WWUTT 697 The Lord Rescued Me?

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Paul had a very long, extensive list of persecutions that he endured for the cause of Christ, and yet the

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Lord rescued him from every one of them. So don't you know that the Lord will also rescue you when we understand the text?

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This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Thank you for subscribing, and if this was ministered to you, please let others know about our program. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of 2 Timothy, this week we've been in chapter 3, verses 10 -17.

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The apostle Paul writes to his servant Timothy, You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, which persecutions

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I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

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Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

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But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

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All scripture is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

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Just as I started this section yesterday, the Apostle Paul sets himself against the false teachers whom he just described in the first nine verses of chapter 3.

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In verse 2 he says that in the last days people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive.

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These self -centered descriptors that he uses and then everything else that follows flows from that.

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He says that these people will be treacherous and reckless and swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

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In verse 8 he says just as Janus and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth.

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Janus and Jambres were magicians who worked in Pharaoh's court. When Moses first appeared before Pharaoh, he said, thus says the

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Lord God, let my people go. And then to show that he was a man who was sent by the true and living

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God, he threw his staff down on the ground just as the Lord instructed him to do, and his staff transformed into a snake.

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Well Janus and Jambres were the two magicians representing Pharaoh, and they stepped forward and replicated the miracle that Moses had just performed through whatever devilish arts they practiced.

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They threw down their staffs, which also turned into snakes. But Moses, showing that he came with true authority, his snake gobbled up their snakes.

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I don't know if you've ever seen Pharaoh's headdress before. It's kind of what a Pharaoh would wear as a crown.

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He had this big headdress that he wore, and on the headdress there was a snake.

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And that snake represented divine sovereignty. Pharaoh thought of himself as a divine

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God who was sovereign over all of Egypt and everything else that Egypt was over.

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And Moses comes in, and the first miracle he performs is his staff transforming into a snake.

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Janus and Jambres, representing Pharaoh, their staffs also turn into snakes. But Moses' snake gobbles up theirs to show that he represented the true sovereign, who had power even over Pharaoh.

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The next miracle that Moses performed, he took his staff to the Nile River and touched it and turned the

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Nile into blood. And this was to show, because the Nile River was considered the life force for all of Egypt.

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And yet turning it into blood symbolized death. So Pharaoh did not have the power over life and death, but God did.

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Janus and Jambres likewise were able to replicate this thing that Moses had done. They poured water out of jars which had transformed into blood.

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Now even though Janus and Jambres could do this, it did not serve any purpose. They couldn't turn the

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Nile River back into water. It stayed blood. And so even though they could replicate these miracles, there really wasn't any point to it, except to show that they oppose

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Moses. Well, we're not afraid of you because we can do the same things that you are doing, even though they could not turn back the plagues that Moses was doing under the command of God.

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As those plagues got greater and larger and more grandiose, Janus and Jambres were unable to replicate them to show that God had power and control over all.

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He was the true God. Pharaoh was a false god. And so Janus and Jambres, in every way that they thought they could, they opposed

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Moses. And in the ancient Jewish writings, Janus and Jambres became archetypes or representatives of, you know, examples of false teachers.

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Just like you might think of Benedict Arnold as being an example or a name that goes with a person who is treasonous or a coward who would defect to the enemy.

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So Janus and Jambres in Jewish tradition would be pictures of false teachers.

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We don't have their names mentioned anywhere else in the scriptures, but they are given in early extra -biblical

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Jewish writings as those magicians who had opposed Moses.

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They are examples of men who oppose God's truth. Men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.

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And this could be anybody. I mean, it could be somebody who claims to be a Christian but is not, or it could be an atheist or an agnostic, considering that Janus and Jambres weren't even part of the nation of Israel.

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So this is anyone who would present themselves as somebody who claims to have the truth, but the reality is that they oppose the truth of God.

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And Paul goes on in verse 9 to say, but they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

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This was similar to something that Paul said in 1 Timothy chapter 5. He said in verses 24 and 25, the sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.

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So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.

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So as Paul uses Janus and Jambres as examples of men who oppose God's truth,

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Paul is a man who has been for God's truth. He is somebody who is transformed from being a man who opposed

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God, who opposed Christ and his disciples and Christians, those who follow

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Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, he was transformed into a person who, instead of persecuting

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Christians, was desiring to make Christians by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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So again, setting himself in contrast against the false teachers, Paul says in verse 10 to Timothy, you, however, have followed my teaching.

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You don't follow the examples of men like Janus and Jambres. You have followed me, who is an example that is worthy to be followed.

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And this isn't proud or arrogant of Moses to say this. As a matter of fact, he's telling

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Timothy to imitate the humility by which Paul has functioned in this ministry that he has done.

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Again, he started by describing the false teachers in very selfish ways, lovers of self, lovers of money, proud and arrogant, and they are swollen with conceit.

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But that's not the apostle Paul. Paul gave up his rock star status as a Pharisee and instead became a persecuted apostle for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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You have followed my teaching, my conduct. And it's not uncharacteristic for Paul to tell somebody that he is writing to, to imitate him.

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In 1 Corinthians 11 .1, he says, imitate me as I am of Christ.

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It's because Paul is operating by the humility that he has seen in Christ Jesus, according to the

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Holy Spirit that is upon his heart, according to the grace of God that has been poured out to him to be an apostle to the

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Gentiles. So he's this is my conduct, the humility by which

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I have carried myself in this ministry to point others to Christ.

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Imitate me as I am of Christ. He said a very similar thing to the Thessalonians as well.

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In 1 Thessalonians 1, be imitators of us because we point you to Christ.

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And we've also read in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 6 .12, do not be sluggish, but be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

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And who else does that describe but the apostle Paul? So he says, you've imitated my conduct, you've imitated my aim in life.

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As we read at the start of 1 Timothy 1, the previous letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, he says, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith, not a conscience that's been defiled by selfish motives.

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But we have put the needs of others ahead of ourselves. Paul's saying to Timothy, as you have seen me do that, consider others' needs ahead of my own when it's come to sharing the gospel with them and teaching them the truth of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Imitate what I am doing, my teaching, the things that you have heard me teach, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith.

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Paul believing in things that are unseen. That's the descriptor or the definition of faith that we are given in Hebrews 11 .1.

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Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

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And because of the promise of eternity in the kingdom of God that Paul preached about, he did not fear what any man could do to him because he knew that God would deliver him.

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Even if he was going to die, he said to the Philippians, to live is Christ, to die is gain.

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It would be great to die. I go to be with the Lord. But if I stay here and continue to live, it's better for you because then you continue to learn from me.

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And so Paul is sharing with Timothy, you've learned these things from me. So continue in them, even imitating my faith, my patience, he says.

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Patience is just something that he had talked about with Timothy. For in chapter two, verse 24, he says that the

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Lord's servant must patiently endure evil, knowing that God is working the things that are happening for some ultimate purpose for his glory.

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So continue to rely on God. He is still in control. My love,

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Paul says, the affection that he had for other people, humbling himself in whatever way he needed to so that others would hear the gospel that he proclaimed and they would turn from their sin and believe and be saved.

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Paul put others needs ahead of his own. And so he's telling Timothy to do the same.

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As a matter of fact, to the Philippians, when he wrote to the Philippians about Timothy, he said, I have

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I have no one like Timothy because he considers your need just as I consider your need.

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He believed that Timothy was a reflection of his heart. And so Paul continues to encourage

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Timothy to be that very thing, to show love to others and consider their need, especially when it comes to sharing the gospel with them, that they would listen to it and be saved.

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Paul says my steadfastness, how he has continued to persevere even in the midst of great persecution, which is where he goes next.

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In verse eleven, you've witnessed my persecutions and sufferings, the things that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra, which persecutions

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I endured. Timothy knows which persecutions Paul had endured and yet persevered through them and continued to proclaim the gospel.

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And others would come to faith because they saw this man still preach the gospel, though he was persecuted because he believed in what it was that he spoke yet from them all,

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Paul says, from them all, the Lord delivered me. Right now, I'm going through Second Corinthians with my congregation, and we just finished up Second Corinthians chapter four this past Sunday.

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As a matter of fact, if you go to my blog, PastorGabe .com is really all you have to type in and it'll take you straight to my blog.

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I put together some sermon notes of the sermon that I just delivered on Sunday. But there in Second Corinthians 4, 16 through 18,

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Paul encourages the Corinthians to continue to endure even through these light momentary afflictions.

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That's how he describes the persecutions that he's gone through. This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.

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Again, because that's what we hope in. Who hopes for what he sees, as Paul says in Romans chapter eight.

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But we hope for the things that we do not see. And as I was sharing with my congregation, Paul describing the tortures that he went through as light momentary afflictions.

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I said, let me give you a picture of what Paul is describing as light and momentary.

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In chapter 11, he says, five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes less one.

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Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day

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I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys. In danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst, often without food in cold and exposure.

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And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

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This is what Paul described. In chapter four, as being light momentary afflictions.

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But when compared to the glory that we are promised in Christ eternal life with him in his forever kingdom, these things that we are going through in this life, they are but a moment.

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They're but a snap of the fingers compared to the eternity that we will be in with Christ forever.

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So by comparison, these struggles, these troubles that we go through in life, they are just light, momentary afflictions.

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Romans 8, 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us if we endure to the end.

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And so, Paul saying to Timothy, these are the afflictions that I've been through and this is what

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God has has delivered me from. He has rescued me out of these things.

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And so even now, as Paul is in prison and he is awaiting his execution, he knows that he has finished his time and the mission that Christ has set forth for him to do.

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He knows that Christ is going to deliver him from this as well. As soon as Nero says off with his head and his head is separated from his body, his soul will be forever with Christ in glory.

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And again, he has nothing to fear of what man can do to him, for he has died and his life is hidden with Christ in God, as he says in Colossians chapter three, verses one through four.

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Therefore, we are to set our minds, our hearts heavenward where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

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And Paul encouraging Timothy in that very thing here as well. If we know that Paul would be rescued out of those struggles that he endured for the cause of Christ, don't you know that God will deliver you out of whatever it is that you are going through right now?

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Now, understand when I say that to you, I don't mean that whatever circumstance you're going through is going to have the happy fairy tale ending that you might wish that it would have.

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It could be that the thing you're struggling with, you might still struggle with all the way until the day that you die.

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It would be cheap for me to tell you that God will transform that situation into something great.

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He might not. This world is a fallen place. It has been subjected to futility because of sin and our rebellion against God.

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And so as a fallen world, things just go from bad to worse. Just as Paul is describing here in second

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Timothy, chapter three, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty and indeed things will be difficult.

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But what I can promise you is this. While your circumstance may not change, God will deliver you from the grave into his eternal kingdom.

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And so whatever you're going through in this world, just as whatever Paul went through that he described as a light momentary affliction, your trial is exactly that.

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And it is happening to you to teach you to rely more on God who raises the dead.

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In first Peter, chapter five, Peter says, cast all your cares on him because he cares for you.

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That's not a suggestion. That is a command. And if you decide, hey, I can take care of this problem by myself,

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I don't need to give it to the Lord. That's arrogant and you risk falling in line with those false unbelievers that Paul described at the start of chapter three.

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Those who are lovers of self who are proud, arrogant and swollen with conceit.

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You can't do this by yourself. Rely upon Christ, call out to him, pray to him.

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And you know what? I'm telling you this, even if nothing weighty is going on in your life, still you need to give all of yourself, all of your heart, soul, mind and strength to our

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Lord and savior, because this life is not the end and you still got death in front of you.

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And the only person who can deliver you from that is the one who conquered death. And that is

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Jesus Christ. Continue to worship Christ with all that you are.

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And on the day of glory, we are promised deliverance in him, just as Paul knows that the

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Lord will rescue him from this situation that he's in as he's writing his final letter to Timothy.

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We'll pick up there tomorrow and continue into verse 12. Let's conclude with prayer.

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Our wonderful God and our heavenly father, we thank you for the benevolence that you have poured out upon us, taking care of our every need, taking care of us in ways we're not even aware of and maybe not even know until we get to heaven someday.

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And we will look and see all the wonderful things that you did for us to secure us into your kingdom forever.

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And of course, this began with the death of Christ on the cross and his shed blood as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, his resurrection from the grave, conquering death so that all who believe in Jesus will not perish, but will have everlasting life, continue to grow us in holiness, shaping us more into the image of the sun.

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And no matter what it is that we go through in our lives, may we give these things over to you.

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May we ask for your help. May we desire your spirit to fill us up and continue to guide us and lead us according to your word in every aspect of our lives.

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Let us not ever believe that we are in control because if we do, we are deluded.

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But we must give ourselves entirely over to God, who is sovereign over all and will deliver us from that final enemy, who is death.

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Thank you for the saving grace of Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

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You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word when we understand the text.