Dealing With Opposition

II Timothy 4: 9-15

Now Paul writes of some personal concerns. 

(9) Make every effort to come to me soon; 

Paul asks Timothy to come visit him as soon as he can. Then he explains why. 

(10) for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; 

If this is the same Demas that Paul wrote about to Colosse (Colossians 4: 14) and to Philemon (Philemon 24), then he had been one of Paul's co-workers in Rome as he sat in prison. Now Paul is saying that he loved this present world, and took off from Rome to Thessalonica, a Roman district capital of Macedonia and a major port. So maybe he was bought off. 

Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 

This is the only mention of Crescens, so we don't know anything about him, but Titus was saved under Paul's preaching, he traveled with him, and became the first Bishop of the church on the island of Crete. These two helpers Paul had had in Rome have left him to go to other places. 

(11) Only Luke is with me. 

He says that Doctor Luke is the only one left there to help him. He is in prison, so he depends on other people to go and do what he cannot right now. 

Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. 

He tells him to bring Mark with him. This is the same Mark that a few years ago he refused to take along on the second missionary journey, because he'd wimped out on the first one and went home early. Now he's telling Timothy that Mark is useful to me for service. (Read about Paul's and Mark's rocky relationship here.)

(12) But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. 

Tychicus is a "beloved brother and faithful minister" (Ephesians 6: 21) from Asia, the Roman province in the western portion of Asia Minor, who was one of Paul's secretaries who helped him write his letter to the Colossians. Paul trusted this brother to carry his news and messages (Ephesians 6: 21, Colossians 4: 7). And he has now sent him to Ephesus. 

(13) When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments. 

Paul is concerned to have some items he had left with his friend Carpus while he was staying at his house in Troas: a cloak that he will need as winter is approaching, and also he wants to have access to his research and his Scriptures. 

(14) Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 

Even though this man heard the Gospel, he considered his worldly wealth as more important than his eternal state, and worked against this way of life that cut into his finances. But Paul doesn't harbor a grudge against him, he just leaves him in the Lord's hands. 

(15) Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching. 

Paul is warning Timothy to be aware of this man's tactics. As people turn to God from idols, they're not buying these little and bigger statues and knick-knacks any more, and Alexander's sales are diminishing, and he doesn't want to change. So he attacks the message, and tries to get people to stay in the paganism and idolatry that finances his business. Follow the money. 

Paul is telling him, and us, too, to beware of people who work against our faith. He is handing off the baton to his protege, and on to us, too. If someone is attacking us we must be careful in how we handle the situation. We do not want to antagonize people with our passionate opinions if they don't agree. Of course they will come back at us. We all need to be wise and discerning, and if we are speaking gently and compassionately, then the offense will be in the Cross. 

We always need to be aware of how we talk to people. 

O my Father, please help us to put our brain in gear before we open our mouth! We will find that more and more there will be people who oppose us, for whatever reason, unprovoked. And we need to be ready to give a reasonable answer. We need to learn to find in the other person something that we can identify with, to lower the tensions. 

Father, Your word says that, "a soft answer will turn away wrath" (Proverbs 15: 1), so teach us how to answer an angry person with gentleness and compassion. Help us to see the hurt and wounding underneath and how to speak consolation and comfort to that in them.  

O Father, strengthen us and send us out as Your messengers and missionaries, to broadcast Your Love to all the world. Lead us to Your embryonic children, to share Your plan of salvation with them and draw them to the birth into Your family. And give us compassion and gentleness to speak with those who don't realize that they are looking for You in their searching. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus! 

Ready To Hand Off The Baton

II Timothy 4: 6-8

Paul has just encouraged Timothy to fulfill all the aspects of his ministry to the church at Ephesus as the senior pastor. 

He is passing the torch, the baton, to his protege to carry on the next leg of the relay. 

(6) For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 

Paul has given his all to his Lord, and he is ready to give his life in sacrifice for the glory of God. He's ready to go. 

(7) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 

He has fought the good fight of maintaining the faith, he has finished the course that the Lord laid out for him, and through it all, he has kept the faith and never allowed his thinking to be deterred from what he received from the Lord. 

(8) in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that Day; 

Paul is declaring that the reward that Jesus has promised him is already prepared for him to receive it on the Day that the Lord will sit at the bema seat to allot our rewards to us for service in His power. (For information on this, see Our Great Prize and Our Highest Ambition.)

and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. 

Every person who has been born into God's family will be anticipating the Lord's Glorious Appearing; and taking courage and strength and perseverance in knowing our God is protecting us and leading us. And as we walk in His ways along the path He has placed our feet upon, to do His will and accomplish His work as His hands and feet; then we will love His appearing and also receive crowns, including the crown of righteousness. 

O my Father, thank You so much for all of Your precious promises! You are a Promise Keeper! You know us and everything You have planned for us, and You have told us what is ahead and have revealed to us Your Plan. And You would not tell us anything that You have not already done! So, we can trust everything You have said! 

My dear Father, I have staked my life and my eternity upon Your Truth as written in Your holy Scriptures. I know You are trustworthy, and You are the Source of everything I need, both here and for all eternity. 

Father, send out Your human army, Your team, Your workers, into all the world, so that every living person will hear how much You love us all. Everyone needs to have a clear and informed choice to accept Your gracious and generous offer of rescue and salvation and redemption. 

And those who knowingly refuse You will have no excuse. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

Reprove, Rebuke, Exhort

II Timothy 4: 1-5

Now Paul is really serious. 

(1) I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His Kingdom: 

A solemn charge is a very serious and important matter, especially in calling to witness God the Father and God the Son, who is Lord and Judge over all, and will appear to set up His universal Kingdom. 

What is he so serious about? 

(2) preach the Word; 

The Gospel must be preached! How else can people know God? And only the Gospel, not the opinions of the preacher. 

be ready in season and out of season; 

It doesn't matter if it's convenient or inconvenient.                                                   

reprove, 

This is elenxon, "to convict, reprove, correct." 

rebuke, 

This is epitimeson, "Censure, admonish." 

exhort, 

This is parakaleson, "comfort, exhort, encourage." 

with great patience 

He is to do these things with macrothymia, "much longsuffering." 

and instruction. 

This is didache, careful "instruction, teaching." 

Rebuke and exhortation must be accompanied with teaching, or they will only be accusing and not do any good at all. And it must all be accomplished with patience and love for the one confronted. 

(3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; 

Paul warns of the time that was still future to him when people will not "put up with" or "listen to" sound doctrine. There are many today who fit this description. 

but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 

They only want to hear what they want to hear, they only want confirmation that others are as deluded as they are. 

(4) and will turn away their ears from the Truth and will turn aside to myths. 

They will refuse to listen to reason and truth, and will only accept worldly ideas and cultural myths that they find more colorful and interesting than godly wisdom. 

(5) But you, be sober in all things, 

You, Timothy; you, Christian; keep your head. Keep your self-control under all circumstances, wide awake with eyes wide open. 

endure hardship, 

Again Paul admonishes Timothy (and us) to endure hardship. We will face opposition, and we must be strong against it, fully aware, while also being supernaturally patient and wise in our words. 

do the work of an evangelist, 

Timothy did not have the gift of evangelism, he was a senior pastor, but he was still to do the work of an evangelist, to preach the gospel as well as to share his own testimony personally. 

This is what we all are to do, we don't have to be pastors or elders or deacons or teachers or have any ecclesiastical authority at all; if we belong to Christ, we are His witnesses. Every Christian is to talk to others about God and what Jesus accomplished for us on the Cross, what we have experienced personally. 

fulfill your ministry. 

Timothy has been given great responsibilities, and Paul is encouraging him to fulfill his calling to ministry by packing it full with the things Paul has been exhorting him to do in these two letters. He is to, as far as he can, make a complete and effective service in his ministry there at Ephesus. 

Everything Paul writes to Timothy also applies to each one of us, also. We are God's children, His royal family. When He saves us, He leaves us here to do His work. His work is to build His Kingdom. We are His hands and feet, to accomplish the growing up of His children, as well as bringing other children into His Kingdom. 

And Jesus is coming soon, to cleanse this Earth and establish His righteous rule over the whole world. We haven't much time left. Every person in every nation needs to hear God's Truth, whether they want to or not, because we don't know who are His embryonic children that need to be brought to the birth, and who are those who have already rejected His love. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

Breathed Out By God

II Timothy 3: 10-17

We've just seen how the wicked people will be during the difficult times of the Last Days, and Paul wants to encourage Timothy in how to weather the storms. 

(10) Now you followed 

Timothy has been faithful to follow Paul. 

my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 

Paul's character traits and lifestyle. 

(11) persecutions, and sufferings, such has happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 

And what happened to him because of his testimony, that he endured, and he gives credit to the Lord for rescuing him out of all of them. 

(12) Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 

Paul tells him and us that everyone who is seeking to live their lives according to God's ways in the Holy Spirit power of Christ Jesus, will have to face opposition and persecution in the world. 

(13) But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 

And these evil people will keep going on their by-way toward perdition, increasingly displaying the character traits of the devil, who they are following. 

(14) You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 

So Paul encourages Timothy (and us) to continue to do the good and righteous and kind things he learned from Paul and the Scriptures. 

(15) and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 

Paul reminds Timothy that his mother and grandmother had accurately taught him the Old Testament while they raised him, which is a tremendous advantage. Then he had Paul to connect the dots for him with the sacrifices in the Law and Jesus being our Lamb of God who fulfilled them. 

(16) All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 

(17) so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 

Paul now pronounces the all-encompassing purpose that God gave us His Scripture, both the Old and the New Testaments. 

Every word, every part of a letter of a word is all "God-breathed," theopneustos, a compound of theos, "God," and the verb pneo, "breathe," breathed out by God into His prophets. That makes it dependable so that we can rely on it. 

And in understanding it we can benefit, ophelimos, "profitable, useful," by learning all the lessons the stories teach, didaskalia, a general word for "teaching," of the consequences of past decisions made, both good and bad. We can learn from both the mistakes and good choices of those who have gone before. 

Where we've gone wrong in making the wrong decision, Scripture will give reproof, elegmos, "conviction," showing us where we are wrong. 

Then it will correct us, epanorthosin, "restoration to an upright position or a right state." It will show us how to get right again. How to stand up when we've fallen. 

Training is paideia, "the rearing of a child." It came to mean "training, learning, instruction, schooling." Scripture will show us how to live our lives in righteousness, both in our thought processes and in our actions and relationships. 

The whole purpose of all this is so that God's man and God's woman will be thoroughly equipped to do everything God wants done by us. We are His hands and feet, we are charged with doing His work, to promote and grow His Kingdom by thinking His thoughts, having His attitudes, seeing with His eyes, and going in the strength of His Holy Spirit. 

That is God's plan for each of us. He made us, and He loves a diversity! So He made our Human Race multicolored, with differing abilities and various interests and personalities. He's put each of our feet on the specific path He wants us to walk, and my path is not identical to yours. But they are both the "narrow way" for each of us, so that everything will be done, in every area of expertise in all the world through all the years we are here. 

There is no time to waste! We all need to get on the stick and do what God has uniquely fitted each of us to accomplish! 

Jesus is coming soon, and everyone needs to hear the Gospel in such a way that they will understand how God loves them and wants them in His family. This is our job. Every one of us needs to get with our Father to receive our orders. Whatever it is that you can do, where you have ability and skill, and enjoy doing; do it for the glory of God and to show His shining character in yourself. 

We are children of the King, His royal family. We are strangers and nomads here on this Earth, our citizenship is in God's Heaven, as His sons and daughters. Here we are His ambassadors, His representatives in the world. To introduce the World to our Father. 

Many in the world do not want to hear our message of reconciliation with God. They have believed the lie of the devil, and have determined that they "know better" and refuse to hear the Truth. So, they will war against us, and mistreat us, and persecute us. This is because their god hates us because we belong to God. 

The devil cannot hurt God, so he goes after His children. We should expect this, and not be surprised or shocked when his minions attack us. They are his slaves, who have believed that they're doing what they want, but it's what he wants. 

And God uses everything, both good and bad, to further His great Plan of the Ages. He has told us what will happen, to prepare us for what we all will face. And He has given us His strength and protection of His Holy Spirit and our Armor of God (Ephesians 6: 10-18). 

O my Father, You are so good to all of us! You have stretched out Your hands continually through all these decades and centuries and millennia. You have patiently waited for all who would turn to You. Soon you will withdraw the carrot and begin to use the stick, to show Your power and authority over Mankind and this Earth we live on. 

And all those who have succumbed to the devil's schemes will experience Your wrath poured out on them. Even though thousands will fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand, it will not touch us, we will just stand and see their destruction (Psalm 91: 7). The wrath we deserve has already been poured out on Jesus on His Cross on our behalf. We need not be afraid when we see all this transpiring. 

And, Father, thank You for Your strength and Your care and compassion when we face the persecution and martyrdom that is coming for all of Your people. We do not need to be afraid of those who can only kill the body, for they cannot touch our soul or our eternal rewards (Matthew 10: 28, Luke 12: 4). 

My Father, help us to respect the authority Your Word has over us, to teach us and rebuke us and to train us as Your children in this school of the world. Help us to learn to understand everything from Your point of view, to have a true and accurate response to everything You've told us You are doing. 

Send us out, Father, into all the nations of the world, so that every living being will be able to hear and understand how much You love us all, and have extended Your gracious and generous gift of Salvation to each of us. Father, lead us especially to all of Your embryonic children, to draw them to the birth into Your royal family. 

And give us strength, perseverance, and wisdom to stand against those who will oppose us. And we know You will deliver us from their hateful recriminations against us by either going through it or from it. 

And You will receive all the glory, Father, for You planned it all out and carried out Your plan just as You wanted to. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

Always Learning But Still Ignorant

II Timothy 3: 6-9

We've just seen some of the character traits that will be prevalent in the Last Days. Now we will see how they work. 

(6) For among them are those who enter into households 

They "worm their way into homes;" physically then, but today it could be by internet and television. 

and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 

Captivate is aixmalotizo, "take captive" in war. Here it could mean "deceptive," as these women are weak morally, and already addicted to following various impulses. 

(7) always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

Evidently these women think they're so smart, they read and study, but all the wrong things. They're following all the by-ways that take them further and further away from that narrow road. And some of these deceived women are in powerful positions of authority. 

(8) Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 

Jannes and Janbres are thought to be the two main magicians who duplicated some of the miracles God gave Moses to perform. Our enemy has always wanted to be worshiped as God and tries to do what God does, in a twisted and corrupted way. 

(9) But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes's and Jambres's folly was also. 

These two magicians could only go so far in duplicating what Moses did, and were not able to do the later miracles. The devil can only go as far as God allows him to go; but God will allow the Antichrist to go so far as to have authority to persecute and martyr God's people. 

God will allow this final rebel to have so much power that everyone who doesn't know God will be convinced that he is God:

"The one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false (the lie), in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." (II Thessalonians 2: 9-12.) 

This sounds scary, like everybody will succumb to the devil and perish. And everyone who has refused to submit to our Lord and believe the truth of the Gospel, will be given this delusion, and left to their destructive wickedness they have chosen. 

We have the choice, either to say, "Your will be done, Lord;" or the Lord will say, "Your will be done, rebel." 

Everyone alive will hear the Good News in a way to understand enough to turn to God, and it's up to us, brothers and sisters, to do that job! We must get the Word out! We are charged with this mission, to go and teach all the nations, baptizing and instructing them in the ways of the Lord (Matthew 28: 18-20). 

O my Father, send out Your children, show us how to get Your Word out to every person alive! You want everyone to have that choice, before allowing "the lie" to condemn them. Strengthen us, Father, and give us boldness and steadfastness in the face of opposition. Lead us to all those who are searching, and enable us to share with each one how much You have loved them and want them to be Your children. 

And no one will have any excuse for rejecting Your gracious and generous gift. 

Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

Last Days Difficult Times

II Timothy 3: 1-5

Now Paul goes from speculations to describing conditions at the end of our time line. 

(1) But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

He then says how far people will go in their degradation in these last days. The word he uses for difficult is chalepos, "terrible, hard to bear, troublesome, dangerous." This word is used only here and in Matthew 8:28, describing the "violent" demoniacs. 

He then gives eighteen character defects that will be prevalent and characterize this time. 

(2) For men will be lovers of self, 

This is philautoi, "selfish." 

lovers of money, 

This is philargyroi, "avaricious." 

boastful, 

This is alazones, "imposters, braggarts." 

arrogant, 

This is hyperephanoi, "proud, showing oneself above others." "With an overweening estimate of one's means or merits, despising others, treating them with contempt; haughty." 

revilers, 

This is blasphemoi, "evil-speaking, slanderous." 

disobedient to parents, 

Today the public schools are actually teaching children to be disobedient to their own parents! 

The next four adjectives all begin with a-negative. 

ungrateful, 

This is acharistoi, the opposite of being thankful. 

unholy, 

This is anosioi, describes the person who has no fellowship with God and so is living a merely "secular" life

(3) unloving, 

This is astorgoi, "without love," and means "without family affection." This can result in an anti-social personality disorder, which seems prevalent today. 

irreconcilable, 

This is aspondoi, "unforgiving, without a treaty or covenant." 

malicious gossips, 

This is diaboloi, when given the definite article, is "the devil." This connotes "prone to slander, accusing falsely." I see this in the political scene very deeply. 

The next three adjectives also are a-negative. 

without self-control, 

This is akrateis, in the widest sense, it describes the the weak man without strength, who is easily led into bodily lustful sin. 

brutal, 

This is anemeroi, "not tame, savage, fierce." 

haters of good, 

They hate and despise everything that is good and beneficial and healthy. I see groups of people today that only want to tear down everything that has benefited people, and promulgate practices that will cause more people to die and be sick physically and emotionally, "for their own safety," which is a lie. 

(4) treacherous, 

This is prodotai, "traitor, betrayer," used of Judas when he sold Jesus for the price of a slave. 

reckless, 

This is propeteis, literally, "falling forward, headlong," and came to mean "hasty, reckless, rash." 

conceited, 

This is tetyphomenoi, the perfect passive participle of typhoo, "to be wrapped up in smoke," so to be "puffed up" in pride. 

lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 

This is a play on words, describing those who put self in the place of God as the center of their affections. 

(5) holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; 

Yet they are religious! This describes a church that may recognize who Jesus is, but deny what He has accomplished on the Cross. They teach that we have to "earn" grace by doing religious things. 

avoid such men as these. 

He tells him to apotrepou, "turn away from," or "have nothing to do," with these evil hypocrites. They are not worth his time or energy. 

Paul was warning Timothy, so he would teach his leadership and congregation, and the advice is even more apropos to us today. 

The church has from the Middle Ages or before denied all that Jesus has accomplished and finished on the Cross; that's why the Reformation happened. But even the denominations that came from that movement have since then lost their doctrinal way with corrupted teachings. 

Today we must be very careful of who we choose to sit under to learn from. The truth of God is pure and simple, and it has been corrupted and complicated more and more through time, until today most people in America, for instance, who consider themselves Christians only have a religion, not that relationship with God that He intends us to have. 

We must be "born again" in order to even "see" God's Kingdom (John 3: 3). It's like He wrote His Scripture in a code, that takes His Holy Spirit as the key to understanding it. Otherwise, one can make it look like it says anything he wants it to say, to justify whatever sin. 

Our enemy the devil knows that his time is short now, and he is feverishly and aggressively pouring his poison down the throats of all who have not turned to our God for Redemption. 

God still loves them, and wants them to give up what they think are their own ideas and submit to the Lord who gave Himself up for them. 

O my Father, please help us to understand what You are telling us all through the love letter You wrote to us. You want us to expect You to be who You are, and to not be surprised or shocked by what You have said You will do to this world. 

You have held out the carrot to mankind for all the eras we have lived, and still there are so many who refuse Your kindness, choosing instead to be seduced by the deceptions of the devil. And even our own hearts lie to us, Father. So, when You use the stick, please let it convince people of Your power and authority, to acknowledge You. 

You've given us Your word, written down, so the words can be seen and understood; and not change like man's tradition, which is like the children's Telephone game. And You've given us Your own Holy Spirit to decipher the code and put the dots together to see Your bigger picture. 

And when Your wrath is poured out on the whole world, Father, Your children will just need to stand, and watch the thousands fall at their side, the ten thousands at their right hand, knowing that the wrath we deserve has already been poured out on Jesus for us on the Cross. And Your peace on us in the midst of the maelstrom will show the world Your faithfulness and care. 

O Father, You are so good to us! Please send out Your children into all the world, so that every living person will be able to understand how You have loved them, and offer freely the most wonderful and gracious and generous opportunity to be born into Your own royal family! All we need to do is to submit to letting You do it all for us! 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, please come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

Flee From Childish Wants

II Timothy 2: 20-26

We've just seen how we are to handle God's word accurately. 

(20) Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. 

As God's family we've been depicted in several different earthly concepts, like stones, priests, and athletes. Here we are vessels for the Master's use. 

There are goblets for fine wine, and there are also chamber pots. 

(21) Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, 

These things are the faulty understandings of what God is telling us, as we read yesterday; we are to abstain from wickedness. 

he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 

This is our responsibility, to make sure we're not trying to read anything into God's word that isn't really there, just to satisfy our own pride. To take care to compare scripture with scripture, to open our minds to what God is saying to us, and to understand Scripture with open clarity to be prepared to face what is ahead. Then we will be fit to do God's work in the world, and to serve Him forever. 

(22) Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 

The way we do this is to flee youthful lusts, to not be childish in wanting to know everything right now. We are to be patient to let God teach us, and to run after righteousness, faith, love and peace, in the company of other believers who have also purified their hearts. 

(23) But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. 

(24) The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, 

Arguments and quarrels only come from wanting to impose our ideas on others, rather than listening to others. 

but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 

(25) with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 

And after listening to them, if we find that they are adding to or ignoring passages of Scripture, we are to patiently and gently steer them in the right direction to know the truth. Then it is their decision to follow that path, and change their mind. 

(26) and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. 

If our patience and gentleness and kindness would lead them into knowing the truth, then they can in turn be reasonable with us, and even turn around their thinking to escape the deceptions of the devil. 

Paul is writing to Timothy, the pastor at the church in Ephesus, so he is to be the example for the other church leaders to follow. It is his responsibility to make sure that the teachers are not teaching any fallacy. 

When someone is caught in a deception, it will lead him into all kinds of side-paths, off the narrow road, and lead away from Christ. This is what the devil wants to do with us, to get us off-track. Because that will keep us from promoting and growing God's Kingdom. 

Even Christians are susceptible to these small deviations, when we're not totally focused on Scripture, but opening our minds to other sources of "truth." 

Research is good, and we can stand on the shoulders of others who have gone before us. But we are not to put any man's opinion on the same level as God's word, and do our own research in Scripture to make sure there is nothing disputable or not in line with what God has clearly told us. 

And when we still see gaps in our knowledge, we can be patient, knowing that God knows what He's doing, and not try to make up something to fill the gap. 

When I give you my thoughts in this blog, I don't want you, dear reader, to swallow my opinion whole, but to do your own research, also. I may think that I am being true to the Word, but I am still human, and can still make errors. 

If you ever see anything in any of my entries that may not align with Scripture, please call me on it, leave me a comment, and I will thank you for it and do more research and prayer. 

O my Father, please lead us into an accurate understanding of what You are doing in this part of Your great Plan of the Ages that we are living through. If this is the time You have described, strengthen us through it. And if You will relent and give us more time to gather more into Your family, then strengthen us through that, too. 

O Father, I know that Your word is precise and accurate, and I also know that You will relent when Your people confess and forsake our sins and seek Your face. 

Father, call all of Your children to bring a great revival in our societies, that every living person will hear and come to the knowledge of Your great love for us all and Your provision of everything we need, both now and forever. Draw all of Your embryonic children to the birth into Your family, and fill Your house! 

And every eye will see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!