Financial Contentment - [1 Timothy 6:6-10]

Bethlehem Bible Church iconBethlehem Bible Church

1 view

0 comments

00:00
For those who don't know me, my name is Scott Goddard, and I'll be teaching the lesson this morning. You don't normally see me in adult
00:07
Sunday school. I'm normally upstairs teaching the junior high class. And let us open in a word of prayer.
00:13
Heavenly Father, thank you for this morning. I pray, Lord, as we look at the topic of financial contentment from 1
00:19
Timothy chapter six, that you would illumine our hearts and minds and that you would take what we learned today,
00:26
Lord, apply it to our practical lives where we see these things flushed out at day -to -day as we handle money coming in and going out and what we do with it, spending, giving, saving, et cetera.
00:39
Lord, just help us to understand some biblical principles better in that area. And we pray in Christ's name, amen.
00:48
So to start off, I wanna just use sort of an object lesson. A few of you in the audience,
00:55
I gave an item. And there are many items that the Lord gives us in our day -to -day lives that we have to use.
01:02
And some things can be used in a right and proper way. And some things can be used with the wrong motives or with evil intent in a sinful way, right?
01:11
So if I gave you an object, if you could stand up please and tell us,
01:19
I'll go around here and tell us what the object is that I gave you and tell us what it is to use that item in a good, proper, righteous, godly way and how that same item could be used with wrong or sinful motives, okay?
01:35
In a way that is destructive or ungodly. Obviously, food is required for nourishment of the body, maintaining health, energy.
01:49
To use it sinfully would be gluttony, overdoing it or using it as a tool to cause other people harm and sanctioning, starving people, that kind of a thing.
02:10
Excellent. No, that's exactly right. I like it. Thank you. Scott, what do you have? Yes. Absolutely.
02:41
Good. Good. In and of itself, the item is not sinful but it could be used for godly purposes or ungodly purposes.
02:48
Nate, what do you have? Yes. Good, thanks
03:04
Nate. And for our lesson for today, to start us off, Diane, what do you have? I have a quarter -deck set of things.
03:40
Good. Yes. Yes, and which is our topic today, that we're going to look at money and what the word of God says in 1
03:48
Timothy 6 in regards to contentment with money because we talked about,
03:55
Diane talked about how you can use money for good things, purchasing for your family, supporting others, giving to the church, et cetera, but gambling, selfish motives, indulging in materialism, all these things creep up when we talk about money.
04:10
And though 1 Timothy 6 is a pastoral epistle and written to Timothy, which this is not just for pastors in terms of Christian application, okay?
04:23
Because if you're not careful in whether it's in ministry or in your Christian walk, that if we have the wrong motives, if we seek personal gain, financial gain in what we do, whether it's our ministry here at the church, whether it's application to our finances as home, we'll find ourselves in temptation, unable to get out, and therefore this lesson from 1
04:42
Timothy 6 is applicable to us. Well, the book of 1 Timothy is an interesting book because Paul, as he was released from Rome, went with Timothy to Ephesus.
04:53
In Ephesus, a church was planted. Timothy was left there as the pastor. And so Paul and Timothy had a very close relationship.
05:02
Paul then wrote this letter to Timothy as someone who was his disciple, someone who knew
05:08
Paul, who loved Paul. And Paul was writing to him as what we call a pastoral epistle.
05:13
This was to help resolve problems that Timothy was having in the Ephesian church. So ultimately, 1
05:19
Timothy we see as a corrective letter to help with problems in the church.
05:26
This is a general outline of the book of 1 Timothy. Chapter one deals with false doctrine.
05:34
Chapter two deals with structure in the church. We see a lot of things about elders and deacons and so forth in chapters two and three.
05:43
Chapter four, Timothy's instructed how to deal with false teachers in the church. Chapter five is pastoral responsibilities.
05:51
And in chapter six, which is our chapter for today, we see right living and right motives for the man of God.
05:59
So after all these things to conclude the book, this is the topic that Paul, through the
06:04
Holy Spirit, deems appropriate to relay to Timothy. So as we lead up to this, we see that false teachers are coming in.
06:13
How a pastor should deal with false teachers. This is kind of the theme moving into chapter six, leading up to financial responsibility.
06:23
So false teachers are in the church. We're not to be surprised that false teachers are in the church.
06:31
And Paul says, as we're leading up to our discussion in 1
06:37
Timothy chapter six, we have a description of false teachers. That's very interesting that this is immediately prior to our discussion on financial contentment.
06:46
Let me read the preceding verses from the scriptures. If you want to open up to 1
06:52
Timothy chapter six, verses three through five, three through five. Again, this is preceding the four, sorry, the five verses we're going to be looking at, which is 1
07:02
Timothy six, six through 10. As I read this, listen for the attributes, listen for the attributes of a false teacher.
07:14
1 Timothy chapter six, verses three through five. If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our
07:22
Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing.
07:30
But he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicion, and constant friction between men of depraved minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of great gain.
07:54
That's our lead in. So without looking at my overhead, who can tell me again, what is the main topic of 1
08:01
Timothy chapter six? What's the overall topic of 1 Timothy chapter six? Right motives for the word of God, right motives for the word of God.
08:13
And so here we're seeing first the wrong motives, here we're seeing the attributes of the false teacher.
08:20
From 1 Timothy chapter six, verses three through five, leading up to our discussion on financial contentment, we see they advocate different doctrines, they don't agree with sound words, they're conceited, they understand nothing, they have morbid interest in controversial questions, disputes about words, envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicion, and friction between men.
08:43
And what does it say at the end? That they suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
08:49
Godliness is a means of gain. So what were these false teachers, what were these false teachers seeking for?
08:59
They were in it for the money. They think that godliness is a source of financial gain, okay?
09:08
In contrast to that, Christian living and Christian ministry when done the right way is in fact a source of gain, but what kind of gain?
09:19
We'll see that shortly, but it's very different, very different from what the false teacher does.
09:24
So we're contrasting here now what the false teacher looks like with what true godliness in ministry, true godliness in Christian living looks like.
09:35
I gave you all the passages there in your handout, 1 Timothy 6 through 6 .10, and we're gonna take them one at a time.
09:43
1 Timothy 6 .6 says, but, again contrasting what we just read, but godliness actually is means of great gain when accompanied by contentment, when accompanied by contentment.
09:59
So what must accompany godliness for Christian to have great gain? You say it out loud. Contentment, contentment.
10:07
True or false, in this verse, 1 Timothy 6 .6, that's referring to financial gain.
10:15
Is that referring to financial gain? No, it's not. It's not at all.
10:21
What kind of gain is it referring to, do you think? A better living conditions, but really it's a gain of spirit.
10:39
Absolutely, absolutely. It's a gain where God is the source, right? Where God is the source.
10:46
True or false, false teachers of 1 Timothy 6, three through five can experience this great gain referred to in verse 6 .6.
10:55
Can the false teachers experience that gain? No, absolutely not. Absolutely not.
11:03
That's exactly right. It's a very strong contrast from the false to the true.
11:09
Excellent, thanks Dan. The next verse, 1 Timothy 6 .7 says, for we have brought nothing into the world so we can take nothing out of it either.
11:22
For we have brought nothing into the world so we can take nothing out of it either. Just take a moment there and on your handout, just restate that in your own words.
11:33
This isn't precise, doesn't need to have every word in there. What is the general principle that you see in 1
11:40
Timothy 6 .7? Just restate it in your own words on your handout. That's good, that's good.
11:50
Something to the effect of, we can't take it with us when we die. And I think as long as you have that on your handout, you're in good shape.
11:57
We can't take this with you when we die. And if we live with that reality in mind, that will help us with financial contentment.
12:05
This is a tricky one. Can anyone think of an Old Testament reference? What Old Testament book that Paul may be recalling by making this statement?
12:17
Very tricky question, but we wanna set the bar high. So let's see. Ecclesiastes would be a good guess.
12:27
But I think the references that I found that Paul may be closely referring to was Job 1 .21,
12:34
which says, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return there. This is a good way for help us to realize that our material possessions are insignificant, both at birth and at death.
12:49
And it's also a good reminder to help us realize that the things that we have, have very temporal value, very temporal value.
12:58
1 Timothy 6 .8 says, and if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.
13:09
If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.
13:16
So just take a minute there on your handout and restate that in your own words.
13:22
Write it down in your handout, restating 1 Timothy 6 .8 in your own words.
13:34
And when someone's done with that, if they'd like to raise their hand and read me how they worded that.
13:48
And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.
13:57
These are basic human needs. I mean, even the people in Africa, those people perfectly happy living in villages that were quite primitive.
14:09
They had shelter and they had food, they had their own herds and so forth. They were perfectly.
14:17
Yes. But today, well, even in Paul's day, people always wanted to strive for more.
14:25
Yes. They just wanna have a bigger house and more things. Yes. That's it.
14:34
Yes, good. Thank you, Fred. So how would somebody restate? Could someone else tell me how they restated 1
14:41
Timothy 6 .8? Dave? Excellent.
14:49
Thank you, Dave. I like that. I like that. That we just have to rest daily in the provision of the
14:55
Lord for all of our needs. And following that, we have a short exercise, which
15:01
I found interesting just to think through myself. I'm gonna give you a minute to think through this yourself.
15:08
It would be helpful if you had a pen to write on this. But as you think about your needs versus wants, we talk about this in Christian circles a lot.
15:16
Is this a need or a want? Well, we have very good guidelines here in 1 Timothy 6 .8, right?
15:22
So as we're applying 1 Timothy 6 .8, thinking through needs versus wants as it pertains to financial contentment, what
15:31
I'd like you to do is circle the areas on there that you would consider Christian needs.
15:39
And that will then imply that the things remained uncircle would fall more into the want category and some of them may not even fall there.
15:55
And if we have food and covering with these, we shall be content.
16:29
All right, let's take a vote as we go through this. Who voted for computer to be a
16:36
Christian need? It feels like that sometimes, doesn't it? I think we have unanimity on that point.
16:46
How about clothing? Who circled clothing as a Christian need? Good. Anyone think that clothing is not a
16:55
Christian need and perhaps a want? Yeah, we came to church naked. Good.
17:12
And I think our verse in 1 Timothy 6 .8 confirms that too. If we have food and covering, some translations translate this word clothing, with these we shall be content.
17:26
How about shelter? How about shelter? Who circled shelter as a Christian need?
17:35
How about a want? Who circled that as a want or left it as a want? So everyone put that as a need?
17:42
Is that consistent with our verse, 1 Timothy 6 .8? And if we have food and covering with these, we shall be content.
17:48
Is that consistent with that verse? In what sense, Dan? Yes, I did a word study on the
17:59
Greek word that's used here as covering and that covers both clothing and shelter in context.
18:09
So though some translations just put the word clothing, it can include shelter as well. So do you think some people have the wrong view of what it means to have a shelter need?
18:39
How do you think we fare here in Massachusetts? Does that make it a struggle, do you think, for Christians that we live in that culture, that we live in that society?
18:53
Yeah, yeah.
19:11
Mark, you had something to add to that. I just think this, there's issues we really need.
19:20
Sure, and that's an excellent point. This area of needs versus want is bigger than just these general categories.
19:30
We could dissect each one of these categories into sub points and find out really where we ought to be. And we should, it's a good,
19:37
I think, motives check for ourselves to look at these needs and see where we fare within that.
19:44
Thank you. How about a spouse? Is a spouse a Christian need? No, is that funny?
20:00
Okay. It is not good for man. Okay, okay.
20:08
So for most, for most, if you say it's a need, it's what
20:16
God has intended as the pattern that we should live in.
20:24
I think too, as Bruce said,
20:32
I think it's accepting these needs and not necessarily relationships and things like that.
20:40
Yep, yep, yep, no, good point. Who circled food?
20:49
Oh, good, okay. So we're still there. Okay, good. I think it's pretty explicit from the works. How about Bible work 7 .0?
20:57
Come on. Bob Dunn, excellent. One person's paying attention.
21:02
Good, thank you. No, Bible work 7 .0 isn't. Some people probably don't even have that in the want category, but nevertheless.
21:13
It's a sort of a fancy computer program that helps you dissect all the words and the original languages and so forth.
21:19
How about. That's right, that's right.
21:28
How about health? This is the one that's always a point of discussion with Christians is having good health.
21:38
Yeah, and that might be answered differently in some of these other churches, right? Oh, of course.
21:45
But I think scripturally we're in good ground saying that. Doing the same thing over and over.
22:08
Yes, and we think right back even to the Job verse that we read earlier, and I think that's a pinnacle reference.
22:17
How about a savings account with three months of expenses? Anyone circle that?
22:24
And how about children? Children, having children. Is that a Christian need?
22:31
It is a blessing, amen. Good, well, I think we're all on the same page with that. And it helps us to realize that real contentment is independent of poverty or wealth, that our satisfaction comes from the
22:43
Lord. It's satisfaction found within our soul. This is what this whole verses are talking about. This is spiritual gain, spiritual satisfaction, spiritual contentment in the
22:52
Lord. And it reminds me about Paul who's writing this, who knows himself firsthand very well about contentment.
23:00
Bob, could you read for us Philippians chapter four, verses 11 through 13?
23:08
And this is a good example from Paul, from his personal experience, how he understood contentment and how he applied it to his life.
23:17
Philippians four, 11 through 13. Circumstances I am, in any and every circumstance
23:33
I've learned the secret of being filled and going hungry. Good, thank you,
23:44
Bob. So as we think about this list of needs versus wants and so forth, some of these wants can feel pretty strong at times.
23:54
We feel like we really want things at certain times. And so when we think about perhaps going without those things that we really want, what kind of emotions does that invoke?
24:06
Whether it's you personally, or you just think about what it would be like to go without something that you feel like you really want, anxiety.
24:26
Yeah, I think that's a common thing that a lot of us feel. We want something so bad, we feel that, yeah.
24:35
Anyone else? Right, yeah, all right.
25:00
So contentment in the Lord doesn't just come naturally. We have to rest in the
25:05
Lord, seek our contentment in Him. Good, thank you. Okay, so as I read 1
25:11
Timothy six, nine through 10, as I read through it, underline the results of wrong motives in ministry or in your
25:22
Christian walk. So wrong motives, but those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
25:44
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
25:57
Okay, from those verses, let's see if we can pull out four grievous results of having wrong motives, whether it's in ministry or towards financial contentment in our own
26:11
Christian walk. These results, Paul is speaking of them as such grievous, it's like plunging a sword into your own body.
26:22
Who found one in there? What's the result of wrong motives? They will fall into temptation.
26:31
This isn't just being tempted, they won't just be tempted, they'll actually fall into temptation, okay?
26:37
They will go all the way and yield to that temptation. What else is a result of having wrong motives in this area?
26:52
They fall into ruin and destruction, good, good. What it is is that they actually, they fall into a snare.
26:59
So they fall into temptation and then they fall into a snare and what do snares do? They keep us down, they stay down there.
27:06
They're falling and they keep falling. That's the pattern that develops. And they fall then into foolish and harmful desires, number three.
27:20
What's interesting is if someone repeatedly is falling into foolish and harmful desires, at this point, it may indicate that you're seeing an unregenerate state in a person and that person then can take the ultimate fall into, where Dan, where's the ultimate fall?
27:40
Faithlessness that leads to perdition. So selfish discontentment is serious business.
27:48
Paul is putting a very high price on contentment. And lastly, what was the last thing that we see for a grievous result of wrong motives in this area?
28:06
They fall into, I think we said it, foolish and harmless desires, right? This is the pattern that we see of one sin leading to another sin, leading to another sin, leading to another sin.
28:17
So it's those who are selfish and selfishness is the key word because selfishness, think about it, when it leads to one sin, it often leads to other things, dishonesty, theft, seeking the praise of men, power, comfort, seeking satisfaction of our flesh.
28:36
This word of selfishness, discontentment has this trickle -down effect. It just rolls and it rolls and it rolls.
28:44
So as you think of 1 Timothy 6, 9 through 10, how would you summarize that in your own words?
28:52
How would you summarize that in your own words? Yes. And we are to take what they seek for things.
30:02
They actively reject, they go to the other extreme and they actively reject anything that might give them a little comfort, a little ease in their lives or whatever it is.
30:13
And this becomes a source of pride. See how spiritual I am because I reject all these things.
30:19
Yes. And that too, you are equally, on either side of that coin, you are rejecting what our heavenly father has for us, whatever that might be.
30:33
And he says to us, I know best what is for your life. I know best.
30:39
So take what I hand you. And that's what Paul's saying. I've learned to take whatever the father gives me, whether it's a little or it's a lot, because he mentions both of those things.
30:50
I can be in poverty and I can be in prosperity. And I appreciate you referencing also
30:57
Ecclesiastes because I think that we can't avoid that book here. The whole message of Ecclesiastes. That's right.
31:02
And Ecclesiastes 5 .10 says this, thinking about one thing leading to the next. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money.
31:12
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money. And in a sense, that's almost a good summary too of 1
31:18
Timothy 6 .9 -10. That personal wealth or personal gain should not be our goal, especially in ministry.
31:28
Especially in ministry, while we're doing Christian ministry. All of us here are involved in Christian ministry. If you're here at BBC and you're a member of BBC, you're involved in Christian ministry and you should not be doing it for personal gain.
31:41
Personal gain. It says some by longing, that is for money, that wandered away from the faith.
31:51
That's the real danger of looking for better things. It can take you away from the
32:02
Lord. Oh, yes. Dan. What would you guys say to that?
33:10
That was like, I also remember the first time we ever saw gasoline in a gallon. We were in Flagstaff, Arizona and we thought
33:17
Western civilization was coming. It didn't, but so many of the people that you run across that are putting their trust in money, they don't have any.
33:29
But they are absolutely convinced that if they only could get their handbooks of money, all their problems would be over.
33:37
And that's not the point, it works. Your problems are only starting when you start to accumulate things.
33:46
because as soon as you start to complicate things, then you start worrying about being conflicted. And that just snowballs.
33:55
And all of a sudden, your contentment is gone. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money.
34:01
How much is enough, a little bit? So, in these verses, would you say then being rich or the desire to be rich is what's under Paul's condemnation?
34:11
The desire to be rich. So, those are the verses that we wanted to look at. And I want to try to summarize those for you in three main points.
34:22
And these would be sort of your takeaways, if I was to give you just one thing to take away from this.
34:32
And then we'll go into some discussion questions afterwards. So, three components of financial contentment in your ministry, or you could substitute the word in your
34:41
Christian walk. But again, all of you as servants of the Lord are involved in ministry.
34:49
You must realize that you can't take anything with you when you die. You must realize you cannot take anything with you when you die.
34:58
We saw that principle from 1 Timothy 6, verse 7. Yes. Yes.
35:21
Yes. Absolutely.
35:46
Oh, and I agree with you, absolutely. I think this is talking more in terms of personal contentment in what you're seeking personally, whether it's the goods and money that comes with it for yourself versus what you're talking about, which is the proper and right use of it, which
36:03
I think Diane pointed out well at the very beginning. The second one is that you must daily rest in the provision of the
36:13
Lord for all your needs. We saw that principle from 1 Timothy 6, verse 8.
36:22
You must daily rest in the provision of the Lord for all of your needs. Yes.
36:48
Absolutely. Oh, good point, thank you. The key word there being in the
36:55
Lord, right? And lastly, you must not have wealth or personal gain as your goal.
37:08
You must not have wealth or personal gain as your goal. So I included some discussion questions just to sort of open it up and flesh out some of these thoughts on some random topics that may apply as we're talking about temptation, financial gain, personal gain, etc.
37:33
We might not have time for all of them, but we'll hit a few of them. And then I want to do a little plug for IBS while I have the opportunity of a microphone.
37:44
So does the idea of making less money by a job change or perhaps entering full -time ministry give you anxiety?
37:52
So think of your life now and your budget and all that. And we think about what we have and our current needs and how they're met or potentially we feel that maybe they're not met, if that's our thoughts perhaps.
38:06
And if we think about a job change giving us less money, how would that make you feel?
38:27
So is it okay? Is there room to have anxiety in such a situation like that? I'm not surprised at him that he's taking care of all that.
39:52
So rest in him. But there is a balance between going through life happy -go -lucky, you know, don't worry, be happy, and this debilitating worry on the other hand.
40:04
Yeah. You're supposed to exercise good stewardship.
40:10
That's where this issue of, you know, three months' expenses on the bank, that's a wise thing.
40:15
Is that a need? Not a definition of need, but it's certainly wise.
40:24
Good. And particularly in this day and age when, you know, that's one of the characteristics of life today is that the days when you've got a job that you're going to stay with for 35 or 40 years are probably over.
40:38
And so, you know, if you want to cushion that load, young man, plan on getting laid off.
40:49
Good point, good point. We don't have time to do a lot of these. Let me skip down to a couple other ones.
40:55
So how about this one, number four. Should the pastor or, let's say, paid members of the church staff know how much the members of the congregation give in the weekly offering?
41:07
This is just a random question that discusses finances and so forth, that applies to ministry. Why not?
41:19
So it's good to keep that confidential. And then giving, for each individual, giving is an expression.
41:35
That's why we don't put... Good. Thank you.
41:55
In fact, in this church, the leadership goes out of its way to make sure we do not know. Good.
42:04
Thank you, Louis. So I've heard this saying. 1 Timothy is a pastoral epistle after all.
42:10
Have you ever heard the saying that a pastor should be paid little to, quote, keep him humble, to keep him humble?
42:18
Is that a biblical principle? Should we apply that? Why or why not? Dave. I think it's an excuse not to pay a pastor.
42:28
And going along with some other questions, I think that the congregation needs to know. Thank you.
42:43
Dave, you had something to add? No, I was just pointing to Mark. Oh, okay.
42:50
One of the things that bugs me is visiting churches, especially in the south where, you know, you have a church of 3 ,000 people, you know, and the pastor comes out and he's got about three gold rings on his hand, you know, on the back of a
43:06
Mercedes Benz. I have problems with that. I think the pastor needs to be paid a salary that is comparable to what his congregation makes, probably a little bit more.
43:21
But I see the wealth of some of these pastors is just being flaunted.
43:28
You know, I have real problems with that. Yeah. Especially some of these television evangelists.
43:34
You know, Jimmy Swagger years ago did that kind of thing, had the, you know, several gold rings.
43:42
His whole staff and family had Mercedes Benzes or BMWs as vehicles.
43:49
And where is he now? His church, I forgot where it's located, but it's just a shadow of what it used to be.
43:57
They have most of the church closed off with curtains because he fell into sin.
44:04
There's a passage specifically that comes about in the book of Eustrema that says that the pastor was also sitting with a man.
44:23
But I think it's just parable. That's 1 Timothy 5, yeah. Yeah, in fact, 1
44:39
Timothy 5, 17, which is immediately preceding the text we looked at today, is the verse that Lewis was referring to saying that the teacher of the word is worthy of double honor, which
44:50
I think can include both honor in terms of recognition and respect. But I think there's a component of that which refers to finances as well.
45:00
This is a good one. The last one, number seven, if a paid minister is suffering from financial strain, should the need be told to the congregation?
45:07
And then I would apply that to say, what about the strain of an unpaid lay minister?
45:14
Anybody here, for example, has a financial need? Should we share that need with one another in light of our discussion of 1
45:21
Timothy 6? Should the pastor share a need? Good.
45:52
So it's okay either way. There's flexibility there, is what you're saying. Good. Any other thoughts on that?
46:12
Good point. Good point. It goes to our needs -once discussion, right? Good. Well, that's a worthwhile discussion, and thank you for that.
46:22
So I included there sort of a takeaway just to do a personal motives check.
46:28
Think about our involvement in ministry, our own Christian walk, how we view our personal finances, what we do to get gain, and why we do it.
46:37
And I think it's a good time to evaluate that, and remember that ultimately if we do things the right way, as opposed to the way the false teachers do things, if we do things
46:47
God's way, there is great gain. It's not just gain, but Paul uses the term great gain.
46:58
Bob, could you close us in prayer? Amen. Well, I still have the microphone before I let everyone run off of their chairs.
47:49
I think I still have two or three minutes, so I'm going to do an IBS plug. The Institute for Biblical Studies is something we started last year, and we had the first year of it.
48:00
Mike taught a class on hermeneutics. Steve taught a class on apologetics.
48:09
Then, let's see, Pradeep taught a class on Church History I, which was the time of the early church up to before the
48:18
Reformation. Then Steve had a second go around and taught a class on eschatology.
48:25
So there are some people here who took those classes, and if anyone who did take a class wants to share sort of a personal experience or testimony saying what they liked about the classes or didn't like about the classes, now would be a great time to do that.
48:42
The upcoming classes for this fall are going to be Church History II, taught by Bob Dunn.
48:49
He's all geared up and getting ready to go there. The syllabus is online. It's not a class that someone would have had to take in Church History I to take.
48:58
It's just if you're interested, and Bob did a great Sunday School class on it, sort of a preview of what he'll be teaching on.
49:06
So you can look at that. You don't have to have taken Church History I to take it. We're trying to encourage people who want to study deeper on their own time on some particular topics of interest to them to sign up for the classes.
49:18
So you can look at the brochures here, also on the website. Following that, I'll do a short class on elementary
49:26
Greek. And the reason I want to put a plug in for that is because not only that it's my own class, but also because I think it is profitable.
49:34
The class content, and I tell you this because this is representative of our congregation. You can then tell others about these classes as well, but we don't have a whole congregation here.
49:43
But the objective of that class, we'll be using a textbook called It's Still Greek to Me. And it's going to be how to do
49:50
Bible studies without mastering Greek. So how do you get access to the... Oh, sorry.
49:57
Yeah. Wrong one. Yeah, Greek for the rest of us. Greek for the rest of us. And it's how to get access to the Greek tools.
50:04
How do you do Greek word studies? If you come across a commentary and you see a word in Greek, do you just kind of skip over that?
50:11
Or can you make some sense out of what they're talking about there? So that's going to be the intent of that class. It's not going to be a full study of Greek.
50:18
So I think those will both be profitable classes. And the Greek class also will be good preparation for James White's class, who is scheduled to come here next spring and talk about bibliology.
50:30
How did we get the Bible that we have today? What are the good translations? And in my estimation, there's no better foundation for a study on that topic than to have some understanding of the principles of the
50:42
Greek language. So I would encourage you guys to all check that out. And I could answer any questions anyone has about IBS now.
50:49
Or if there's anyone who took one of the IBS classes who would like to share a short testimony on how they have benefited from those classes, that would be great as well.
50:59
Any thoughts or questions? The upcoming class, do you have the date, Bob, offhand?
51:05
September 7th. September 7th. So it's just about one month from now. Yeah, Thursday night, 630 to 830.
51:13
The classes run seven weeks long. Good. And they're free. They're free. Just have to buy the books.
51:20
Any testimonies from someone who took one of the classes? Speak a little bit. I took all of the classes last year.
51:33
I thought it was highly beneficial. Nudics and Church History 1 and so forth.
51:41
I've been a Christian for 40 years. And there's things I learned in those classes that I never even heard of before.
51:48
I mean, it was quite enlightening. It does take work. I mean, it isn't like sitting in the
51:55
Sunday school class and you don't have to do anything. But with the IBS, you do have to work. You do have to devote some time to study and yes, there's quizzes.
52:04
But they're all geared to keeping it up here so that you do learn. There's no question about that.
52:12
I recommend it to anybody. Thanks, Fred. Any last questions on that? Thank you,
52:20
Pat. So there you go, two hearty endorsements. So spread the word and thank you for your time.