Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 1 Timothy 4:6-16 - How A Young Person Should Conduct Themselves as A Christian

Transcript

1 Timothy 4:6-16 - How A Young Person Should Conduct Themselves as A Christian · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, howdy and good morning friends and faithful listeners,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and thank you so much for tuning in to today's
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: podcast episode. We're gonna be talking about First Timothy, Chapter four,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and I've got a lot of different topics I'm gonna
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: cover today. I'm gonna talk about three of the points
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: of Calvinism, because you guys know, I love talking about Calvinism.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: And I'm also going to discuss one of the most
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: out of context versus I know of, specifically for young
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: people that like every single church uses in their youth room.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: So stay tuned for those two topics. Now, before we
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: begin this episode, here's a quick word from our sponsors
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: that help this podcast to keep on running. So, as
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: you guys can see, my podcast is officially integrated with
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Life Audio. And I'm very excited about this. Life Audio
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: so far has been a joy, like a pleasure to
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: work with. They have been so nice about everything. They
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: are helping me with marketing, and the one thing that
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I was really nervous about was I didn't want any
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: advertisements in the middle of the discussion, and so I
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: asked them, hey, can we do an advertisement like before
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the discussion and after the discussion instead of like right
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: in the middle, and they worked with me on that,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: so I'm very pleased to be working with Life audio.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: But let's go ahead and read First Timothy four six
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: through sixteen today. And this is a very interesting portion
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: of scripture about how Timothy should conduct himself. So let's
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: go ahead and get into it. First Timothy four six
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: through sixteen. I'll be reading as I always do from
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the web, but I'll also be referencing the NIV version
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: today as well. Grab your cup of coffee to share
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: with me. I've got mine right here, or your cup
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: of tea for you crazy tea drinkers, And let's read
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: First Timothy four six through sixteen. If you instruct the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: brothers of these things, you will be a good servant
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: and of the good doctrine which you have followed. But
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: refuse profane in old wives fables. Exercise yourself toward godliness,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: For bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: in all things. Having the promise of the life which
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: is now and of that which is to come, this
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, for to
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: this end, we both labor and suffer reproach, because we
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: have set our trust in the Living God, who is
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the savior of all men, especially of those who believe,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: command and teach these things. Let no man despise your youth,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: but be an example to those who believe in word,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and in purity until I come. Pay attention to reading,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: to exhortation, and to teaching. Don't neglect the gift that
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: is in you, which was given to you by prophecy
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: with the laying on of the hands of the elders.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: that your progress may be revealed to all. Pay attention
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: to yourself and to your teaching. Continue in these things.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: For doing this you will save both yourself and those
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: who hear you. You'll remember that last week we discussed
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: how some people were going to fall away from Christianity
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: in the latter times and follow a doctrine of demons,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: and we talked about what that doctrine of demons actually is.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: That was a really good episode, I thought, And so
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: now in verse six, Paul continues to instruct Timothy as
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: to how he should be teaching this church in Macedonia,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: because don't forget you know, Timothy was by himself in Macedonia.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: He was probably feeling a little bit alone. This was
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: his first solo mission that we know of. And so
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Paul wrote this letter to encourage Timothy to tell Timothy
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: you can do this. So let's start in verse six.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: If you instruct the brothers of these things, you'll be
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: a good servant of Christ Jesus. So what are these
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: good things that Paul's talking about, Well, pretty much everything
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: laid out in this letter so far. He says, if
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: you teach these things, you will be a good servant
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: and of the good doctrine which you have followed. I
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: really like that analogy of Scripture being at nourishing. There
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: is something kind of RESTful and nourishing about Scripture. It
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: just kind of fills us up, if that makes sense.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: And so Paul says, if you followed these good doctrines,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: you will be nourished by the words of the faith,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: and you're going to nourish everybody else as well. A
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: lot of people believe that Timothy had the gift of teaching,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: and this entire letter is Paul encouraging Timothy to express
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: whatever spiritual gift he has, because spiritual gifts are not
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: meant to be used for ourselves. Mostly. The only one
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: that's kind of like a caveat in that is the
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: gift of tongues. That's more so for yourself than for
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: other people. It can be used for other people, but
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: that's like the one spiritual gift that is just between
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: you and God, whereas the other spiritual gifts are almost
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: always people focused. Our spiritual gifts are supposed to be
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: used to the benefit of other people. And so even
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: though Timothy is a young man, possibly scared, possibly not
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: wanting to stay in Macedonia, Paul says, you have to
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: use your spiritual gift for other people. That is the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: point of it. So teach these people the good doctrines
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: and live in them yourself verse seven. But refuse profane
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: and old wives fables. Exercise yourself toward godliness. So what
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: would be the old wives fables? Paul actually uses this
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: phrase again in Titus chapter one, verse fourteen. He says,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: don't pay attention to Jewish fables and commandments of men
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: who have turned away from the truth. So essentially, Paul's
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: talking about the myths that the Judaizers are spreading across
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: the world about like their genealogies. How you know, certain
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: genealogies are better than others, and you know, ancestry matters
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: so much in the eyes of God, and you know
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: you have to do this or that in order to
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: be close to God. That is what Paul is talking
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: about here. So he tells Timothy ignore these old wives fables.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: They are nothing but profane, is what he says. Instead,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise has some value,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: but godliness has value in all things. Now, it could
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: be that the reason Paul mentions bodily exercise is because
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Timothy was into that kind of thing. You know, this
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: was the era of the Olympic Games and gladiators and
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: these really strong men that would go out and fight
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: each other, and maybe Timothy was into that kind of stuff.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Maybe he was a sports nut, or maybe just personally
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: he enjoyed physical exercise. And so Paul kind of brings
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: it back to that. He says, exercise yourself towards godliness.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Bodily exercise does have some value, Timothy, but Godliness has
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: value in all things. So exercising your body is good.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: But the problem is is it's only temporary because we
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: only gain the benefits of bodily exercise in this life now,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: whereas the benefits of Godliness are in this life now
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: and also the life to come, which is why we
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Christians should be practicing Godliness now, exercising ourself in it.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: And as you know, exercise is not fun. It is difficult,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: it's terrible. I hate it, you know. I went to
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the gym last week and I'm like, why am I here?
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: I hate this. Every single time I go to the gym,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: I'm like, please let me leave now. I do not
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: enjoy exercise. I still try to exercise because I feel
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: better when I do, but I don't enjoy the process
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: of it at all. Exercise is difficult, but it gives
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: you great benefits. You feel better afterward, You're less stiff.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Maybe you can carry heavier things, you can have stronger endurance.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: You can walk up the stairs with a laundry basket
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: full of clothes without getting out of breath. That's not
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: a personal experience or anything. Exercise is difficult, but it
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: produces good things, and so becoming godly is difficult. It
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: is something we have to practice on a day to
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: day basis. It's not just going to come to us
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: naturally because we have a sin nature, you know, naturally
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: we want a sin, that was what we were born in.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Godliness is kind of the opposite of what we know,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: so we have to practice becoming godly. And that doesn't mean,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: by the way that we're going to become God's That's
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: not what Paul's talking about here at all. We're never
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: going to become God's. God himself alone is God. There
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: is no other God. Human beings, though, are meant to
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: imitate God. And once we become Christians the word Christian
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: literally means christ like or little Christ. We are to
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: imitate Jesus with everything that we do. It's difficult, but
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: the more we practice it, the easier it gets. The
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: more we read our Bible and understand what God wants
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: for us, the easier it is for us to incorporate
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: what God wants into our lives. So that's what Paul's
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: talking about. He says this saying is faithful and worthy
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: of all acceptance, for to this end, we both labor
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: and suffer reproach because we have set our trust in
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the Living God, who is the savior of all men,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: especially of those who believe. So because of this striving
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: toward godliness, Paul says that we labor and suffer reproach. Now,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: if I'm being one hundred percent honest, I don't really
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: like the way the Web translates this, because the Greek
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: word actually means to strive, whereas the Web says suffer reproach.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: To strive for something means to endure. To suffer reproach
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: means to be persecuted. So I find it kind of
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: interesting that the Web did not translate that very well.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: But yeah, in the NIV it says we labor and strive,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: which would be more correct. And by the way, the
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: words strive in Greek, which is agonize, agonize, zome. You know, agonize,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: it means to fight, to struggle, often in an athletic contest.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: So by using that word, Paul is still talking about
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: the analogy of exercise in relation to godliness, and he says,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: we have set our trust in the Living God, who
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: is the savior of all men, especially of those who believe. Now,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: I harp on Calvinists all the time, which, by the way,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: I love Calvinists. I go to a Calvinist church. I
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: have a lot of Calvinist friends. I like debating them.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: I like talking about Calvinism with them. It's interesting to
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: hear their viewpoints. But I would say that this verse
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: kind of spits in the face of three points of Calvinism.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: A specifically unconditional election, which means that God elected only
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: certain people to salvation, limited atonement which means that Christ
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: only died for the elect for the people that God
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: chose to become saved. And also irresistible grace, which is
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: that people don't have a choice to choose God or
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: to not choose God. God. God just either makes them
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: saved or doesn't make them saved, and people can't go
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: against the sovereignty of God. But yet, in this verse
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: it specifically says God is the savior of all men,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: especially of those who believe. One of the most famous
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: verses in the Bible is John three point sixteen. God
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: so loved the world or the cosmos, which is everything
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: that exists, the entirety of creation, the entire universe. God
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: loved the cosmos so much that he gave his one
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: but have eternal life. So everyone who believes in Jesus
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: is going to have that eternal life. But Jesus clearly
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: died for everything. He died for the entire world, for
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: creation itself. So limited atonement specifically, that point is false,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: just based upon scripture, based upon one Timothy four where
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Paul is kind of parroting John three point sixteen, where
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: he says that God is the savior of all men,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: especially of those who believe. If God is the savior
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: of everything, Jesus came down to save the entire world,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: then that means that limited atonement cannot exist. Now, don't
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: get me wrong, I am not saying that this verse
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: means that all people are saved, because it specifically says
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: that only those who believe are truly saved by God.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: But I am saying that Jesus did far more for
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the world than we can understand. Jesus essentially undid the curse,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: and we know that the curse was not just for
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: human beings, but for the entire earth. You know, the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: earth is under a curse as well because of sin
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: nature and Jesus fully undid that. So he did far
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: more through his death and resurrection than we really understand.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: He did it for the cosmos, for everything that he created.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: So the point of limited atonement, which is that Jesus
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: only died for individuals who are going to be saved,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: is just downright false. Now as far as this verse
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: going against some of the other points of Calvinism, specifically
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: unconditional election, which means that only the people God chooses
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: are going to be saved. I mean, Paul himself here
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: says those who believe are the ones who are going
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: to be saved. Doesn't that imply some sort of choice
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: on our part? You know, Paul could have used a
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: completely different word there. He could have said those who
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: are chosen, which he does say that quite a lot.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: But in this case he says those who believe, implying
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: that there's a choice to believe or not believe. And
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I'm sure I'll get some pushback on this once this
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: episode comes out. I always have. The two things I
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: always get pushed back on is my stance on Calvinism
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: and also my stance on financial giving. Like those are
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: the two things people always get super irritated with me
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: about but I'm sorry, you know, I can't change what
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: scripture says. I had one person reach out to me
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: recently and they're like, you know, Jen, you should be
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: getting more and more Calvinists the more you read the Bible.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, why Calvinism was invented by a man.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: It's literally named after a man, Calvin, So it's not
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: even scriptural, you know, it was named by a man.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: It's just a theory of how salvation works. So no,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: you don't have to get more Calvinists the more you
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: read through scripture. It's just a theory, you know, it's
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: a theory of salvation. But let's go ahead and move forward.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Paul says in verse eleven, command and teach these things,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: not about Calvinism, but everything else, everything already laid out
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: in this letter Timothy is to teach these things to
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: the people, and Paul directly goes into verse twelve. Let
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: no man despise your youth, but be an example to
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: those who believe in word, in your way of life,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. Now,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: as a youth leader, I can prompt mus you that
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: this verse is the most overused verse for teenagers in
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: the church, like every single teen room has this verse somewhere.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Let no man despise your youth, but be an example
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: to those who believe. Now, it's interesting a lot of
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: youth groups actually take that verse out of context to
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: say that, oh, you know, youth kids are just as
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: smart as adults, and they should be treated as adults,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: and people should not despise their youth. But that is
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: actually the opposite of what this verse is saying. He's
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: telling Timothy, don't be a little jerk. Don't make people
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: despise the fact that you are young. Don't act like
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: a young person, Act like a mature adult. He says,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: be an example to those who believe in your words,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: and in purity. So, in other words, Timothy is supposed
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: to be a Christian example to everybody he encounters. He
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: is not supposed to act immature or rebel. But he
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: is supposed to teach the gospel to all of these
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: people who would have been much older than him. You know,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: we don't know how old Timothy was during this. Some
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: people say he was a teenager like an older teenager.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Some people say he was possibly in his thirties, which
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: would have been still young in Paul's day and age.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: I believe you were considered a young man until about
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: forty years old. Then you are no longer young. But
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: regardless of how old Timothy is, he was a young man.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: And so Paul says, don't allow people to despise the
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: fact that you are young. And you know, that is
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: something so common in our culture today. You know, we
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: can't stand being around little kids because parents don't know
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: how to discipline their kids. I just want to go
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: see the David movie actually with my youth group, and
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: it was really cute. By the way, you guys should
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: all go if you get the chance. But I went
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: to go see it. It was super awesome, but there
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: was two like five year old children, unsupervised, sitting next
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: to me. These two unsupervised children were acting terrible and
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: they were throwing their popcorn everywhere, and their candy was
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: all over the floor, and their mom was like several
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: rows behind, like on the opposite side of the theater,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: and the only time she'd come over was to give
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: these kids more candy. And I'm like, oh my gosh,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: you know you're giving these children who are already so
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: hyper like a sugar high, when you should be like
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: calming them down. But I was thinking afterward, because you know,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: as I'm getting up to leave, I see this huge
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: mess that these kids left with their mom, Like their
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: mom didn't clean a single thing. They've got like pop
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: all over the floor. That's just terrible, And I'm like, wow,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: you know, this was a Christian movie. It was a
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Christian movie, and the majority of people that go to
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: a Christian movie are going to be Christians themselves. And
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: what a bad representation of Christianity that is to leave
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: all of that mess all over the floor for somebody
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: else who might not be a Christian to clean up.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: I felt for the person who had to clean that
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: mess up, And this verse kind of reminds me of
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: that don't act like a child, Timothy, be an example
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: to those who believe. With everything that you do, he says,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: until I come, pay attention to reading, which means reading
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the Bible. In Paul's day, the people would go to
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: church and there would be public readings of Scripture in
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: a long form kind of way. This was something that
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: the early Christian Church actually did take from Judaism. They
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: would read scripture publicly, and he says, pay attention to
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the reading, to the exhortation, and the teaching. Exhortation just
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: means to encourage people and to build them up and
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: also teach them. Don't neglect the gift that is in
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: you verse fourteen, which was given to you by prophecy
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: with the laying on of the hands of the elders.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: So that's that gift I was talking about. We don't
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: know specifically what gift, what spiritual gift, Timothy had, but
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: because Paul is talking so much about Timothy teaching in
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: this portion, a lot of people believe that that Timothy
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: had the gift of being able to teach very well.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: that your progress may be revealed to all. So be
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: a light, Be a light that shines out to everybody.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Let people see your good works, because they will glorify
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: the Father who is in heaven. Verse sixteen. Pay attention
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: to yourself and to your teaching, continuing these things, for
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: in doing this you will save both yourself and those
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: who hear you. You know, only God can truly save,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: like Jesus was the one who was the sacrifice for humanity,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: and he does the saving, so we can't save ourselves.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Paul's not talking about, you know, Timothy saving himself spiritually here,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: He's talking about Timothy saving himself from destruction essentially. You know,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: how many pastors do we see that don't live a
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: godly life and they end up in some sort of
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: like corruption or scandal or something that ends up destroying
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: their entire life, entire career, their entire families. We see
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: that all the time. That's the kind of thing Paul's
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: talking about here. And the Greek word for save implies
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: that as well. So save yourself from corruption, you're going
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: to save yourself and also those who hear you. So
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: if you are being a godly example to the people
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: who are around you, you're not going to just save
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: yourself through that godliness, but you're also going to teach
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: others how to save themselves from that type of corruption
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: as well. So be an example, teach well, don't let
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: people despise your youth, and be godly not just for
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: other people, but for yourself also. Well, thank you guys
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: for listening to this podcast episode. Here is a quick
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: word from one of our sponsors that helps this podcast
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: to keep on running. Well, Faithful listeners, I hope you
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: enjoyed today's episode. Don't forget that the Candlelit Christmas episode
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: is coming out to December twenty fourth, and I'm very
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: excited about it. This year, I've got some ideas rolling
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: around in my brain of what I'm going to do
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: and what I'm going to be talking about, and most
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: likely I'm going to be talking about Mary the Mother
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: of Jesus. Every single year I have like a different theme,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: you know. I think last year I talked about Fear
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: and the four different Angels of Christmas. I've done like
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: the genealogies of Jesus and why the account in Matthew
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: is different from the account in Luke. I've talked about
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: a bunch of different things, and so I think this
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: year I'm going to focus on Mary the Mother of Jesus.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: So I'm looking forward to that. I hope you guys
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: are as well. Don't forget. That comes out midnight on
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: December twenty fourth, or rather I guess December twenty fifth,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: so definitely keep that on your calendars. But also tomorrow
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: will be in the Old Testament in Second Chronicles, so
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: I'll see all you guys there six am or whenever
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: you choose to wake up and listen until tomorrow. Happy
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: listening and God bless. I just want to take a
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: second to thank the team at Life Audio for their
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeudio dot com you'll find dozens
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.