WWUTT 2125 Q&A The Face of God, the Meek Shall Inherit, a Pastor's Rebellious Children

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What does it mean to seek the face of God? What did Jesus mean when he said that the meek will inherit the earth?

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And if a pastor's adult children are rebellious, is he unqualified? The answers to these questions and others when we

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Understand the Text. Many of the

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Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we Understand the Text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

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Visit our website at www .tt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. Becky is not with me for this episode. As a matter of fact, we're getting this uploaded really late.

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I'm not getting this on until Sunday, even though it's still going to be dated for Friday.

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She and I just never had the chance this week to make an hour's worth of time to sit down and record the podcast.

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Actually, it takes a little bit longer than that, because I've got to get questions together and even research some of the answers to those questions and things like that.

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So it does take a little bit more than the hour that you hear. But we were just never able to find the time to make it work.

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So for this episode, I'm going to cheat a little bit. I am going to go back to the sermon that I just preached this past Sunday.

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This was the close of our study in 1 Timothy. And at the end of a series,

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I will take questions from the congregation and respond to them in a closing sermon. I used to do this at my church back in Kansas.

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Then I was an associate pastor in Texas, so I haven't done this in several years. And I started getting questions as we were coming up to the close of 1

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Timothy. Hey, when we were talking about this, you didn't mention this. What would the Bible have to say about that? And so I told the congregation, well, submit some questions to me, and then

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I'll respond to those questions in a closing sermon at the end of the series. That turned out great. So that is the

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Q &A for today. You're still getting a question and answer, a little bit of preaching in there as well. And God willing,

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Becky and I will be back on with you another time. It won't be next week, though. Next week I'm flying solo again as we're going to be on the road.

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We're actually heading back to East Texas. I thought it was a good idea to get back there when the solar eclipse was going to be right over East Texas.

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We'll get to see the full thing again. We got to see the first eclipse when it came over Kansas back in 2017.

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And here we are seven years later wanting to see another solar eclipse. It'll be the last chance that we'll have in a long time anyway.

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So that's what we're going to be doing. We'll be back to visit some friends and see the solar eclipse. So all this stuff is going to be recorded well in advance.

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Becky won't be with me for that. But then hopefully we'll get back on the week after that. Usually on Friday we take questions from the listeners, and you can submit those questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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These are questions that I received from the congregation of my own church.

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At the conclusion of our study through 1 Timothy, I'm going to begin here by reading 1

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Timothy chapter 6, the close of the book. Then we'll get to a short message and our questions.

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So here we go. God bless you and thanks for listening. So just two verses here. This is probably the shortest reading that I've done at the beginning of a sermon.

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But in honor of the word of the king, would you please stand? Reading from the English Standard Version, 1

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Timothy chapter 6, verses 20 and 21. Hear the word of the Lord. O Timothy, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

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Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.

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For by professing it, some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.

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You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to the close of this book, as we have been reading over the course of 1

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Timothy, what it means to be the church of God. What it means, even as individual

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Christians, how we are to be in pursuit of godliness. I pray that we take those things that we have learned and we apply them to our lives.

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That we may continue to grow in sanctification, in Christ likeness, drawing nearer to God and desiring to know you more and more.

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Teach us these things as we continue to apply these words and help us as a church that we might hold one another accountable to applying these words.

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We're helping our brothers and sisters grow in Christ. For our sanctification was not meant to be something that we do by ourselves, but is in fact a community project.

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Keep us fixed upon those sound words that lead to life and let us not be led astray by those things that are falsely called knowledge.

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It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. I like to cook.

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I probably cook more than my wife does. I don't make any elaborate recipes, but I just know what works and I know what my taste buds like and praise

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God, my wife also enjoys what I cook and so do my children. But the thing about the way that I cook is

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I don't really follow any recipes. I just throw stuff in a pot, I'll cook it for so long when

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I'm sure that it is heated to the right temperature, then we will eat it. And that's typically the way that I cook things.

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So then when Becky is left up to making something and she really wants to make something that I've made before, she will try her hand at a recipe that doesn't exist.

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And she likes to measure things out. She wants to know exactly what's supposed to go into this and how much is supposed to be in it.

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And so it frustrates her when she tries to duplicate something I've made and there's nothing written down anywhere.

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She'll be calling me up or shooting me text messages and saying, how much am I supposed to add to this? I don't know, that much?

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How long am I supposed to heat it? Put it on high for 30 minutes or whatever.

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So that gets frustrating to her when she wants to follow a recipe, wants to follow instructions and the instructions just aren't there.

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I think I go by the Tim Allen method. I don't know if you remember Home Improvement back in the 90s.

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But whenever he would be assembling some new gadget, he would say that the instructions are just suggestions.

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You don't actually have to follow that. You can do what you want. And so I apply that same sort of method to cooking.

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Fortunately for us, God did not leave it up to us to decide how the church was supposed to be run.

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We don't just gather together on a Sunday and just kind of sit around, well, we're here, now what do we do?

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And this letter that Paul had written to Timothy was specifically about how the church is supposed to function.

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What are you supposed to do, Timothy, in the role that you've been given in this assignment that you have over the church in Ephesus where Paul had sent him?

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And then what are the responsibilities even for the members of that congregation? We've been reading about those very things as we've dedicated these last few months since the very start of November to studying

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Paul's letter to Timothy, the first letter to Timothy as far as the order of these letters go that we have in canon.

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I bring your attention back to 1 Timothy 3 .14 where Paul had said there right at the center of the letter,

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I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living

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God, a pillar and a buttress of the truth. So if you think of this letter as being building instructions for the house of God, you even have aspects of this structure to find there, a pillar and a buttress of the truth.

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There are pillars holding up the truth. There are buttresses that defend the truth.

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And just as Paul has said that here, so we come back to that at the very conclusion.

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If you'll remember, this letter started the very first instruction that Paul gave. He said to Timothy not to let anyone teach any different doctrine that goes astray from the sound words of our

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Lord Christ. Don't let them teach myths and speculations, which actually causes division.

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It does not bring about the unity that we should be experiencing as a body of Christ.

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Your body doesn't function if it isn't unified. If it's all broken up and pieces are scattered everywhere, how can the body work?

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So it is the same in the body of Christ. We are to be together and we cannot be together without the sound word of Christ.

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So Paul begins with that. At the center of the letter, we have yet another warning against false teachers.

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That's right after that statement in chapter 3. He warns against false teachers again at the start of chapter 4.

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And then we've seen it again here in chapter 6 where you had at the start of the chapter, teach and urge these things, sound words.

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But then in verses 3 and 4, if anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our

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Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is actually puffed up with conceit.

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He's self -centered. He's not God glorifying. He doesn't have the best interests of the body in mind, but he is puffed up with conceit and he understands nothing.

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And then Paul goes on to describe there going away from the sound words of Christ and those teachings that flow from the gospel that produce godliness actually causes division.

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He has an unhealthy craving for controversy. These words produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction.

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How can a body be unified when we are going in so many different directions?

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And so Paul comes back to that reminder here. Once again, that call for the church to be a pillar and a buttress of the truth.

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When Paul says in verse 20, O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.

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Avoid the irreverent babble and the contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.

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Excuse me. Our outline this morning looks like this. It's just three short verses, but nonetheless we find some structure to these things that Paul is instructing

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Timothy in. Number one, he says to guard the good deposit. Guard the deposit.

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Now this just very simply means the gospel. Guard the gospel. We've seen various ways in which

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Paul has used other language to describe the gospel, and here he refers to it as a deposit, a good deposit.

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It is what God has given to us. Guard it so that it will not be corrupted and made to be something that our

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Lord Christ did not preach nor intend. Secondly, we see, he says to avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.

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So number two, avoid false knowledge, which is really not good knowledge at all, but that which breaks up the body and does not lead to godliness.

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And then finally, Paul gives a consequence. If we go away from the good deposit, if we are following after false knowledge, then what is the result?

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Verse 21, for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.

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So number three, lest you face the consequence. Going away from good knowledge or not guarding the good deposit, instead you give into false knowledge, there are consequences for that.

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It may cause you to fall away from the faith, and then others will follow in that direction as well.

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So ultimately what we want to glean from this in the few minutes that we spend in these couple of verses, we want to understand this, let us guard our good doctrine which leads to life, so to avoid false doctrine which leads to death.

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These things are still very important for us to consider, though this is Paul speaking to Timothy, and Timothy has this assignment over the church in Ephesus 2 ,000 years ago.

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And we've been reading over the course of this letter instructions that very readily apply to elders of the church, yet we have seen in these six short chapters, how there is application for every believer, and how we are to conduct ourselves in the household of faith.

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That we may all hold fast to that good doctrine that leads to life, and avoid false doctrine which brings about death.

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So let us consider these things together, that outline will remain up for you as we go through this again.

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So once again in verse 20, Paul says, O Timothy, guard the deposit that is entrusted to you.

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Now in the next letter when we get to 2 Timothy, Paul actually says to take that which has been entrusted to you and you must entrust it to other men.

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So Paul, or Timothy rather, has the assignment to even raise up others in the sound words that he has been given in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Now like I said, Paul sometimes will use a different word it's really the same word as the gospel, but it's just another word to help us understand the substance of what the gospel is.

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In other places we've seen in 1 Timothy, the gospel defined as doctrine. Now doctrine is just simply a word that is synonymous with teaching.

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When we talk about a doctrine, we're talking about a teaching. So for example, we consider the doctrine of the trinity.

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We're considering those bodies of teaching or the groupings of teachings that we have in scripture that talks about our one

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God being triune, three persons in one. We would call that the doctrine of the teaching, or the doctrine of the trinity that would therefore be teaching on the trinity.

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And so we've seen this word doctrine come up over and over again talking about sound doctrine, avoiding false doctrine, and here in verse 20 where Paul says,

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Timothy, guard the deposit he's coming right back to doctrine. This deposit, which would be something like of wealth, of riches, of money, of some kind of possession it has been given to you as an investment and you are to be invested in the church.

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This has been Timothy's assignment to take that gospel that he had heard

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Paul preach that had been preached to him, that Timothy had no doubt much experience in preaching in the many cities that he went to along with Paul and his missionary brethren.

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The gospel would be proclaimed it was given to him, it was stored up in his heart, it is a deposit, it is a good deposit, it is the best deposit.

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I believe I've asked you this question before, but I ask it of you again in the context of 1

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Timothy. Do you believe that there is doctrine that saves?

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Yes, for if you've heard the message of the gospel, you've heard doctrine that saves.

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You have heard that Jesus lived a perfect life, died the death that we were supposed to die, was buried in a tomb, rose again on the third day for our justification, ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, is coming back again to judge the living and the dead and all those who believe in him will not perish under the judgment of God that is burning against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men but you will be saved and spend eternity with God forever in glory.

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If that's the gospel you heard, you heard good doctrine and that good deposit placed in your heart that you love and is now growing you in knowledge of God and even in love for the people of God.

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So you heard the best deposit. You know that there is doctrine that saves.

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Do you then also know that there is doctrine that kills?

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There is false doctrine. There are lies that will lead a person to destruction.

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When we heed these warnings about false doctrine we are literally dealing with life and death issues and even more than being life and death issues we're talking about things that have eternal ramifications to them.

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There is doctrine that is good, those things that point us to Christ, and there is doctrine that is bad, that which points us away from Christ and would in fact lead to our destruction.

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So as we read here, guard the good deposit the first part of verse 20, the second part is avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.

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Now notice here that it's also referred to as contradictions. It contradicts itself. The world has a notion of love but that notion often contradicts itself.

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One of the things that you've probably been hearing in the culture a lot lately is with regards to children deciding to be whatever gender they want to be.

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And the world will say that it is loving that you should let a child be whatever gender that they claim that they want to be.

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It would be unloving to tell that child that they're wrong and no, if you're a boy wanting to be a girl you can't be, you're a boy.

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They would say it's unloving. It would be oppressive to try to deny a boy who wants to be a girl.

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But we know it's incredibly unloving to encourage that person in a lie that would lead to their destruction.

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The loving thing is not to encourage a person in their delusion. That would in fact be the unloving thing.

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This is the world's notion of love. The world contradicts itself in this way.

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Those things that they call love actually turn out to be unloving and very, very destructive.

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And so there are those likewise who will even under the guise of a

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Christian will say that they are preaching things that are actually loving that in fact are not.

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The health and wealth gospel for example. That will try to convince you that God's desire for you is to always be healthy and to always be wealthy.

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And if you are not healthy, well guess who's doing something wrong? You are. You must have some sin in your life that you're not taking care of and that's why you're sick.

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Why is your bank account empty? Again, that's on you. Something unfaithful that you're doing and that's why

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God's not blessing you with riches right now. Those things are lies from the pit of hell and they lead to destruction believing that God's intention for us is simply to have earthly prosperity.

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Whereas Jesus said foxes have holes and birds have nests but the son of man has no place to lay his head.

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What was Jesus doing wrong? John the Baptist wore camel's hair and ate locusts and honey.

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What was he doing wrong? So it is not God's intention for us that we would always be healthy and always be wealthy.

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Some of you are blessed with good health and perhaps a little bit of wealth as well. Praise God for that.

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But it doesn't mean that everybody will receive that and therefore if you don't have that then you must be doing something wrong which places burdens on people that they cannot lift and cannot carry.

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It makes a person think that the source of our salvation or the fruit of our salvation has to be in some sort of earthly possession and that's not it at all.

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The possession that we have through the gospel of Jesus Christ is a heavenly kingdom, not an earthly one.

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So these are ways in which those false doctrines, that irreverent babble reveals contradictions in itself.

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It is falsely called knowledge. I have the answers and you need to listen to me.

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But in fact it is a lie. It is not knowing but it is taking away from knowing that which is true.

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Therefore Paul gives this warning again and it is so in keeping with the way we started the letter, right?

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We started with the warning, avoid false doctrines. So we come back to that warning at the conclusion.

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Remember the good words that lead to life. Avoid the irreverent words which lead to death.

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And then lastly Paul gets to the consequence in verse 21 for by professing it, by professing that which is falsely called knowledge, some have swerved from the faith.

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And again we understand the faith that we have. The faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is that which saves.

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The whole doctrine of justification by faith that is taught throughout Romans. It is the pinnacle doctrine that Paul focuses on in the book of Romans.

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That we are saved not by works but by faith, justified by our faith.

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So if we swerve from that then we don't have justification.

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We are not justified. We are not declared innocent before God but we are still under our sins and under therefore the wages of our sins which is death and the judgment of God that resides on the wicked.

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Those that profess false knowledge swerve from the true faith. They don't go in the direction that we are meant to go as believers fixing our eyes on Jesus as said in Hebrews 12.

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The author and the perfecter of our faith. Instead of fixing our eyes on Christ and running with endurance the race that is set before us they are led astray by all these diversions.

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They take their eyes off Christ. They run off the path and they swerve from the faith.

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We've seen a few references over the course of 1st Timothy. We're going to see this again in 2nd Timothy where Paul would make some illustrations to an athletic event and that reference to swerving from the faith probably in that same sort of vocabulary.

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For if you've ever been to a high school track meet or something like that. If you ever ran track in high school then you know the moment you step outside that line of your lane you're disqualified.

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So here it is as if a person was running the race for a time but then they stepped outside the lines and had swerved from the faith and had shown themselves to not really be in the race at all.

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So Paul gives this final warning and again it's so we even would understand as the

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Holy Spirit applies these things to our lives today that we would hold fast to that good doctrine that leads to life and avoid the bad doctrine that destroys and then

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Paul closes again the same way he began by saying grace be with you.

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We heard right at the start of 1st Timothy 1, 1 and 2. Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God and of Christ Jesus our hope to Timothy my true child in the faith grace mercy and peace from God the

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Father and Christ Jesus our Lord and we conclude with that same way we started in the salutation is the closing as well grace be with you.

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Grace the unmerited favor of God we do nothing to deserve it but he shows his favor to us anyway and it is by the grace of God that we have come into this faith it is by his grace that we are sustained in this faith as well.

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Now even though this is the work and the power of God there are still responsibilities that are given to each one of us and so you have heard the instruction to guard the good deposit and you've heard the instruction to avoid that which destroys and so though it is by God's power that we've come into this faith and remain sustained in that faith let it be that power that also gives you the wisdom and the discernment to know the difference between what is right and what is wrong or the way that Charles Spurgeon put it discernment is not just knowing the difference between right and wrong it's knowing the difference between what is right and what is almost right and that's what we must be wise to and praise be to God we have the church to help us do that and are not left to our own subjective judgments and so on that note we come to questions at the conclusion of our study in 1st

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Timothy these questions have come from people that have basically said I need some help in understanding some of these doctrines that we have read and so we consider these questions

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I have six of them that I've compiled here and the questions go in this order we're going to read about or hear about seeing the face of God secondly understanding meekness thirdly qualifications for overseers fourth aspiring to be above reproach five women in ministry in the church and then number six helping someone find a good church now

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I'm actually presenting these questions in reverse order so we are starting with the first question is going to be closest to the most recent lesson that we've been in in 1st

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Timothy and as we go down that list we're kind of working backwards through 1st Timothy so this first question goes back to something that we considered just a couple of weeks ago question number one if you would throw that one up there

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Phineas what does it mean to see the face of God and how do we do that and this goes back to 1st

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Timothy 6 .16 where we read that God alone dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has ever seen nor can see and yet we have an instruction in Scripture given to us that we are to seek the face of God right perhaps one of the most well known verses about this is 2nd

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Chronicles 7 .14 if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and do what seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then

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I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land yet what did we hear from Exodus 33 .20

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when I was reading passages on this a couple of weeks ago God said to Moses you cannot see my face for no man can see my face and live so how do we seek the face of God if it's not even possible for us to do that and expect to survive that gaze well the

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Hebrew word for face in the Old Testament a lot of times these Hebrew words have multiple meanings to them and it even helps you understand the word better when you look at the multiple definitions the

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Hebrew word for face can also be translated presence so in Scripture to seek

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God's face is synonymous with wanting to know

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God and be present with God remember the words of Christ when he said if you abide in me

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I will abide in you right same concept it's the same as saying if we would be seeking the face of Christ that we would abide in him that we would dwell in God and his doctrine if it were possible to actually sew doctrine into a blanket and envelop ourselves into it it would be to surround ourselves with the good testimony of Christ our

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Savior so in Scripture to seek God's face is to want to be present with God more than any other thing that God can give us as I remember one preacher putting it this way it's seeking the giver over the gifts so you don't just want the gifts that he gives although it's wonderful that God does give us those things it's wanting to be with the one who gives the gifts and in fact being with the giver is the greatest gift of all on the subject of 2nd

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Chronicles 7 if you'll remember the context of that story God had told

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Solomon that he would give Solomon whatever he asked for you want riches you want wealth you want your enemies to be subdued before you what do you want and Solomon simply said

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I want the wisdom to know how to lead the people of God and because Solomon was so humble to ask for that to want to be near God and have his wisdom

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God said since that's what you're asking for I'm going to give you all the other stuff that you didn't ask for too you will also have wealth and power and you will have strength over your enemies who will be subdued before you

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Solomon sought the face of God at least at the very beginning of his life of his reign he sought

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God's face and we see instructions over and over in the scriptures to do that very thing

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Psalm 105 4 inquire of Yahweh and his strength seek his face continually so even though God said no one can see my face and live that is not an excuse for you to not seek the face of God there is an instruction given to us that we would draw near to God James chapter 4 draw near to God and he will draw near to you same as receiving the instruction to seek his face

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Psalm 24 3 -6 says who may ascend into the mountain of Yahweh and who may rise in his holy place he who has innocent hands and a pure heart who has not lifted up his soul to worthless things and has not sworn deceitfully he shall lift up a blessing from Yahweh and righteousness from the

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God of his salvation this is the generation of those who seek him who seek your face pay heed

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O Jacob so even there we have some qualities of what it looks like to seek the face of God he has innocent hands and a pure heart he has not lifted up his soul to worthless things he has not sworn deceitfully but he seeks the righteousness of God remember that instruction from the

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Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6 -33 Jesus said seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the things you need will be added to you as well same sort of instruction is being told to seek the face of God in the

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Beatitudes at the start of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 -8 where it says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see

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God now there is an already and a not yet in that and throughout the Beatitudes if you ever go back to the

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Beatitudes again and read them see those promises as something that's an already and a not yet even now you get to see

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God no his presence is not manifest before us right here in this very place so that our eyes would melt right out of our heads that's not what we mean by being able to see

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God on this side of heaven but you see his works you see his majesty that is proclaimed in all of creation you see the love of God in the brothers and sisters in Christ that are around you a couple of weeks ago

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I expressed thankfulness to this body for caring for me and my family during a difficult time we have seen the love of God through this church so you get to see

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God in real and even tangible ways that those who do not know

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Christ don't get to see Romans chapter 1 says that even the ungodly know

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God but the way that that word know is used there is different than the way that a

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Christian knows God just the same as you might know my wife you know her name, you know what her face looks like but you don't get to know the personal intimate details that I get to know and so it is the same with the relationship that we have with God for those of us who know

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Christ we get to know God on a real intimate level whereas those who do not know

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God they know of him but they don't really know him and so in the already we get to see

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God but in the not yet we've not yet beheld his face right and that was when

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I quoted from 1st John 3 which says that a day will come in which we will see him as he is because we will be made to be like him

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Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15 we will be transformed what we will be is not what we are now so something about even our very physical makeup will change so that we can enter into the place of God and we actually will see him enthroned and glorify him in heaven forever so there's an already and a not yet to seeking the face of God now on the subject of the

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Sermon on the Mount that actually goes into this next question question 2, in your sermon on 1st

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Timothy 6, 11 -14 when you were defining meekness you referred to the

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Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 5, what did Jesus mean when he said the meek shall inherit the earth inherit the earth sounds like a reward for meekness am

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I on the right track? the answer to that is yes and once again even here with this promise and the beatitude you have an already and a not yet blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth so there is a sense in which we have already inherited the earth and there is also a sense in which that has not yet been fulfilled so we'll consider that here but first of all let's be reminded of what meekness means now this was in 1st

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Timothy 6 verse, let's see once again

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I didn't write it down and that's where that's where I stumbled, verse 11 but as for you oh man of God flee these things pursue righteousness godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness and it was right there on that word gentleness that I said that the

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Greek word that's translated there into gentleness is the same word that gets translated meek in Matthew 5, 5 blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth we also see this in Matthew 11, 28 -29 where Jesus said come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls the word there that's translated gentle is the same word as meek in fact there are some translations that translate that meek so Jesus saying

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I am meek and lowly in heart so we see that word gentleness being synonymous with meekness and once again meek doesn't mean weak just because the words sound the same doesn't mean that they are defining of each other meekness is very simply gentleness or as we had understood it from the helps word study definition that I used a couple of weeks ago meekness is

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God's strength under His control demonstrating strength without undue harshness we understand that Christ and all the power that He had even in His earthly ministry remember when

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Jesus was being arrested in Matthew 26 as He is in the garden of Gethsemane as Judas has betrayed

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Him He is being turned over to His enemies Peter decides to take matters into his own hand pulls out a sword and cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest

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Jesus says put your sword away he who lives by the sword dies by the sword and he also says this do you not know that I could call upon 15 legions of angels and my father would give them to me like tens of thousands of angels are immediately at my disposal right now if I wanted them this was the kind of power that Jesus had even in His earthly ministry and yet He doesn't demonstrate that He was meek

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He was gentle with us God in human flesh to dwell among us because we never would have been able to stand

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His holy powerful presence if He had come in that way and so as Christ has dealt with us in this way so we are called to exercise the same kind of a thing we do have great power that has been given to us it's not power to raise the dead or any of that nature but we have nonetheless been gifted with the

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Holy Spirit that dwells within us and we are not to take the authority under which we operate and start asserting it in a harsh way over other people you could certainly go out into Casa Grande and point out people on the street and go well you're going to hell you're going to hell you might be right but is that the way that we're supposed to approach evangelizing the lost that would not be the gentle approach to that helping a person see their sin and need for a savior and understanding that the consequences of sin would indeed be hell if they do not repent but doing this in a way that is loving and compassionate of those who do not understand so this is the call that we have to be meek now therefore the reward for that which is the nature of the question that is being asked here what does it mean to inherit the earth the meek are to be so content with everything that God has given them we're not expecting anything in return so you would be willing to show the love of God and compelled to help and love others not expecting that they would do anything for you back as Paul puts this in Romans 12 outdo one another in showing honor that doesn't mean showing honor is a competition

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I'm more honorable than you are but that you're showing honor to another person not expecting that they would do anything in return and this is an exercise in meekness so we don't put ourselves in ministry to try to advance ourselves remember that's the context in which

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Paul had mentioned this in 1st Timothy 6 there are those who think that godliness is a means of gain so they're using the ministry to benefit themselves and to make themselves wealthy but yet against that Paul says but as for you flee that and instead pursue these things which included meekness so we trust

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God and we know that he is the one that is ultimately going to give us all things so we're not seeking after earthly things we're seeking after Christ and what do we gain as a result of that the earth, all of it there's a literal sense in which we will reign and judge over the earth we don't receive those things now but we will ultimately get that in glory question number three in 1st

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Timothy 3, 4 through 5 it says that an overseer must manage his own household well over the years

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I have witnessed elders and deacons whose older adult children have left the church. Does that need to be considered when choosing overseers?

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Would that same question need to be considered with regard to children who do not attend church regularly or perhaps they attend another denomination and so interpret scripture differently.

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Well first of all does that need to be considered? Sure I mean everything needs to be considered when you are considering a man for the position of elder overseer or pastor in a church but does that disqualify him?

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So considering that is one thing but if his adult children are not walking with the

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Lord does that disqualify him? I would say it depends on at what point were they no longer following the

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Lord did that happen when those children were in his household or was that a decision that they made later on?

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Remember the context of these instructions if you go back to 1st Timothy 3 notice that it is said there starting in verse 2 therefore an overseer must be above reproach the husband of one wife, sober minded, self controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard and not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money verse 4 he must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children submissive for if someone does not know how to manage his own household how will he care for God's church?

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Just basically looking at the language there what does that look like? It looks like his own existing home if his children are not living at home then how does he keep his adult children submissive?

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That would not be upon the elder to have that responsibility with his adult children so we're talking about evaluating the household as it exists are his wife and kids believers?

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And if they are not then he is unqualified because he is not managing his own household how can he care for God's church?

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So that's specifically the context and we'll come back to this again as well in Titus 1 6 he must be above reproach the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination that same qualification is given there in that list in Titus chapter 1.

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Now I will say that not all theologians or ministers of the word see this that same way

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I have heard pastors I've heard some pastors preach that even pastors with adult children if they're not walking with the

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Lord then they are unqualified but I would express my disagreement and see that the context as given in 1

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Timothy 3 is specifically with regards to his existing household how does he keep his adult children submissive when they're no longer under him as being the head of that household any longer?

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Question number 4. In 1 Timothy 3 2 we heard that an overseer must be above reproach and if the rest of the church is to follow the example of a mature

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Christian we should all want to be above reproach too I know that I am a sinner and I am disgusted by my own sin at what point am

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I able to say that I am above reproach? Great question.

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So what does it mean to be above reproach it very simply means that we are to be above blame or you are blameless if there's somebody that makes an accusation against you it doesn't stick because you have a reputation for being above blame.

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As we had read with regards to accusations being made of overseers it must be by the evidence of 2 or 3 witnesses do not admit a charge against an elder except by the evidence of 2 or 3 witnesses and that same standard is to be exercised with everybody that is in the church not gossiping and slandering with one another but if somebody has a charge of wrongdoing then there must be a credible accusation we are to conduct ourselves in such a way that we are above blame we cannot be blamed for any active sin that we continue in and therefore have not yet repented of and we've seen this without reproach statement in other places in 1st

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Timothy. 1st Timothy 5 -7 widows are to be without reproach in chapter 6 verse 14

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Paul said keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until his disappearing.

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In other words we need to conduct ourselves consistently with the instructions that we are giving. If we're going to preach

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Christ and him crucified then we need to live in such a way that is in testimony of Christ and him crucified.

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Isaiah testified that he will take away our reproach so Christ in his death frees us from sin so that before God we are no longer blamed for our wrongdoing but Christ has atoned for it by his death on the cross

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Elizabeth said also about him taking away her reproach in Luke 1 -25.

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Colossians 1 -21 -23 says and you who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach without blame before him if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven.

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So there you have some various aspects of what it means to be above reproach when we were under reproach when we could be blamed for our sin we were alienated hostile in mind doing evil deeds but now being reconciled by Christ we are without blame and continuing in faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that we have heard.

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So given those things in mind examine yourself is there some sort of sin standing sin that is still in your life of which you need to repent is there some sin that you're known for like other people know you for this sin and I'm not talking about a reputation in your past of which you can say

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I've now been washed and I'm not even that person anymore. I'm talking this is still your reputation and that you're continuing to do this and people know that of you then you're not above reproach certainly there will be sins that we will desire to want to seize and put to death as long as we're in these bodies we're going to continue to fight that battle that whole concept of spiritual warfare that I talked with you about a couple of weeks ago we're fighting that battle every single day putting to death the desires of the flesh and desiring to live in the spirit in the fruit of the spirit so those things we will continue to fight with but is there something in your life some standing sin that has not yet been dealt with Matthew Henry said of this passage a minister must give as little occasion for blame as can be lest he bring reproach upon his office so as much as you are able to be free from that sin and not known for that sin so you must as we read in Colossians 3 .5

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put to death what is earthly in you. Question number five when we read in 1st

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Timothy 2 .11 -12 that a woman is not to teach or exercise authority over a man and we understand that this means a woman cannot be a pastor or hold an office of the church to what extent is she permitted to do ministry can she lead the church in prayer can she do evangelism can she assist co -ed bible studies with her husband can she be in charge of a ministry like benevolence finance or housekeeping

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I believe yes to all the above so we've practiced all of that like looking at the various examples that are given here can she lead the church in prayer what do we mean like in what context leading the church in prayer you'll notice that on a

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Sunday morning when we are gathered together as the church that it is the elders that lead the worship service and deacons as well that will either lead in the music or lead in the prayer over the offering or something to that extent but these are the officers of the church that handle those matters in the corporate gathering of the church for worship we believe that that's how it should be structured now that doesn't eliminate a woman from being involved in that for you heard

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Caitlin lead us in a song this morning so she can certainly do that and we wouldn't consider that to be outside the bounds of what is instructed there in 1st

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Timothy chapter 2 whenever we gather together for prayer whether it's our prayer services at our prayer breakfast or when we are praying on Sunday nights or we're praying together as a group at our small groups in the midweek there are women that lead those prayers as well can she do evangelism certainly my daughter went out with us over the

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Thanksgiving weekend when we were evangelizing to the homeless here in Casa Grande this past July at the age of 15 she had gone with a group down to Houston and she was evangelizing to Muslims while she was there in Houston so my daughter's been involved in that and it's something

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I would encourage every Christian to do man or woman that you are involved in leading others to a knowledge and an understanding of the gospel and then we have various ministries that are in our church that would include benevolence finance and housekeeping women have served as part of those groups or might have even led those groups

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I wouldn't come in here and start changing the decor inside the sanctuary without consulting

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Amy about it first lest I incur the wrath of Amy O 'Neill so you know there are women that will hold those particular positions with housekeeping and other things like that great and if you can find a place where you can fit and serve the church in such a way doesn't matter whether you are a man or a woman praise

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God for the ministry work that you are able to do we see in Acts 18 Priscilla and Aquila Priscilla who was

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Aquila's wife and did ministry together they did evangelism in fact the two of them together corrected

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Apollos on his errors who did not yet know the gospel in Romans 16 we read of Phoebe who was a servant in the church and well known even to the apostles for the work that she did and then in 1

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Timothy 5 9 -10 we read the following with regard to widows let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than 60 years of age having been the wife of one husband and then consider her reputation in verse 10 having a reputation for good works if she has brought up children has shown hospitality has washed the feet of the saints has cared for the afflicted and devoted herself to every good work there you have kind of a short list of things that women can do and by the way ladies we're looking forward to you beginning that foot washing ministry in the church and so yeah there are many things that a woman can do and I would say to you that a church cannot be a functioning church without women if this church was all men in here we would be a dysfunctional church so just because only a man can hold the office of a pastor in the way that we understand the instructions in chapter 3 only a man can hold the office of deacon as well that differs even among reformed churches but we would hold that that's the context that's given there even though a man it is limited to a man to hold the offices of the church that is not to say that women don't have in fact a very very important function in the church doesn't mean men are more important and women are subservient no for as it is said in 1st

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Peter 3 she is a fellow heir with you of the gospel of God and even in Galatians 3 there is no male and female for we are all one in Christ Jesus so God has designated for us different roles but we are the same as inheritors of the grace of God and the salvation we have in Christ question number 6 this being our last question we'll get to the

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Lord's table how do we convince someone to go to a good church when they think that fancy lights and a drum set and ear tickling speech is what makes a good church how does one open the eyes of someone who thinks in such a way and is blind to sound doctrine that's a good question when you find the answer please come and tell me because I would sure like to know let me give you 3 things here

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I actually was on 9marks website and could not find an article about this specifically but nonetheless there were plenty of articles on there about how you grow in knowledge of God and of his word and so I kind of took some of the things that were written down in those articles and thought they could be applied well for how you can convince somebody that the church that they're attending is probably not sound in the word so first of all listen to sound doctrine secondly study sound doctrine and thirdly discuss sound doctrine now that's for you you must also sit under sound preaching of the word you must study scripture diligently and incidentally when it comes to talking with somebody about what it is that they believe this is what's going to be most convincing when you're studying the scriptures and you're able to communicate the scriptures with somebody else because as we read in Romans 10 17 faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ so it is that very word that is going to convince them of the fact that what they are receiving may not be the meat of the word maybe it's milk and cookies or whatever it is you can't live off of that so maybe they'll be convinced this church is not actually sound in its doctrine or needs to be more mature in its doctrine and you will help to convince them of that by your sound understanding of the word and being able to communicate the word and so then thirdly you know how to discuss sound doctrine talk about what you're learning in church and then ask them what are they learning in their church what are they getting out of it what does

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God's word say about it challenge them to go back to the word like what your preacher is saying do you find that in scripture can you find where the bible says that and affirm that your preacher is in line with what scripture says or is out of line and so having these kinds of conversations and having these discussions as you're helping a person grow in the word maybe they'll recognize my church is actually not helping me do that my church is not sound in its doctrine and I would desire to be with a body of believers that is growing in the word and so maybe those conversations will help to get them there but it begins with your commitment to sound teaching and the study of the word of God to help somebody else in their understanding as well as I prayed for in the very beginning our sanctification is not a solo work it's a community project it's something that we do with one another growing each other in the faith we have been doing so as we've been going through 1st

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Timothy and being reminded of what God established the church to be as we heard this morning we're finishing 1st

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Timothy in this message we also finished our series with Stephen Nichols on Christianity vs.

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Liberalism in the book that J. Gresham Machen wrote 100 years ago and so we've come to a conclusion on both the

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Sunday School series and our sermon series on the same Sunday and I remember Nichols saying this morning in the final lesson the business of the church is to be about preaching the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Christ and him crucified for our sins that's the business of the church and encouraging one another at the foot of the cross that we have everything that we could need for life that's exactly what

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Peter says in 2nd Peter everything that we need for life and godliness is given to us in Christ our

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Lord so let us as a church continue to be devoted to sound doctrine avoiding irreverent babble and helping one another grow in the sound words of the faith that we begin this is when we understand the text with Pastor Gabe Hughes there are lots of great

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Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours but this is no replacement for regular fellowship with the church family find a good gospel teaching