone call, so I
46:29
Speaker 1: was there alone with Johnny, and they served our meal
46:32
Speaker 1: at the restaurant, and I picked up my fork and
46:35
Speaker 1: knife and started to cut my food, and she looked
46:38
Speaker 1: at me and she said chuck. I said yeah, She
46:41
Speaker 1: 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
48:21
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 ciperous.
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
49:33
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.
50:11
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 whatever reason you've you realize now
50:26
Speaker 1: there's been compromise that's taken the place of courage. Today
50:33
Speaker 1: can be a turning point for you. As you ask
50:36
Speaker 1: the Lord to deepen your commitment to the eternal truths
50:40
Speaker 1: of the scriptures, you may encourage the hearts of others.
50:48
Speaker 1: And I urge you to use the scriptures. In doing so,
50:52
Speaker 1: counsel with the scriptures, write your songs with scripture in mind.
51:01
Speaker 1: And now, people, is there someone you need to forgive
51:04
Speaker 1: and go on with your life? Someone you need to
51:08
Speaker 1: stop blaming, You need to get past their departure. During
51:19
Speaker 1: my time away, I had a chance to do that,
51:21
Speaker 1: and I feel refreshed from having done so. And I'm
51:25
Speaker 1: grateful for the Lord's work in my own life, in
51:29
Speaker 1: the homogenes and the jealousies of my life. How about
51:35
Speaker 1: someone who could use encouraging, refreshing touch from your hand,
51:41
Speaker 1: some single parent, someone laid aside illness, perhaps a parent
51:54
Speaker 1: of yours, a friend. How good it is when we
52:02
Speaker 1: make our way through life that we pause alongside people
52:05
Speaker 1: in wheelchairs and lean down and thank them for their
52:10
Speaker 1: courage to stay at it, for being people who haven't
52:15
Speaker 1: given up and thanking those who often push their chairs.
52:22
Speaker 1: And once again, you may be one who've never come
52:25
Speaker 1: to Christ, and the Lord is ready to receive you.
52:30
Speaker 1: I urge you to turn to him now. Father, Thank
52:35
Speaker 1: you for the Word of God that lives and abides forever.
52:38
Speaker 1: Thank you for the pleasure of worshiping your name. We
52:42
Speaker 1: minister today through the power of your spirit. And may
52:45
Speaker 1: the Word of God under his anointing, reach our hearts
52:50
Speaker 1: and change areas that need attention, especially those who've never
52:56
Speaker 1: trusted in your Son. Do I pray turn the hearts
53:00
Speaker 1: toward yourself. Lift the hearts of the grieving and the broken.
53:06
Speaker 1: May they be refreshed with even the teaching of the
53:09
Speaker 1: scriptures as well as the lives of others. I asked
53:13
Speaker 1: this in the name of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Everyone
53:17
Speaker 1: together said Amen.
53:22
Speaker 2: The preceding message to Eternal Investments was copyrighted in two
53:27
Speaker 2: thousand and nine and twenty fifteen, and the sound recording
53:30
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
53:34
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
53:39
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.