Well, hello. It doesn't look like the microphone is on. And we could, Nancy would you mind shutting that door? We're trying to keep the air conditioning in. Don't feel too bad in here right now. We are thankful for functioning air conditioners. It's going to be even hotter the next couple of days. All right. Thank you. All right. So, I think most folks have made it upstairs. Well, we can get to, let me put my little thing in here. Page 25 in the handbook, and we'll sing a song and serenade everybody on the way in. Joyful, joyful, we adore thee. Joyful, joyful we are. Glory, Lord of love Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee Hail Thee as the sun above Melt the clouds of sin and sadness Drive the dark of doubt away Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day. All Thy works with joy surrounding, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays. Stars and angels center of unbroken praise. Field and forest, vale and mountain, wafting meadow, clashing sea, chanting bird and roaring fountain, call us to rejoice Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean-depth of happy rest, Father, Christ, our brother All who live in love, I find Teach us how to love each other Lift us to the joy divine Mortals, join the mighty chorus, which the morning stars began. Father of Israel, Amen, great singing. Go a couple of pages over to 28. to give you input. I just thought these sounded like summery kind of songs. Spring, still spring until what, June 21st? Sure feels like summer to me. I heard tomorrow this year is the 20th. Huh? I heard it's the 20th this year. 20th? I know there's always a 21st. No, it's not always the 21st. What is it? It's just whenever the equinox takes place. It's whenever they want. Tomorrow, just in time for 97 degree temperatures. This is my father's world. And to my listening ears, all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres. This is my father's world. I rest me in the fog. Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas, He had the wonders wrong. This is my Father's world. ♪ The birds their carols raise ♪ ♪ The morning light, the lily white ♪ ♪ He clever makers praise ♪ ♪ This is my Father's world ♪ ♪ He shines in all that's fair ♪ In the rustling grass, I hear him pass. He speaks to me everywhere. This is my father's world. Oh, let me ne'er forget. That though the wrong seems all so strong, Amen. Great singing. Let's do one when he comes. I'll speak up for Jessica and say I like this one. Why don't you say, I love this one. I like it myself. Love you Jessica. Miss you. Miss you. When He cometh, when He cometh to make up His jewels, all His jewels, precious jewels, His love and His own. Like the stars of the morning, His bright crown adorning, Then shall shine in their beauty bright gems for His crown. He will gather, He will gather, the gems for his kingdom, all the pure ones, all the bright ones, his love and his own. Like the stars of the morning, his bright crown adorning, they shall shine in their beauty, bright gems for his crown. Little children, little children Who love their Redeemer Are the jewels, precious jewels His loved and His own. Like the stars of the morning His bright crown adorning They shall shine in their beauty bright gems for his crown. And we sang that without our Jim here with us tonight. J-I-M. It's a pun, isn't it? Yeah, it's punny. I thought it was punny. Good singing. Now, if you'd like to put your prayer request on a card, raise your hand, and Janie will bring those around to you with a pencil to write with. And I think we already did our checks for the live stream, so we should be good to go. Alright, that was your reminder to turn off your cell phone ringers. And we're going to be starting a new book study tonight. So you can open up the first Timothy if you'd like. And we'll get into that after we ask that you don't talk over me or the video clips that we show as we get into our 30 minutes update. And of course, we're giving an update on Israel at war. We believe that Israel, it's called by a lot of prophecy teachers, Israel is God's time piece. You can tell where we're at in the last days by what's going on with Israel. And of course, they're in a war that began in October 7th when Hamas attacked Southern Israel, killed I don't know what the full number was actually off the top of my head. Over 1,000 were killed, 150 or so taken hostage, many of those raped and murdered brutally. They still have 120 hostages with probably more than 50 of those actually deceased. But there's a possibility of up to 70 people still alive and hope that the war ends tomorrow. And it would if Hamas would release the hostages. But in the meantime, the northern border of Israel with Lebanon is on the verge of becoming a full-blown war. Lebanon is under the control of Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran. They have sworn to the destruction of Israel. And the IDF says that offensive battle plans against Lebanon have already been approved. So they're already looking at the possibility of the northern border becoming exactly what's happening in Gaza right now. One of the military leaders, Katz, threatens Hezbollah with destruction in what he calls total war. Well, if you get invaded, then the answer is, According to Romans chapter 13, one to four, one to five, the answer is for you to respond and destroy the wicked. That's God's answer to this whole thing. And Jewish peace activists are finally seeing the reality. Although there's still a lot of peace activists over in Israel who don't have any sense. But this lady, she was a peace activist and well-known, Ada Sagi, and she said, Basically, the headline says, I don't believe in peace anymore. What she's talking about is for the Jews in this world. The story says her ordeal has led her to a bleak conclusion about global attitudes towards Israel and the Jewish people. And she says she believes the majority of the world hates Jews. That is a sad fact. But remember, it's not just the Jews. Jesus said that as we get closer to the end, what you see in this church, you're not gonna see, it's gonna be, it says nation against nation. And outside of biblical Christianity, you're seeing an increase of race hatred around the world. And it's a sad fact that the further you get away from God, the more you want to have race hatred. And we're getting in this community here in Columbus, but around the world, it's becoming more and more godless. Therefore, there's more and more racial tensions and strife. Now, among God's people, there's no such thing. If you are God's child, then you're God's child. You can be as white as my wife, or as burnt as Ezra. Forget what's that. Black, we had, you know, we've talked about the different races represented in, if we have everybody here at one time. And what was it, we were singing the song Red and Yellow, Black and White, and they added red, brown, yellow, black, and white. And I don't know why the red added the brown, I said, well, what about the purple and the, you know. Yellow, red and yellow, black and white. Red. Have you seen people, what about the rednecks? God loves them all, amen? So, it says that she expressed disillusionment with claims that ordinary Gazans are uninvolved in the conflict. That's the lie of the news media. They're telling you that all those poor Gazan civilians Yes, there's a lot of women and children who are innocent, but there are a lot of civilians. I'll put it in quotes. We showed you video where Hamas dresses up in civilian clothes. So then if they're killed, the news media says, Israel's killing civilians. It's all a big lie. And she says, she knows, she saw this firsthand. She said, people say they are not involved. They are involved and receive money for each hostage. The Gazan civilians, the families of the men are mostly responsible for this over there, but they are actually being paid to be house wardens of these hostages. So they are involved. And her ordeal has led her to a bleak conclusion. As we already said, she believes the majority of the world hates Jews. So this coincides with the march toward Golg Magel. We have the studies out there. We have a series, several messages on this. If you watch it, don't freak out, but I have hair. What? It was a time where I've been bald since before 9-11. I remember it was before 9-11. But there was a period of time there around 2010 or so, and I have autoimmune issues that once in a while that flared up, and I couldn't shave. It hurt. So I let my hair grow out. And Jenny's like, I married a bald man. So as soon as I could, I shaved it again. But anyway, what's going on? Well, Putin, the head of Russia, met with Kim Jong-un, the lunatic leader of North Korea, and signed a peaceful and defensive pact. Russia is gaining power just in time for the end times that we read about in Gog Magog. Saudi Arabia, ended the use of the petrodollar. That means that the United States, our place as superpower is decreasing by the day. Our dollar is no longer going to be the world currency. The power that the United States has wielded is shrinking around the world. This was from the president of Russia. Greetings to the Muslims of Russia. He congratulated them on their Eid al-Adha holiday, which is basically the end of the Hajj, where they do their pilgrimages and everything every year. These are the words of Putin. Eid al-Adha marks the end of the Muslim pilgrimage to the ancient religious holy places. It serves to, listen to this, unite people and promote the ideals of mercy, justice, and mutual understanding in society, and highlights the profound and enduring spiritual values of Islam. Now listen, there are some Muslims who are peaceful. There's whole sections like the Sufi Muslims. You remember Dr. Oz? Remember him, Dr. Oz? He was on TV for years, and then he ran for office and got beat, but he was a Sufi. And Dr. Oz and his, branch of Islam, they don't have terrorists, they don't have the kind of things, but the Sunni and the Shia make up about 90% of the Muslims in the world, and they are where you get all the terrorists from. And so the idea that Muhammad, you know how Muhammad, you saw that, what would Jesus do? Well, the question is, what would Muhammad do? What did Muhammad do? He said, you either convert or die. That was his version of unity. That's ISIS, that's the Taliban, that's Hezbollah, that's Hamas, that's Iran, that's the majority of Muslim power in this world is under Shia and Sunni belief systems which say they believe their destiny is to convert the whole world to Islam. And so their message to you is convert or die. Putin is doing this for political reasons so that, because if you look on the map where Russia is, we got a big map on the back wall there, all the Stan countries, Uzbekistan and Pakistan, all those, they're all Muslim countries. Under the Soviet Union before it fell apart in the late 80s, all those Muslim countries were under Soviet rule. They weren't communists, but they were under communist rule. They were Muslim and still are. And that's why Putin's doing this. And if you go watch our Gog Magog messages, it is a Russian Islamic confederacy that's going to come down against Israel in the last days. We're seeing it all come together in that confederacy. And this is one of the maps you'll see where we highlight some of the names in Ezekiel 38, tell you who Gog is Russia, Magog is our conglomerate, confederacy of those stand nations. Meshach is Turkey, Tubal is also, Meshach is the East Turkey and Tubal was in the Northeast Turkey. So I think you can just say Turkey, the nation of Turkey is involved in this. Now people wanna argue, is it Turkey or Russia? It's both, it's both. Here's a list if you go out to our website and you click on the link, you go and find our Gog Magog playlist, you'll see Psalm 83 and then four messages on Ezekiel 38 there. So listen to this Brit, one of my probably distant relatives, Jill and I are related too, and It's, these are called monk debates, but it's M-U-N-K, no relation to the TV show. And this took place June 17th up in Canada. Listen to what he has to say defending Zionism. What happened on the 7th of October was not just a massive attack on innocent people inside Israel. It was the equivalent to about 6,000 Canadians being massacred and burned in their homes in one day. It's the equivalent of about one and a half thousand of your fellow Canadians being taken hostage. You know, you would have thought after an attack like the one that Hamas instigated that started this terrible war, you would have thought that there would be some sympathy for the world, from the world. You might have thought the world would pay attention to the attack and at least pay attention to the people behind it. You might have expected, like me, that there might have been a worldwide opposition to the terrorists and rapists and murderers of Hamas. You might have thought there would be hatred around the world erupting, but the government of Qatar and its mouthpiece, Al Jazeera, its funding of Hamas and its hosting of the leadership of Hamas in Qatar, You might have thought there'd have been an outpouring of rage at the Islamic Revolutionary Government in Tehran. But no. There was immediate outpouring of rage against the state that had been attacked. Bring back our girls we had ten years ago in the war in northern Nigeria, which I also covered. Bring back our girls. No international campaign saying bring back our Jewish children. Believe all women, we've been told, for years. But, turns out, not if the raped women are Jews. Israel is the only country in the world which, when it's attacked, gets attacked more. You know, the interesting thing about antisemitism is, as my late friend Jonathan Sachs said, it's a shape-shifting virus. It moves across the centuries. When you could hate people for their religion, the Jews were hated for their religion. Then you couldn't hate people for that anymore, so people hated the Jews for their race. And then, after the 20th century, people realized that wasn't such a great idea either. Now, the Jews are hated not for their religion or their race, but for having a state People around the world hate them so much for it that Israelis are attacked when they have hostages taken, and this is to remember the 100 hostages still in captivity in Gaza, who, if they were given back by Hamas today, the war would be over. And they're also attacked when they rescue their hostages. You know, the interesting thing about anti-Semitism is the Jews can never win because, historically, they've been hated for being rich, They've been hated for integrating and for not integrating. They were hated for being stateless. Remember, rootless cosmopolitans, the far right used to say. Now they're hated for having a state. Today, the only really acceptable form of antisemitism, aside from the sewers of the far right, the only real tolerated form of antisemitism is anti-Zionism. Zionism, as we've just heard, is simply the right of the Jews to self-determination in their historic homeland. That's all. Anti-Semitism, as we've also just heard, is double standards against Jewish people or cruel and unfair treatment of people because they're Jews. This isn't very far away from home here. If this isn't anti-Semitism, can the audience here tell me why the following things have happened since October the 7th? Why in a Montreal suburb a synagogue should be firebombed, as happened in November? Why there should have been gunshots against the yeshiva? Why in Toronto a bookstore owned by a Jew should be attacked? Why a Molotov cocktail was thrown to a Jewish community center in Montreal? Why a Toronto Jewish deli in North York was firebombed? Why in Toronto the Orthodox synagogue was vandalized? why in Toronto two men opened fire the other week on a Jewish girls' school. If it isn't anti-Semitism, tell me why just a week ago pro-Hamas protesters tried to go through Jewish areas in this city shouting not just aloha akbar, but, and I quote, sorry for the language, filthy Zionist pigs, dirty Zionist rats. Have you heard that language before? The Jews have. Now look, if you are interested in this motion, just bear this in mind. It's not about Netanyahu. It's not about this war. It's about double standards. And one question hovers over it above all. The question of who would protect the Jews. Who would you trust to protect them? The Europeans? The Arab world? No. History shows only one people protect the Jewish people. The Jewish people. That's what Zionism is. Thank you. And Jews can rest assured of one more thing. Bible-believing, sensational Christians stand with Israel. There are a lot of people who call themselves Christians who won't stand with Israel. And it's because they have a false view of scripture and they don't understand God's plan for Israel. But those who rightly divide the word of truth stand with Israel. And one other thing, the Vatican church state is readying itself for the tribulation. I always have to disclaim this. We don't hate Roman Catholics, but we do hate what has become of what is called the Roman Catholic church. I believe the Pope is a Marxist, and we believe the final Pope is gonna be the Antichrist. But that doesn't have anything to do with individual Catholics. But we saw this last week. Pope Francis is the first pontiff to address G7. He is assuming greater positions of power and influence just in time for the final Pope, who will be the Antichrist. It's never happened before in history. And meanwhile, the superpower is led by this clown. Do you see that? How many of you saw that? What's he doing? Nobody knows, including the Pope. Look at the Pope's face. He's like, get out of my face. The guy in the back is the president of Argentina named Baloo, I think is how you pronounce his name, but he's looking at him like, what in the world? That's wild, man. He's so weird. In his defense, if you want a defense, I believe he's senile. You know, if you go into dementia or Alzheimer's, you can't help what you do. The shame is on the people who have put him in this position. They're using him as a puppet. But that's the perfect presidential candidate is a puppet, somebody that can be controlled from behind the scenes. But Vatican persecution of Bible-believing Christians has never stopped. The news media doesn't report it, but that's why we're always demonstrating to you that what you see on your news media is filtered. Even if a lot of it is true, the control is in the fact they don't tell you everything. They filter what you get. And so you won't see this on your news channel tonight. ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, whatever. You won't see it on 4, 6, 10, 28, whatever. The headline, no resolution for Protestant families in Mexico after 50 days of displacement. They'll call Baptists Protestant all the time, and they're actually not the same. but we're in like faith with Protestants. But these are Baptists they're talking about. 50 days have passed since the displacement of over 150 Baptists in Mexico's Hidalgo State with no significant government action to address the injustices faced by this religious minority. How would you feel were non-denominational, Baptistic in doctrine. Let's say the Pentecostal church down the road had 150 people in it and the Catholic church down the road ran them out of town and took away their homes. We would be right there with the Pentecostals crying out. Or you name it, whoever it is, not happening in Mexico. The 150 members of the Great Commission Fundamental Baptist Church in the municipality of Huautla de Reyes, including, that was good, wasn't it? Including more than 70 children and infants. Somebody's gonna say, you didn't pronounce that right. I guarantee I'm gonna get an email. They were forcibly removed from their homes in the villages of Rancho Nuevo and Coahuila by local Catholic community leaders on April 26th. Why are they getting by with that? Why would anyone get by with doing that? Well, I'm here to tell you that this has been expunged from your news for years, for decades, for centuries. For as long as there's been news media, they have not been reporting on the Roman Catholic Church persecuting Christians all around the world. That doesn't mean all the Catholic churches, doesn't mean all the Catholic people, but it means that from the top down, this is known. and the Pope doesn't say anything about it? The College of Cardinals don't say anything about it? The Vatican News Agency doesn't say anything about it? Why is it happening? Because, as I said, go back and watch our studies in Revelation 17, 18. 20 hours of Bible study on two chapters because we went line upon line showing that as you see these things happening in the last days, it's setting the stage for the final Pope. Now, by the way, a lot of Catholics agree with what I'm saying. Malachi Martin is one of the most famous who agrees that the final pope is going to be the Antichrist. And initially sheltered in a municipal building, the displaced families were subsequently moved to a sports complex. They'd been living outdoors, highlighting the transient nature of their accommodation and lack of permanent solutions. The inaction of local government officials has been stark. Sources close to the matter have indicated that the municipal government has distanced itself, advising, listen to this, advising the displaced to acquiesce, give in to the demands of Catholic leaders. What are the Catholic leaders demanding? Money. Which include punitive fines based on the duration of their Protestant faith. totaling $40,000. They're fining them for converting for their religion. There's no freedom of religion in Mexico. Now there are people who get by with it for a time, but eventually they're persecuted. And these people are being fined based on their conversion to the evangelical Baptist faith. But they won't let them in across the border. No. Yeah, our country wouldn't let them in if they tried to cross the border. There's just other examples. I'm not going to read through all of them. This has gone on numerous times. And the news media covers this as gang or drug violence when they do cover it. They don't tell you who's behind it. They pretend it's just drug-related or gang-related. And that's how it has been reported here in the United States, even though it's known to those involved to have nothing to do with drugs or gangs. And they'll call it neighborhood disputes as well. This is an example. BBC reported on a memorial that is being put up in Mexico in order to, how's it say it there, to for victims of drug-related violence. They just act like this all has to do with drugs. And it's not, it's not just about drugs. There is a, trust me, there is a lot of drug and gang violence. There's also a lot of religious persecution totally gets swept under the rug. And this is one verse out of Revelation 17, six we were talking about. And I saw the woman, drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, When I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. The woman, the Roman Catholic Church is represented by the Queen of Heaven. Every Catholic church you go to, you're encouraged to partake in worship of Mary. They won't call it that. A lot of times they'll deny it. They'll say it's adoration and all that. That's worship. It's a rose by another name. Here's a youth group meeting. of Roman Catholic kids in Philadelphia. Look at that. That's who they're praying to and singing to. Statue of Mary. Queen of Heaven. Now that's not the biblical Mary. It's an idol they call Mary. Also, the woman Again, Roman Catholics worshiping Mary, basking in the train of Mary's robe and veil. This is in a Roman Catholic service in Mecca. And he crossed the border. Now watch this. That blue thing is following the statue of Mary, the idol. And it's covering all the people as they're praying to her and singing to her. See her down there? They'll get a close-up here in just a second. There it is. Look at it. You all want to touch it, pray to her, sing to her, worship her. Yeah. Look at it. It's just an amazing thing. And most Christians are totally unaware of the idolatry involved in this Mary worship that's going on all over the world. And the Bible calls the final world religion under Antichrist, the woman who rides the beast. And it's represented by a woman and the cup, which would be the Eucharistic cup and so forth. Like I said, we're not gonna re-preach all that, that's in Revelation 17, 18. We tell you this so you can be informed and pray and act accordingly, amen? Amen. All right, comments, Joe? When I was a kid, we lived in Toronto, in a Jewish area. And when they were talking about all these things happening in Toronto, that was probably right where, near where I lived. Because it was, you know, we got off for Hanukkah from school. Yeah. And I never got that in high school. Bob? I'm not sure he called it the evils of homosexuality, though. Well, we can't put words in his mouth. He's been talking about being open to homosexuality. And he's the first Pope to allow priests to bless Gay unions. So whoever your news source is for that, Bob, I'd watch. I think they're twisting the words a little bit. He's not against homosexuality. He's the most pro-gay pope we've ever had. That's according to the Catholics. Go to Catholic news sources, LifeSite News, go there. They're Roman Catholics. and they'll tell you the same thing. Well, he maintains that, but then we showed Sunday in our current events that he's bringing in pro-abortion speakers all the time, and he's also on board with the whole climate change thing, and most of the people involved with that are pro-abortion, and so forth. So, yeah, that's, yeah, Mary? A couple people tonight said that if the hostages would be returned, the war would be over. But what happened to them saying until the leadership of Hamas is destroyed? Well, they've just about done that. OK. And they're down to, you know, that's why they're doing it right now. It's such almost house to house a lot of times what they're doing. But as long as those hostages are out there. Netanyahu, even if he wanted to keep fighting, if they released the hostages, he would be pressured, and that would be the end of it, as far as the war. Then you would see Mossad and other secret, or not secret, but like our SEALs, Special Forces, yeah, Special Ops, they would be taking care of things from that point, probably, most likely. All right, well, there you go. They give you a current events update before we get into our Bible study. Just in time, let's open with a word of prayer, and then we'll get in here and study the book. And we'll ask Brother Dougie to go ahead and open the Bible study prayer. Yes, sir. Well, God, just thank you for this wonderful day today. We've definitely been blessed. A lot of heat, but outside of that, it's been green and beautiful out there. And we thank you for that. Thank you, Lord, for keeping peace in this nation, where we're not overcome by somebody else. We have a lot to be thankful for. But at the same time, Lord God, I pray strongly for Israel. I pray strongly for this church and pastor. And I pray strongly for the United States of America and the president who was elected to have the best president. that can be elected as vice president. And I would just thank you for this time in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so we're in 1 Timothy chapter one, and we're gonna cover the first three verses as we begin a new study of a book. I was gonna say a new book, it's not new. 1 Timothy, and we start with Paul's greeting and his admonition for Timothy to confront some that they teach no other doctrine. Now tonight, we're not going to get into exactly what those doctrines are. We're just going to introduce the book and look at what the context here is. And we're going to start by reading those first three verses. And I want you to read the ad with me. So start with verse one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. So we begin with a short, plain introduction to the author and his authority in verse one, the recipient and the blessing in verse two, and then the purpose is introduced in verse three, and we'll pick up there in our next study if we're still here, amen? So we start with that author and authority. Who wrote it and on what authority? Verse one, Paul. Now epistles, these are letters. You ever heard these called the epistles of Paul? Somebody didn't turn off your cell phone right here? Now's a good time to do it. Epistles are letters, not the wives of the apostles. I know I've told that joke before, but we have some new people, they may never have heard that. Epistles are letters, not the wives of the apostles, which is why they begin with a greeting. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. When you write a letter, don't you say, at least say, dear so-and-so? Now, most of the time, we put our name at the end of letters now, these days, but people know who sent it. If it's an email, they see what? Who it's from. If you send a letter by mail before they open it, they look at the return address. So that's why in that day, they didn't have a U.S. postal system. Some of you may not be aware, but during the time of the apostles, there was no internet. And there was no email. First note that apostles must be ordained by Jesus Christ. This is very important because today there are tens of thousands of people running around calling themselves apostles. Not in the biblical sense, they're not. Look at Acts chapter nine. Go back to the left in your book, Acts chapter nine. We are studying Acts verse by verse on Sundays, and we're in Acts 17 right now. So we covered chapter nine some time ago. And verses 10 through 16, we see Paul being chosen, how it happened, and he was chosen directly by a direct act by Jesus Christ. Verse 10 says, And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. Verse 11, And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight. In other words, Straight Street. And inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth. Well, in the previous verses, he'd been knocked down blind, blinded by the light, and he had gone to this house and he's praying. In verse 12, Jesus is still saying, and hath seen of the vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight. Verse 13, then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. Verse 14, and here he hath authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. Paul was a terrorist. He was raining terror on Christians, binding them, arresting them to take them to be tried and some put to death. He comments later on in his epistles about that. Verse 15. then says, but the Lord said to him, go thy way for he is a what? Chosen vessel. That's what it takes. We are all chosen unto salvation because we have believed on him and received him as our Lord and Savior. This is not talking about salvation. This is talking about the fact that he is chosen. Now, when Paul was knocked down blind on the road to Damascus, he responded by acknowledging Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He's already saved at this point. Now he's being chosen for something in addition to being saved, to be an apostle. It says, he's a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles, and all of us should do that, amen? But in addition, it says, and kings, and the children of Israel. And we've been seeing in the book of Acts, Paul goes from city to city, and every time he goes into city, he goes to the Jew first, goes into the synagogue, reasons from the scripture. Jesus is your Messiah. Some believed, most do not. He ends up being run out of town. Where does he go? To the next town. Where does he go then? To the synagogue, to the Jew first. And he's doing this over and over and over throughout the cities of that day on his, right now we're studying his second missionary journey. Verse 16 says, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. How many of you know God's got a beautiful plan for your life? and it might involve suffering. You know what? It's gonna be totally blissful, wonderful, without pain, without suffering, the next life. But a lot of spoiled brat Christians want it now. And they basically demand it. A lot of them, that's how they pray. Dear Lord, I pray, and I command, and I this, and I that, and I get my own way. Like little babies, That's how they pray. Some of you have heard that, some of you may not. Well, Lord bless you, I've had to hear it. I've experienced it. Real quick, turn over to chapter 26. Because Paul actually expands a little bit on what Jesus said to him. He lets us in on a little more information here. In Acts 26, 14 through 18. He's retelling that story and he says in verse 14, and when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Jesus is speaking Hebrew. I believe we're all gonna speak Hebrew in heaven. I don't think I'm the only one that believes that here tonight, but I believe that. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And look at what it says, verse 15. And I said, who art thou? Lord. And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. How many of you know Jesus is there with Paul? This is a confrontation. And Paul is a believer at this point. Then verse 16, Jesus says, but rise and stand upon thy feet. For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee." I'm not going to ask. I know for a fact that didn't happen to anybody else in this room here tonight. This is something that only happened to the apostles. And you got a lot of charlatans and liars who will pretend that they have these kind of experiences to try to dupe you into thinking they have something that puts them above you. And that way you'll be more motivated to send in your money. That's what's behind it. And you hear these people claiming to be apostles and everything, money, money, money. I'm sure there's exceptions, but hardly any of those people would ever go and do the things Paul did because he did it in poverty. And these guys got to have first class travel, limousines taken from the airport to their hotel, and you know, all these other things. Prima donnas. That's not what Paul was. Now look what it says. He's told here by Jesus, what are you gonna do? Here's what you're gonna do, Paul. Verse 17, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee. Read verse 18 with me. to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Now we share in that ministry, but the apostolic authority and the particulars of Paul's call aren't for us. We have our own particular thing. God has given you opportunities to serve him. He's not going to judge you for not becoming as well known as the Apostle Paul. But what he will judge you, you're saved, you'll go to heaven, but there is going to be a judgment seat of Christ for us. And what's he gonna judge you for? Whether or not you were faithful. Were you faithful to do what he's called you to do? And then based on those works, you're saved by faith, but based on those works, then you receive reward. And it gets a little crazy for some who have never heard it taught, but during the millennial kingdom, you are going to rule and reign with Jesus Christ. Some of your reward is going to be where you serve in the kingdom. And so we don't have time to get into all that tonight, but Paul's authority is founded upon his appointment by Jesus directly. He's particularly chosen by Jesus to be an apostle. And then look at verse one again. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Look at that. Notice there's four titles of Jesus in this one verse. and cults deny one or more of these titles for Jesus. Number one, He's called God. Jesus, according to 1 Timothy 3.16 in your King James Bible, God was manifest in the flesh. Don't look for it in your NIV, your ESV, your legacy standard. your NLT, your new versions, they took it out. He's not God manifest in the flesh in those Bibles. John 1.1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was? God. That's Jesus. The cult calling itself the Jehovah's Witnesses, their New World translation, they add the letter A. The word was a God. Cults and false religions all mess with the biblical teaching that Jesus is God in flesh. Our God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is God. There are not three gods. One God, three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Co-eternal, co-substantial, and there is a hierarchy, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. That doesn't mean one's less God than the other. It's a matter of order. And it's just the way it is, amen? Doug? Well, they believe, they'll teach he came as flesh and dwelt among us, but he was Michael the archangel who came in the flesh. That's what the Jehovah's Witnesses do. And then, verse 18, in your King James Bible says that he's the only begotten son, and the new versions call him a begotten God. He's never been begotten as God. He's eternally God. If your Jesus is a begotten God, that's what the Job's Witness Bible says, but that's also what your new versions like the NIV say. Error begets error begets error. That's why we stick with the King James Bible. They haven't been, they aren't going to, and we won't let them mess with it. Leave it alone. He's called Savior. But you'll see, what's he called there? God, our Savior. See? But he's the Savior, not a Savior. And the New Age and a lot of the false cults will say he's a savior, but you can go this way, all paths lead to God, as long as you're sincere, blah, blah. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. The, not a. Definite article, right, English teacher? What's the third one there? Lord. With a capital L. Not like Lord Byron of Manchester. In England, that's a small L. Capital L, Lord. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. There's only one. Now shall I love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might? One Lord. And then the fourth one is Christ. The Hebrew Mashiach, Messiah, is the Greek Christos Christ. Saying just for clarity there. He is the Messiah of Israel, and there's only one. And if Jesus ain't it, they ain't never gonna get a Messiah. And when they finally think they got one, they're gonna latch onto him and he's gonna be the Antichrist. And he's going to betray them and try to wipe them out in the tribulation period. So that is why he is called our hope. No Jesus, no hope. Now the question is, how do you spell that no? Is it K-N-O-W? Or N-O? No Jesus, K-N-O-W, then you no hope. K-N-O-W, you no hope. But if there's no Jesus, there's no hope. Amen? That's why it says, of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope, and our hope is in Christ alone. Your hope is not in the Pope, amen? Your hope is not in the most right-wing Bishop of Worthington, Greg Miller, either, amen? Your hope is not in this church. Your hope is not in the friends you have, the family you come from, or whatever. Your hope is in Christ, in Christ alone. Nothing and no one else. Look at 1 Peter 1. Turn over to the right there in your Bible, past Hebrews, James, 1 Peter 1, beginning of verse 18, very familiar to most of us. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. See, he's talking to Jewish believers here. You go back to verse one in first Peter, when his introduction, he's talking to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. That's Jews, Jewish believers scattered. Now what he says is true of Jew and Gentile because we're all saved by the same gospel and have the same blessings. But that's important to know who his audience is. And he says in verse 19 there in chapter one, what are you saved with? Read that. But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. And it goes on to say verse 20, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you Read verse 21, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God. Jesus was raised and because he was raised, you believe in him, he will raise you too. If he's not raised, we have no hope. Because he is raised, we have hope. None of the other religious leaders were raised Look at the little sign over here that Peter Rutland drew, I think, back in 1996. Here lies Buddha. Here lies Muhammad. Name him. Your religious leader, Joseph Smith, doesn't matter who it is, he's dead and in a grave or tomb somewhere. Jesus rose from the dead. Even the king of rock and roll, no matter what the tabloids say, Elvis is not alive. Doesn't matter who you're worshiping. Even Mary that we talked about earlier, the real Mary, her body is in a grave. She is in heaven, she's not listening for your prayers. She is saved by the same Savior you and I are saved by. It just so happens she gave birth to him in his physical body so that he could die for her sins. and one of the great songs is Mary Did You Know. Go read that, or read the lyrics to it and listen to it sometime. It teaches that. And our blessings rest in the same Lord Jesus. That's where we come to the recipient and blessing. Look at verse two. Back in our text, verse 31, verse two. Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace. So what's he mean there? Paul was a father figure to Timothy. He wasn't his biological father, and no one called him Father Paul. That's just another misnomer. Pastor, bishop, evangelist, teacher, those are all biblical titles, but no man in a spiritual sense is supposed to be called your father. No man is supposed to be called reverend. I'm not just picking on, by the way, around Catholics, but there's Anglicans and Lutherans and others who call their pastor's father. And then you go to the Nazarene and Baptists and others, and they call them reverend. It's all wrong. That's why I ask you, don't call me reverend. I'm not. The Bible says there's one reverend, God. It's like calling the Pope, Holy Father. Blasphemy. There's only one Holy Father in the Bible in John 17, and it's God the Father. Look over at Acts 16 real quick. Acts 16. One through three. And this is about Timothy. This is really all we know about Timothy is we have a few places in the Bible that tell us some things about him. This is mainly what we know. Then came he to Derbe and Lystra. Behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus. Now, my name is Gregory, but I like to be called Greg. This was Timotheus, but he's called Timothy most of the time. He's what? The son of a certain woman. Of course, we all have mothers, amen? Unless you're Bill Gates, I don't know. The son of a certain woman, which was a what? Jew. So his mom's a Jewess and believed, but his father was? Greek. So obviously it's not Paul. Paul's not a Greek. So when Paul says he's as a son, it's in his father figure sense that he was a father to Timothy. And why? Because Timothy's natural father wasn't a believer. So Paul stepped in. took that role. Look at verse two and three, which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Now, verse three, read that again. Him would Paul have to go forth with him and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters, for they knew all that his father was. So twice it tells you his father's a Greek, so obviously it's not the Apostle Paul. And that tells you what kind of man he was. He was willing as an adult to be circumcised so that he could minister with Paul to the Jews. That's serious stuff. That's serious stuff. But that's why 1 Timothy through Philemon are all called pastoral epistles because these are personal letters written by Paul to individual recipients with pastoral care and guidance in such a way that all believers then can read them and apply them to our own lives. We can read them as though they're written to us as individuals because that's how they are addressed when you read 1 and 2 Timothy. Titus and Philemon, those are people. So back to our text then, in verse two of 1 Timothy 1, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. We cannot know the grace, mercy, and peace of God apart from knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior. You reject Jesus, as I said, N-O, no peace. N-O, no grace. N-O, no mercy. God wants to show you that grace. God is not willing that any should perish. He shows you mercy every time he lets you take another breath and then another heartbeat. Right up to the time you're saved, every heartbeat and breath is an act of mercy of God. and peace. You only have true peace when you come to God on His terms and He saves you. His Holy Spirit comes to reside in you and it's not just a feeling, it's a fact. You are eternally at peace with God. His wrath is directed towards sin and if you remain in your sin, His wrath is directed at you until you're saved. Suddenly now you're saved, he looks at you, he doesn't see you, he sees his son. He doesn't see your sin, he sees the blood of his son. You now assume in a legal sense, the position of a son. We're called adopted. Jesus, eternally son of God, the rest of us by faith in the gospel, adopted sons of God. So Paul began 2 Timothy and Titus with the same greeting. If you look at 2 Timothy 1, verse 2, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Titus, when he wrote Titus, verse 4, to Titus, my own son, after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. Because it's the same relationship, different name, same relationship. He can say the same thing to you, fill in the blank, to your name, my own son. We are all followers of Paul as he followed Christ. God gave him his words, and we follow Paul as he followed Christ. And God's grace, mercy, and peace comes through knowledge of his word, which is where we come in verse three. we see the purpose introduced. That's where we're gonna leave off this study and pick up next week. But verse three starts by saying, as I decided to abide still in Ephesus, which I went into Macedonia. And the New Testament book interconnections here, just so you know, what you're reading here is connected to what we read in Acts 19 in our studies. We'll come to that in our Sunday studies here in a few weeks. That was about 54 to 57 AD. on the calendar. Then he wrote his epistle to the Ephesians. That was around 62. 1 Timothy, that we're studying now, is around 65. And by this time, Timothy is the pastor at the Church of Ephesus. So there's your connections between Acts, the epistle to the Church of Ephesus, and 1 Timothy. This epistle was written between Paul's two stints, by the way, in Roman jail. How many of you knew Paul was a jailbird? Yeah, I don't want to get political or anything, but being convicted of a crime isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes you're doing the right thing. Sometimes you're set up and didn't really do the wrong thing. So keep that in mind. There's a lot of people, including Jesus. including Christians throughout the centuries, that most of the first century Christians who were persecuted, we talked about this before, were arrested and convicted of crimes they didn't really commit. So verse three continues, says that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. And that's gonna kind of be the base where we're gonna jump in in our next study. But Paul's warning is found there in Acts 20. So I'm gonna close by going there. Acts chapter 20. So we've already seen where Jesus chose Paul and gave him his marching orders. And Paul then speaks about that on a number of occasions, including Acts chapter 20, verse 17. And from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. What did we just read? It says in verse three of 1 Timothy 1, as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus. These are the connections here. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, you know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I've been with you at all seasons. Verse 19, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. Look at verse 20, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house, both in the home and out in the open. What? Read 21 with me. Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. We've got it up on the wall back there because that's what ministry is all about when it comes to the preaching ministry. That's your ministry. If you're a Pauline follower, a Bible believer, that's your ministry. In verses 24 through 30, look down in the same chapter. Verse 24, he says, but none of these things move me. Neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of who? The Lord Jesus. To testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the what? Kingdom of God shall see my face no more. He's leaving, this is his last trip there, he's not gonna be able to come back, he knows it. Verse 26, wherefore, I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Read the next three verses with me. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also in your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them, and so forth. So that's why he's doing the same thing here with Timothy. He's saying, I know Satan and how he works, and he's gonna come into the churches, and it'll even be people from your own number, people who claim to be Christians, people who were baptized into the church, and they are still going to turn. and they're gonna cause division. They're gonna try to suck people away from the church and to follow after themselves. Hymenius and Alexander the Copper Spith, a couple names are gonna come up later. The Apostle John talked about Diotrephus who did that, and there's a number of others. But warnings about false doctrine from false teachers is the main theme of both 1st and 2nd Timothy. And so the whole purpose of the Bible is to give us doctrine. It's not a cookbook where you can open it up, point to the verse, and feel good about yourself. Although it will make you feel good about yourself when you are repentant toward God, you confess your sins, you're forgiven, and you have a good relationship with the Lord. The feelings come, but that's not the purpose of the Bible. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for? Doctrine. That's what God says he gave you the Bible for. Doctrine. While we stick to the facts of scripture, on the other hand, sadly, Laodiceans turn to perverted new versions and turn the Bible into a work of fiction. What do you mean? I mean all this stuff coming out. You seen The Chosen? If you're watching that, you better be careful because it's hacked full of nonsense. And the new season coming up, the plot twist, In season four, episode three, just one example. Roman official Quintus grows irate at his inability to capture Jesus in a large crowd. He began swinging his sword. In his anger, Quintus stabs Rhema, the fiance of Apostle Thomas. How many of you knew Thomas had a fiance named Rhema? Because it didn't happen. He flees the scene. Rhema's lying on the ground, bleeding and dying. Now this is where the blasphemy comes in. She urges Thomas to stay with Jesus. Thomas then pleads with Jesus to raise her, to heal her. A tearful Jesus expresses remorse, but responds, it is not her time. I love you, Thomas. He loves you. I'm so sorry. Moments later, credits, didn't happen. They may not look like Jesus couldn't heal her. It's ridiculous. But this is what the modern ecumenical, charismatic, emergent, et cetera, apostates, they all have one common trait. We'll see it in 2 Timothy 4.3. We're here, this is where you are right now. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. and we are there, and this book study, 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, God's answer to such things. Did I see a hand back there real quick? I was just mentioning, I remember somebody saying how they wanted to preach at a funeral and study what Jesus said about it, and apparently every time he's at a funeral, he brings it back to life. Yeah, Jesus didn't preach funerals. Amen. All right, let's close with prayer. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this time in your word, and we thank you so much for what you're teaching us, giving us this infallible source where we can find what we ought to believe, the doctrine. Help us, by your Holy Spirit, to rightly divide, keep it in context, and apply it correctly, and to please you in all things. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. All right, stand if you can. And let's sing about loving Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I thank Jesus! Oh, how I thank Jesus! Oh, how I thank Jesus! Because He died for me. follow along. ♪ Oh, how I love Jesus ♪ Oh, how I love Jesus ♪ Oh, how I love Jesus ♪ Because he first loved me You say, I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I'm glad you can say that. You can be seated. And we'll collect those prayer cards. Raise your hand if you have one. Janie's gonna collect those. And we'll watch for the onliners who will send theirs in to bbfohioatprotonmail.com. As we say goodbye to the onliners on three, one, two, three, see you here, there, or in the air.