My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word. My eyes fail looking for your promise, I say. When will you come to me? When will you comfort me? Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your decrees. How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors, the arrogant dig pitfalls for me? Contrary to your law, all your commands are trustworthy. Help me, for men persecute me without cause. They almost wipe me from the earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts. Preserve my life according to your love, and I will obey the statutes of... Your mouth. There we go. Good stuff. Great, great, great. Okay, let me move my little blue thing. All right, let's see here. This goes over here, and got a couple of prayer requests and look at she came in almost on time today this is like two weeks in a row it's amazing amazing okay i guess i'll read this first today is the 14th sergio oh come here um this is for you i'll explain that later um 14th um no no no it's but it's It's yours. Okay, 14. Civil War erupted in the Congo, meaning Zaire, in the 1960s. And among the missionaries caught in the crossfire was William McChesney with Worldwide Evangelization Crusade. Though only 5'2 and 110 pounds, Bill had an outsized personality that radiated cheer wherever he went. His co-workers dubbed him Smiling Bill. On November 14, 1964, suffering from malaria, Bill, 28 years old, was seized by Congolese rebels. Ten days later, he was beaten mercilessly, his clothing ripped off, and he was thrown into a filthy, crowded cell. Catholic priests gave him their garments, for he was shaking violently from malarial fever. The next day he was dragged from the cell and killed. Before leaving for Africa, Bill had written a poem explaining his desire for overseas missions. It said, in part, I want my breakfast served at eight with ham and eggs upon the plate. A well broiled steak I'll eat at one and dine again when the day is done. I want an ultra modern home and in each room a telephone. Soft carpets too upon the floors and pretty drapes to grace the doors. I want my wardrobe, too, to be of neatest, finest quality. With latest style in suit and vest, why should not Christians have the best? Sounds like what we talked about last week. But then the Master I can hear in no uncertain voice, so clear. I bid you come and follow me, the lowly man of Galilee. If he be God and died for me, no sacrifice too great can be. For me, a mortal man to make, I'll do it all for Jesus' sake. Yes, I will tread the path he brought, no other way to please my God. So henceforth, this my choice shall be, my choice for all eternity. You cannot be my disciple unless you carry a cross and come with me." And that's from Luke 14, 27. Yeah, that's a fact that's uh, you know, that's there are people out there that are willing to Expend themselves for Jesus and then there are people that are willing to go to church and hear how you know, I Passed a church coming up 41 a day ago And you know what the banner said on the church. We're here for you They're not here to share the gospel. They're not here to exalt Jesus. They're not here to teach you the word. We're here for you. It's like a social community. You know, and that pleases a lot of people to read, we're here for you. And people want to go to a church like that because they see that the church is there for them. The church isn't there for us. We are the church and we're supposed to be taking care of learning the Bible, exalting Jesus, things like that. I don't know, it's just a different perspective, and I could be wrong. If I am, please send me an email and correct me. No, Tom Alley is not here. I hope he's okay. We have a Lutheran small church by our house, and they've got a nice new digital marquee in front of the thing, and they have the craziest things on there. First of all, the pastor's in there, and it was his all are welcome. It's like, well, of course. Wouldn't that be the case? It's like, why do you have to, you know, broadcast that? I thought everyone would be welcome to the church. It's like, you know, but anyhow, it's just, it's good. Yeah, you got to wonder about the gimmicks. sometimes there are fun signs at churches. You go online, you can see interesting church signs, but you know, those are kind of cliche and they really don't serve the purpose of what the church is there for. So anyway, that was just my thought. I've got a couple prayer requests. Randy in Seattle has taken a big downturn in this battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. This is Andy, sent me this at 3 30 this morning. Maybe it was 4 30. It was early. He's falling down and not coherent most of the day. He's hospitalized and now they sent him home. They will see the doctor today to see if he will be taken off chemo. He and his wife Deb do know the Lord. Next one is Tara's brother Stuart. is going on a work trip to India from 16 through 26 November. She's asking for prayer for him. He's worried about going, and he's not saved. So I would put the salvation prayer first, but you know, India is not a really, it's probably his first time traveling there, and he's a bit worried, but India is not a place where I would be concerned about going to. As a matter of fact, I'd love to go to India. If I had time, there are places I would fly all over the world to see. Unless you have to drive. No, you go to India and you get one of those little, what do they call them in India? It's just a little, yeah, you know, little taxis that are three wheel and you get in. You can get anywhere around the country, but there are so many places I would love to go visit. I mean, there's so many. I think all the time about how much I love the Philippines and I would love to go. And I'll never go to any of these places ever again. This is where I am and I'm going to be here. But anyway, pray for Stuart. And then Tara's other brother, Timothy, had a chimney fire. And I don't know if it caused health issues or he had health issues and it exacerbated them, but he's got health issues. He's also not saved. In fact, she says her whole family isn't saved. So pray for Tara's family and her two brothers. And then seven-month-old Dawson. I got a very long email. If you want the email, I can forward it to you so you know exactly what's going on with him. But he has RSV and pneumonia with a collapsed lung. Seven-month-old child. Many other complications. And like I said, I can forward you that email. But please keep Dawson and the family in prayer. And then there's one more prayer request, which I am only going to say right now that we had a death in the church, the online members of the church. And I would ask you to watch the opening comments on Sunday concerning this. He was a person that I really, really loved and I never met him. So I hope that you will take the time to... Didn't he come here once? No, he's never been here. No. okay so uh where are we okay well we're in one timothy chapter six and you can start wherever you want well it's nine and we're going to go back up to six all right six six okay so by godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it eight but if we have food and clothing we will be content with that nine people who want to get rich fall into temptation a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction okay Heavenly Father thank you for the chance to come into your presence and to just to share in your word Thank you for this precious word that tells us about Jesus and instructs us in our walk with you. Lord, it's such a wonderful, wonderful gift that you have given us and we just cherish it and I'm so thankful for the people in the world that are willing to read your word and to share it with others and to tell the gospel to people they meet on the street. Lord, we pray for the people that were just mentioned and I just would ask that people would remember these people in prayer during their times of physical trial or traveling, you know, worries, the things that are laid before you, Lord, that we would remember them and to keep them in our hearts and prayers. Lord, We just thank you for every good thing that you've done for us. And we ask that this class would be one that glorifies you in return. And we thank you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. That's why you're remembered. Oh, yeah. I'm upset. When I heard that this person had died, I haven't taken it well. So anyway. Where are we? Nine. Okay, but those who desire to be rich, and like I said, it sounds just like what we talked about last week. Here we had that guy that wrote that missionary, and then We, you know, we have this verse right here. Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. That's a different reading. Completely different. Yeah, it says basically the same thing, but it's a completely different reading. Paul has been speaking of our state in this life and that we should be content with food and clothing. Now he adds in a qualifying thought on this by beginning with the word, but those who desire to be rich. Now, you know, you have to think about those words there. He has to be speaking about believers. I, you know, I'm just doing this off the top of my head, and I didn't prepare for it, so I could be wrong, but I don't think he's speaking about everybody, and the reason why is because what would the world do without Jesus? What would be the point of existence other than getting rich? Right? I mean, there's nothing, no other point in this world without Jesus. You might as well just enjoy every single bit of whatever, however long your life is, get rich, and you know, just have fun all the time, go on vacations constantly, eat anything you want, whatever, because it's going to end. So that's why, you know, Those who want to be rich, the opposite is the believer. Why would a believer want to get rich? And I'm talking about make that his prime goal in life. Yeah, eat, drink, and be merry. I mean, exactly. Yeah, I mean, what is the point beyond this life if in fact that's all there is. Yeah well yeah there's there's nothing left and so you know it's just like you go from the old it's cliche and I hate saying cliche cliches but it's true from the goo to the zoo to you via the zoo okay so you're a bug You're going to die and that's it. What is the point in not enjoying your life? Okay, but with Jesus, it's just the opposite. Why would you want to make the main focus of your life getting rich? Okay, now I understand it. It's nice to have a lot of money. It's nice to have a nice house or a nice car. Those are things that, you know, if the Lord blesses you with them, that's great, but if that is your main focus in life, Paul explains here. He says, now he adds in a qualifying thought to those who want to be rich. He does not say here, nor does he ever say, that it is wrong to be rich. It is the desire, not the possession, which is being noted. When one has a desire for wealth that consumes a person beyond their desiring for honoring God, then things are upturned. And that's why I said it's, you know, the desire. If you desire this above everything else, then you, you know, I know a couple of people that are very rich. I met one of them, extremely wealthy, and he wore blue jeans and a flannel shirt the day I met him. And he was just as normal as anybody that you would ever talk to, and yet he's a Christian. So, and he just, just very, very normal person. I know other people that are very wealthy, and they do things for the Lord out of their hearts and without any showing, without any trumpet blowing before them, and other than maybe the car that they drive, you wouldn't know that they had any money at all, okay? And so that is the type of person that you would say that person understands his priorities. He's got a lot of money, but he also, you know, loves the Lord first and foremost. But when you are a person, it doesn't matter if you're poor or rich, if all you're desiring is to be rich or to make a lot of money, once again, things are upturned. The schools of asceticism took the opposite view. If you know what asceticism is, it's to renounce all worldly wealth. And suppose that if being rich brought about a conflict with one's relationship to God, then through a purposeful vow to poverty, one would be brought nearer to God. Once again, it's just the opposite. It's people not thinking things through. Okay? The Bible never teaches asceticism. It's not something that it is ever mentioned is something that is profitable. There are times where people would renounce certain things, like the Nazarite vow, and there are abundant times in the Old Testament where the Lord talked about blessing his people, saying how that they would have abundance, they'd have so much abundance that they'd be throwing out the old while bringing in the new. Okay, and he said that he would do that for his people. So there's nothing wrong with being wealthy There's nothing wrong with having abundance or being able to have property or you know stones in Jerusalem being like gold and silver was of no account in the days of Solomon. It's what you do with your attitude towards those things that's wrong. And I don't even think Solomon's attitude towards a lot of wealth was the main thing that was wrong with him. It was women. But he did violate the law, precept by precept, when it says in the law, the king shall not multiply horses. And what does it say about Solomon? He multiplied horses. The king shouldn't be, you know, lots of gold. I can't remember exactly the wording, but Solomon, I mean, precept by precept, out of Deuteronomy, the king should not, the king should not, the king should not. And then in the book of Kings, it says Solomon did, Solomon did, Solomon did. So he was wise. He was the wisest man that ever lived, and yet he did not properly use his wisdom at times. especially in his responsibilities as king. But once again, there's nothing wrong with the state of being wealthy. Hence Solomon, the Lord even promised to make him that way. I'm going to give you these things. So asceticism is a failed system. It's works. I'm going to please God by being poor. I'm going to make God happy and I'm going to be nearer to him by doing what I, by getting rid of all this money, which obviously God is not liking, when Paul doesn't say that. He's talking about the desire, not the actual possession. Anyway, So let's see here, asceticism, where was I? Purposeful, Paul's words dispel that. It is desire which is being discussed. The desire to be rich will lead a person, Paul's words, to fall into temptation. If someone looks to wealth as their heart's desire, then they will be tempted to do whatever it takes to become wealthy, even if it is not morally or legally right. And that's the main thing that we need to understand as far as wealth. A lot of the time, wealth will be It will be opportune or available. What's that? Well, yeah, but I'm thinking it'll it'll become opportune Because it is ill-gained and it'll be like a temptation to you I'm going to test you in this and we'll see how you do then the testing is not for the Lord He knows exactly what you're going to do. Okay, the testing is for you and to hopefully evaluate yourself, but more than that, I think it's probably to, when you stand before the Lord, the Lord will say, you know what? You were given these opportunities and you failed at them, okay? And I don't think the Lord will purposefully test you to make you fall, but it's to show you who you are as an individual. Anyway, The Lord doesn't include this in his model prayer. Instead, he said, lead us not into temptation, right? Not lead us into temptation. And Paul is saying that money and the desire for it, the lusting after it, will lead you into temptation. So, the one desiring wealth acts in a manner contrary to the guidelines of properly honoring God. Paul then says they will also fall into a snare. That's Paul's words, a snare. Birds and animals are caught in snares. They are tempted by something which is in the snare, and they head into danger without even realizing what lies ahead. Okay, this is what Paul is saying here, and this is what a snare is for us. It's not something that, oh, I see that this is dangerous, and I'm just going to avoid it. That is the criminal mind. Okay, I'm sorry not avoid it go for it. I see that that's dangerous, and I'm still going to do it anyway That is the criminal mind that is a person that will say it doesn't really matter The repercussions I see what I want, and I'm just going to go for it I think I can do it and that's not what a snare Paul is speaking about he's speaking about something that you don't see But it's there. It's lurking there waiting to trap you okay, and that is the the The Christian is the one that has to be really especially careful of that. Because you've got this thing that is tempting and that it may make your life easier or it may, you know, whatever. And you say, well, I'm going to give it a shot. And then you find out that it's the wrong thing, okay? And often it's too late when you find out. So a snare is not something that a criminal is going to worry about. As a matter of fact, they're going to test and tempt the snare as much as they can. You know that because they go to a bank and they cut wires and they make fake keys or whatever it is you do to get into a bank vault. They're trying to get around that snare. They're purposely trying to do it. That's not what that's talking about there. But this is what Paul is saying. People who are tempted by riches will find themselves entrapped without even having seen the snare, which is lying there waiting to capture them. Okay? The idea of a snare is found throughout Scripture. You'll see them all the way through it, warning God's people to be attentive and not get trapped. Women are spoken of as a snare. Money is spoken of as a snare, etc. It just goes on and on. Things that snare and entrap people. Cats. Cats. Cats are a snare. Absolutely. It doesn't say that in the Bible, though. I want to qualify that. But yes, they are. Solomon speaks about this this way about men who are not attentive in the book of Ecclesiastes. Let me take you there and read you what Solomon says about that. And let's see a Proverbs. Come on, here we go, and then we've got Ecclesiastes 6, 7, 8, and now I'm gonna take you to Ecclesiastes 9, and one more page, 9 verse 12, it says, but man also does not know his time. like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare. So the sons of men are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them. Okay, so Solomon speaks about snares and there are lots of other times that the Bible speaks about snares. Paul next continues with the thought that such people fall, his words, into many foolish and harmful lusts. You're specifically open, speaking about getting rich, and so that will cause people to fall into foolish and harmful lusts. These are the things that a desire for wealth, and often the attainment of wealth, produce in the human heart. It's something that you have to be careful of. Even if you don't have wealth, the desire for being wealthy will lead you to that. And also, once you have wealth, it can lead you in the wrong path. And you have to be careful of that. Now, I know some family members and I know some people that have a lot of money, okay? And they are the type of people that will bend over and pick up a penny. if they see it. As a matter of fact, if they've got a broken back, they'll try their very best to work around the broken back to get the penny, okay? You go to the store and they will be absolutely frugal in what they buy, okay? And that doesn't mean that they are especially geared towards money, because I know these same people, both family members and outside of the family, they give away a lot. they actually give away a lot, but they just don't want it for themselves. And it almost becomes a point of, I've seen this, where it becomes a point of, I'm going to deny myself something that I want purposefully for whatever reason it is. And at the same time, when somebody needs help, they'll make sure that that is met. And so you just have to be able to balance money and wealth in a way that will honor God and that will at the same time keep you from, you know, doing the wrong thing in your own life or in your own heart or for your own benefit. And at the same time, you know, I don't know what the answer is. But I can tell you that wealth can cause all kinds of problems in a person's life if it is not properly handled. We see that all the time, all over the world, constantly. So you just have to be very, very careful. If you have money, how you are going to use it, and at the same time, if you want money, be willing to work for it, be willing to not do something dishonest for it. Anyway, let's see here. The word translated as harmful, which Paul says, fall into many foolish and harmful hearts. Harmful is found only here in Scripture. It is a blabberous. It signifies something injurious, something that will harm you, okay? With wealth often comes temptation by others to misuse that wealth. They do this so that they can benefit from the riches. Women will tempt men or vice versa because of their wealth. Those who deal in drugs will tempt the wealthy in order to drain them of their wealth. When one has an expensive sports car, they will be tempted to speed in it and drive recklessly. Now, I will tell you that that is not reserved only for people with sports cars. I know people that own pickup trucks that drive a little bit fast. I won't say who, but when you have a sports car and it is made to look like a sports car, it is made to sound cool, it's made in a way it's low, so it seems like you're going even faster when you're going a certain speed. That is conducive to you just wanting to go out and speed. And you see it all the time around Sarasota. I don't know about other parts of America, but I know in Sarasota there are Lamborghinis and there are cars I don't even know what the names for them are. And there are these low things, and they look like, you know, the Batmobile, but maybe they're orange or gold or whatever. And you see people just running those engines at like 50,000 rpm. It's unbelievable. And it's conducive to that type of thing. But the list could go on all day as far as these type of things. A person desiring wealth, or who has attained his desire is, Paul's words once again, he's drawn into foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. That's Paul's words there, foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. I have a lot of money, women are attracted to a lot of money. Next thing you know, I've got a lot of women that are enticing me. my wife will never know and there's what is it foolish and harmful less and they end up drowning him in destruction and perdition okay that's just one of a thousand examples of what can happen when you're wealthy you know you got a lot of money and somebody comes up and he says hey you know let's do this and let's yeah there's no end to it so you need to be judicious in your thinking about how you are going to Handle your wealth or if you want to be rich, you know, I remember when I was in high school I don't remember who it was, but there was somebody that was they said he has promised He's gonna be a millionaire before he's 30 Okay, and that was his goal in life And I've always remembered that because I don't know if he ever made it or not. If not, then he's probably living out in, you know, a shack on CSDP because he's so depressed he didn't meet his goal. Or he may have made it and then he just continued to just spend the rest of his time making a lot of money. And, you know, that's his whole life is making money. I just remember somebody saying that is that guy wants to be a millionaire before he's 30. I don't know it just seemed like a waste of even in high school I thought it just doesn't seem like the kind of thing that's productive and I wasn't thinking about spiritual things at the time it just seemed like that's all that he has to drive him is to have a million dollars. I don't know I didn't get it anyway. And once again, harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. The Greek word translated as drown is also found only here and also in Luke 5-7. It means to sink, submerge, or drown. If one thinks of something being plunged into the sea, that is the idea that Well describes this. Paul's words are carefully selected to show the inevitable outcome of those who desire to attain wealth, inevitably they drown in destruction and perdition." Once again, that's Paul's words, destruction and perdition. The word perdition is not appropriate here. That's the New King James Version translation. That gives the thought of an eternal damnation, and that's not necessarily the case. We have Christians that are saved Christians, and they decide, I want to be wealthy, or that's what motivates them. And, you know, they get off track, and they're not going to lose their salvation over that, but it says the idea is that the person who has his priority on riches will normally end up ruining himself, his wealth, and the things that he touches, such as family and friendships. Okay, I can't tell you how many people, I was thinking of this today, somebody I saw that I talked to, haven't seen in a little while, and he's come to my house for marriage counseling. And I say the same thing to every single, I probably brought this up before, but I say the same thing to everybody that comes to me for marriage counseling. And I determined today, I said, from now on out, I'm going to start with this and I'm going to say, if that doesn't interest you, let's just stop this right now. Because I say the same thing to every single couple or individual. I say, unless you are willing to go to church and put the Lord first, I can't help you, okay? And I don't do that. I've never done that before. I've always said, this is what you need to do. You need to put the Lord first. You need to go to church, and you need to worship together as a couple. You need to be responsible in that respect, okay? And then I talk to them about, you know, the issues that they're arguing over. And this has happened a million times. It just came to mind because this one person I saw today, okay? obviously he didn't do what I recommended. And so I've decided that I'm not going to take that approach anymore where I give them a global perspective of the problems that they're suffering through and how to correct it. I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm going to say my first proposition to you, I will talk to you about marriage, but the first thing I want to say to you is that if you are not willing to put the Lord first in your marriage, we need to stop this conversation right now because it's not going to be productive. I've never had anybody, anybody, and I've had dozens and dozens of people that have come to me for matters. Some are marriage related, others are boyfriend or girlfriend related, but I have never had a person that was not willing to start putting the Lord first in their life get the issue resolved. They've ignored my chief advice and it hasn't worked out. And so I'm wasting my time and I'm also wasting their time because if they're not willing to take the one step that I say is going to help them, then their time is being wasted as well. And so, I don't know what got, oh yeah, they get misdirected. Family and friendships. That's what, family and friendships. The Lord has to be first. He has to be first. Now, there are marriage counselors that may help marriages that are not Christian-oriented. And if you're not going to put the Lord first, then go to one of them. Don't come to me, because my responsibility is first to the Lord, okay? My responsibility is to get you in a right relationship with the Lord. And it's always my prime area of talk to them. And if they come three times, I tell them the same thing each time. Have you decided to put the Lord first? Have you found a church to go to? I never invite them here because, you know, that would be to me presumptuous. I'm not here to invite you to the church that I preach at. I'm here to help you with your marriage. You put the Lord first. Find a church to go to and go. And if they're not willing to do that, then I ought to know better by now, but I keep counseling them. And after three or four times, they say, okay, we think we've got it, and it never works out. So that'll be my answer from now on out. If you are not willing to take this one step that I recommend, go find somebody else to get your counseling from, because it's not going to work. And I can assure you of that right now. It has never worked before, and I'm not one to hedge the bets and eventually find the one that will, okay? It's not going to work. And this is because people instead put wealth first, They put their own, you know, happiness first. Okay, your happiness in a marriage is irrelevant. sometimes. Sometimes you have to have other things that are more important. When my wife has cancer, that has to be more important than my happiness. Things like that, you just have to say, this is a part of the baggage that I agreed to 40 years ago or 13 years ago or whatever. for better or worse. And most people don't live by the words that they made the commitment to. And I'm not saying that I always have. I can say that she has. She has always been a faithful wife. Always. In every way, in every respect. I had somebody, I won't say who, but somebody tell me that sometimes my wife, even when she's really mad at me, still makes me dinner. And she'll put it down and kind of put it down and walk away. And I've said, I've gotten that many times, but I still have dinner. She's always been faithful to give me dinner. Okay. She's made that commitment and even when she's just very upset at me and I don't get a word from her which I hate more than If I didn't get dinner, the quiet, I can't stand, but that's okay. You learn to- She's laughing. I know she is, because she knows I hate it, and then she hates what I do. I'm type A personality, what do they do? You blow up, and then it's over. And five seconds later, you're like, everything is okay. And a person that is not that type of personality doesn't understand that. Instead, they hold it in, and they gnaw on it for a week and a half, and so I hate that, and so we have to live through that. The real problem is two type A personalities, because when one blows up and the other blows up, that's when you start having, you know, fistfights and police officers and stuff like that. So you want to gauge the people you are thinking about marrying and then marry one that is not the same type as you, okay? Anyway, yeah, to get the sense of what it's relaying, all that one needs to do. What Paul is speaking about in this verse, and we talked about this in detail last week, all that one needs to do is think on the many televangelists whose priority is helping others. Money. money. It's not helping others. It's not sharing the gospel. You know, I've watched people, I used to just turn on Christian TV and let it run when I wasn't doing something else, when I, you know, was a young Christian, and I'd turn on whatever was on. I didn't care, and I wasn't interested in watching it, but I'd listen. And, you know, people like Benny Hinn would come on, or Kenneth Copeland, Never, never did I hear them give the gospel. They just stand there and say nonsense to people. And it always revolved around money. Always. And I think, you know... People have no discernment in this world. Anyway, that's all they think about. That's all they talk about is money. you know, people would follow them around with cameras and you'd see they've got expensive cars, they've got people protecting them, they've got airplanes, they've got, you know, all this stuff. That's all that consumes them. They couldn't care about the Lord and they could not care about your relationship with the Lord. All they care about is making up something so that they can continue to get richer, all right? How often do those type of people end up shamed, penniless, or imprisoned, like Jim Baker? Right? Tammy Baker and just shameful their conduct in front of people, but that is what they do and that's where they are in the presence of the Lord is trying to manipulate people into making them wealthy. Anyway, They may be saved. I have no idea what the state of those people are. That's not my decision. I can see that there's no fruit in their lives, but that's not my decision if they were saved at some point in their life or not. They may be saved. I have no idea, but they got misdirected by wealth and they suffered the consequences of their failing. You know, they probably realized at some point, hey, I've got a gift where people like to listen to me and I can use that. to benefit from what I do and all of a sudden and maybe it started out you know harmless I don't know but all of a sudden they realize I'm getting a lot of money and I can get more and I can get more and it's a non-stop thing. I don't know I mean that's just a speculation there. I have no idea how these people get into the positions they're in. I don't know how they get to the place where they are at but that is all that you see that their lives are focused on. That's it. Prosperity gospel. That's all it is. It's just they're telling you that you will get rich by giving them money. That's the ultimate secret of their getting wealthy is convincing people that they too will be blessed when, you know, and they have these, I don't want to use the word cliche, but they've got these keywords that they use to convince people like seed offering and, you know, They'll quote Malachi. They'll quote these things from the Old Testament. They have nothing to do, nothing to do with sound theology. But people don't know that and they say, oh, well, I guess I should be sending money to this guy. And off they do. And there's a lot of wealth going around. And that is a trap. And like I said, a lot of them have ended up in prison. They've ended up losing their lives. Some of them are penniless, whatever. Sad. It's a very sad situation, and Paul warns against that. If people would simply pick up this book and read it before getting into the ministry, read it and know it, and say, I am going to, like that missionary, I'm gonna dedicate my life to the Lord no matter what. No matter what comes my way, He is going to be the object of my affection. That is what I'm gonna do. And if somebody is willing to do that, then he has all the more success than those rich people will ever have. ever. Okay, but I know it's not easy to figure people out sometimes, but life application in all things a balance is needed. There's nothing wrong with being wealthy and so giving up all of one's goods for a life of asceticism is absolutely ridiculous. But there is nothing wrong with being rich. And so to strive for wealth can be a hugely detrimental thing for a person to pursue. In the end, if we have our basic needs met, then with this we should be content. And Paul says that elsewhere. If I have food and clothing, with that I should be content. Money is the root of all sorts of evil. What's that? I didn't say it's the root of all evil. It's the root of all sorts of evil. All kinds of evil. It's the thing that can make your life go completely off base okay but there are people that get rich and it just happens it wasn't like they were trying to do it they just the guy on the jerk he invented something for glasses and he didn't mean to do it he just and somebody started sending him money and then he didn't handle it well either but you know the point is that you can get wealthy without even trying or you can just be you know I want to have a successful business and money isn't the end game but it happens to come okay Things happen in life, and it's no qualifier of you as far as your relationship with the Lord that you are wealthy, and it's no negative with you if you are poor. The Lord is not concerned in the size of your bank account. That doesn't concern him this much, okay? All he cares about is an obedient heart in whatever state you are in life. So, oh yeah, here we come, 610. All right, go ahead, 610. 10. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs and lost their salvation. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Okay, the first clause here is widely translated. I'll give you a couple examples. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. That's the New King James Version. The word kinds is inserted by them. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. That's the New Literal Translation. For the love of money is the root of all evil. That's the King James Version, and that is wrong on the surface. You don't need to go any further. The King James Version is not a great translation. I say that because that's just one of about 10 billion errors that they have. It's not a well-thought-through translation. It is a beautiful translation. I'll admit that. When you listen to the Psalms as read from the King James Version, I can't think of anything more inspiring. But if it's wrong, it's wrong. Let's see here. But the root of all these evils is the love of money. That's the Aramaic Bible. and then from Young's literal translation, for a root of all the evils is the love of money. Okay, the Greek reads root indeed of all the evils. There's no article in front of the word root, but Charles Ellicott says that by not including it, one is watering down the intent. Okay, you know, I read things like that, and I did a comment, or I did a translation from Matthew 5 today, I actually did about seven of them. I try to get ahead sometimes, and if it doesn't have an article, I don't want to put it in there, because there's a reason why it's not in there. Sometimes I would suppose the context will say that it's necessary. If I do include an article and it's not in there, I am going to put an italicize over it, because I want people to know I am not adding that in. This is not in there, and it's important to not add to the Word of God. If you're going to add something in because you believe that the context demands it, then you should italicize it or do whatever. Some translations will bracket. That means that they're inserting it. Some will make it italics, and that means it's inserted. Some will do this. They'll make it bold or whatever. You want to know how they are translating, and then once you know that, you'll know if it's in the original or not. Did the Greek have love in it? have love the greek oh i'm sure yeah uh well that's just that clause there root and uh that that will be coming uh uh let me see um It does. It's just, it's the clause that I was evaluating, yes. Okay, so there's no article in front of root, but Charles Ellicott says that by not including it, one is watering down the intent. He says that the article disappears before the predicate in order, in accordance with the well-known rule respecting subject and predicate. Okay, and so, you know, and this isn't just Greek. This is language in general. There are times where, you know, the subject and the predicate will form something that either necessitates or nullifies the need for something else. Okay, and so he is arguing that that is the case. Vincent's word studies. Let me make just a really quick amendment here. I should capitalize word and studies. Vincent's word studies disagree, saying this is incorrect because it is not the only root. Vincent's is correct. The King James Version is incorrect. The love of money is not the root of all evil. Okay? Money did not cause Satan to fall, nor did money cause man to eat the forbidden fruit. Pride was the cause of those evils. Okay, so it is a root, it is not the root. Okay, everybody understand that? So, Ellicott is wrong. He says we need the word the in there because, and then he gives his analysis of the Greek, which is not correct, because if you say the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, or all evil, then that means all evil is based on the love of money, and that's obviously not the case, okay? That's why the King James Version put in the word kinds to go with what Ellicott said, but to qualify it by saying all kinds of evil. Meaning not all evil, so why would you put in the word kinds just? Translate it with a instead of the anyway you see that okay, but translation is not an easy thing Okay, it is not something that you want to say It's just not easy because I don't know I've talked about it before and I just ran a blank in my head about it but it's something there are times where I will email and I wanted to do it on Monday but I knew you were so busy I didn't and so I let it go but I had something I really wanted you to analyze and maybe I'll look it up and I'll send it to you if you're not busy over the next couple days but There are some times that Sergio and I will spend, no kidding, an hour, won't we, on a single word, on a single word. He will research something, I'll research something, and then, you know, we just, we go all over it looking for comparable passages, just a single word. We will spend an hour on sermon typing day just to make sure that we are analyzing that properly. and actually it would be two hours because he's spending an hour and we're talking back and forth. It's important, but I knew Sergio's got a lot going on right now, which is pretty much every day of his life anyway, but right now it's a little more than normal and so I thought I'm just not going to bother him. But it was something really, really complicated and I wanted to make sure I was thinking correctly. So maybe I'll, now that I've got that on my mind, maybe I'll send it to you and just say, what do you think about this? Anyway, so pride was cause of those evils. The Aramaic and Young's literal translation attribute the evils to the preceding verses. This is both interesting and probably correct. In this, they follow the logic of Charles Ellicott concerning the inclusion of the article, but they do so based on what has been said. Further, the adjective evil is plural. And so, evils is correct, okay? But most translations shy away from this, even this specificity, and they simply say that money is a root of all sorts of evil. One thing is for sure, the King James Version is wrong. R-O-N-G. They are wrong. Instead, loving money is either the root of the evils Paul has written about, which is a truth in itself, or it is a root of those evils and all sorts of other evils, which is also a truth. One way or another, the evil produced by the love of money, Paul says, is, his words, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness. Once again, think of the televangelists. They may, and I'm not defending them. I'm not saying they are saved or they were saved. I have no idea. I don't judge salvation in a person. That's not my place. Okay, they may have been saved. They may have started out well in the ministry and off they go on a tangent because they start making a lot of money or they get fame. Like I said, you know, I had a pastor that I absolutely loved and he was a very nice guy and he was an excellent orator. He was one of the best speakers that I've ever heard to this day. He was absolutely marvelous in his presentation of the word, okay, and Unfortunately, I think that was his downfall. He spoke so well that it started to lift him up. I could be wrong on that. I don't know what happened to make him get misdirected, but I would assume that he was such a great speaker that people almost fawned over him. and so it can be money, it can be wealth, it can be speaking well, it can be anything. There are all kinds of temptations that come in the world and that seduce you away from sticking to the word and conducting your life in accord with the word. There are all kinds of things that can do it. Anyway, they've strayed from the wealth and their greediness. Well, in his case, maybe he strayed away from the faith because of his self-confidence. I don't know. I have no idea. I feel so bad about it. Anyway, it is not the love of money for which these have strayed, but for the money itself. This is not an error, but an explanation. It is the love of money which then takes the opportunity to attain the money that is desired. In this, these people, Paul says, have strayed from the faith. The idea is that we can only direct our eyes and our affections to one thing at a time. That's why that verse is on the wall and not another verse. It's because if you have your eyes on Jesus, you're not looking at anything else. If you take your eyes off of Jesus and you are looking at something else. You can only focus on one thing at a time, and that goes with your spiritual eyes as well as your physical eyes, okay? If you are spiritually looking at something else, then you're not looking at Jesus, okay? Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, okay? And I have to remind myself, I'm not trying to sit here and, you know, talk down to you and say that, you know, you need to do this, blah. I need to do this. I need to do this every day of my life. I get misdirected. She knows that. She'll tell you that right away. I get misdirected all the time. And when I do, I have to remind myself that I need to get back and think about Jesus. I need to focus my spiritual eyes on Jesus. There's 10 billion things in the world that pull you away from what you should be doing and what you should be thinking. Okay? So, that's not me talking down to people. That's me acknowledging that it's a truth in my life as much as yours. Okay? So, this is what Paul is saying. Instead of looking, the idea is that we can only direct our eyes and affections to one thing at a time. If we are looking West, We are not looking east, okay? That's just the truth. I'm looking west right now. I'm certainly not looking east, okay? This is what Paul is saying. Instead of looking to the glory of God, they are looking at earthly gain. They have left their first love and have gone after a harlot. And this is the result of Paul's words, their greediness. They may not have been greedy at the beginning. They may not have started out that way, but eventually it sinks into you. Okay, and if you allow it to sink into you and you lose your priorities, then that is what will happen. So Once again, I just I don't know if these people were ever saved or if they Were saved when they were young and they said I want to serve in the ministry and they got misdirected but when that becomes your priority it is a problem and the Lord knows it and He's judging every single thing that we do. The hard attitude is misdirected and they are not hungry for the Lord anymore. They've lost that desire and they've gone and, you know, and I have to tell you, I think this a lot as well. My thing, and everybody here knows that, it's no secret that I love the Word of God. I absolutely cherish it. I want the Bible, when I translate it, to be translated as literally as possible. But there are times, now I will say this, when you translate something in the Greek or in the Hebrew, there are times where it makes no sense to translate it absolutely literally, because then it makes no sense at all. It would be like reading a manual for fixing a airplane or something. It just, you wouldn't even know what it's saying. But you want the intent at the same time as literal as possible. That's what I want, okay? And so that's where my desire is, is to present the Word, to study the Word, to know the Word. And there are times where I actually have to stop and say, Lord, am I doing this because of the Word itself or because of Jesus, who is the subject of the Word? And I have to think that, am I doing this? Because you can get so involved in wanting to translate the word properly or to evaluate it for the sermon properly that you forget what you're actually supposed to be doing is exalting Jesus. And that's, I know that may sound crazy because the Bible tells us about Jesus, but if it becomes an exercise in my ability to perfectly portray the Word of God, then am I doing it for the glory of God? And so, once again, I watched, it got me thinking about that last week, actually. Maja in the Czech Republic is posting her Bible Bites every day, and one of them was from the Book of Jonah. She's going through Jonah, she's going through the Thessalonian study, she's going through Exodus, the development of the tabernacle. She does these every day. And I was watching one from Jonah, And I was listening to it and I thought, man, that is really nicely said. And yet it wasn't anything analyzing the word itself. It was speaking about the Lord extra. And I thought, you know, sometimes I analyze things so much that maybe I'm not saying something that will actually bless somebody. I'm just filling their head with a bunch of knowledge. And so when I typed the sermon this past Monday, I tried to remember that and said, I can combine beauty with perfection of translation and analysis. And I'd kind of forgotten that because, you know, I don't know what made me think that, but sometimes if you just want something presented perfectly, it may not be beautiful. Okay, and so there you go. You want to make sure that everything you do is glorifying of the Lord, and that includes presenting beautiful words that will build people up in their understanding of the Lord. Okay, the hard attitude is misdirected. They're not hungry for the Lord. Instead, they are greedy for gold. As a result, Paul then says that they have, his words, pierced themselves through with many sorrows. The word peripero, translated as pierced, is found only here in the Bible. It is used when putting meat on a spit and thus signifies to wound deeply. Okay, parry I think is around and then paro is probably to pierce it and so you're taking the meat and putting on a spit. The meat is around the piercing, okay, and thus it means to wound deeply. The people Paul is speaking of, I guess I should say the people Paul, yes, the people Paul is speaking of are real people that he is describing to Timothy. However, his words describe any believer who has gone down this sad path. Now remember, Paul is writing this at the inception of the church. The church was not an old entity, all right? We had the Apostles, Peter, he's going for some time. Paul gets pulled into the ministry with Barnabas. They go sailing around and they evangelize people. But there was not like this big established church that we have today where you can turn on the TV and you can watch church in any country and you get the idea of church, church, church all the time in our world today. a church over there would not even know that a church over there exists, right? They're in a different country and you might have some local churches. But in other words, you've got these individual entities and yet At this early time, when churches were not this big thing where, you know, I'm aware of pastors in California. I'm aware of pastors in, you know, false churches up in, we'll say, Wisconsin. You're aware of all this. You know what's going on. You can read about it in the news. They weren't. And yet, at this early time in the church, there are people already lusting after money. That has become their priority. When it should be, you know, there's a church and they're speaking about Jesus, you would think that this wouldn't be a problem, and yet somebody comes up to a church either willfully or realizing that he can profit and gets misdirected. Either way, they become people that are leaning on others at this early date in the church. Now, how can that be? And now imagine that, imagine that in today's world, where you can literally go online or on Christian TV, if you can get yourself into one of those placements on Christian TV, which are probably, what, $30,000 an hour to, I don't know what it costs to be on Christian TV, but it can't be cheap, okay? And you decide, I'm gonna do a 30-minute program every week, and all of a sudden, you're getting millions of dollars, how easily your life could get misdirected. I don't know. If there was temptation with little churches spattered around the Roman Empire, how easy is it today in this world for sharks to get in there and to do this? Yeah, real people. He's describing these things and these people have already gone down the sad path. In pursuing money there is found to be a nagging conscience of the wrong which is being pursued and in the judgment for that wrong which lies ahead as well. Okay, now that is something that if a person truly has a conscience, not one of these sharks that just goes in and says I'm going to get in the ministry because I can make millions of dollars. But the person that really started out right and he's gotten off track, he's always got that in his mind. He's always got in his mind, I will be judged for what I'm doing someday. And you would hope that that conscience would turn and change. Anyway, some people, this is not always the case though, some people think of the perverse televangelists when I read this. They have completely seared their consciences to the point where they can no longer consider this. All they can think about is the next dollar that comes in, the next airplane they can buy, whatever, the next house they can build. Therefore, what Paul is probably referring to is the future judgment which lies ahead of them. He is saying that it is an accomplished fact. They think they have great gain, but in their judgment, there is to be only great loss. Our lives are so short. I love to say this. I know you've heard this a million times, but I was in high school yesterday. And I think a lot of you feel that way. I was young and now I'm 60 years old. My mom is, I remember when she was young and we were little children. And now I look at mom and she's older than me. You know, I'm obviously, she still is. I don't know how that happened, but anyway, you think of how short life is. And eternity is forever and forever and forever. Why would you sacrifice? forever for today. Whatever, it is what it is, and we're so perverse in our thinking in this world that if you don't believe in God, that's one thing, and if you aren't sure, you should probably find out if you're one of the people that's, I'm curious about it, but life is so short, and there's no guarantee of tomorrow. There's no guarantee that every one of us won't be dead tomorrow, or that any one of us won't be dead tomorrow. I—Hedeco knows. When I heard of the person that died a couple nights ago, I got an email and said, this person has died. I broke down, and I cried for about three hours. I could not believe it. I was so, so sad at what had happened. It just, because his life is just beginning. And I just, it just affected me. And you know, we all have to, we all have to evaluate our lives now and thank God this young man followed Jesus. That's all I can say. He doesn't have to worry, we don't have to worry about where he is. We don't have to worry about if, you know, I would get an email from this guy and it was always prayers for somebody else. Always, and I don't want to give the context, I can't. Jim can give that on Sunday. But he was such a caring person about other people's salvation. And maybe that's why I never got the chance to meet him. I never got to meet the face behind the emails. Anyway, life is short. If your priority is money, you need to reevaluate it. You really need to reevaluate your life, okay? Money is fun. You can buy all kinds of fun things with it. You know, it's nice to have a nice house and food and all those kinds of things, but man, it is temporary. That missionary that we talked about at the beginning gave up his life for Jesus. Life is temporary. Anyway, verse 611. but flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. So we're pretty close on that one. You know, showing emotions when somebody dies, I will say this, we all handle things differently. And, you know, sometimes I may not cry at all over somebody I loved a lot more than this guy, but it just affected me because of his age, know, so you just, you ca sorrow by how somebody responds to a particular thing. I could have somebody much closer to him than me and I wouldn't break down at all. I know where the person is, I know he had a good life, the life is over, and it's time to go on. So everything is different, but this was probably the toughest death I've faced. a pastor. I don't know why, it just was, and I'm still trying to evaluate why, but it was very tough on me. Okay, 611, in verses 9 and 10, Paul relayed words to Timothy which concerned those people who followed after riches instead of pursuing Christ. His words spoke of some who had actually strayed from the faith at that early time in church history. In contrast to taking such a sad state and a painful path, he now addresses Timothy directly with the words, but you, oh man of God. Paul knew Timothy well enough that he could confidently call him a man of God. He had proven himself faithful and he was a faithful servant of the Lord. However, Paul still says, but, This shows us that Timothy was not above turning to such things as Paula just mentioned. And I don't think any one of us are. We have to evaluate ourselves every single day. We have to make sure that our priorities are right. Okay. And we have to do it often. And that's one of the reasons why we take the Lord's Supper. Okay. We're supposed to stop and we're supposed to think about the Lord. You know, all week long, I've been busy. I've been doing this and I've been doing that. And, you know, I'm remembering Christ's death. until he comes. I have to stop and actually think about that because I'm not thinking about Christ's death until he comes all day every day. But come Sunday and it's a time for introspection. It's a time to just simply sit and think things through your relationship with him and what you've done in his presence and all of those kind of things, right? Timothy was not above this and Paul knew that and Paul himself was not above it. Okay, he's counseling because he understands the human heart. Paul himself spoke of the inward desires which warred in him. He did that in 2 Corinthians 11. He also did it in Romans 7, but let me see what it says in 2 Corinthians 11 because I don't remember. Let's see here. If Burke was here, he would call it out. You know, that's one that I miss Burke, and I was affected by Burke's death, but it didn't affect me in the same way as this young man, okay? Everything is different. We all have things that affect us differently, and I just am trying to evaluate this one, and I'm not really able to do it at this point. Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble and I do not burn? And then they add in the words with indignation, which may or may not be correct. Anyway, Romans 7. Let me take you there and just read you what he says there, because he struggled. Paul was a guy that struggled. He said, this will take a minute to get through this, but it's great words. I find a law that is, that evil is present with me. This is Paul writing. He's the apostle. He's seen Jesus. Alright? He knows exactly what the score is. And yet, he says, there's evil present with me, the one who wills to do good. He does. He wills to do good. This is Paul. And he's speaking in general about anybody. Okay? For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. He's not talking about the law of Moses. He's talking about the relationship, the law that is established. Whatever law it is. Think of Adam. He was given a law, all right? The law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. It could be sexual. It could be, well, we're talking about money here. It could be power. It could be whatever. He's got this thing going on inside of him. And he's struggling with it. I've got this that I want to do. I've got this that is warring against me. He even explains it a little more back in verse 16 through 20. He's talking about, I want to do good. I can't do it. Back and forth, back and forth. And then he says, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? It's a body of death because we have law, and law brings about Sin. Sin brings about death. Okay. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. He's in this body. He is beyond himself, but he understands that Christ has redeemed him from it. I thank God for Jesus Christ my Lord. Okay. Paul struggled. He understood. He could not have written those words. Even if he was giving a general example for you and me, he could not have written those words unless he went through them as well. He would have no referent in order to give us those words, but he understood the situation, and so he's writing that he is prone to the same weaknesses that you and I are, and he's telling Timothy, you better watch out as well, okay? Paul knew Timothy well enough that he could confidently call him a man of God. He had proven himself faithful, but there was nothing super spiritual about these men of God, and they were not above falling into temptation. Too often, and I've seen this in sermons, I've seen it in Bible studies, where people put these guys way up here on this pedestal and say, boy, I wish I was like these guys. You hear that kind of talking going on. They weren't. They were just like you and me. Exactly. The only difference is that they had seen Jesus. And so they're probably more guilty when they do fall. Look at Peter. I mean, look at Peter who saw the Lord He wasn't yet crucified, so we could give him a pass when he denied the Lord, you know, when Jesus was alive. I don't know him. He said it three times. You could almost give him a pass, right? But then he saw Jesus raised. He saw Jesus ascend into heaven. I mean, there's no doubt that Peter knew who Jesus was, and then what did he do in Galatia when the Judaizers came around? He withdrew from the brethren. That is a giant failure. That is a giant failure. There's no excuse for that. He had seen Jesus resurrected. He had seen Jesus ascend into heaven. I mean, that's a handful of people in human history have seen those things. He saw it and he failed and Paul had to call him out on it. Okay, I'm not getting down on Peter. I'm saying that if Peter is susceptible, somebody that had seen the greatest thing ever to happen in all of human history, to witness it with his own eyes and then to fall, it means that you and I are not above falling. That's the point. Not picking on Peter, it's just the Bible recorded it so that we can see exactly how fallible you and I are as human beings, okay? This is the reason for the warning and the admonition now given. Paul tells Timothy to flee these things, those things that are harmful to a right walk with the Lord, meaning those things which he had just described concerning loving money and pursuing worldly wealth were to be fled from. Fleeing is an active action. It's not something passive. When there's something coming at you, you flee, okay? I was watching Mail Online. I couldn't believe they actually showed it. Usually when you go to Mail Online and they have a video where somebody gets shot, they stop it right when the gun comes up, before the person gets shot. But they had somebody walking along with headphones on. and she's in Russia, I think it was, and she's just walking along, and because she has headphones on, she doesn't know a train is coming, and it just plowed right over her. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? And what was my point there? Oh, if she wasn't wearing those, or if she looked, what would she have done? She would have fled. She would have actively gotten out of the way of the harm, and she didn't. I could not believe that they didn't cut that out. They always do, but down she went and she just disappeared under the train. Okay, fleeing is an active action. It's something that we do when we know that something is wrong, something is dangerous. Okay, Timothy wasn't simply told to not pursue those things. You know, just He wasn't told that. He was told to flee from them, run away from those type of things. He was to put a distance between himself and such things and to continue to increase that distance at all times. And while fleeing from those things, the same time he is instructed to pursue righteousness. You don't just do one thing while you're doing one thing, you're also doing another. You're fleeing from that, you're pursuing righteousness. Do to it, you know, what do they call it? Multitasking. Paul is asking Timothy to multitask. Flee from these things and pursue righteousness. You can do both at the same time. Timothy, and thus each of us, don't have to simply flee from unhealthy desires, but while doing so we can pursue that which is proper at the same time. Multitasking. This same basic sentiment is found in Romans 12, 21. where it says, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. That's a hard one. You know, somebody comes up and smacks you in the face. And what do you do? You smack them back in the face. All right. I translated that verse within the past week where, you know, you strike, somebody strikes you on the right. I think it was this morning. Anyway, then you give them your left. Right. That's not easy to do. I know I said this a couple of years ago, but Probably some of you didn't hear it and it's well worth hearing is this big guy, he was what he called a boxer and he became Christian and somebody wanted to test him. So he went up to the door and he- Foreman? No, this isn't real. He went up to the door and he said, I understand you're a Christian, we'll prove it. And he says, well, how do I prove it? And the guy just smacked him right in the face. He turned his cheek to the other side and the guy went and smacked him a second time and he said, What do you think about that? Smacked him one more time and he says, I have no more instruction from the Lord. And he beat him up. So yeah, he says, turn your cheek. You know, anyway, after the second one, there's no more instruction. So anyway, yeah, we're all tempted to be overcome by evil. That's the point. It was a funny joke. I know I don't give jokes. They're just do. I've got a brother that knows every joke he's ever heard in his entire life and he can say it well. I'm not like that, okay? The only joke I can consistently remember, I've never forgotten this one. It's the funniest joke I've ever heard, and you've heard it, so don't answer it. He may have heard it. I don't know if anybody else has. How do you top a car? How do you top a car? Tap on the brakes, stupid. So I joke, I can remember. I told you at the projects, that was years ago. So I joke, I can remember. Tap on the break, Tupin. All right. I know that was a dumb joke, but it's the only one that sticks. Okay, so let's see here. Where are we? 1221, don't be overcome by evil. In pursuing righteousness, the desires of worldly gain will be lessened. one overcomes the other. If you're doing one thing, it'll overcome the other. The righteousness that Paul speaks of is that which God is the source. You can be righteous in various ways, but if God is not the source, then it is not the kind of biblical righteousness it's speaking of. It is a divine righteousness which comes with the approval of God as one pursues it. Along with this, Paul tells him to pursue godliness. This is the inner response. This helps word studies definition. Godliness is the inner response to the things of God which shows itself in godly piety. That is godliness. It is a godly response of the heart to those things that God is pleased with. If he's happy with it and you're responding that way, then that is godliness. Likewise, Timothy is instructed to pursue faith. The word signifies being persuaded. It is not the same as belief, but the two are similar. Hebrews 11.1 says that faith is the substance of things hoped for. the evidence of things not seen. This is something that Timothy is charged to pursue, faith, and it is something that every believer is to pursue as well. Okay, next Paul adds in love. The word signifies love which is centered in moral preference. In this case, Paul is certainly referring to divine love. In pursuing this, the believer will then be able to live out that which is attained through pursuit. To understand what this means, Paul's words of 1 Corinthians 13 should be referred to. Very short chapter. I suppose that's probably the most read passage in all of the weddings I've ever done. is 1 Corinthians 13. Love never fails and all that. Wonderful passage. Most people, when I send that to them, say, please include that. You know, I let them write their own vows. I'll send them, you know, boiler plates of 15 or 20 different weddings. They can pick and choose what they want. They can write their own, they can, whatever. But most people, when I send that to them, say, I want that in my wedding. It's a really beautiful passage. So go read that tonight. Following love, Paul instructs him to pursue patience. The word signifies endurance and steadfastness. This is especially as God makes it possible for the believer to endure those challenges which are allotted to us in this life. Paul has noted Timothy's infirmity already, way back in 1 Timothy 5, verse 20, was it 523? Yes, 523. He gave him advice concerning it, which was, what was the advice? Drink a little wine for your, right, okay, so, where is it? He gave him advice concerning it, but here he adds to that saying, and indeed any challenge, by telling Timothy to pursue endurance in and through such things. Don't just get to the end, go through it. Get yourself all the way through. And finally, Paul notes gentleness. The word signifies meekness, which expresses power with reserve and gentleness. That's Helps Word Studies definition, not mine. Timothy is in a position of authority, and yet he is to wield that authority in a meek and gentle manner. I suppose that's not always the easiest thing to do because you get all kinds of people in a church and some are overbearing, but you're supposed to have a meek and gentle manner towards the people. I have to think about where I fail in that. You know, reading these things convicts me every time. So, anyway, am I being meek and gentle when I respond in emails and stuff? Whatever, I have to really consider that. Where he could be severe, he should be, he should consider being mild. Okay, so you can choose how you're going to address an issue, and you know, sometimes being severe is necessary, but sometimes maybe being mild is the better path. I don't know. I was talking to a lot of people you know these insurance people and you got you got insurance for in Florida you've got three different insurances for every house you've got flood you've got wind and you've got home okay and then you get a division within your insurance policy you got your house and then you've got the stuff in your house and so you got to talk to like 400 different people to find out if they're gonna pay anything It's very, very complicated. They don't make it easy, do they? You were talking about that last week. It's very complicated. And, you know, I did my very, very best to be polite to every single one of these people. And the main reason why is because I would ask them, when was your last day off? And they say, I haven't taken a day off in over 22 days now or something. I have worked from before sunrise to after sunset. These are people going out in the field. And then when I get home, I have to work till 11 or 12 o'clock at night doing the paperwork for what I have been doing. These people have been nonstop. They don't need more people giving them grief. They've already got enough of that. And the people I talk to on the telephone, same thing. How long have you been working? I don't remember the last day I've had up. I've worked seven days a week. I've been at this phone all day, every day. And when you get done, they always say, thank you for not yelling. I mean, you hear that again and again. They must cherish people that aren't going to yell at them. There's no point in it. But, you know, you're upset, they're upset, your whole world is upside down. And so, you know, they understand that. Most of these people have been very, very kind, even, I'm sure, with the upset people. you know there's no point if you can be nice to them you do and it's so nice they'll see my email what's your email and i'll give it to them they'll say oh you're a christian and you immediately start talking about jesus and i i love that there's so many christians still in this world um anyway um Paul's words to Timothy are to keep him on the right path and to keep him from desiring that which is unhealthy and unproductive in his life as a minister, a man, and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Life application will be done 6-12 next week. What's that? Time to top. Yes, time to top. Life application through Timothy. I'm sorry, though Timothy was in a position of authority in the church, the same words of this verse can and should be applied to our own lives as we live in the presence of the Lord. In pursuing these noble things, we will be restrained from pursuing that which is contrary to what God would desire for us. Okay? That's what we should be doing. We should be fixing our eyes on Jesus and, you know, pursuing righteousness, fleeing from that which is wrong. And, you know, if he is writing this to Timothy, because Timothy is a pastor, even though this is a pastoral epistle, what is Timothy supposed to counsel his people? It the same thing so this applies to us as much as it applies to Timothy in that respect So remember the people that we asked to pray for we got a seven month old child Dawson with pneumonia please pray for that child as well and all the other people I mentioned and Just difficult times for people in the world. I better not forget this because somebody isn't here tonight I give give it to him on Saturday, so I'll put that on top anyway Pursue Jesus. Heavenly Father, it is so good to be in your presence. It is so good, but it can be terrifying when we forget our priority and we get misdirected, Lord, and we find out that we're lusting after money, we're doing things we shouldn't be doing. Lord, we're all prone to this. None of us are immune to it, and that's why these warnings are in your word. So, Lord, better to keep us poor and humble than to allow us to be rich and then to get misdirected. If you do give us wealth, if you do give us power or position or great ability, help us to maintain it. And if you see that that will not be the case, please don't give it to us, so that we will not dishonor you with our lives. Help it to be so in our lives, Lord, that we will always glorify you, whatever our state is. We thank you. We thank you that we know you hear us, and you will respond according to your wisdom. Thank you for that, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Oh boy, oh boy. Okay, let me pick these up. I'll go take this and we'll say goodbye to the folks online. Whoops. To the folks online. Ow, oh, ow. I'm getting old. Okay, let's push this button here, break. All right. Wow. couple people already walked out but here we go have a great weekend we love you guys and I hope to see you here Sunday Sunday be here be square we love you bye-bye be there or else because we don't take any of that not being there stuff you want to do that not being there stuff you can go somewhere else Just an FYI, Charlie. What's that? Just an FYI, I wasn't drinking beer during my