Welcome to Always Abounding. This podcast will encourage you as a believer to continue on and always abound in the work of the Lord. Now your host, Keith Stensis. And welcome once again to our podcast, Always Abounding. This is your host, Brother Keith Stensis, here in Kalido, Uganda. Kalido, Uganda. The word Kalido means little fire. And we are up here at the Barnabas Baptist Bible Training Center preparing for our tri-annual Bible Institute. And we've got a whole week in store ready to teach our men exactly what we taught two weeks ago in our Tri-New Bible Institute in Massaca and teaching them on the church and in-depth study of the church. And so we are excited about that, looking forward to getting this going already. The men have been starting to come in and getting ready for the week. We have just had a wonderful day. I cannot wait to tell you about it. I have this is one of those days where I just have to be honest with you. I have been so encouraged. I've been so blessed and it's one of those days in the ministry that you don't get them very often and sometimes you wonder if you're ever appreciated you wonder if You wonder if you're ever getting through with people and churches and individuals and things, especially in different cultures. And today was just one of those special days that God put on my heart. But it's amazing, not just on my heart, but also all the way seven hours away down in our Massacott ministry, the Lord did the same thing for my wife. And I'm gonna be bringing her in on this podcast today. and to have her share that testimony with you. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse number 58, therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know. that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And again, I am so grateful, I'm so thankful that my labor is not in vain, the work that I do for the Lord Jesus Christ, the sacrifice, and really, is it really a sacrifice? Is it really, can we, can any of us really say, that we are truly sacrificing for the cause of Jesus Christ. It is just, as the servant said, we have done what is our duty to do, and that's just the fact of it. But anyway, we are in Caledo here, and we just had a great Sunday, and I was able to preach here at the Caledo Baptist Church. I preached a message on why I love the church, and God just really stirred, and I think God did a work in some people's hearts that came up to me afterwards and said God spoke to their heart. I know that God spoke to my heart through it, and just reminded me of the importance of the church. Jesus Christ gave himself for it, and why should I do anything less? And I truly believe, and I was brought up to believe, and I adopted it as my own conviction, I believe the church ought to be the center of your life. And I think everything ought to revolve around the church. Our families should revolve around the church. Our marriages should revolve around the church. Jesus Christ died for the church. And I believe that is the central focus in the church age. And I believe everything is pivoting off of that hinge of the local church. And so, Anyway, so I've been really burdened about that. I've been teaching on the church, taught that through the TBI down in Massaca, getting ready to teach the same thing here, preaching the messages here, and just trying to help people understand that church is not just a religious ritual that we do on Sunday and something that we do to satisfy religious conscience. It is to be our life. And if it was good enough, and if it was wonderful enough, for Jesus Christ to leave heaven, to leave his father and come down to this earth and die on the cross, shed his blood for the church to redeem his bride. I tell you what, I don't know of another reason why we should not be out bringing people and encouraging people to be involved in the church being involved in the things of the Lord through the church, and so it has been a great week. But anyway, we have just had some amazing things happen today, and we went down to the village of Nabitende, where we have Nabitende Baptist Church, and just had a great time there with Brother Grace Chitimbo, who is one of our students here at the training center and he is doing a great job and he is one of those churches that his people came together and collected the bricks and made the bricks, brought them all together, even had people in the church who donated the bricks and we provided the cement and the sand and they also put up the roofing structure, we provided the iron sheets and all of that and they're meeting in a 40 by 22 foot building that is a permanent structure, doesn't have a floor yet, doesn't have plaster on the walls yet, but they're meeting inside and they are so grateful. And today, when I went there, I had no idea I was going there to preach. And a matter of fact, the Lord really spoke to my heart about having one of our men preach. And so he actually preached for me and did a great job with the Dungu Charles and did a great job preaching. but then after the service they they had already taken the offering and after the service they Brought the basket down to the front again, and I was thinking to myself. What what are they doing? And so I confirmed with one of our guys. I said are they taking up another offering he says yes, they are and I said well what kind of offering is what are we going to give to and he said it's a love offering and So I think well, I love offering. I haven't seen that before and in in the churches here And so I just kind of sat there watching what's going on. And finally, Brother Chitimbal looked at me and he says, you know, Pastor, he says, you have given so much for our church and helping us with this building, helping us with the sand and the cement, helping us with the iron sheets. We want to give back to you just a little bit. of our appreciation, of our thankfulness and our gratitude for what you have done for us. And people started coming to the front. There was a lady that brought a bag of mangoes. There was a lady that brought a pineapple. There was a lady that brought a stock of bananas. a lady that, another man brought a chicken, another man brought in a goat, and all of these things gathering together in the front of the church, and somebody brought in a bag of avocados, and all of that just sitting right there, and they said, Pastor, we know this is not much, but we just want to give this to you to thank you for helping us to be able to have our church building. And I just have to be honest with you. I stood there and tears came down my face because I realized just how they don't have anything. They're in the village. They don't make a lot of money. They're just living from day to day. They're just surviving. But the gratitude in their hearts. And the reason I'm telling you this story is because it's not me that has done that. It is so many of you churches and so many of you individuals who have given to help with these buildings and given to help to purchase cement and iron sheets to help these people. And I just want you to know that yesterday I saw on the faces of these people a gratitude. And as they came by one by one and thanking me and shaking my hand and just showing gratitude, for what was being done there. And I'm telling you, I was just so blessed. Moved to tears and just overcome with gratitude. And it just kind of made me think, you know, I'm I'm an American, I'm from the United States, and there's no doubt that we have more resources and we have more things. And we might look at that and we say, what is a goat? What is a chicken? What is a bag of mangoes? What is a bag of avocados or a stock of bananas? In the grand scheme of things and compared to what was given to buy the cement and the sand and the iron sheets, compared to that, it was hardly nothing. But I'm telling you what, I felt in my heart such a gratitude and thankfulness for these people. for their appreciation. It wasn't that they felt that they deserved it. It wasn't that they felt that they had to have this. They were truly grateful and truly honored to be able to have that church building. And it kind of reminded me, you know, sometimes we think, you know, how in the world could we ever, ever show our gratitude to God for what he's done for us? I mean, He has given so much. He gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins. He blesses us every day with life. He blesses us every day with heat and light and provision and all the things that He does for us. How in the world can you and I ever, ever, ever hope to even come close to repaying that? And yet God says, I want you to give sacrificially. I want you to sow bountifully so that I can help you reap bountifully. And we may look at our little bit that we give to God and say, what difference does this make? But I'm telling you what, I had a little taste today of maybe what God feels like when God's people, though they can never, ever, ever match what God has done for them. But maybe I just had a little bit of an understanding of how God feels when his people, out of love and appreciation and gratitude, give back. And I've said this before. God is not up there and saying, man, I need your money. If I don't have your money, I'm going to go broke. That's not the way God looks. But God looks at our giving as the proof and the sincerity of our love. And that's what he's wanting. He's just wanting us to prove our love to him. And so I'm telling you what, it was just such a blessing. And I was so, so encouraged by that. And what a blessing that was. I got back to the house here in Caledo that is next to our training center here and called my wife just to see how she was doing. And she related a story today that happened down in Massaca. Now, down in Massaca, we are celebrating our anniversary, our anniversary service there in the village of Chitabazi. When we came there in 19... 1997 and started the Massaka Independent Baptist Church. So for 28 years that church has been in existence. We started that church 28 years ago on the front porch of my house and 28 years later that church is going strong and The pastor there is doing great. They had six first time visitors this morning and had a great service, had meal on the grounds afterwards. But it was something that one of our church members came up to my wife after the service and she can tell it a whole lot better than I can. And so I'm gonna bring her in on the podcast by way of technology and through the phone. And so let's give her a call. And I wanted her to just share the testimony that she shared with me earlier. Give her just a second to come on the line here. Hello. Hey, you are on the Always Abounding podcast. And I just called to tell you that I loved you. I love you, too. Anyway, Sally, I just shared with our listeners the blessing that I experienced today receiving that gift of appreciation for what we were able to do and help with that church. And I told our listeners that when I came home, I called you just to see how things went down in Massaca. And you shared a story with me that really blessed your heart and encouraged you. And I just thought it was interesting that something happened to me and something happened to you on the same day. And these things just don't happen very often. And so I just want you to share with our listeners what happened to you today and what one of those church members came up and talked to you about. So today was our anniversary service celebration of our church there in Massaca. And so afterwards, we had a meal that we provide for everybody who attended. And as I was getting ready to leave, a man stopped me at the dining room door. And he said, I just want to thank you, Mama Shane, your family coming to Uganda. He said, you guys have to deal with a lot of stuff here that you don't have in America, like the dust, the malaria. You have to give up so much. And yet you and your family sacrificed to come here to give us the gospel. He said, I want to thank you and your family for doing that. And that was the very first time a Ugandan has looked me in the eye and told me those words. and it just meant so much to me and we don't we're not here for praise the men we're not here you know to be thanked um we're here to serve God but those words of you know thanksgiving are so rare um and you know like gifts of appreciation that you receive today it's not a common thing and so you may You know, a lot of people may be saying, what's the big deal? It's it just does not happen frequently. And so the moments that it does, it really impacts us greatly. And to, you know, for that man to just stop me, you know, he knew I was getting ready to leave. Yeah. He took the time to stop me and and just express his appreciation. And it just meant so much. It really did. Amen. Amen. Well, that was a blessing to me and I know it was to you and I appreciate you taking the time and sharing that with our listeners. And like you said, it's just we're not in it for praise. We're not in it for Thanksgiving. But when that time comes, it just it just hits you. I mean, it's like, wow, there's people that actually do appreciate what we're doing here and are grateful for what we're doing here. And if nothing else, it should be a reminder to every one of us to find those people that have had an influence on your life and just go up and thank them. Say, thank you for the influence you've had in my life. Thank you for what you've done for me. I wouldn't be here today without you. And you don't, you cannot even imagine what an encouragement that that could be to somebody else to continue knowing that their labor is not in vain in the Lord. And so anyway, Sally, thank you so much for taking the call and I sure miss you and look forward to seeing you when I get back down to Mississauga later on this week. I miss you too, as does our daughter, Savannah. And we look forward to hearing how the week goes for you. By the way, while I have you on the phone, I was looking the other day at all the podcasts that I've done. I think I've done over 250 podcasts. And so I was just curious as to what podcast had the most listened to. And I was absolutely floored when I found out that the podcast that you and Savannah did is the top podcast listened to. And I was absolutely... I don't understand how that is. It's just that people were so shocked to hear a different voice, I think. Well, that did a lot to humble me because I'm just wondering if maybe you guys should take over the Always Abounding podcast. And so... Only when we need to. You can continue on with it. You have the voice for it. All right. Well, you guys take care. I love you guys. I love you too. All right. Bye-bye. Well, amen. That was a blessing. And again, just an encouragement to us. And it's just such a blessing. I'm just sitting here overwhelmed with gratitude for God allowing me to serve Him here in this country. And just those brief times of encouragement that we need to keep us going and to keep us encouraged, that has definitely been one of those days today. Well, as you can tell by listening to the ambient voices around me, are the ambient noises. I am in the middle of the village and there is no soundproofing out here. As a matter of fact, I'm sitting out here. Mosquitoes are flying all around me and I'm hoping that nothing is going to bite me. But anyway, if you hear things around, just ignore that and Whenever we come out into the village, obviously we are in a setting that is not a soundproof setting, but it just kind of gives you an idea of what we get to listen to, the bugs and the birds and the village sounds and all that is going on. And so anyway, that's why you're hearing that in the background. Well, let's quickly go to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. And we are continuing in our series here on Welcome to the Reality of Ministry. And Paul is continuing to work with Timothy and continuing to teach him. In his final days, he's about ready to go to the chopping block. He's about ready to lose his head for the cause of Christ. And so in these last days, Paul is helping Timothy to understand and be aware of the reality of ministry and the things in the ministry that he is going to face. And let me just tell you this, there is nothing in the world that I would rather do than the ministry. There's nothing in the world that I would rather do than teach people and influence people and preach to people and start churches. There's nothing that I would rather do in life. But I'm telling you this, there's nothing that can be more challenging. There's nothing that can be more discouraging. There is nothing that can be more heartbreaking than dealing with people on a daily basis. Everybody comes with their problems, everybody comes with their challenges and their difficulties. Many times they look to the pastor, they look to the leader to try to lead them through those challenges and lead them through those circumstances. And it can really get down and it can really not necessarily, and I guess sometimes it could bring depression, but it just weighs heavily. I mean, Paul said, you know, I can tell you about all the beatings and the shipwrecks and the stonings and the starvations and the days without clothing and all this kind of stuff. But he says beyond all that is the care of all the churches. That was a great burden on Paul's life, just the everyday care of the churches. And so Paul is getting ready to leave Timothy behind. Timothy is going to carry on the torch. Timothy is going to carry the work of God forward. And so Paul is taking these last moments and writing to Timothy, probably his closest friend, probably the closest friend that he had in the ministry and reminding him of what the ministry is all about and reminding him of the reality that the ministry is. And so in this last chapter here, he's giving his final words. And in chapter three, he dealt with the perilous times and we talked much about that, permanent principles in perilous times. We talked about developing a man of God in perilous times. And now he's giving his final charge to Timothy, his final encouragement. And Timothy, this is it, take this, because these are gonna be my last words to you. And so let's read verses one through five, and Lord willing, we're going to get through these today, and then hopefully we'll get to verse number six in our next podcast. But the Bible says, I charge thee therefore before God and our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lush shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. But watch thou in all things. Endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist make full proof of thy ministry Now notice verse number one. He says I charge you therefore that word charge is a it is a militaristic term it is a is a command to move forward it is a a It is a challenge to go ahead. Don't don't stand there in parade rest Don't retreat it is time for you to he says it's time for you to go forward I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ now watch this who shall judge the quick and the dead the alive and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom Now, I want you to notice a couple of things here. He says, I am making this charge before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I am telling you to do something that I am not ashamed to be able to motivate you. I'm not ashamed to be able to challenge you to do this. God is my witness. The Lord Jesus Christ is my witness that this is a challenge. This is a charge that you need to take note of. Now notice he talks about the Lord Jesus Christ. He says the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ is, and again, we're not talking a whole lot here about prophecy, but you understand that in the prophetical times, we are talking about three different judgments that will be in the future in prophecy. We have the judgment seat of Christ, which is for Christians that will be in heaven. You have the, judgment of nations that the Bible talks about that will usher in the kingdom of heaven or usher in the millennium reign of Jesus Christ. And then at the end of the millennium reign, you have the great white throne judgment where all of mankind, all of the lost will stand before God and the books will be opened. And those whose names are not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. Now, he mentions these two, I believe, because these are the two where you can have believers at. The judgment or the great white throne judgment is only for unbelievers. But when you look at the judgment of nations and you look at the great white throne judgment, these are potential judgments in which the Lord Jesus Christ is going to judge these. And these are potential judgments in which there will be believers standing before the judgment. So he says, he says, who's going to judge the quick and the dead, those that are alive and those that have died in previous to the judgment. And so he says, notice, he says, at his appearing, we understand that to be the rapture. He is going to come back. In the clouds, we're going to meet him in the air and we shall ever be with the Lord. And the Bible talks about in first Thessalonians chapter four, that the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together within the clouds and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is going to judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, all right? But not only that, he is going to judge the quick and the dead at his kingdom, all right, at his kingdom. And we know that to be the judgment of nations. The Bible talks about that in the book of Matthew, chapter 24 and 25, leading up to the judgment of nations, where he is going to set the sheep on one side and the goats on the other side. And those that have blessed his people and those who have helped his people and befriended his people are going to enter into the kingdom. Those that have not are going to then be cast into hell for their unbelief because they have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. And again, my purpose is to not go into that in a lot of detail, but just to make you aware of what he's talking about here now. So he's saying, I'm charging you this before, this is the judge. This is the one who is making the final judgment at the judgment seat of Christ. He's making the final judgment at the judgment of nations. He is the top man, and I'm making this charge with his permission. I'm making this charge in his presence. I'm making this charge with him as a witness. Now, what is the charge? Verse number two, preach the word. preach the word. That is to be the charge of the preacher. That is to be the charge of the pastor. Preach the word. Now, he is not talking here. Remember, Timothy is a pastor. Timothy is in the ministry. Timothy is is doing the work of God, helping people, starting churches, helping Paul start churches. This is not a soul winning passage here. He's not talking about going out and preach the gospel to every creature. He's talking to a pastor here. He's talking to someone who's going to be influencing God's people preach the word. Now, what word is he talking about? Remember back up in verse number 15 of chapter three, he says in that from a child, thou has known the Holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise into salvation through faith, which is in Jesus Christ. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good work." So the purpose there was to develop men of God through the preaching of the scriptures. And so Paul says, my charge to you, my final charge to you, Timothy, is don't stop preaching. preaching the Word, preach the truth of the Word of God. And sadly, what is happening today in our churches all across America and all across the world, preachers have stopped preaching. We're not preaching on sin anymore. We're not preaching on separation anymore. We're not preaching of the Word of God, the pure, inspired, preserved Word of God anymore. We're not preaching unholiness any longer. What is being called preaching today is literally to soothe people's minds and make everybody feel good and make everybody be able to leave the service. To be able to say, oh, this has just been a good service, this has been a great service. Hey, I'm just saying today, if a pastor, if a preacher is preaching the word the way he's supposed to be preaching the word, we are not going to be comfortable. We are going to constantly be stirred. We're going to constantly be motivated. We're going to constantly be looking for ways that we can change our lives and ways that we can be more holy in ways that we can be more involved in the work of Christ. Hey, I'm just saying today, when you preach the Word of God, the Word of God is going to motivate you to action. The Word of God is going to motivate you to win souls to Jesus Christ. The Word of God is going to motivate you to live holy. The Word of God is going to motivate you to live a separated life. Preach the word, preach the word. And I just, I look in some churches that I've been in across America, I've looked in on YouTube, some of these churches out there that they're calling preaching and that they're calling, I mean, we have so watered down the word of God today, there's absolutely no conviction. Coming out of our preaching today. He says preach the word now notice how he says to preach the word Be instant in season and out of season Be instant in season out of season. There's never going to be a right time All right, be ready at all times to preach the word when it's in season, when it's out of season, when you feel like, hey, this is what they need. And even when you say, man, I just don't feel like preaching this, but the Lord wants me to preach this message, preach the word. Preach the Word. We need the Word of God preached, whether it's in season or out of season, whether you think it's the right time or whether it's not the right time. Preach the Word. Now, notice how he says to preach the Word. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Now, I've heard people say, well, you know, you just got to stay away from negative preaching. Preachers should not be negative. You know, we need to have positivity, you know, do you got, you know, the power of positive thinking and, and, and we just need to encourage people and make people feel good about themselves. Hey, I'm telling you, In this passage of scripture, Paul is charging Timothy to preach the word. He tells him in three different ways how to do it. Reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering doctrine. Now, if my math is correct, that means there's only one-third positivity to two-thirds negative. Reprove and rebuke is negative, exhort is positive. Now, again, I'm not saying a pastor is to get up and just beat his people to death. I'm just saying that the proper preaching of the Word of God, you look at God's Word, most of God's Word, as you read through it, is prophets and preachers standing up and proclaiming the Word of God. And it's not all positive, make yourself feel good type of preaching. It's preaching with authority. It's preaching the doctrine of the Word of God. It's preaching the truth of the Word of God. And so much of that, yes, is negative because we are living lives that need to be rebuked. We are living lives that need to be reproved. And if we don't have a man of God, if we don't have a preacher that's worth his salt to stand in the pulpit and pound on that pulpit and preach the word of God and let his people know, this is what you need to be doing. This is where we're wrong. This is where we need to improve. Let's get better in this. Hey, I'm telling you, we need that type of preaching. But the people today have changed it all around. Now we want all positivity. We want to make people feel good. We want to, we just want to tickle people's ears and we want people to love us and we want people to come back. And so we're not going to say anything. And, and, and in this generation today where we are so afraid to offend anybody. We will preach and we will change our preaching so that we'll keep a bunch of people in our church that don't even love God. They don't even want to serve God. They just want to be there and have their religious conscience satisfied. Now notice what he says, he says, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove. The word reprove means to excite with a sense of guilt, to convince of a fault, all right? Our preaching needs to convince people that they're wrong. They're wrong in not tithing. They're wrong in not soul winning. They're wrong in not living holy. They're wrong in not being separated. That's what rebuke is all or reproof is all about. But then he says, not only reprove them, but rebuke them. The word rebuke means to afflict somebody for the purpose of correction. We're not trying to just kick people and abuse people and run them off the church. Our purpose in our rebuke is to correct. It is to afflict for the purpose of correction. It is to put that, it's like when the Lord told the apostle Paul, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. That's what that is all about, that rebuke that is coming in, rebuking him for the wrong that he's doing, rebuking him for the blasphemy that he's involved in. So he says, reprove, excite with a sense of guilt, convince of a fault, rebuke them, that's reproof, I'm sorry, rebuke to afflict for the purpose of correction. And then number three, here's the positive, to exhort. The word exhort means to incite, to stimulate, to do good deeds. That's when we're encouraging people, all right, this is what you need to do right. Let me encourage you to do right. Let me encourage you and to go so on. Let me encourage you to do this. Let me encourage you to live right and live holy and thank you for your giving and thank you for your serving. Exhortation is there, but But notice all three of these is a part of what the Apostle Paul is saying when he's talking about preaching the word. Preaching needs to have reproof. Preaching needs to have rebuke. Preaching needs to have exhortation. That's what preaching is all about. I am so thankful. I'm so thankful. And I know that I'm prejudiced, but I'm so thankful for my pastor, Pastor Adam Thompson. There is not one message that he has ever preached that I do not leave that service feeling like I have got to do better. I just, man, I've got to do better. I have got to change my life. There is something here that I'm weak in. There's something here that I need to change. There's a sin over here that I need to get out of my life and get right with God. Why? Because that's his preaching. His preaching is full of rebuke. It's full of reproof. But at the same time, his preaching is full of exhortation. I leave there not thinking that my pastor hates me, not thinking that my pastor is against me, but believing that he is encouraging me and he's wanting me to do right. He's wanting me to live for God. But the only way that I'm going to do that is if I have someone who is my spiritual leader who is helping me to see where I'm wrong and see the direction that I'm going so that I can wake up and start doing right. Man, that's the type of preaching we need. That's the type of preacher that I want to be. He says, preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Now notice two things here. Notice he says longsuffering. Remember we talked about longsuffering is patience in the process of affliction. People don't want that kind of preaching. And preachers and pastors, you better be aware that when you preach the word the way God says to preach the word with reproof and rebuke and exhortation, when you preach the word the way you're supposed to preach the word, there is going to be some affliction in there and you better take it with patience. You better understand that the that there are going to be people that are not gonna like what you preach There's gonna be people that are gonna leave your church There's gonna be people that are gonna be offended at what you preach, but the exhortation the charge is preach the word preach the word preach the word he says exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine and now here's a very important thing the reproof the rebuke The exhortation, all of that needs to be on a foundation of doctrine, not on a pastor's preferences, not on a preacher's preferences. It needs to be based on the word of God. And that's where a lot of our independent Baptist pastors and preachers have gotten such a bad testimony in their preaching is because we're not preaching doctrine. We're not preaching the word of God. We get off on these tangents, preaching our preferences and what we like and we don't like. And that's not what we're supposed to be preaching. Preach the word. preach the doctrine of the word of God. That's where we need to be standing. That's where we need to be on that behind the pulpit, preaching the word of God in such a way that the doctrine of God is the foundation of everything that we do. Now notice verse number three. He says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lush shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears." Now, because we are not preaching the word, we are going to bring an opportunity for people to get used to hearing preaching that is just a, it is a preaching that makes people feel good. It makes people feel like they're accepted. It makes people feel like they're not doing anything wrong. It's just, again, it goes back to that power of positive thinking, so to speak, if you will. He says, the time will come. This is why people need good preaching. The time will come where they will not endure sound doctrine. They're not going to care what you preach. They're not going to care what you stand on. They're not going to care what foundation you have. They don't want sound doctrine, but notice, after their own lust, shall they heap to themselves teachers. Now again, watch this here. It's not that they're leaving church. It's not that they're leaving religion. It's not that they're opposed to church. It's not that they're opposed to religion. But they are going to heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. Now, so many times in the past, I've read this verse as the listeners having the itching ears. You know, we hear that expression, teachers just tickling their ears, but it's not the listeners here that have the itching ears. It's the teachers that have the itching ears. You say, why do they want teachers? Who have the itching ears? And I looked up the word itching just to see what it was, and it just says, the urge to be scratched. That's what it means. And so they have ears that wanna be scratched. They have ears that are itching, that they want somebody to scratch their ear for them. Now, what does that mean? Where's it going? Take your Bibles and turn back to Jeremiah chapter five. Jeremiah in chapter five, And you'll see what I'm talking about here. Jeremiah chapter five, and notice in verse number 31. Jeremiah chapter five, and look in verse number, well, let's start in verse number 30. Jeremiah chapter five in verse number 30. A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priest bear rule by their means. And my people love to have it. So what are these people doing? They are heaping to themselves, prophets and priests having itching ears. They're only doing what they're doing so that they get their needs met. They're in it for the money. They're in it for their personal means. And notice what he says. He says, they know that the prophets prophesy falsely. They know that the priests are bearing rule by their means, but my people love to have it so. My people want that. My people want to have teachers that are teaching false things. They want to have teachers that are ruling by their means. Look over in Isaiah chapter 30. Isaiah chapter 30. Isaiah in chapter 30. And notice in verse number nine. Notice verse number nine, that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Can you imagine that? Again, they're not getting rid of the prophets. They're not getting rid of the seers. They just want seers and prophets that are going to prophesy smooth things to them, prophesy right things to them, prophesy deceitful things to them. Now, why do they do that? Understand this, God created man with a spiritual void, with a desire for spiritual things. That is why religions, as false as they are, religions are innumerable around this world today. Because people are searching, there is a void in their life, there is a spiritual void in their life that needs to be filled, and so they're going to search. But we live in a world today, and he says, the time will come. that they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears." In other words, I'll teach you smooth things, I'll preach to you deceitful things, you just take care of me. As long as you take care of me, as long as you keep my paycheck paid, as long as you give me a financial package, as long as you keep me supplied with good vehicles, as long as I'm taken care of, I'll preach to you whatever you want. If you don't want separation, I won't preach separation. If you don't want holiness, I won't preach holiness. If you don't want me to preach against sin, I won't preach against sin. You give me what I want and I'll preach whatever you want. And Timothy said, or Paul said, Timothy, you better preach the word because the time is coming when they will not endure sound doctrine. They'll have nothing to do with the doctrine of the word of God, but they will desire to have these teachers, these preachers, these prophets, these priests that will tell them whatever they want to hear. And notice what the result of that verse number four, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, sanctify them through thy word, thy word is truth. He says, they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. It is amazing to me, the religious beliefs that people will follow. We have the Word of God in front of us, the inspired, preserved Word of God in front of us. It tells us how we're to live, tells us how we're to preach, tells us how we're to have our families, tells us how we're to have our marriages. It goes through the whole thing, tells us how to live successfully in this life. And yet people would rather follow fables than the truth of the Word of God. And so Paul says, Timothy, you better preach the word because the time is coming. And I'm telling you right now, as I'm sitting here in Calito, Uganda, that time has arrived. People do not want sound doctrine. They want teachers who are going to tell them whatever they want to hear. And, and, and they want preachers. Hey, we'll pay your salary. We'll give you whatever you want. We'll let you golf three days a week. We'll let you do, you have your own schedule. You just preach to us what we want to hear. And their beliefs have turned their ears away from the truth and have turned it into fables. And so finally, he says, Timothy, watch thou in all things. Be careful. You better keep your head out of the sand. You better know what's going on. Endure afflictions, do the work of evangelists, make full proof of thy ministry. Now notice he says, be careful, be careful. Watch down all things. Watch, watch the devil is out to destroy your ministry. Watch because there's temptations out there that will destroy your many. Watch, watch because the money and finances will be out there to destroy your ministry. Timothy, keep an eye out on your life because if Satan can do anything to destroy your ministry, he'll do it in a heartbeat. You better watch. He says, endure afflictions. We've already talked about this in chapter three. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail. Endure afflictions. Paul says, I endure the afflictions and the persecutions, but out of them, all the Lord deliver me, endure, keep going. Don't stop. Don't fall a falter. Keep on going. He says, do the work of an evangelist. What is an evangelist? Evangelist is a church planner. Evangelist is a missionary. An evangelist is one who goes out to evangelize with the purpose of gathering people together and discipling them and bringing them together. And once those people are together to ordain elders in that place so that they have their own pastor, And then that evangelist goes to another place and starts another church. That is the work of an evangelist. And so an evangelist is one who goes out and establishes churches. And that's what Paul is saying. He says, Timothy, go out, do the work of an evangelist. Go out and preach the gospel. Go out and disciple those that have gotten saved. Go out and ordain elders in every city as I have commanded you and repeat the process over and over and over until you die. That's what the apostle Paul did. He did the work of an evangelist. And then lastly, he says, make full proof of thy ministry. Prove yourself. Timothy, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example. Make full proof of thy ministry. Let your ministry be your resume. Let the way you serve God, let the people that get saved, the churches you've established, the people you've discipled, let that be the full proof of your ministry. And so the bottom line is this, Timothy, I'm charging you before I go in verse number six, he's about ready to give his final conclusion to everything. He's about ready to send his greetings to many people, but verses one up to verse number five, his main emphasis, I charge you. Preach the Word. Preach the Word. Preach the Word. Don't preach your preferences. Preach the Word of God. Don't preach your fables. Don't preach other religions. Don't preach other false doctrines. Preach the Word and base your Word and be prepared with long-suffering and doctrine. Let that be the foundation of what you do. Amen? Well, that brings us to the end of our podcast today. Thank you so much for tuning in. And again, it's been a blessed day for my family and serving the Lord here in Uganda. Please continue to pray for our ministry. This last week, I took our truck up to Kampala and we picked up 20,000 John and Romans that we had printed here. and we can print John and Romans here in Uganda for about 30 cents apiece and we found that it's really just a little bit more expensive doing it here but not having to have the hassle of immigration and clearing containers and buying containers. So we're really investigating this and seeing what the opportunity is there for us to be able to print John and Romans on this site. And so we had a great time picking up those 20,000 John and Romans, bringing them back to Massaca, looking forward to getting them out, passing them out and getting the word of God out to people. So pray about that. Also pray about our educational ministries, our Bible college, Massachusetts Baptist College, will be starting up the first week of June. So please pray about that if you would. And also let me just put a quick reminder in, if you would be interested in subscribing to my wife's blog, then please simply just go to our website, kstensisfamily.com and just message us through that or send an email through that. and be sure to put your name, the church where you're at, and put your email, and we'll make sure that you get subscribed to her blog, and that will give you some insight, especially you ladies out there, that'll give you some insight into the ministry here in Uganda from a lady's perspective, and I believe that'll be a great help and a blessing to you, so make yourself available to that. If you haven't done so already, let me encourage you to subscribe to this podcast, the Always Abounding podcast. Every Friday, we upload a new podcast for your encouragement and try to help you to always abound in the work of the Lord. And so be sure to subscribe to that and just go to your favorite podcast platform and subscribe. If you don't go to podcast platforms, then you can go to Sermon Audio. And again, just type in always abounding or type in my name, Keith Stensis, and that will bring up the podcast through sermon audio. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse number 58, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know, that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Well, God bless you so much. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm sitting outside here of our house here in Calito in the village. It's getting ready to rain. I'm getting rain on my back right now. So this will be a good time to stop this podcast. Amen. I'm getting all wet as I'm speaking. And, but anyway. So I hope that you're encouraged today. Thank you so much for your prayers and your support. And remember the Lord Jesus Christ might come today. So keep looking up. This might be the day. God bless you. Have a wonderful day in the Lord. We want to thank you for listening today. We trust that this podcast was an encouragement to you to always abound in the work of the Lord. For more information about your host or simply contact us, visit kstensisfamily.com.