SPEAKER 1
Short time.
Do you think we're getting closer?
Yes.
Are there any signs that are showing you that time is becoming exceedingly more valuable and compressed?
SPEAKER 2
Yes.
SPEAKER 1
Do you think the Bible has a purpose for time?
And by that I mean the Author of Scripture.
Do you think time was designed with a purpose in mind?
SPEAKER 2
Yes.
SPEAKER 2
Would it be possible for us to learn something apart from having the space of time in which to ascertain that knowledge?
Yes.
How would we learn something without time?
SPEAKER 2
Wait, you said how would we learn something?
SPEAKER 1
Yeah, I'm saying it might be impossible for us to learn something if we didn't have the time to absorb it.
SPEAKER 2
Yeah.
SPEAKER 1
So time is one of the teaching tools of God.
SPEAKER 2
Yes.
SPEAKER 1
What do you got there?
What does the Bible say about just the topic of time in general?
SPEAKER 2
I'll just read one verse that it says right here.
It says Genesis 29:34. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.
It says, … Wow.
So she had great hope that this event would bring greater cohesion of family.
SPEAKER 1
I'm going to read a verse in the New Testament.
This is Acts.
Acts 14 says, So previously, God dealt with nations in a certain method.
And then I believe in Acts 17 he reiterates a similar concept where it says, And the times of this ignorance, [as for people just genuinely didn't know], God winked at.
Kind of let it slide.
But now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Now God's getting serious.
It's like you got to make a decision.
I think that means as we progress in time and we increase in knowledge, there's greater responsibility to respond.
Right?
Yes.
What else about time?
You got another verse?
About time?
I got Ephesians 1 says that in the dispensation, that means
a season of time, a segment, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in Him.
Wow.
So He's going to gather everything together in one.
1 Timothy 4 says, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
Wow.
1 Timothy 6.15, Which in His times He, [God], shall show who is the blessed and only Potentate, [capital P]. That's one of the names for Christ.
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
So, a potentate doesn't have to be potent.
He can be the best Potentate ever!
2 Timothy 3.1, This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come.
Do you think times are becoming less perilous or more perilous?
More perilous.
Now, with the urgency
and the increase as we swirl towards this crescendo to the endo.
It seems as though we have two options.
We can give up, despair, stick our head in the sand, and say I'm just going to put my pedal to the metal, floor it to 65 miles an hour, and hit that hard wall.
Or we can prepare.
SPEAKER 2
No, yeah.
SPEAKER 1
Which one is it?
Should it be no or yeah?
SPEAKER 2
Yeah.
SPEAKER 1
That's right.
Most people are no-yeah, which means they know they should, but yeah, they don't.
Right?
I know you're right, but I'm not going to do anything about it.
So I guess the whole purpose of time plus information is that we take action.
Yeah.
As time goes shorter, urgency should increase.
Yeah.
Urgency demands action.
Yes.
Action should be planned.
Okay.
Yeah.
And the plan should be written by God.
SPEAKER 2
Yeah.
SPEAKER 1
What does God say that we should do or how we should behave or become based upon the brevity of time that remains?
To redeem the time.
Redeem the time … the man comes back with a Bible answer.
He must have some wisdom from on high to redeem the time. Can you break it down break it down or do you need a chance to look up that word to get a good definition?
Affirmation of what “redeem the time” means because that is a Bible answer.
It must be true.
Help us redeem the time
That's a good answer.
So we looked it up.
Let's just go with the word and then we'll read the verse.
So the word redeeming, give us that second definition you just read there about redeeming.
SPEAKER 2
“To make wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good.
So the zeal and well-doing are as it were the purchase money by which we make the time our own.”
SPEAKER 1
Wow.
Wow.
By zeal.
Alright, and then go down a little farther, and it has clarity right there, and then read that definition too.
SPEAKER 1
So, to keep it out of the clutches of Satan.
SPEAKER 1
Because Satan would love us to squander and to waste our precious resources, including our time, right?
So, redeeming keeps it out of the hands of the enemy.
Yeah.
Is that what you're seeing in that second definition?
SPEAKER 2
Yeah, because out of another.
SPEAKER 1
Yeah, so to not let it go to waste, to not let it to slide into eternity unutilized.
Can you read that first definition again?
Because it was really good.
I wanted to absorb it into our soul.
SPEAKER 2
Yeah.
To make wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good.
So the zeal of well-doing are as it were the purchase money.
Zeal.
Zeal.
So the zeal and well-doing are as it were the purchase money by which we make the time our own.
SPEAKER 1
Time and money are really inseparable and we should not waste either of them because God is worthy.
I love it.
Alright, now you can back up and read the whole verse for the context.
Ooh, ow, ooh, ow.
SPEAKER 2
All right.
What do you got there?
It says in verse 16, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
SPEAKER 2
Okay, what's the context?
What's the lead up?
Because that's the half of the sentence.
What does it say right before that?
SPEAKER 2
Seeing then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
SPEAKER 1
Circumspect means upright, alert, and looking around, being aware of your surroundings.
And you can look that up later.
But yes, we should redeem the time because the days are evil, which means if we don't redeem the time, we lose that time to the loser, Mr. Evil himself.
We don't want to participate in evil.
We want to do the exact opposite.
I love it.
So time is precious.
Peter, can you go to Peter?
Alright, so we're in Peter and he's talking about the end times.
Tell us about what's going to happen.
SPEAKER 2
Pause right there.
SPEAKER 1
So, knowing that everything's going to be dissolved, both in heaven and earth, it's going to be a fresh restart, and knowing that God is coming soon, what manner of persons ought ye to be?
And then the Bible gives us an answer.
But, knowing that everything's going to liquefy and vaporize and melt with a fervent heat, which he repeats again later, what manner of persons ought ye to be?
All right, give me two points on what—let's just finish that sentence.
SPEAKER 2
to be in all holy conversation and godliness.
SPEAKER 2
Boom.
Stop right there.
Holy conversation.
How do you put those two words together?
What does it mean?
To speak correctly.
In American lingo, a conversation is a bi-directional exchange of language.
However, in Biblical context, the word conversation means your pattern of life, how you act out, what you're known for.
So, a godly, a holy conversation is somebody who has a holy lifestyle.
In fact, the word conversation in Scripture can normally be interchanged with lifestyle.
What you're known to be by the outside world that's observing.
So it's not your inner language.
It's not your prayer life.
It's not your what you believe.
It's what you act out.
Kind of like James said, put some action to your belief system, right?
Behave as though you believe it.
Alright, so we should have a holy conversation in the face of the world because they're watching.
And number two?
And godliness.
Wow.
Who's going to help us be godly?
What's that?
The Holy Spirit.
What does it mean?
Does it mean pleasing to God?
Yes.
Walking in accordance with His nature?
SPEAKER 2
Yes.
SPEAKER 1
Wow.
And then what?
Finish out that concept.
SPEAKER 2
Looking for and hasting on to the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
SPEAKER 2
That sounds like a sandwich.
He started it with fervent heat and he finished it with fervent heat and right in the middle, there's us trying to behave, godly, holy conversation.
Right?
Now right after the godliness and holy conversation, he gives us a motive.
What would motivate me to
To be more clean, more pure, more holy, more godly, it says looking, which means anticipating or expecting, right?
What does it say, looking?
SPEAKER 2
Looking for and hasting onto the coming of the day of God.
SPEAKER 2
That's the day when we face Him.
That's the day when He arrives, when we give an account for everything we've accomplished.
Now, two thoughts.
Should we accomplish everything we can before we meet God?
Yes.
Does that require some measure of intellectual engagement on our part?
Yes.
Now, by default, the natural man just wants to do absolutely nothing.
Yeah.
No preparation.
Do you remember the Old Testament prophet said, "Prepare to meet thy God?”
Yeah.
That's a pretty cool sermon right there, right?
One sentence,: “Prepare to meet thy God!”
I should say that to myself.
How often?
Every day.
Every day.
Am I today more prepared to meet my God than the person I was yesterday?
I'm not.
How am I becoming more pure in my conversation, my pattern of lifestyle, my work ethic, my language, my spirit, my attitude, my motives, and how am I becoming more Christlike?
I don't know exactly what the word Godly means, but I'm going to put the word Christlike in there because He's God.
He's our pattern that we should aspire to become like Him.
So how do I become more Christlike in my actions and attitudes?
As I'm expecting full on to meet God soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.
Meditating.
Meditate there in day and night.
So be aware.
Keep your brain on focus.
Yeah.
So that means playing less games?
Yeah.
Oh, that was convicting.
Does that mean more entertainment or more time being diligent?
More time being diligent.
Focused on productive activities.
What manner of men ought we to do?
Does it say what action should we do?
Or does it say what manner of men ought we to be?
SPEAKER 2
What manner of men... Let me see.
Person.
Persons ought we to be.
SPEAKER 1
So God's more concerned with who I am and who I am becoming than the actual outcomes of the doing.
Yeah.
The doing is the godliness, which actually is a state of being, because if you are godly or wanting to become yielded to the image of Christ, then there will be natural action
from there.
All right, so we went to 2 Timothy 3 and this is the older man advising the younger man.
This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come.
So this is very pertinent to being ready for perilous times.
Yeah.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves.
Is that happening today?
Often.
Covetous.
Do you know any signs of covetousness in America?
Greedy people.
Boasters.
You ever been on social media?
Yeah.
Proud.
Everyone's proud.
Is there a parade?
Yeah.
Okay.
Blasphemers.
Everyone takes God's name in vain.
Or they just challenge him.
They don't think he's gonna come through or they like curse him to his face.
Disobedient to parents.
Is that today?
Everyone.
Wow.
Unthankful.
Everyone's unthankful.
They just expect it.
Yeah.
Government handout.
Yep.
I deserve it.
Yep.
Total entitlement.
Yep.
Unholy.
Yep.
They don't even want to be holy.
No.
Opposite.
Yep.
Without natural affection.
Yeah, they're just terrible.
So in verse three, natural affection implies attraction to the proper gender.
SPEAKER 2
Yeah, that's definitely not going on today.
SPEAKER 1
Yeah.
Truce breakers.
Do you see any war happening?
Yeah, a lot.
To break a truce.
False accusers.
SPEAKER 2
Yeah, a lot of people talking about you did this to me and that didn't happen.
SPEAKER 1
People even go into jail over false accusations.
Something from 20 years ago.
He did this, she did this.
Anyway, incontinent, you know what that means?
That means not happy with oneself?
Well, incontinence is inability to retain one's own filth.
So biologically, it means you can't hold things in.
But spiritually, it means you cannot tell yourself no.
You just absolutely have zero willpower.
No self-control.
It's the opposite of temperance.
All right, fierce.
Yeah, everyone's mad.
Road rage?
SPEAKER 21
Yeah, I road rage.
SPEAKER 1
Oh my.
Well, there's an altar.
You're right.
Despisers of those that are good.
Do you think there's more antagonism against Christians?
Yeah, a lot.
Traitors.
Heady.
So heady means like an exploded head.
I mean, overly inflated ego.
Somebody who just really thinks they're amazing.
SPEAKER 2
Yeah.
So kind of like ties into pride.
SPEAKER 1
Yes.
With excess knowledge.
Opinion.
People are just like, their opinion is so high that it's just not able to be challenged.
You could never change my mind.
Wow.
Let's have a conversation.
If there's zero chance of success in helping anybody... So, heady means they worship their own head.
SPEAKER 2
Okay.
SPEAKER 1
High-minded, very similar, right?
So, the Bible says condescend to men of low estate.
The opposite of high-minded is kind of try to understand someone else's mind.
Right.
Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
SPEAKER 3
Yeah, everyone nowadays is like that.
SPEAKER 2
Nearly, yeah.
Now, the crazy part is if we truly love God, eventually at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.
God is the source and the supplier of true lasting pleasure.
They're going with the fake stuff.
It's not like God withholds pleasure from his people.
Having a form of godliness
SPEAKER 2
Yeah.
SPEAKER 1
So they act like they're good or... They go to some conferences, but denying the power thereof.
That means they won't allow the energy to transform them.
Yeah.
From such turn away.
So are we supposed to hang out with these people?
No.
So that means I can't be around myself.
SPEAKER 2
Yeah.
SPEAKER 1
Just kidding.
Yeah, so we need to not be under the steady influence of those who qualify as following the pathway of the natural man toward decadence in this last turn.
We're on the final turn.
Verse 7, another pattern of these people that we're supposed to avoid: ever learning
Like, eternally in class, always going to college, and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth, capital T, Jesus Christ Himself.
Like, they want to learn everything about everything except for the truth about God.
SPEAKER 2
Yeah.
They know a lot, but don't know the truth.
SPEAKER 2
And as Janice and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth.
Men of corrupt minds, reprobate, twisted, concerning the faith.
SPEAKER 2
Yeah.
SPEAKER 1
they shall proceed no further.
Wow.
But thou, Timothy, young preacher, has fully known my doctrine.
He goes, you know what I teach.
You know my manner of life, my purpose, my faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions.
So this is the right way to handle end time pressure.
Now Paul felt like he was under such pressure that he thought surely Christ would return in his lifetime.
Yeah.
And these things will increase toward the end.
It's not like we're going to get out without any persecution or affliction.
Yeah.
He says, These things came unto me at Antioch, verse 11, at Iconium, at Lystra, every pretty much where I went, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
SPEAKER 2
Yeah.
SPEAKER 1
We should be ready, prepared spiritually because oppression is coming.
SPEAKER 2
Yes.
It's very soon.
Martial law.
SPEAKER 1
How should we expect to live a more fluffy life than Paul?
We can't.
There's a song, it says, Should I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while others fought to win the prize and sail the bloody seas?
No, I must win.
I must fight if I should win.
Increase my courage, Lord, all!
SPEAKER 1
Forgot the end of the song. …
Bear the shame, endure the cross supported by Thy word.
And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown.
Right?
SPEAKER 2
You know that song?
You should look it up.
You got to know your hymn book just like you know your Bible.
Verse 12, you got that?
SPEAKER 2
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
SPEAKER 1
I want to qualify for that.
SPEAKER 2
Yeah.
We all want to be like Jesus.
SPEAKER 1
A little bit of pressure.
But evil men and seducers... Now evil is intentional.
Seducers is persuading others.
They're the villains trying to look for a victim.
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
So they themselves are being more deceived by the deceiver.
They're like in tune with the devil and they're deceiving others.
This is going to increase in the last days.
Yeah, it's happening today.
So you're saying there's like multiple splits of Christianity that believe really goofy doctrines.
The blind leading the blind.
But, in contrast, how should we respond?
Verse 14.
SPEAKER 2
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
SPEAKER 1
So the doctrine should not only be pure, but it should come from the right person who has a pattern and a lifestyle that is admirable and is in coherence with what they teach.
So not just a teacher, but a doer.
Yeah.
Probably for a decade.
Strong, excited, enthusiastic, spirit-filled, you know that they know God.
Yeah.
And that from a child,
He says, make sure you get in clean teaching.
The word doctrine is not a goofy word.
It just means something that you teach.
It's curriculum, basic class material.
An explanation of the way the world works.
Make sure you have a good teacher … and that from a child that has known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All scripture.
He's trying to get him to have confidence that scripture is clean.
It'll be one of your rocks that you go to under pressure.
So under pressure we have to seek something that's stronger and better to endure and to push back against the pressure.
If you were thrown into solitary confinement
in a jail cell because you were arrested because you posted on social media something about Jesus Christ is coming soon and you better get ready or you say something like that and it, whatever, a Bible verse, and it offended somebody and they come and lock you up, which they are doing in certain countries.
How are you going to endure those 60 days in the hole?
SPEAKER 2
By meditating on the Word.
SPEAKER 1
You're going to need some Bible in your brain to make it, otherwise you go insane.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine.
A lot of people don't like that word, though they don't like the word doctrine.
God likes the word doctrine.
They like to redefine, twist, pervert, change the word doctrine.
It simply means that which can be learned.
It's the teaching.
Jesus was a good Teacher.
We're not going to get antagonistic over the word doctrine if Jesus was a teacher of doctrine.
Okay.
Why does God give us... All scripture helps us with doctrine and?
Reproof.
To prove again, over and over, what is the right way.
And what else?
For correction.
SPEAKER 2
For instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
SPEAKER 1
Love it.
So perfect is like perfected or mature and then it's throughly.
So throughly is through-and-through.
Furnished means like outfitted.
Like you come into the apartment, it's not bare, it's got everything you need in that apartment for fully functioning.
Fully furnished.
Fully geared up.
Like I've got all the equipment necessary to perform well in this battle.
I charge thee therefore.
Why?
Because the perilous times are coming.
I charge thee, chapter 4, I charge thee therefore, based on everything we just covered, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead
So now we're talking about the appearance of God, the judging, the final time, at His appearing and His kingdom.
What should we do, knowing that the kingdom and the appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ is coming soon?
Verse 2, what's one action we can take to overcome in the midst of darkness?
SPEAKER 2
Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
SPEAKER 2
See, that sounds like a bullet point outline, right?
So each of those should be unpacked.
We should almost look up the definition of what does it mean.
What does it mean to preach the Word?
To expand, to expound upon, to explain, to express, to deliver.
You cannot preach the Word if there's silence.
Yeah.
You cannot preach the Word if you don't push the button.
Yeah.
You don't preach the Word unless there's a scheduled time to accomplish that purpose.
SPEAKER 2
And you can't preach the Word if you don't know the Word.
SPEAKER 1
You got to know that which you teach, and there doesn't have to be an audience.
Right.
It'd be nice if somebody listens, but does it say preach to an audience?
No.
It says preach the word.
Yeah.
To the wall.
To yourself.
That's fine.
Make it make sense.
Just speak it and explain it.
And then instant.
What do you think instant means?
SPEAKER 2
Instant means being there.
SPEAKER 1
Ready at all times, right on the spot.
So at any instant.
Like drop the hat, make it happen.
And here's why verse three, why should we do these things?
SPEAKER 2
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.
SPEAKER 1
See now, God likes the word doctrine, so I should become a fan.
I should look up the definition, I should enjoy that word, I should not resist and fight and contort that word.
The time will come, is that toward the end?
Yeah.
When they, these are will not endure sound doctrine, they want to get out of it.
SPEAKER 2
But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.
SPEAKER 1
So I don't want the pure teaching.
I want replacement teaching.
Yeah.
I'm gonna go find my own teacher.
Yeah.
I don't like how you said it.
Someone that pleases them.
Yeah, it's all about me.
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth.
The truth.
and shall be turned unto fables.
I'd rather have something fluffy, flowery.
I want a guy in tight jeans and a sweater.
You know, I'm just teasing, but I want a fluffy, smiley, happy guy that doesn't really say much, but brings it down to my level.
Because really life is all about me.
I need a teacher that doesn't convict me or move me to action beyond what I am because I want to be comfortable.
My ears itch, I need a tickle and a tingle, and I do not want to change my trajectory, my patterns, my decisions about anything.
Don't tell me the truth if it conflicts with my lifestyle.
And definitely don't add an attitude to it.
Don't you preach with an elevated anima.
Don't you bring some kind of spirit that persuades me to become a better Christian.
Don't do it.
Who are you to tell me?
Yeah, who are you?
I don't listen to that kind of preaching.
I only listen to somebody who is fluffalicious.
SPEAKER 2
Have you ever read John 3:16?
SPEAKER 1
It's pretty clean.
Yeah, you should read some John the Baptist.
He got in their face.
Yeah, if your preacher never gets excited, it's probably because he doesn't have anything exciting.
All right, sorry, back to it.
So fables, verse 5, but instead, but watch thou in all things.
That's the word circumspect, alert, eyes up, watching around, not
Facing The Ground.
Endure afflictions, comma.
Now, with a smile?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do the work of an evangelist.
Now, does an evangelist have work to do?
Yeah, a lot.
You mean people are kind of difficult to work with?
Yes, very difficult.
And make full proof of thy ministry.
What is one proof that a person's being productive in the ministry?
Fruits.
Yeah, how they're
Followers love Christ if they're following the pattern.
I get myself out of the way and connect people directly with the source, right?
If the people that you introduced to Jesus have a direct connection, they likely will not fall away. Anyway For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. So here's an old man near the end of his life.
He's writing this right before he gets decapitated And he's like the time is short.
You, Timothy, want to look back and be able to say the same thing, something similar to what I'm about to say at the end of my life.
I have fought a good fight.
Now, have you finished your fight?
No.
Do you still have another couple rounds to go?
Many rounds.
If this is a 15-round MMA fight between you and the demons of darkness,
How many rounds do you think you can go and how many rounds are left?
15 is the limit, but how many rounds into this 15 round brutal fight are you?
Probably four rounds in.
You're four rounds in.
So you got to catch some wind.
Yeah.
You have a good coach in your corner.
Yeah.
Do you have some good nutrition?
Yeah.
Do you have some good training?
Yes.
What about your technique?
I have to practice.
And I'm going to listen to my coach.
Yes.
Here's Paul, the old man, saying, I'm at the end of my journey, verse 7, I have fought a good fight, comma, breathe in.
He's old.
I have finished my course, comma, breathe in.
He's crossed the finish line.
I've completed that which God gave me to do.
Isn't that a great testimony?
Yeah.
I'm a finisher.
Be a champion.
And along this journey, I have kept the faith.
Yeah.
Full confidence in Christ.
100% the whole time.
I never allowed doubt, fear, or discouragement to block me from punching the devil straight in the nostril.
I went from Lystra to Iconium to Corinth, just going forward with God.
Right.
Without abandoning the faith.
Henceforth, what's happening in the henceforth?
SPEAKER 2
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day.
SPEAKER 1
I want you to pause and look up.
See, Paul is done with this world, and he's looking up in the face of the righteous Judge.
He can see the crown.
I think at this point when he says, henceforth, he's looking above and beyond.
He's like, I'm done with this world.
I finished the course.
I completed my job.
I kept the faith.
I'm out of here, and I'm looking up.
Henceforth in heaven, I see the face of my Father, and then there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, right there on the throne, the righteous Judge.
So now he's envisioning standing before his Judge.
It's an awesome moment.
No, it is.
Are we all going to face our judge soon enough?
One day, very soon.
And what's he going to do?
He shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto all them also that love is appearing.
You know, some people aren't excited about his appearing.
I wonder why.
Huh?
God wants to give a crown to all them also that love His appearing.
Wow.
All right, we got to finish where God finishes.
We're going to go to verse, I mean, 14.
He had enemies.
Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil, probably demonically influenced.
The Lord reward him according to his works.
Of whom be thou ware also, for he hath greatly withstood our words.
So as you're speaking, you will have enemies.
Yeah.
At my first answer, no man stood with me.
That means I delivered the answer and nobody agreed, but all men forsook me.
How's that feel?
Terrible.
SPEAKER 2
It's terrible.
Imagine everyone you thought was with you is no one behind you anymore.
SPEAKER 1
How's his response?
I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge, notwithstanding … who stood by him?
SPEAKER 2
The Lord stood with me.
SPEAKER 1
So he was living in the audience of One.
He had one Person in the crowd saying amen.
Wow.
The Lord.
SPEAKER 2
What else did he do?
SPEAKER 1
Everyone else abandoned, walked away, forsook.
They walked out.
They staged a walkout.
But he's giving this answer, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.
Wow.
that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear."
How many people heard?
All the Gentiles.
God gave him enough strength.
His first answer, nobody listened.
Nobody wanted it.
Everybody refused it.
They all rejected it.
But then the Lord strengthened him and gave him enough power
that by me, through me, the preaching of the gospel might be fully known at the volume and the distance that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion."
Now, he closes it out with being delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
This lion is a spiritual beast that wraps its fangs around his head and is ready to chomp him and crush him and get him out of the ministry because he felt rejected.
He felt abandoned, he felt like nobody wanted the message, but he had the mouth of the lion, the breathing of Satan, the smell of sulfur and brimstone coming out of this mouth of the beast, and yet God gave him enough strength to proclaim the glorious gospel in the face of all the Gentile nations, and God delivered him out of the mouth of the lion.
That'd be kind of cool to stick your head in the mouth of a lion.
SPEAKER 2
I think in this world, if your head gets stuck in the mouth of a lion, you're not coming out, typically.
SPEAKER 1
Verse 18, And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work.
So it's spiritually speaking.
God will deliver me from every evil device, every evil plan, every plan that the World Economic Forum and all these global control freaks have, all the devils and demons of hell that are coming at you, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work.
He's telling this to Timothy to give Timothy courage, because Timothy was kind of a timid young teenager that just didn't have the guts to do what God wanted him to do, and Paul's like, finish strong, be tough, be a man, right?
Now, if Paul could still stand up at this point, do you think he's up?
Do you think he's excited?
Do you think he's walking around the room?
Now, Paul couldn't really write.
His hand was shaky, his eyesight dim: he had people write his letters for him.
I envision Paul at this point, even at his aged stage, being 60-some years old, I think he's up out of his chair, I think he's walking around the prison, I think he's conveying this message with enthusiasm to pass on to his progeny and to every generation of preacher hereafter, the encouragement that God will deliver.
And the Lord shall deliver me!
I think he was punching the air.
SPEAKER 1
Pa-pow!
The Lord will deliver me!
SPEAKER 1
I think he elevated some volume.
And the guy who's writing it, which maybe at the end of it, it says... Yeah, one of these guys, they're helping him write it down toward the end in the next couple verses.
So I want you to envision, I want you to become in the moment.
The Lord stood with me.
I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom.
He's ready for liftoff.
I mean, he's losing his head in the morning.
I'm ready to meet my God.
To whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
It sounds like he's singing, getting ready for heaven.
That's almost like a song they would sing before the Lamb, right?
So here, God, I have confidence the Lord shall deliver me
in the face of every evil device, every evil plan to get, every weapon formed against us.
And he will preserve me, protect, preserve, and keep whole.
Now, was Paul's body preserved from harm?
No.
No, he was beat to smithereens.
He was pummeled to a pulp.
He was human hamburger.
He was beat with rods and stripes.
He was imprisoned.
He was tortured.
He was kept day and the night in the deep.
He was floating on the water.
He was just …
a miracle, but God preserved him from the armies of demonic oppression because he was the single target.
I mean, Satan himself was on top of this guy, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom.
Does that mean he had a purpose in the kingdom to come?
To whom, this Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
So he deflected the glory off of himself.
Then he says goodbye to a couple people.
And then a couple of people sign off.
And then the last bit, the second epistle into Timotheus ordained the first bishop or pastor of the church at Ephesians was written from Rome when Paul was brought before Nero the second time, right near the end.
This is the last writing.
SPEAKER 1
Liftoff!
SPEAKER 2
Launch time!
Amen.
Do you have a closing spiritual thought from these chapters?
SPEAKER 2
If there's one thing that encourages me is that, you know, in a world where things get worse and worse and worse and sometimes we look around and it's like, well, you know, what's the point of continuing to keep on striving for anything?
Or what's the point in standing strong and having long suffering and, you know, persevering?
You know, in a world where things just don't seem to get any better, you know, Paul sits here and with joy he says, you know,
You know, I'm going to meet the Lord soon.
I really meditate on this last part of verse 18 where it says, To Whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
And to me, like you were saying right now, it's like he was joyful.
It's like right at the end of his life where he's all beaten, battered, and bruised up.
Many people betrayed him, hurt feelings, and all types of things.
Instead of being complaining and saying, well look, all these things happened to me, man.
Just get ready.
It's going to hurt a lot.
No, he's saying, you know what?
All these things happened, but I'm still happy.
You know why?
Because it's all worth it.
And I think if there's anything that I can take from this is that, you know, Paul saying, you know, Paul going through all these things saying it's still worth it.
It gives me hope to say, you know what, if I persevere, regardless of the circumstances around me, it's still worth it.
SPEAKER 1
He graduated, kingdom-ready.
He walked in magna cum laude.
He walked in … crowns, excited, strong to the finish, a sprint burst.
He crossed the finish line with tears and joy and happiness, having fulfilled his purpose.
Amen.
Encouraging Admonition Approaching The End Times