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166 in the little flock.
For the hairstyle, that burning now that I'll draw anger.
I love my granddaughter.
Uh, good evening. Uh, uh.
Darby Darling starring by The Day.
I'm afraid.
When art flesh drowned, I don't want to change.
Nsnoise.
I'm going to suggest that in going back to Second Timothy 4.
We begin at verse 9.
Second Timothy, chapter 4, verse 9.
You die delicate, you come shortly unto me. For demons have forsaken me. Having loved his present world. And is departed unto Thessalonica, Preston's to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with me where he is profitable to me. For the ministry and Tiktok have I sent to Ephesus the cloak that I left at Troas with carpets.
00:05:24
When they'll come and bring with me and the books, but especially the parchment, Alexander the coppersmith, it'd be much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. Of whom be thou Where also, for He hath greatly withstood our word. At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God, that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known.
And that all the Gentiles might hear 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, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Vanessa Forest Erastus abode at Corinth Metro. That I laughed at my litmus. 6 Do thy diligence to come before winter you be less grievous thee and Putin's and lioness, and Claudia, and all the brethren.
The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy Spirit, grace be with you. Amen.
Mm-hmm.
Just say in picking up the last part of this chapter that there's a very human side to what we have here with the apostle Paul. Remember that these are the last words of Paul written by inspiration. And Paul is about to lose his life as a martyr for Christ and.
It, as they say, it's it's there's a very human side. Come before winter. I need my coat. I'd like my books and my parchment.
He wanted Timothy's fellowship because the apostle Paul, though he served the Lord faithfully and was not a whit behind the cheapest of the apostles, yet he never He was human, and he never lost that sense of.
Real reality and and I say that because we, we, we never want to become callous or indifferent to our circumstances. You know, there are actually Christians who teach.
That if you reach a certain plateau of spirituality, you won't need to feel pain and you shouldn't be down and you shouldn't get discouraged. And, and we shouldn't get discouraged, but more from a natural standpoint that we shouldn't feel these things. We do feel them and we learn from them and they give teach us dependence on the Lord and they teach us to value and appreciate our brethren.
And I think it's nice to see here that as these different names are mentioned and these different desires of the apostle Paul, that he never lost that sense of what the Lord was passing him through. I say, never became callous or indifferent to his circumstances. And it made him appreciate the Lord and fellowship with his brethren, perhaps even more so as we go through these verses and we notice these different individuals that are mentioned, remember.
These are the last words of Paul, and there's a very real and human side to what he's saying here.
We have several different ones that are mentioned here in the last half of this chapter.
And I don't believe any one of them would have realized as they were living their lives, that there there was going to be a little snapshot of their life recorded in these in these scriptures and preserved for each one of us to look at.
So too with each one of us. We we get up in the morning, brush our teeth, go through the daily routine, live our lives, make a make a number of decisions and whether we read our Bible or not, whether we pray or not, we think little of it. And yet our our lives are a history being recorded day by day.
00:10:07
And there will be some point when our lives will be concluded, whether at the rapture, when the Lord comes for us, or whether in death.
And we won't be able to change our our life, the history of our lives.
There's, there's some of us in this room who are finished with high school and you can just as as a milestone in your life, you can look back at high school. You can remember the classes that you took. You can remember the grades that you got. You can't change anything about it. It's fixed, it's done.
What, what your grades were, what, uh, what your attendance record was or whatever it was, it, it, that's it. That's, that's what it's going to stand for for the rest of your life. And so too, with our lives, they're recorded and, and for all eternity, how we, how we lived our lives, the decisions that we made, whether we walked to please the Lord and, and whether we thought to serve him. It's recorded. And so these different ones, I, I believe will read a Dean. We'll, we'll see demons in heaven. And he was one who served with the, with the apostle Paul, and yet he forsook him for the present world. He wanted president abandoned. He wanted an easier course.
And so it's recorded out of him that he first took Paul and desired the present world. And so to the record of our lives may stand for all eternity. So we'll still have praise of God, but we'll still enjoy heaven. And yet the record of our lives could stand. Jonathan has departed, having loved this present world and has departed on the Thessalonica or put your name there in a place. And so these these records in the word of God.
Are are solemn. We need to put our own names here and and to take warning and and to to seek to live our lives. Please the Lord.
The time difference between inner Colossians and and 2nd tem TV.
Well, I don't believe it would be a great deal. A few years perhaps, but not a great deal because I think as maybe Tim said earlier in these meetings, things deteriorate very quickly. Whether it's collectively in our assembly life with the people of God collectively or whether it is individually. You know what, we can make a good start and a poor finish and it doesn't take very long sometimes to go downhill in that way.
And so I believe what Austin is referring to is the fact that Dimas is mentioned in in the book of Philemon and also the book of Colossians. And there is very interesting because he mentioned as a fellow laborer and a fellow traveler of the Apostle Paul. So I think what's significant to realize is that there were some who were happy to associate with Paul, the missionary out on the mission field, traveling, giving out the gospel.
Visiting the brethren intro as in Colossians, wherever they they were going, that was wonderful, but they were. When Paul ended up in prison, he was about to lose his life. It was another thing to associate with Paul the prisoner, one thing to associate with Paul the preacher. But Paul, when you associated with Paul the prisoner, that was a real reproach and it meant suffering and it meant you may be next in line to lose your life as well.
This, this was a very, this was a very real thing. And so I believe that's one reason why many didn't follow on, uh, with the Apostle Paul. They weren't willing to suffer for Christ. They weren't willing to take some reproach for the name of Christ. Are you and I willing to take some reproach for the name of Christ? Now, of course, we're not afraid of suffering physically here in the United States and Canada where some of us come from.
But, you know, I have visited countries where when we have a meeting, all the windows and doors are locked. We don't sing so that we don't stir up any, uh, umm, a, any suspicion from, uh, the neighbors. And if we have a meeting in one place tonight, we won't have it there again. We'll have it in another part of the city or another area, uh, on a, on another night. And those grabbing when they meet, they know that they could be arrested or they could even be be killed.
We don't suffer in that way, but there is a reproach connected with following Christ. All they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Maybe not physical persecution, but there will be a reproach connected with CRI with following the Lord Jesus. He said himself, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they hated me, they will hate you also.
00:15:27
So there's a number of individuals who are mentioned here, but there are three that are often mentioned together. And you have it in Philemon and Colossians as well. And that is you have Dimas Mark or in Apps he's referred to as John Mark, and you have Luke. And I believe they're brought together in this way to teach us a very important lesson. We find with Demas that he began well.
And he ended poorly. That's not what God wants for your life, young people. He wants you to begin well, but He doesn't want you to end poorly. Demas began well. He did not end well. Mark, John, Mark. He didn't begin so well. Paul had to send him home. He didn't seem to be up to the mission field and what they were going to face spiritually and in other ways. And Paul had to send him home.
But now he's profitable for the ministry. He he began poorly, but he ended well. What a triumph. But then you have Luke. You know, Luke began well and he ended well. And that's what God wants for every one of us. He doesn't want, as the old saying goes, just a flash in the pan. No, he wants a good start and he wants a good finish. And Paul was another one who could say he finished his course with joy.
You know, young people, all Christians don't. I've seen people end their course, the Christian race with anything but joy. I've seen Christians who have ended their Christian pathway with only sorrow and regret. And that's not what the Lord wants. So let's let's again learn from this. I'll, I'll just recap again. Dimas, he began well and ended poorly. Mark, he began poorly, but he ended well. Praise the Lord.
Luke, he began. Well.
And he ended well, and that's what he wants for every one of us.
Just another little comment about Mark. You know, someone has said that falling down doesn't make us a failure. It's staying down that makes us a failure. And so John Marquis, he fell down. He stumbled in the Christian pathway, but he didn't stay there. He there was a real turn around. And again, as I say, Paul wants to commence him here. Bring him with when you come bring him. I wanna see him. I send him home at one time, but I wanna see him now.
Because he's going on well and profitable now, a human side of things in connection with Luke. Why does it say only Luke is with me? I, I think this is so, so gracious of the Lord. Who better to be with Paul at the end of his life as an old man in difficult circumstances than the beloved physician? You know, God takes care of his servants and so.
Many had turned away. They didn't associate with Paul the prisoner, but God made sure that the one who could not only minister to Paul spiritually, but physically was with him. This is not deep stuff, but it sure is precious to me and young people. If you give your life for the Lord, He's not gonna forsake you. He's gonna take care of you. I'm not saying it's gonna be easy. Paul didn't have it easy. But Paul had a brother with him.
Who was able to minister to him physically as well as spiritually?
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I was wondering when it says all those in Asia have forsaken me, what what happened to Paul and Timothy? Were they not in Asia?
Yeah, when it says all, but then he there's a few that did, he says all. He makes a blanket statement, but then there's a few that hadn't, like Luke, Timothy wasn't with him, but Timothy was one that he felt confident he could pass on the torch of the truth to. So he makes a blanket statement, but then he qualifies it. He he says there's, there's a few and there's, there's a few names that are commended here at the end. Now when it says all.
Stay in Asia have forsaken me. This was literally they they wouldn't physically associate with Paul in his imprisonment except Luke. Timothy wasn't there at the time. John Mark wasn't there at the time. He wanted them to come back. It was a physical thing. There's a spiritual lesson that we learned from this. So it was true, in fact, when it was written. What is the lesson for you and for me? I believe it's this.
That one, one of the things that characterizes the last day is a giving up of Paul's ministry, a giving up of what Paul taught. And I believe that that's why there is so much confusion amongst so many Christians today, because when you talk to them, you realize they're not reading Paul's ministry. You'll never understand Christian position. You'll never understand really the truth about the Lord coming.
You'll never understand the heavenly calling of the Church of God unless you go to Paul's ministry. I know the other New Testament writers all bring it in in some way. All they all bring in the Lord's coming in some way. They all bring in the church in some way. But Paul spoke of himself in Corinthians as a wise master builder. What did he mean? He lay the foundation of Christian truth. And if you give up Paul's ministry, if you forsake Paul in that way.
You're not going to have the proper understanding of Christianity and you're going to get involved in things you shouldn't, uh, in this world. So sometimes we do this, to go back to Dave's question, sometimes we do this, we make a blanket statement. We say, well, all those, we might say, well, all that fruit is corrupt, but you know, there was an apple or two and, umm, we can pull that out and, uh, this apple or two is good. We, we qualify it. So I think that helps us understand a little bit of what's called in general. There was a turning away from the apostle Paul.
But thank God there were a few that he could commend, but only Luke was actually physically with him at the end.
Now in verse 12, there was a man named Tikakas and Paul says Tiktok have I sent to Ephesus. You know, I think this is so unselfish of the apostle Paul. If this was me, I would have said, you know, because I really need you here and I really enjoy your fellowship and your your comfort and and so on. That's I think that's what I would have done. That's that's human nature. But Paul sent tickets to Ephesus.
At his own expense for the blessing of the brethren there. You know, there was a falling away at Ephesus that was taking place that John writes up later on. We've already mentioned that in one of these meetings, the second of fifth to Ephesus and Paul perhaps realizing this sent ticket to seek to minister and stir up the brethren. That is really a summary of Paul's life.
But before Paul was saved a solid tarsus, his whole bent and motive was to stamp out the name of Christ, and to persecute the believers.
After he got saved and became the Apostle Paul, his whole bent and motivation was to present Christ and encourage the people of God, and he wouldn't keep tickets for himself, even though no doubt naturally speaking, he would have wanted to. He realized there was a needed emphasis and he sent him. What an example for you and for me.
00:25:14
It's interesting and you try this one certificate mentioned he was being sent there to, uh, it says in verse 12, and I shall send, uh, a chapter 3 of, uh, Titus verse 12, it says, uh, when I shall send Artemis unto the porticoes, uh, be diligent to come on to uh, onto a Coppola's before I have determined there to enter so.
Take a kiss It seems like take a kiss is willing to be sent where were uh.
Wherever and it's that should be our desire to wherever the Lord needs this, uh, we should be willing to go. That's very good. Yeah. Thank you.
The more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
That's that's it. That's that's, that's it, yeah.
If I if I might make an application on some of the affiliate verses we're talking about all these funds that it was taken fall, if it's a call when the time got tough when there was a reproach associated with associated call.
Same thing happens with us, uh, in our relationship with Christ. We're, we're happy to be saved. We're happy to be on our way to heaven. We're happy that, uh, perhaps spend some time in the world coming up down to, uh, bearing reproach of whether it be among believers or whether it be among, umm, be among the world. We're not willing to do it. Often it's because of fear. I believe Timothy suffered with this, uh, with, with, uh, fear, uh, you get it in the.
7th 1St The 1St chapter God has not given us a fear of fear, but the power and the flaws and as a sound mind and uh, as mentioned at least four or five times in the chapter that Timothy was a take off into a fairly approach.
And, uh, it's important that we recognize that Christ wasn't, uh, Christ was not accepted in this world. They gave him a fraud. Paul here, he still had a booth with us and Christ went before, uh, went before Pilot there. Peter, who said he would never leave him, had denied him every time.
There's, we don't, uh, we don't like to associate with approach, but if it's because of fear, that fear is not involved and we should recognize that.
Uh, as a fault, admonished sympathy, we should be willing to bear that reproach and to do those things that are necessary in the gospel and then, uh, reaching out to other believers. And, uh, it's something that would, uh, cause research.
Well, prisons weren't like they are today in our country. I've visited some very nice, uh, prison facilities in North America, but I've also visited some prison facilities in other countries where I've wondered how anybody could survive. And the Apostle Paul was in a prison. That was not what we would think of as a prison. And so again, there's a very human side to what we have in verse 13.
The quote that I left at Croas with Carpus when thou comest bring with thee.
He needed his coat. I believe that's why he told him to do his diligence to come before winter. Things were going to get cold. You see, as I said earlier, Paul, though he rested on the Lord and took his circumstances from the Lord and was a prisoner of the Lord, yet he wasn't indifferent or callous to what he was passing through. He knew that the cold was going to come and these prison, that prison wasn't heated like the prisons today.
And so he wanted his coat and then he says and the books and especially the parchment. Now Paul knew that he had written many things by divine inspiration and he knew, I believe, that this was the last epistle that he was going to write by inspiration. The reason I say that is because, as we noted earlier in these meetings, Paul said that it was given to him to complete the Word of God. So he knew he was being used as a special vessel.
00:30:27
To lay down the foundation truth, uh, of Christian, of Christianity, to complete the word, word of God. But I believe we learn from this too, that Paul valued the writings of others. Maybe not that which was written by inspiration, but that which was good and profitable. And I want to encourage you again, I know we've mentioned this several times, but I want to encourage you again to value that which God has caused men to write.
Both of past generations and what is being written today by those that the Lord has raised up that is good and profitable in Christ. Exalting things that will help you in your study and understanding of the word of God. I say that because I know those who say, well, I only read the Bible. I wouldn't read anything written by anybody else. Well, it's true. We want to read our Bibles first and foremost, but to say that I won't read anything written by anybody else I I believe.
Is missing what we have here. And so there's a wealth of good Christ exalting ministry that has been written. And we want to be careful what we read, even what is published under the banner of Christianity, because it's not all sound. And you can usually tell by reading the flyleaf or the prelude of a book whether it's going to exalt Christ or whether it's going to exalt man. But there's lots and lots of good Christ exalting ministry books that have been written that are edifying and helpful.
You know, I'm thankful and I know it's only by the grace of God, but I am thankful that when I was younger I had the nudge from the Lord to reach on to my father's bookshelf and to read some of those books and later on to conferences and events like this to buy or avail myself of the written ministry that others pro provided. So I just want to encourage you that way.
Here with Paul, an old man, and he wanted his books, he wanted the parchment things that others had written that no doubt he felt would be a help in edifying for him.
Bit of a chapter here, but I, we, we can probably go a few minutes on because if you don't mind, because there's really nothing scheduled or planned afterwards, so maybe we can go, you wanna go to 8:00? Does that sound like, like a plan step? So go right on. OK, Well then, uh, I don't need to summarize the whole rest of the chapter, but I'll take a hot shot at it. Umm.
Just, uh, in verse 16.
Fall right at my first answer, no man stood with me. And that's Speaking of when he was first appearing before he's either there. We, uh, we read in the book of the Acts how he was dwelling two whole years in his own hired house. And it would appear that he stood before Caesar and, uh, he stood alone. And that's one of the hardest things for anyone of us to ever do. He, he was on trial for his life and he stood alone.
At my first answer, no man stood with with me, but all men forsook me.
And just that, that beautiful spirit, I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. And here he's perhaps he's writing to Timothy, but he's writing of different ones, perhaps some of these ones who had forsook him at that first first trial. And no.
No hard thoughts towards them, no, uh, nothing but love. I pray God that it may not be late to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. And you read it several times in Paul's life when the Lord stood with him, and it was at those low points in his life. And often we go out of our way.
At least I should say for myself, I go out of my way to try and avoid those times in my life where where you just you hit rock bottom, you hit hard. But it's it's at those points that you feel and you appreciate the Lord standing with him. Paul didn't have anyone else with him, but he would say, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. And that is a treasure that those of us who have experienced it, you cannot compare it with anything else just to come to know the Lord in a in a more full way, in a deeper way.
00:35:26
It, it's a treasure, it's worth whatever we have to go through to, to experience it. So the Lord has been with him, strengthened him and, uh, he would say, I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And so it would appear evidence that Paul was released after that first, uh, first trial. And there was a brief period where he was at liberty. You have it, you could say, mentioned here in a few of the things that took place. And, uh, it, it's alluded to. I, I believe in another one of the epistles, but it was at that point, I believe that he would have traveled about and he would have seen all day in Asia, have forsaken him as he went from place to place to place.
And they didn't, they didn't have time for Paul. They didn't want Paul, the one who would be in the prisoner and was, you could say was on his way out. They, they rejected him all, all day in Asia have turned away from me. And so he, he went through all of those things. And then here he's in prison again, right, right about to be executed. And, and it's from that perspective that we read this epistle and just, it's so easy to become cynical and bitter and, and hardened if things don't work out in our lives that we might like them to.
But the testimony of Paul at at the stroke to please the Lord gave it everything that he had and he would leave that all with Lord. He would you would go through in in in triumph and he would he would just go out rejoicing. And so it's so helpful as we we just realized the perspective that Paul is writing from as an overcomer. And so there's there's that opportunity for each one of us in this room.
Life is not going to be easy. Life isn't going to turn out how we expect it to. It's not going to be all roses and butterflies and rainbows.
But we can have a triumphant life as we seek to serve the Lord and honor Him. And there will be that joy and just that, that ability to encourage ourselves in the Lord, even if it's alone.
Just to comment too briefly on Alexander, the coppersmith Paul gave gives a warning here, not only mentions that he did Paul much evil, but he warns Timothy to be careful of this man. I sometimes said in that regard that there's a fine line between gossip and godly concern, and I can't say I always find it, but you do find that often in Scripture there are warnings given. Paul gave a warning here in connection with a certain individual.
The apostle John did it too. He said he warned Gaius of diatrophy. It wasn't gossip. It wasn't talking behind someone's back. There was a northeast, a need to give a, a warning, a godly warning. And so sometimes we need to warn if, if a certain individual is teaching things or doing things that are going to divide or corrupt the Saints of God, we need to give a, a faithful warning. So we don't want to just talk about someone.
Don't wanna just gossip. Gossip is never justified in the scripture, but there are times when warnings are given for the Lord's glory and for the preservation of the Saints of God. Just to follow up on what Jonathan has said to I was thinking of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in this regard because Paul goes on to speak of how the Lord is going. He, the Lord shall deliver me in verse 18. But you say Paul lay down his life very shortly after this.
He was delivered though, but not from prison like he had been before. Not in the same way been before to be released and travel about again. But he was delivered through the article of death. It's interesting because the Lord delivers in different ways. Just go back to Daniel chapter 3 and you'll see what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to the king when they were brought up before him.
In Daniel chapter 3 and verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer the in in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve. Now I want you to notice this is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. I'll stop there. You know they didn't know the end of the story.
00:40:13
We read the story with confidence because most of us have heard it from the days of our youth, and we know what happened. But they didn't know what was going to happen. They didn't know whether they were going to be burned in the fiery furnace or not. But one thing was for sure, the Lord was able. Their God was able if He wanted to. But then notice what they further say. And he will deliver us out of my hand, O King.
In other words, they understood that whether they perished in the fire.
Or whether they were brought through the fire, in one way or another, they would be delivered from the king, but they didn't know how it was going to be now with the apostle Paul.
When it speaks of the mouth of the lion here, it's not. I don't believe it's the same context as what we have in First Peter, where he speaks of our ad your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walks about, seeking whom he may devour.
The lion here, I believe is it's an illusion to Nero, one of the worst dictators that ever lived in this and reigned in this world. And so Paul refers to him in that way. But he says, and the Lord shall deliver me.
So when Paul was beheaded for his testimony, he was delivered, delivered in a very wonderful way, delivered from the lion, from Nero, delivered from the difficult circumstances he was in, to be, as he had said earlier in another epistle, absent from the body and present with the Lord. What a wonderful deliverance that was for the apostle Paul. You know, God doesn't always promise to give us a miraculous deliverance like many of the stories we read.
Give you another example. You know, in Hebrews 11, there's this tremendous list of men and women and young people who live by faith. And they conquered and triumphed over all kinds of odds and difficulties and enemies. And it summed up, they stopped the mouths of lion women, received their dead to life. They they quenched the violence of fire, stopped the mouths of lions. Wow, you see, wonderful faith, wonderful victory.
But then it says and others, and they didn't accept deliverance in that way. They wondered about in sheepskins and goatskins, they were sawn asunder. They had trials of cruel mocking and so on. You say, did they have any less faith?
These all died in faith. It wasn't that they had any less faith, but God had something different in mind. God had a better thing in mind. You can read the end of that 11Th chapter of Hebrews and you'll see this So.
Paul didn't have any less faith than when Peter was released from prison the night he was asleep earlier on. No, but he knew that God had a purpose and that in one way or another, there would be delivered.
And he speaks of the Kingdom here again in the end of the 18th verse. Remember what we said earlier, Paul is not talking in this chapter about the Lord's coming for us. He's not talking about the rapture. He's talking about the appearing that we have a couple of times in the verses we considered the other day, if the time when the Lord is gonna come back to reign and give a crown of righteousness, and we're going to reign with Him.
And so he speaks of the Lord being able to preserve him unto his heavenly Kingdom. Here he was living under the worst tyrant that ever reigned in this world when an awful reign. It was when you read of the reign of Nero. But what was Paul looking forward to? He was looking forward to the day when his savior reigned, when the King of kings and Lord of Lords would take his rightful place. And he said, that's what I'm looking forward to. Never mind Nero, he's his reign is going to be for a short time.
God will take care of that because I'm looking forward to a Kingdom where there's going to be a righteous king. And I know we didn't mention it the other day, but when Paul speaks of a crown of righteousness laid up for him and for you and for me, all those that love is appearing. The crown of righteousness is a reward for living righteously in an unrighteous world now and a reward in the day when righteousness will reign in this world.
By me the preaching might be fully known that all the gentiles might hear thinking it over in the last chapter Philippians that actually speaks of all things Philippians 4 and verse 22 all the Saints salute you chief chiefly they they're at Caesar's household so.
False statements.
They could change him, change his hands and feet, but they couldn't stop his mouth. And so Paul was a real witness, wasn't he, wherever he was. And as a result, there were those who were saved in high places. Very good.
So we really have a little post script at the end of this, uh, chapter because in the end of the 18th verse, he says, Amen. But then there's a little post script to give commendation to several further individuals. There were some listed earlier who hadn't gone on. There were some who done him evil and so on. There were some that Paul wanted to see and have fellowship with, but now there's some commendation.
I don't maybe this is particularly my exercise in having suggested this little portion for these two little Bible studies this weekend, is that it's interesting to notice these ones that are commended and the relationships and sphere of life they were in. And I believe what we learned from this little post script is that no matter where we are in our Christian life, no matter what our relationships are.
There is full provision to go on even in what is described in this epistle as the last days and perilous times. The reason I say that is he begins by saying salute Priska or Priscilla and Aquila. That was a couple. You know, we never read that they had children. I don't know whether they did or they didn't. Scripture isn't pleased to tell it. But when we go back and we note the different times that they are mentioned.
We were to go back to the Acts. We see them mentioned there in other places. We find that they were a faithful couple. They were. They were a man and a wife who were a blessing spiritually and practically to many, including the apostle Paul. I believe what it shows is that it's possible as couples to go on for the Lord in days of ruin and weakness now.
I know most of you aren't there yet, but if the Lord leaves us here and a relationship forms and you know, we were just reminiscing today about some that have been here camp in the past and now they're married or they're engaged to be married very shortly. Katie and Ivan are getting married in just a few days later this week. And that's wonderful relationships of form. And some of those relationships started right here at Kentucky Camp. You know, there's provision.
For those couples, Joe and Lydia provision to go on as a couple and if the Lord brings a partner into your life, don't be scared. Young people. I know sometimes I know sometimes the thought is, well, can we really start a household for the Lord in the dark days in which we live? For silent Aquila, we're going on for the Lord as a couple in the day in which they live. It was a dark day. It was the last day.
00:50:00
Spiritual ruin and moral darkness had deepened in the days of the apostle Paul, their days parallel to the days in which we live. Don't be afraid if the Lord brings someone into your life and it's His will for you to get married, Remember there's full provision to go on even in the day in which we live. Then we have next the household of a nest of forests. Now I take it that perhaps it was more than just a couple with a nest of 4th. It was a household.
And if the Lord leaves us here, I don't expect to be here even for camp next year. But if the Lord leads us here and the Lord gives you a not only a partner but a household, there's provision. Don't be afraid.
There's provision to go on as family in the day in which we live. In fact, earlier Paul speaks of the household of Vanessa Forest for the off refreshed me. It's wonderful when we go to a home and the family.
Is interested in the refreshment, spiritual refreshment and blessing of the people of God. I've been in many homes over the years like that. Not just the husband and wife, but the children, the young people. They're interested in, uh, the blessing and refreshment of those that come under their roof. There's provision to go on as families and then there's individuals and there's provision to go on as individuals. So if I can reverse the order, there's provision young people to go on.
As individuals in the last day till the Lord comes, if the Lord brings a partner into your life like he did with Priscilla and Aquila, there's provision to go on in that capacity as well. If the Lord gives you a household with children, there's provision to go on in that capacity as well. I think it's so beautiful to see. It's not just individuals that are commended here, but it's couple, a couple and a household as well.
OK.
I'd like to develop that erythro from this being left in my litmus. We read in the book of the Acts that would haul a shipwreck at my litm. On another occasion there was one the, the ruler of the island, his father was sick. I believe it was, uh, Acts 28, umm, verse eight came to pass that the father of Hublius lay sick of a fever and the bloody flux of whom Paul entered in and prayed and laid, laid his hands on him.
And heal them. So we gather from that portion to other portions that Paul had the power to lay hands on different ones and to heal them. And yet here he did it with this one.
And that's, this is an important lesson for each one of us to lay hold of. Just because we have the power to do something, something was, is within our means, does not mean that is, it is the Lord's will that we should do that. And so Paul saw in the case of trophiness that there was a need for the sickness. And so he left him behind in my Needham that he would learn that lesson. Trophiness would have left lost out if Paul had just laid his hands on it, healed him and, uh, continued on the travels. So just because I have $5 in my wallet doesn't mean that I should, I should reach in, grab that $5 and buy myself a watch or a hamburger or whatever it might be.
It's not that the Lord won't provide that for us, but that's not licensed to, to reach into my own resources and and solve my own problem. And the an Old Testament example of that that I think we can each appreciate is Joseph. When he was down in Egypt, he went down when he was roughly 17 years old.
When he was 30 years old, thirteen years later, he was elevated the Prime Minister of the land of Egypt. So he hadn't seen his family versus his father, his brother for 13 years as Prime Minister of Egypt. He was fully within his right, fully within his power to, uh, take a little holiday and go visit his family. He, he could have very easily gone back home and maybe brought a couple of dozen soldiers and, and made his brother and, and, uh, had everyone bow down and, and cheered that his dream was accomplished.
But he would not do that. He would not reach out and take even what was in his power, but he would let God work. And so he waited another nine years, seven years of plenty, two more years of famine for a total of what is that 22 years before he finally saw his brethren. And so to that, that lesson for each one of our hearts. Just because I have $5 in my wallet or I, I have the, the natural strength and force of character to do something does not in itself give me the liberty before God to do that.
There needs to be dependent on him. And it's not that he won't use that $5 or whatever he's given us. It's not that he won't have us use that at some point, but that that in itself does not give me license to to solve my own problems, my own way. And Jacob's the example of one who who tried that and it didn't work out so well for her.
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So just change at the end of the UH chapter. Then he closes by saying the Lord Jesus Christ not be with you, but be with thy spirit.
He's Speaking of our, of our spirit in connection with, in the context of our attitude, the Lord Jesus Christ be with thy Spirit. He has encouraged Timothy, exhorted Timothy throughout this epistle to stand firm for the truth, continuing the things that he had learned go on in the doctrine, in the ministry.
And serve the Lord. But really what he's saying at the end of it is Timothy, I want you to do it with the proper spirit, with the proper attitude, because you know, we can take the attitude. Well, I'm the only one that's faithful and and this is what the Lord has given me and I'm going to press it. And sometimes we can be clear as ice and just as cold. But he Washington, he wanted to Paul wanted Timothy to have the proper attitude and spirit.
In standing firm for the for the Word of God and.
You know, young people, the older I get, the more I realize how important our spirit and attitude is. Give you a little example, a little homework. You can look it up sometime. But you know, when they children of Israel finally went in to possess the land of Israel, there were only two of that of the generation that sent the spies in that were allowed that we read of that eventually went in to get their inheritance. And there's only one of those that got a personal inheritance, only one man that came out of Egypt that we lead up that got a personal inheritance. His name, of course, was Caleb.
And there is a reason given to us why Caleb got a personal inheritance. The Lord said My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him. When Caleb brought up a good report of the land years before, he had done it in the proper spirit and attitude. And so much did God value the spirit and attitude in which Caleb was faithful and spoke the truth.
That he said I'm gonna preserve him in the wilderness and I'm gonna give him a special portion because of his spirit and attitude. Now that's what the Lord wants from us. He wants us to go on in the spirit and attitude of humility, the spirit and attitude of grace and the spirit and then to be faithful as well. But don't be hard lined when it comes to the truth and don't feel like the prophet that said in the Old Testament, I only I am left alone.
I only, I am, I'm the, I'm the only faithful one left. No, Timothy was to have the spirit and attitude to go on with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart because God was going to preserve others who would have a similar exercise and desire. And he wants us to go on in the spirit of, of Christ, the spirit of meekness and loneliness, and to enjoy the truth, be faithful, but enjoy the truth and present it in a way that it will be used by the Spirit of God as a blessing to others.
I'd like to sing a hymn in the little block. It's 312. And then when we sing to him, I'll let another young brother, a young brother, pray not another young brother, but a young brother, 312.
Nsnoise.