Look upon my suffering and deliver me, for I have forgotten your law. Defend my cause and redeem me. Preserve my life according to your promise. Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek out your decrees. Your compassion is great, O Lord. Preserve my life according to your laws. Many are the foes who persecute me, but I have not turned from your statutes. I look on the faithless with loathing, for they do not obey your word. See how I love your precepts. Preserve my life, O Lord, according words are true, all your righteous laws are eternal. Eternal. Great, great. Okay, we got just a couple prayer requests first. Claudia has got the flu, and it's Claudia's birthday. Well, gosh, who sent you that gift? Yeah, Kathleen has vertigo and she's been struggling, but she's getting a little better. George had a stroke this past week and he's, right now, his right leg, he can't walk without help, but he's getting better and they're going to release him soon. But George and then the folks in Ireland, survived a hurricane, a big one. They had a lot of damage and three people that I know that lived there, I emailed all of them and I heard from all three. I know I'm forgetting somebody, but I can't remember the email address. So anyway, I'm very happy. One person died in Ireland and they had, you know, like 370,000 homes without power. Doug got his power back on today. So that was almost a week now, seven days with him. A week is seven days, isn't it? And then Loretta, she's just had some ongoing problems and she won't be here today. So keep all those folks in prayer and a little praise for the folks in Ireland. And then, might as well read this now before we get started. This is for the next Jesus Film meeting. That'll be on the 10th of February, which it's coming in Let's see, today's 10, 12 days. So if anybody wants to help with this, let me know. We hope this finds you well. Let's see here, et cetera, et cetera, okay. Okay, we have set the Jesus Film meeting for Monday, 10 February. We believe this will be a great success. We have requests from new believers for mosquito nets. They ask for this from time to time. It's a terrible place and so mosquito nets they're asking for. We found there are three people suffering from malaria and that will help save people from sickness. This would be 846 in total is what we need for this month's film. Travel, Briani, Children, New Believers, Jesus Film, 9 Bibles, 11 MP3s, and 58 mosquito nets so I have $300 so far so that would be what was it 840 to 765 hundred and forty six dollars if anybody wants to help with that Please send me an email. I'll tell you how you can get it to either me or them I usually send it because I have to send it by wise and which is, most people don't have it, I don't think. I'd never heard of it, but they go to Pakistan. So that's how I get it to them. But if anybody wants to help, please let me know and we'll get that going. He has great success twice a month and we pay for it once a month. So please let me know if you want to help there. And what is this? Oh, you know, I got a request from, you guys have met her in the project. She came from Oregon as Rebecca. And she has her own type of thing that she does over in Oregon, like what we do. She goes out in the streets and helps people. She, you know, does evangelism with other people. And she is looking for, what did she say, I don't remember exactly how much. I think it was $215 for buying Bibles. She wants to hand out Bibles. I could be wrong on the number because maybe it was $250 Bibles she wanted. Anyway, if anybody wants to help with buying Bibles for Rebecca out in Oregon, please let me know and I can give you the exact figures. I printed something off and obviously it wasn't. Oh, here it is right here. She's asking for 500 New Testament NLT translations, Testaments in English. Sorry about that, 500 of them. They're $2 each, so it's going to be like $1,000. So if anybody wants to help with that one, please let me know and I will tell you how we can get that money to her. One other printer. Yes. A good friend of mine, Dino up in Connecticut. He's having heart issues. He had an ablation. Dino is having heart issues. Yes, he had an ablation on Monday, which went smooth, and now he's back in the hospital with chest pains, and they don't know what the heck's going on. All right, so Dino and Pereira as well. All right, and let's see here. Let me put this here, take this out, and then we'll read this, and we'll get started. Today is the 30th, 30th of January, so let's see what they have to say here. This has kind of been hit or miss in this one, but let's see. On 30 January, eight Englishmen during the 1970s, vast numbers of Christians, were among those who perished violently in Uganda, the so-called Pearl of Africa. But they weren't the first. The decade of the 1870s, a full century before Idi Amin, what a terrible guy, also extracted the church's blood. Henry Stanley, David Livingston's convert and biographer, was the first to reach Uganda. When he showed his Bible to King Mutesa, the chieftain told him the Muslims also had brought a book, the Quran. How do we know which is better, he asked. I am like a man in darkness. All I ask is that I be taught how to see. Stanley published Mutesa's words in London Daily Telegraph, adding, oh, that some pious practical missionary would come. What a harvest ripe for the sickle. His plea was aroused with such passion that the Church Missionary Society soon appointed a 27-year-old Scottish bachelor, Alexander Mackay, to lead a party of eight to Uganda. Mackay did not go blindly. He said, it is likely that eight Englishmen should start for Central Africa and all alive I'll be alive six months after, he asked. one of us at least will surely fall. When the news comes, do not be cast down, but send someone else immediately to take the vacant place." McKay himself was injured in a wagon accident in Zanzibar. Two others defected. Another was murdered. Another contracted fever. The remaining three set out from Zanzibar to Uganda. On January 30th of 1877, they reached Mutesa's court, but two of the three were soon killed, leaving C.T. Wilson to begin Sunday services alone. Mackay soon joined him, and the two labored for years before baptizing their first convert. Just as their work was accelerating, Mutesa was succeeded by a son, a cruel teenager who promptly tortured a group of Mackay's younger converts for refusing his demands. Mackay survived the tyrant's threats only to die of malaria while translating the Gospel of John. He was 40. But his efforts were not wasted. The church grew faster than it perished and became one of Africa's strongest. If you belong to the world, its people would love you, but you don't belong to the world. I've chosen you to leave the world behind, and that is why its people hate you. Remember how I told you that servants are not greater than their master? So if people mistreat me, they will mistreat you. If they do what I say, they will do what you say. Heavenly Father, thank you for people like Mr. McKay, who was willing to go and understanding the cost even before he went, and ultimately paying that cost along with all the others. Lord, I know that you have a special heart for missions. It's what you commanded us to do right before you departed. And so we pray for our missionaries, we pray for those people that are out there doing what they should be doing and getting the word out. and we just pray that you will give them comfort even in their difficult situations and they are aware of the consequences of their actions in some places and so we can at least know that they're there doing what they're doing because they have a heart for you and we pray for them. We pray for this class and ask that you bless the day, the contents, and if there's something that is inappropriate that you would lead me to correct it so that we don't have doctrine that is not correct in your presence. Lord, your word is precious and it is because it tells us of Jesus. So we thank you for Jesus and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, we got, before we get started, we have Sunday. I was so concerned that people would be upset with Sunday sermon. And, well, because people, you know, they get ideas about something and they want to argue it. And that's all I ever get with things like that. But I think I covered every base enough where It's evident. It is evident the contents of Sunday's sermon, and I started getting argumentation, and all I saw was, you know, positives. In other words, I don't look at numbers and stuff, but it comes up with how many likes you have, and then what percent, and it was 100%. I was figuring like 20. Anyway. But if you take it, for what the Bible says. Well that's what I'm saying. People don't take it that way. They get something in their head and that's that. I had two questions that I want to answer just so that people are aware of this. One of them was from Doc and he said, well what about Ephesians, I think it was 428, he took captivity captive. And so I sent him the commentary on that and That took care of it. I haven't heard from him yet. I'll see him on Sunday. But Ephesians, where it says he took captivity captive, is not speaking about taking captives out of hell. Okay, everybody thinks that. It's exactly the opposite. He's taking the captors. identified by the word captivity, and he is saying that he has taken that, the captivity, the state of captivity by these people, and he has taken a captive. They no longer have authority over people. So that's the answer to that one. You can read my commentary on that verse on the Superior Word website. You just go down to Writings, PDF copy, it'll pull it up, and then you can go down to Ephesians and read all you want. It's there, and I also talked about that in the sermon from Deuteronomy 32, the Song of Moses. Maybe it was 33. Anyway, I talked about that same issue because Moses is the first one to use that terminology, although most translations don't translate it like that. He's talking about captives and captivity being taken captive. And so that's really where it started. It's in the Psalms 60-something, and then it's in Ephesians. So anyway, I hope that answers that. And then the second question was really good. It was, what about the people that were raised at Jesus' resurrection? And my answer on that is that there's that one verse. It's a standalone verse, and there's really nothing to connect it to anything else. It just states the fact that people came out of the grave when Jesus was crucified. It doesn't go beyond that. But I was thinking about that this week, and I wanted to give a little more information. I went back and I re-read it, and I checked the Greek to make sure that everything is proper. And the one thing that is evident is that it does not say anything about them being old prophets of old. It doesn't say, you know, all it says is many, let me read it to you, just so that we have that, and then I'll tell you what I was thinking about, because I hate to not have a sufficient answer on things like this. And it's Matthew, and it would be like 28, what, 28 something, 27, 27 something. Let's see here. There it is. Okay, then behold the veil of the temple was torn in two. This is 2751 from top to bottom, which is a great study. Why does it say that? And we can talk about that if you want. But and the earthquake and the rocks were split and the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the graves after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. You know, I've always had it because you read commentaries and commentaries get stuck in your head. And so I just, oh, it means that famous people like Jeremiah and stuff were brought out of the grave and they walked around because people say that in commentaries. Well, this is obviously speaking of, you know, it probably, this is just me after reading it and checking to make sure that I wasn't misunderstanding something, is it was probably people like Lazarus that were in the grave recently. Many is an indeterminate number, it could be 10, it could be 12, but people that were probably like Lazarus that were dead recently that would have been recognizable to the people that when they died. Just like Lazarus, after he was raised Everybody went into commotion. Everybody. And they were like, we got to kill this guy because and we got to take out Lazarus. I mean you could just see the the stir that that caused. You add into that, say, 10 more people that have come out of the grave that were recently dead within the area and it's proved that they came out of the grave and they were dead. That would be something. So that's just a thought. I'm not saying that's true. Don't make a squiggle in your brain because it's just speculation. But after reading all these commentaries over the years about how of course that's speaking of you know Isaiah coming out and you read stuff like that and you just kind of blow it off but it gets set in your brain and all of a sudden you've got a misinterpretation of what may be the case. It doesn't say when they were dead. It doesn't say anything about it and that's a standalone verse. There's nothing else that goes with it. So just imagine if you had five or ten people like Lazarus and he caused that stir, he'd have ten times as much stir. Just a thought. I don't have a definite answer on that verse, simply because it's not something that is explained elsewhere. People, like I think I told you, people have tried to take verses from the Old Testament and say, see this is pointing to this verse in Isaiah. there's nothing to substantiate it. It's just me trying to find a reason why that is there. It must have had something in the Old Testament. The one I'm thinking of in Isaiah is, your dead shall come out of the dust, your dead shall live, they will... whatever. You can find it in Isaiah. Just do, your dead will live. Okay, I did a Christmas sermon or an Easter sermon on that one a year or two ago, and people said, well that's got to be speaking of the event at Jesus' crucifixion. I don't see it that way. I've gone through it again. I've thought about it, and I don't think that's the case at all. I mean, nobody would know who Isaiah is. He could come in and say, well, I'm Isaiah, and I was resurrected, You'd think that's a lunatic. That's what you would think. You wouldn't think, but to have an effect on people, it would be somebody that was known dead recently. So, just speculation. That's all it is, but I hate to have... There's nothing in the other... There's nothing. There is absolutely nothing beyond that verse, and that's why, and it doesn't say what happened to him afterward. It doesn't say if they lived long lives and then died, or nothing. And so, but I just don't like to leave things unattended to if I'm asked about it. And so I gave it what little thought I could this week. What's that? No dry bones there. Yeah, no dry bones. That's right. It wasn't a fulfillment of Ezekiel 37 by any stretch of the imagination. But anyway... Which one? Oh, good! Yeah, I didn't know you'd listen to it. Well, I appreciate that. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, well, you can... Don't you think? You know what? I was hoping... Here's what I was hoping about that sermon. I was hoping that people would repost it and it would go out to a lot of people and then become something that people would just refer to. Because I usually don't feel that way about sermons. If people... I don't look at the numbers, I don't care, but I was hoping that I would have people emailing me and saying, you know, I've never heard this, etc. But I haven't gotten anything. Zero. That's not something you were taught in seminary. Oh no, absolutely. Every person I ever hear talk about that issue is, we're going straight to heaven. Every song you hear about it, that's what you hear. Everybody freaks out, but Hades simply means the repository for the dead. That's all it means. It's a Greek word to replace the Hebrew word Sheol. So I actually got, and this is very rare, but it always means a lot to me, I actually got a good comment from Sergio as he walked by. And because of that, it made me happy. So yeah, it's rare. He doesn't compliment my sermons often. He might say, well, it's true. I've got one out of every 20 sermons he'll say something. ones where he throws stuff at you. Yeah, it's not counting the ones where he throws stuff at me. So anyway, no, but I always appreciate that when I get feedback from him or mom does something. I always know if she likes a sermon because she'll come up and she'll take the Lord's Supper and she'll, you know, nobody else sees it, but she'll go like this. And then if she really likes it, she'll go like this. And so I get two thumbs up, I say, I know that that made mom happy. That's right, she's never here for the first ten, so she gets the last 20 or 30 minutes of the sermon and that's it. But yeah, the old double thumb always gets me with Mom. So, but yeah, I just had hoped that I would get emails from people saying something like that. I got nothing. So whatever, it is what it is, and it would be great if people got that doctrine right. But the thing about this sermon that is welcome is that from now on out, if somebody asks me that question, I can just send them the sermon. I don't have to explain it anymore. So I try to do that from time to time to get things out of the way that are very common. Another one that's very common and I'm not going to do a sermon on it because I'm going to be doing a commentary on it within the next year and a half, is the parable of the ten virgins. I get that one a lot. Well, if dispensationalism is correct, then what is it speaking about? and I have to answer it, and I go through this long thing, and then I never save these things, ever. And so somebody else will ask me like five months later, and I'll think, I have to go through and rethink the entire thing again, and then I have to send them an answer. And, you know, because I don't remember all this stuff. You just have to sit down and think, now what was it? And so when we get to the Matthew commentary, and I do the analysis of those verses, I'll never have to do it again. I won't have to, I'll just say here's the commentary if you want to read it, go ahead. Because answering emails is the most time-consuming part of my week, by far. Every day is probably two to four hours just answering emails. And so... NLT. Oh, okay. I haven't read it. I don't know what it says, but... Absolutely. And why you need to, the one thing, and I didn't mean to be sarcastic against anybody, but I wanted to make a point when I said that, you know, paradise is spelled eight letters and heaven has six, and they're not etymologically connected, but people immediately take those things and then they are standing in the pulpit saying, see, and now everybody in that church now has that infection in their head. And unless they're willing to check or listen to the next person, it's always going to be there. And so it's important to not believe me after our study today, but to go home and check. And I say that every single week, and I would hope that people actually do that. Because I'm a guy, I'm evaluating the most complex book ever put out in human history. I don't care what anybody says, that's not true. It is true because this comes from the mind of God. And we have been getting new insights out of this book daily. for 2,000 years. There's something new. I typed a commentary yesterday and I was just thinking of it and I thought, I have never read a commentary that addresses this issue, ever. That's why I typed it up and I put it in the commentary and it's something you would say, oh well that's obvious, but I've never ever heard anybody make a comment on it. That doesn't mean they didn't, but not one of the scholars I read even addressed it. So, anyway, let's get into it. We're in 2 Timothy 1, and we're starting in verse 11 today. So let's back it up to 8, which is a very good paragraph. So, do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me, his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ before the beginning of time, 10, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11. In the gospel, I was pointed I was appointed a herald, and an apostle, and a teacher. Okay, very little difference to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. So, other than that, it's very similar. If you send me a message and just remind me, I'll check the NLT. I just want to see what they say. It's on my mind, and I'll forget when I get home, and I'd love to know what it says. But, okay, herald, Yeah, preacher to the Gentile. Okay, the words to which speak of the gospel that was referred to in the previous verse. If you didn't get that, we actually took the whole class to do one verse last week. So you have to go back and watch that, and it's referring to that, the gospel. of the previous verse. So let me read that again just so that you understand what I'm saying. Where was that? Ten. "...but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles." Okay, so it's the... I pulled something in my neck just now. Ouch! The word, oh yes, it is the message of Christ Jesus sent from God to save us, that Paul was appointed a preacher. That's his words. The word is one which speaks of a Read yours again. The word preacher speaks of a herald. So that's actually a more literal meaning of it. Okay, it speaks of a herald or a what? Can you believe it? Yeah, can you believe it? Or a town crier, a herald, somebody that goes out and actually proclaims something. And yes, who proclaims critical news for the public to hear and heed. That used to be something you would see. The UK used to do it. They had it in early America. People would go out and they'd actually proclaim things. And sometimes they'd do it like from a newspaper. They'd stand on the side of, they're selling their newspapers, but they weren't just standing there waiting for people to buy them. They'd hold it up and they'd say, you know, this is what's happening right now, getting you interested in their newspaper. And then you would say, oh, I want that. And you'd have two guys selling two different papers in the same location. And they'd be, I want to buy this one. That one sounds more enticing than this one. And people would actually choose. But they're being heralds. They're heralding something in a public square. In that case, they're trying to make money in the process. But a herald is somebody that gives information in a public, audible way. I remember what papers, there's a Herald out there, who has the Herald? The Herald Tribune, the Sarasota Herald Tribune, it's S-H-T, Sarasota Herald Tribune, I won't go any further than that. I know, I grew up with that and it was a nice publication. It was very nice up until probably 15 or 20 years ago. It was sold to the New York Times and it turned completely terrible. But growing up, no kidding, this is something you could even do in Sarasota, Florida. I've talked about this in other places, but you could read the Sunday sermon for many of the pastors here in Sarasota in the paper. because they wanted to have it published in case you wanted to attend their church. And they'd have the Presbyterian Church and they'd have the, I don't know if you remember that. Oh, she's sitting there not remembering. See, back then I cared about stuff like that and I was only three, okay? But yes, you could read the Sarasota Hill Tribune. They had, it was a great, great publication. The New York Times took it over. It went completely liberal almost overnight and it went from, you know, they had paper that was about this thick wide and it would be this thick and within a year or two it was like this wide because they're trying to save money on the paper and it was paper thin. I mean when it folds there's almost nothing there because nobody wants that stuff. They don't want that. But that's what happens in the world is that I wish I'd saved some of those old sermons. I just remember finding it interesting that they would have sermons and I never read them. I was just a kid but I would see these things in there. Sarasota Herald Tribune. Anyway, they... Very sad. Anyway, back to it. Herald, town crier who proclaims critical news for the public to heed and hear. It carries its own sense of authority in that the message is not of themselves, but of another. They are heralding something that they No, but it's not their news. It's not like a person that goes out and, you know, just starts shouting on the street about something that he's interested in. Okay, I'm going to make a proclamation about, you know, whatever. That's not what's happening. A herald is a person that's taking information that exists out there because of somebody else, and they are saying, this is being proclaimed now. And when you're talking about the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, somebody is out there as a herald. That's the idea you get there. Okay, so he's carries its own sense of authority in that the message is of another, in this case, God. Yes, in this case, he proclaims the message of Jesus Christ right out of God's Word. He then says, an apostle. We've talked about this every time this word comes up because I want people to remember this. The word simply means sent one. That's all apostle means, is it's a sent one, okay? Am I going to, yeah, I'm going to talk about it, but before I do, just in case I forget something that isn't in here, a sent one is sent by someone, okay? In other words, an apostle could be, you know, I work at the pizza place, and somebody sends me out to sell pizza. Then I would be an apostle of the pizza place. That's all it means. In the case of an apostle, when we speak about it in the Bible, that is somebody that was sent by Jesus. It's nothing else. Nobody else can claim the title of an apostle of Jesus Christ unless they were sent by Jesus Christ. anytime you see somebody saying, I'm an apostle today, they have either misunderstood the meaning of the word, or they're claiming something that they are not entitled to. That's important to remember, because there are a lot of people that love titles, and all of a sudden on, you know, you're on Facebook or something, which I left years ago, and it was the best decision I ever made, but you would see people say, well, I'm apostle something from this church. And no, you're actually not, unless you're saying, I am apostle of this church, okay? And why would you do that? It doesn't make any sense. So, however, the term is inappropriately used by people today. An apostle of Jesus Christ means one commissioned by him personally. I'm glad I said this. I just didn't want to miss that. Paul was appointed an apostle of Jesus personally. Okay, that's found right in Acts chapter 9. He's being blinded on his way to Damascus. He's taken. He's three days in prayer. Ananias gets a vision. The Lord comes to him and says, I want you to put your hands on him. And he says, Lord, you know, what is this? We know what he is. And he's first getting to church and blah, blah, blah. And he says, go. I have appointed him blah blah blah, and he tells him what he's done. Let's go there really quickly, and then Paul will confirm this in his epistles as well, and he will describe right there what the requirements of an apostle are. And he'll say, I am one due out of Caesar, out of... I can't remember the exact words he used, but he's describing these people who are apostles, and he's saying, they were with the Lord, they saw the Lord, they were commissioned by the Lord, I also was commissioned by the Lord, yet as one out of... Due nature. Yeah, in other words, he Not born correctly? Well, yeah, there's a word that he uses, a specific word, and what he's trying to say is that his commission was different than the others. They saw Jesus' entire ministry from beginning to end. He had to be called separately, and the reason why they chose him is obvious. He is the apostle to the Gentiles. All of these other guys were apostles of Jesus within Israel to the Jewish people. That's what they were told to do. You are not to go to anybody else, only to the house of Israel and etc., etc. So they ministered to the Jews. Eventually, they started to minister to Gentiles as well. Later, Peter did that, probably some of the other apostles, but that would have been after the Bible was done. But now John He went to churches, and he specifically speaks of writing to churches, and you can know that they're probably not all Jews in there. Okay, so you can see that they were also starting to get into evangelizing the Gentiles, but Paul was specifically called for that purpose because he was raised outside of Israel. He was from Tarsus of Sicilia. He spoke several languages. Actually, he says, I speak more tongues than all of you, and the word tongues means languages, So he certainly spoke Greek. We know that. He certainly spoke Hebrew and Aramaic. Aramaic was the language that they spoke within Israel. Hebrew was the ancient language that they used in synagogues. There's no doubt, being a Roman citizen, that he also spoke what? Roman citizen, he would have spoke Latin. It's almost a guarantee that he did. So he knew Latin, which was something that was used by citizens quite often. He would have learned that. And then he would have known the local dialect of Tarsus and probably several other locations. So he spoke all kinds of languages. And so he had a special commission because he had a special ability. He knew all of the writings of the Jews because he was trained in Israel by Gamaliel. So he had all of that wealth of knowledge. He was a Pharisee, so he understood the workings of the religious society in Israel. He was the perfect person to be called perfect. But anyway, verse 9, the Lord, chapter 9 of Acts, But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my sake. So he was commissioned by the Lord. He received this commission, and then he was instructed personally by the risen Lord, as he says in the book of Galatians. He says, I received it by revelation from the Lord. Okay, well, he doesn't really explain what that means, but he does say that he went to Arabia, and we know he was there for a long time. If you follow the chronology, which I've got in the Book of Acts, you can follow if you read the Book of Acts, and the commentary is only 2,000 pages long, so it won't take you long to get through. But I followed that, I explained all of that information, and he was in Arabia. Now, why would he go to Arabia? It's because, at the time, Horeb was in Arabia. It was called Arabia Petraea. And so, Arabia is an area, but there are actually four Arabias in the Bible. And the one that he would have gone to would be Arabia Petraea, which is no longer Arabia. And so people get confused today about what Arabia means, and they immediately associate it with Saudi Arabia today. And because of that, there are all kinds of teachings about that. And I'm not going to argue with people over it, but either way, he's not speaking of what we think of as Arabia today. He's speaking of one of the four Arabias that is is known to have existed at the time of the Roman Empire. So anyway, regardless of which of the four, that is where he went. Horeb is in Arabia. That's where the law was received. That's where Elijah was told to go to. It's probably, and this is only speculation, please don't make me squiggle, but it's probable that if he received revelation directly from the Lord, it was in Mount Horeb, the Mount of the Law. He is now taking his knowledge of the law and demonstrating the grace of Christ. Okay? And so that's, once again, that's speculation. But why else would he go to Arabia to get revelation from the Lord? Why would he do that and spend like 14 years there or something? Is it that long? It was a long time. Yeah, I think it was 14 years. Anyway, go read the Acts commentary. Let me know next week. Okay. Yeah, I can't remember all these things. That's why I write them down once and then I can just send it to them. Like I say, it's the most convenient thing in the world is to send. Here, this is my thoughts on that verse. And then I always try to qualify it. If you have more questions, just come back to me. We can talk about it because I don't cover everything. I mean, it's impossible. But I try to be sufficient enough in each commentary to say, what is it that somebody is going to ask about this, so I don't have to do it again. Anyway, and then sometimes you get something which is obviously impossible. A commentary, a line-by-line commentary, is going to be a commentary on a verse. It is almost impossible to take a macro view of scripture if you're doing a line-by-line commentary. In other words, the book of Daniel forms a chiasm. Okay, it's very beautiful if you've seen it laid out. You wouldn't say, well, this is a chiasm because you're doing a verse-by-verse thing. So you're missing that type of analysis. There are people that focus always on the macro, and I love that because that's not something I'm geared for. And they'll say, well, you know, this and this and this all in Deuteronomy form this picture. I don't, I never would have found that, ever, because I'm looking at things in a micro, you see that every week. We go line by line, sometimes word by word, and so I'm giving a micro analysis of what we're being told. And when somebody has a broader scope of things, the macro analysis, I so appreciate it because I am like incapable of that kind of thinking. We all got something, and that is always impressive to me. what do you call it, Professor of Daniel at SES is the one that said, yeah, Daniel forms a chiasm. Now I'd read Daniel by then at least 80 times, probably more than that. I could have read it another thousand times and I wouldn't have known that, because I'm not looking at things like that. So anyway, there you go. Interesting stuff. My mom's shaking her head too because she's read Daniel many times and she didn't know it. Well, it's just amazing how different people have different God-given abilities to discern things. And, you know, I'm a minutiae guy and some people are macro guys and there's nothing wrong with either and there's nothing wrong with other approaches as well. And I'm sure people on both ends of the spectrum appreciate the other side. Like you're saying, the macro is like, oh, I can't believe it. I bet you macro people are saying, man, these line-by-line details, I need to catch up on this stuff. I would hope that, you know, people would want that, because, you know, and then if you look at the world, I mean, this is one little church, but that is our focus, or at least that's what I try to focus on, is a very heavy analysis of the Word. And if you look at the number of people that actually view the sermons, and it's not a complaint, it's just the truth, it's not a popular way of looking at the Bible. Because people want to see the bigger picture. But I don't know how you can see the bigger picture properly unless you understand the details. And so everything fits together and in the end we're all going to be happy with how things came out. But I just I so appreciate people with that type of... I bet you Sergio would be a great macro guy. I don't know, I mean maybe he's more micro like me, but he is very good globally of finding things in a Like a website or a you know something that needs to be it's true He's sitting there saying no not me But I've seen him work on things that I would never be able to figure out and he can look at the whole thing and say Here's the problem right here. Whereas me. I'm looking every single thing for the next 20 years to figure it out I couldn't do that so the type of work. He does I couldn't even grasp okay anyway Apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul was appointed as a Apostle of Jesus personally. His calling and commission are recorded in Acts. However, to use the title today is an error. The apostolic age of the church ended when the last appointed Apostle of Jesus died, okay? John was the last apostle that we know of from extra-biblical history, okay? He survived longer than the rest of them. Eventually he died, and when he finished his writing on the book of Revelation with the word Amen, that was it. That was the end of the apostolic age, except for his physical existence, which probably wasn't much longer, and then he was gone, okay? And so His Word is complete, God's Word, and therefore there is no need for continuing with the foundation which has been laid. That's a point that I make, and I think I typed it in a recent commentary, which I do from time to time. I'll repeat my thoughts so that people get that instilled in them, but a commentary that will probably be out within the next 20 days from Matthew is that there is no need for prophecy today, and there is no need for people saying, I got a word from the Lord today. People claim that all the time, and they've been claiming it for 2,000 years. I got a word from the Lord. If you turn on YouTube and you type in a prophecy from the Lord or a word from the Lord, January 2025, Only that, if you're able to search by month, and I don't know if you can, I bet you you will have a thousand videos come up, people claiming that they talked to the Lord or that the Lord told them something. I'll bet you, in one month. And for 2,000 years people have been doing this and not one of those things have had any bearing on the Bible. It hasn't added to it, it hasn't. All it's done is it's confused people's minds. There is no need for that because we live by faith not by sight. And if we have a prophecy from somebody, they're saying that I don't have to live by faith. God is talking to me and therefore it's a violation of Scripture to even make that claim. But people claim this. People follow that. They're very very popular. There are people that get millions of views because they're claiming things and then they just they tell people that I've talked to the Lord. Just this month? Half a million to a million views. He did a search on January for what I just said. He said there's thousands of them and they're getting a half a million views and they are lying to people. I guarantee you if you click on any one of them you will find faults in it immediately. And it's not just Christians. You have people claiming a word from God in Buddhism, in Islam, in Hinduism. All these people saying these things. It can't be true if it's from one of those other religions. It cannot be true because they're not speaking to the true God. And for people to make these claims and then for people to follow them, they're making, you know, you get a million views and you're getting a lot of money, a lot of money for that. So of course you can sit there and make stuff up all day long, get a million views and you will make more than I will make in Year just doing that they'll make in a month so do whatever you want with that But I do not trust anybody that says they've got a word from Lord ever I've been in churches where they've done that and it has always been something that benefits the guy making the claim always so anyway How did you do that? Don't tell me now, because... Anyway, I figured there was a way of doing that, and he did it. Now that's just one month. The Internet has been out there for, you know, how many years now? 18, 20 years? I mean, it's been out there for a while, and people have been doing this constantly. Making stuff up, and people, instead of reading the Bible, instead of learning the Bible, they're listening to that kind of stuff. They're never going to get proper theology. Ever. It will never happen in a million years. And I'm not jealous about it, I pity these people because they're not willing to say, you know, I'm being lied to. Anyway, he died, his word is complete, therefore there's no need for continuing with the foundation which has been laid. The foundation is Christ. The apostle and prophets of old are the foundation, according to Paul, meaning their proclamation. Their proclamation is the foundation. Not them themselves, but what they are saying. And their proclamation is Jesus. Okay? If that foundation has been laid, as Paul said, then we're not getting any more. One plus one will always equal two when you think it through properly. Paul then says, "...and a teacher of the Gentiles." The word of the Gentiles is not found in some ancient manuscripts. There are differences in this. Whether it is a later edition or whether it was inadvertently dropped out of those texts, it does not change the doctrine at all. He says it at least a billion times elsewhere, maybe not a billion. Sometimes I do exaggerate a little. But he says it again, and I'm the apostle to the Gentiles, Peter is the apostle to the circumcision, and etc. All these things, his ministry was to the Gentiles, and even Jesus said it in Acts 9. So it doesn't matter, it does matter if it's not in there. According to God's Word, it has to be correct one way or another. It matters in that, but it doesn't matter to the overall doctrine. So I want to make sure I'm clear on that. It matters what the original of God's Word said. And just because we have two texts and one of them has a scribal error in it, doesn't mean that there's an error in God's Word. It means there's an error in man's transmission of God's Word. it is already fully established elsewhere that Paul's ministry was to the Gentiles. He is noted that in this capacity he was also a teacher. The word signifies someone who is known for his mastery in a particular field of learning. So it doesn't mean just specifically teaching. It could be a mastery in some other field. In the case of Paul, it is that he was a fully capable and competent teacher in theology. He understood the nature of God. He understood the workings of God. He understood, whether people agree with it or not, he understood the dispensations of God. Okay, people will say, And you'll hear this argument all the time. I know Jim has heard this a billion times, but that's a new teaching. Dispensationalism is a new teaching, okay? And they say, that only came out with John Darby in the 1800s. And so they say dispensationalism is incorrect. And these are Calvinists that will say this. It's not true. Calvinism is correct, and John Darby, there's a couple of faults with that. The first is that John Calvin was only a very short time before John Darby in the scheme of the Church Age. Okay, we'll give him a couple hundred more years, but it's not that much difference. And Calvinism didn't exist before... John Calvin, okay? So, in other words, they're making a claim that this is a new teaching and it's false when they're standing on a teaching that is almost as new as John Darby, okay? Secondly, John Darby is not the first person to speak of dispensationalism and he is not the first person to speak of the rapture because everybody that is anti-rapture in their doctrine says that was first proposed by John Darby, which it's not true. Paul gave the first workings of the Rapture. People misunderstanding Paul for an obvious reason, which we can talk about in a second, say that it was John Darby. But Paul is the one that gives the doctrine of the Rapture. The reason why the rapture is dismissed is because of the gap that exists within the church age. There's two things that were happening. One is that the church is now taking over, meaning that somebody else is not in control any longer, which is Israel. Israel is under punishment because of their failing to come to Christ, exactly as the Bible said. It's outlined specifically in Leviticus and in Deuteronomy. They went into a second exile, which Isaiah 11 specifically seeks, or speaks of, the return of a second group of exiles, and he said it before, there was one group of exiles. So, it's evident that there would be two exiles. Okay, but the Church suddenly has now replaced Israel according to these people. And so because of that, the Church must be Israel. And that's what, like R.C. Sproul is a great example. They say, well, where are the Jews today? His answer is, we are the Jews. He said that explicitly. I've got a copy of it right back here. in Table Talk magazine. He's claiming that the church has completely replaced Israel and Israel's out. And because of these type of things, the doctrine of the rapture suddenly disappeared, because it didn't make any sense from a picture of the church being Israel. But when John Darby and the early Zionists said, we've got this wrong, They are supposed to be back in the land of Israel at some point. Now, this wasn't known only to Darby in the 1800s. John Gill wrote about it in the 1600s. He said that there will be a time when Israel is returned to the land, and when that happens, God's promises to Israel will be fulfilled. He said this in the 1600s. So the idea of Israel returning to the land wasn't a John Darby thing. John Darby agreed with that analysis, which had been existent all along, and he said, if that is the case, then Zionism must come about. And he became an early proponent of what was already going around. the Jews returning to Israel, known as Zionism. And so that's where the church started to fold into the idea of what the Jews were already thinking. We will someday be back in the land, they've been saying it for 2,000 years, every year at the Passover, next year in Jerusalem. And they proclaimed that year after, and eventually they saw that The technology was available. The travel was available. The land was available. All of these things were starting to come about where we can go back there. We can make this happen. Unfortunately, they left God out of the equation, and it became about them making this happen. And so they are still not right with the Lord because of this, because they don't understand Jesus in the greater picture of what's going on. But the Israel the Jewish people started to have the idea of Zionism. John Darby agreed with that based on the writings that existed all along, and he said, we have missed something. And he sat down and he did his systematic theology on dispensationalism, which is exactly what Paul teaches, but which was disregarded by the church because of the church replacing Israel. That is how all of this happened. Israel finally became a subject again, the land with the people. And until that idea was solidified, which is right in Fulfillment of Prophecy, by the way, this idea of the rapture and the things that Paul is writing about here in Timothy could not have come about. Okay, so having said that, Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. Here it is noted that in this capacity he was also a teacher. I read that. The word signifies someone who is competent in theology. That's what got me on that tangent, is that he is competent in theology. Theology matters. Theology is the study of God. Theos is God, okay? Ology would be the study of. So it's the study of God and his workings. Well, how do you do that? And that's why we have what's called systematic theology. John Darby, I'm sorry, John Calvin wrote a systematic theology of the Bible. But he is still thinking church replaced Israel, replacement theology. And so his systematic theology will bear that idea. And anybody that holds to John Calvin is going to think, even to this day, what's happening in Israel right now is an abomination. It is not in accord with God's Word. They don't belong there. That's not true Jews. And they come up with 10 million excuses why... I got somebody shaking his head over here. He's seen this his whole life. They have these ideas in their head that there is something wrong and the Bible cannot be speaking of those people. when it's exactly what the Bible is speaking of. It is exactly, okay? But there are different camps that believe different things. Theology matters, even when you don't think it does. Even when you think, well, they just disagree on a minor point. That is not a minor point. That is one of the most significant deviations in all of the Church today, and I'm talking about what we would consider the Protestant Church. The Catholic Church is so far gone on their theology. The things I read every day are theology. Well, yeah, they have a theology. It's just the most convoluted theology of all. God has made us the arbiters of His Word. We can add to it. We can write papal bulls, which are just as authoritative as His Word, etc., etc., etc. Did God give the Catholic Church that authority? And then you look at how they base that, and it's based on a misinterpretation of Scripture. They take the words of Peter, Jesus to Peter about him being the rock, and on this proclamation, I will establish my church. Yeah, and it's not even speaking of Peter. It's not speaking of Peter. It's speaking of what Peter said. You are the Messiah, the Christ of God. That's what Peter said to him, and that is what he was talking about. Not Peter, because if it was Peter, there'd be a gender discord in what Jesus is saying to Peter, because one is masculine and one is neuter. And they take other verses like that, they tear them out of their context, and they form a pretext. We now are the arbiters of God's Word. We have the authority over it. Anybody that's not a part of our bubble is not saved. even though they tell you, yeah, they're all past, lead to God, and all this kind of stuff, their actual theology doesn't bear that out, okay? And then, of course, you get every priest and cardinal in the entire Catholic Church comes up with his own stuff, and people follow him like he's a god. And so it's not a sound way of running your life is by trusting people. It's no different than following David Koresh or Jim Jones or Charlie Garrett if I'm teaching you wrong. And so that's why you want to check, is Charlie teaching us properly? Don't just, when I say that, I'm not saying it to get you to feel comfortable. I'm getting you, I'm trying to implore you to actually go do that. Find a study that talked about what we talked about today and see if what I say lines with the Bible. Get a different view. Whatever. Okay? Life application. It was Paul's passion to preach the Word, teach the Word, and to fulfill his mission as one sent by Christ Jesus to the nations. He's so passionate about it. He talks about it during many letters of his desire, his desire for this to come about, for him to be able to proclaim Christ. Okay? Each of us has a responsibility to carry on that goal, meaning what Paul was doing, by either proclaiming Christ or by supporting those who do. This is to include pastors, teachers, and don't forget the missionaries. They're out there all alone doing their thing. I mean, nowadays it's not as bad because they've got, you know, we've got iPads and all those different ways of talking to people. And, you know, I don't know how it works. But I will be talking to Sergio or to somebody in Papua New Guinea or to somebody in Africa. It doesn't matter who. He's right down the road right now. We've got people that are in Papua New Guinea. I don't care where they are. I will be having a conversation with them on, we'll say, Apple Messages, and I will send it, and within one second, I will get either a thumbs up or something, and then I give a response, and we're talking real time with our fingers. And I think, how is that, how does that happen? How can it be that fast? It doesn't matter if he's right down the road or if he's on the other side of the world. It's so quick that I haven't even gotten a response, and I'm getting, you know, thought of another response, and I'm getting a response. I don't understand that, but that's how connected we are in the world. So it's not the same for like Jess, Ray and Jess, they're in Papua New Guinea and you know, if they were there 50 years ago, they would really be there alone they would be on and now it's not that way because if they need me they can just get me on apple messages and say charlie i need prayer okay it's that quick and so it's different today but i still recommend that you support missionaries because somebody has to be over there somebody actually has to be there you're not going to convert people but you know what's going to happen if somebody gets the internet in Papua New Guinea okay we'll say a little community gets the internet And they want to find out, somebody mentioned this guy Jesus, and we want to find out about him. What are they going to find out about him, based on our conversation five minutes ago? They're going to get the highest ranked video on Jesus. Something with a million views. Which is total nonsense that somebody is peddling. That's what they're going to get. They're not going to get somebody with sound theology from a little college. That guy might get a thousand views at the most, a professor from a decent seminary, right? They're not even going to be in the priority. They're not even going to be close. When they go onto their internet in Papua New Guinea and they say, I want to know about this particular thing in Matthew, whatever, 27. They're going to get the highest rating people. Why? Because Google is going to make more money off them than they'll ever make off of that guy over here. Okay? And we've seen this. Sergio did a video in this church. And it was going up like crazy. He was the guy. It wasn't me. Okay? And it was going up just like this. And all of a sudden it went flat. Immediately and that told me and he explained why that is I'm not gonna get into it It's all about algorithms and all this kind of stuff and their money their pocketbook Okay, but anyway, it went it was just like this and it went flat and that's why I hate to do it I've never done this before ever we have never monetized a video ever at the superior word for the first 11 years and when I saw that I said we will never get an audience if we don't monetize our videos and and so I monetize them and that means that people have to sit through commercials, right? But you can pay ten bucks a month and have no commercials on YouTube or you can do the same thing on Rumble. We don't have monetization and so you can go watch them there without any video, what do you call it? Advertisements. Or you can get a pop-up blocker and that will work for a while and then Google will find it and then they'll ban you again. They'll say if you don't get rid of your pop-up blocker you can't watch any of our videos. And so it's like a game. People are always They're working on new pop-up blockers to block what Google just did, and it goes constantly. So you just have to stay on top of that, and a lot of people don't want to do that. I apologize to every single person about monetizing videos, but it is the right thing to do. If a video I do does go viral, it will continue to go viral. want this doctrine out here. That's why I do this, is so that people will get what I believe is the proper reading. Doesn't mean it is, but that's what I believe, and I would not intentionally give you wrong information. Anyway, okay, missionaries, don't forget to fund them. Have you been faithful? contributing to these needs. Okay, somebody's got to do it. That guy over in Pakistan, every single month, twice, goes out and he gets 50 or 60 people in a little village in the middle of nowhere, and he sits them down with a generator and plays them the Jesus film. And he gets every single time 8 to 12 people that come to Christ. And these are some of them, you've heard their testimonies. I can't tell my wife. I don't know what to do. A year later, I finally told my wife, and she came to the Lord, and now, you know, we have trouble with the parents because the parents live with us. This is ongoing with these people, but he is doing it to get the message out to people. And the Jesus film is a very basic way of getting that word out to people that don't have a lot of intelligence, no schooling. I'm not saying they're dummies. I'm saying that they don't have education. They have to see something visually to understand it. It's getting to them. It's the most productive film in the history of the world as far as evangelizing. So I believe in it. I think it's a good thing and if people help with that, please do. 112! suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed. Yes. And I'm convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. Look at my arm. Goosebumps. Every hair standing up. Oh my, everywhere. I feel so good. This is such a wonderful verse. They got songs that are based on this verse. The words are so wonderful. For this reason I also suffer these things. He doesn't care. He doesn't care. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day." He is saying, I believe in the doctrine of eternal salvation. I have committed these people to Him. They have received Him. He will keep them until that day. Anyway, let's read the commentary. 112. For this reason, That's Paul's words. It speaks of Paul's ministry. He was, he goes on and says, he was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. That was the last verse. And these three were based on the gospel of the verse before that. Therefore, it is his proclamation of that gospel message that he says, I also suffer these things. Well, what did Jesus say to him? I read it to you five minutes ago, maybe ten, I don't know how long we've been here, but it wasn't that long ago that I read you these words, and I'm going to read them to you, and then you're going to say, oh yeah, you did read that. So here we go. 9 and he says here go free is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles which he just mentioned a person two verses ago Kings and the children of Israel for I will show him how much how many things he must suffer for my name and here he's repeating this and I don't care! I was told it was going to happen. I took the commission, and I'm here telling you that it's okay. All right? Now, where was I? I also suffer these things. Exactly what Jesus said would happen, he's confirming way later in his ministry. Paul was in prison at this time for his faithful proclamation of the gospel, and Jesus told him that. I'm going to show him how many things he's going to suffer for my name. He told him in advance Are you willing to do this? Are you willing to make this happen? Because I'm calling you." And he says, I was not disobedient to the vision. That's exactly what he said. I was not. He could have said, no, Lord, don't, don't choose like Moses. Three times, Lord, I don't want to do this. Lord, I'm not, you know, I'm slow of tongue. Lord, And he finally said, you know what? The Lord's anger got angry at him. He says, who created the mouth, right? I know you. I know what you can do, but we're going to get Aaron to come along your side, and you two are going to go out and do this. And he's like, you know, you had to drag the guy in. Paul was told in advance what was coming. He says, I will do it. I was wrong in what I was doing. And he spent the rest of his life regretting what he had done to the church. And he carried that burden with him everywhere he went. I need to tell people about the one that was willing to overlook all of that. Good job, Paul. Paul is in prison. Timothy was well aware of much more suffering than just imprisonment. Paul had continuously been subjected to difficulty. He writes of such trials a couple of times, but most notably, good, I'm glad I put this because I wanted to find that and read it to you, 2 Corinthians 11. So, let me go here, Galatians, back to 1, whoops, too far, 2, come on, 2 Corinthians, and we gotta go to 11, and he says, 23, 22, he's speaking about, he's telling them, thank you, we love you guys, is that all there? Okay. All right. Love you guys. Thank you. That's dinner. Mom doesn't have to cook tonight. Good job. She's smiling, too, because, you know, I won't get into it, but it's so good. I will. I'm going to get into it. Crispy duck. I mean, just smelling it is unbelievable. We don't do this often, but crispy duck. So there you go. She doesn't have to cook that. Okay, he's telling them his qualifications because these people have been relying on other people saying, well, see, we're Jews and we know what we're talking about. And I've said this so many times. I don't care if somebody's Jewish or not. That does not make them an expert in anything. We've got people that are online that claim to have all of these abilities and capabilities and they don't even know the Bible. They don't even know what they're talking about. But they know that they can make a lot of money by telling people, I was in the Israeli military and so I know what's going on. Everybody was in the Israeli military. It is compulsory there. I got somebody that was in the Israeli military right now shaking his head, saying, yes, that's true. The only ones are those who are exempt, like the Hasidic Jews, and that's changing right now in Israel. It's a big, big problem over there between factions, and they're talking about taking down Netanyahu's government because he's agreeing that they need to serve. There are other people that are not required to be in the military. They are called non-Jew Israelis. If you're an Arab, you don't have to join the military. You can, and they do, and they serve very proudly. The Druze, they live there? They serve and they're some of the greatest people in the military as far as their history is concerned. I've read commentaries about some of the Druze that have served and how faithfully they served. Other people that are non-Jewish Israeli citizens do not have to go if they don't want to, but if they volunteer it is a mark of honor. for them to have done so. They are supporting a nation that is supporting them. And so, anyway, what was my point on? Oh, so Paul is telling these people, don't trust people like that. Just because they're Jewish and they write a book doesn't mean that the book has any value at all. And then you find out that everything he said in this book is wrong and then they just go and buy the next book because he's Jewish. It's a terrible way to run your life, okay? And he says that right here. What's that? No, no, no. Who's the fellow? Which is his last name? Con. Right, okay. Con job. Okay. Are they Hebrews? There you go. That cuts to the chase. So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. from the Jews five times. I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been in the deep in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness, in toil, in sleeplessness, often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides other things, what comes up upon me daily? My deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever. knows that I'm not lying. In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison desiring to arrest me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands. He's telling him I've gone through all of this. Don't trust anybody. That's what he's saying. It doesn't matter if they have credentials and qualifications. We find all the time people that are in seminaries that actually turn out to be perverts. The most classic example that I can think of in the past 20 years is Ravi Zacharias. I mean the guy was the guy. He was the guy. Everybody followed him. He's got the most precise theology and I'll agree with it. His theology was impeccable. Absolutely impeccable. And yet he turned out to be a pervert. And they didn't want to release it because he was bringing in money for these seminaries. He was an adjunct professor at the seminary that I went to. and at Liberty University and all these others. They want him to come and speak and they want him and they some of them knew what he was doing and they didn't say anything because he was a force for getting people rich. And then they find out all these things and the ministry is still trying to carry on his name knowing what he did. Don't trust anybody. That's the lesson we need to learn from Paul's words and to this day people aren't doing it. Make sure that you trust this word, a proper evaluation of this word, and not the person who's giving it because as soon as you do, he's going to let you down. Trust me. He gave his qualifications there in referring to himself in relation to others. He says in 2 Corinthians 11, he says all those things. Paul had suffered, and yet he endured through so much. It had been inflicted by the Romans, but it had also been inflicted, as he says, by his own people, okay? He was hated by everybody. even got to the end of his life and he says everybody's abandoned me we're going to see that soon enough right only a couple people are left and I sent this guy here and I sent this guy here and you know please send me your this and that and but Paul suffered exactly the way the Lord said he would, and he kept going because he loved the fact that people need Jesus, and he wanted to be the one to get that word to them. He didn't care, so he suffered by his own people. The note of having received stripes was a Jewish punishment. Okay, he did receive stripes from the Romans. We saw that several times. It happened to him when he was in Ephesus. It happened to him when he was in Jerusalem. The Gentiles were going to string him up and beat him there. They beat him with rods. But the Jewish punishment we know it was his own people because he said the 40 stripes minus one. The 40 stripes is not a Roman punishment. They would beat you all they wanted. They said, give him 100 stripes. It didn't make any difference. But the law of Moses said, no more than 40 stripes, lest he be humiliated in your eyes. And so the law was 40 stripes, and the Jews said, we will never give more than 39, because we don't want to break the law. And if we make a mistaken count wrong, we're going to hit him 41 times, and now we violated the law. So it was 40 minus 1, and that's what Paul is speaking about. Okay, so the note of being beaten was, the note of having been beaten with rods was a Roman one. Both were considered corrective measures for malfactors. Thus they were designed to bring shame on the person in order to change their attitude, something that's severely lacking in our country today. But for these and all other sufferings, he says, nevertheless I am not ashamed. Okay, he wrote elsewhere about the shame of the cross, the cross on the death, and he knew that that was the highest shame that any person in human history is ever born, because it was the Creator who was willing to take that upon himself in human flesh. And so if Jesus was willing to do that, that whatever happened to him was insignificant. Think of these guys that went to Uganda knowing that some of them weren't going to come back, and it ends up that they all died, right? I mean, this happens, but people are willing to get the message out. So, he's beaten there. Okay, they were designed to bring shame on the person. Okay, he's not ashamed. His words here are certainly being given as an example to Timothy. He would also surely suffer as well as if he faithfully carried out his duties. If he did, he was going to suffer. And he's letting them know that again. He probably said it to him a thousand times as they traveled around. You know, this happened because we're following Jesus and Timothy would probably get in trouble with Paul and they'd end up, you know, whatever. But he's saying, this is coming. And when you take over as a pastor, it's going to happen to you too. So there you go. Paul had risen above the sufferings. and he felt no shame at proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Timothy is being encouraged to do likewise, and it is a sentiment that builds, that Peter builds upon in 1 Peter chapter 2. So in 1 Peter chapter 2, he says, Hebrews 2 Peter 1 Peter. Okay, 1 Peter chapter 2 and he's, let me see, 20. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. Okay, you do something wrong and you get beaten for it, you deserved it. But when you do something right and you get beaten for it, it wasn't deserved, but if it's in the name of Jesus, then you're glorifying God, and that's what the point is there with Peter. So he's instructing them that. Oh my goodness, we got a lot, okay, 15 minutes. With this same noble attitude, which is explained by Peter being found in Paul, He continues with the words, for I know whom I had believed. The word believed signifies to trust, in this case. One can believe in something but not trust in it. One can believe in the Supreme Court of the United States, but he may not always trust the decisions they will render. Okay, 90% or something of the people in America, and this has been going on for quite a while, we'll hope that it changes, but 90% of the people in America believe in their representatives, they just don't trust them. Okay, I believe that I have a representative, Vern Buchanan, right? He's been representing us now forever. He never returns emails. He never responds to anything. He's very wealthy, lives out on Longboat Key. I've never seen his name in the paper once. Proposing a regulation, proposing an amendment, Nothing. Nothing. I've never seen one word about him and yet he keeps getting elected. You write him a letter and he doesn't respond. I don't trust that guy as far. Now, I do trust him for his vote because we always pass things when the Republicans are a majority and he has to be a part of that. So he's the kind of guy that just shows up, pushes a button, and goes back to his hotel or whatever he does up there. I know nothing about that guy, despite having written him over really important issues. Whereas other times, we had a problem when we were in Japan. And it was ongoing for my wife. It was ongoing for months, and the State Department kept sending back a letter. You need to fill out this form. We'd fill it out, and then they'd come back and they'd say, well, you need to fill it out. And this went on like 20 times. Instead of just sending us everything and saying, here's what you need. And finally, I said, this is never going to end. So I wrote Cornelius McGillicuddy, Connie Mack. We got an answer within one week. It went all the way to Washington DC, so it took at least five or six days from Japan. He got that on his desk and he responded that day. And she was on an airplane the next day, weren't you? Going down to Guam, problem solved. It would have gone on for years and years. He said, I don't know what you people are doing, but I want this fixed and I want it fixed in one time. And they had everything all laid out. It was done and she got her paperwork, all of it, and she went down there and they gave her the royal treatment. simply because somebody was willing to help. The same things we've asked of Verne Buchanan. I shouldn't get into politics, but I'm just letting you know that the point is trust. Trust. Okay, it doesn't matter if it's Verne Buchanan or if it's the Supreme Court or if it's the preacher that you go to in church. You want to be able to trust that person. Anyway, didn't mean to divert on that, but I brought back an old memory there. However, what Paul believes in is also his source of trust. He believes in Christ and he trusts in Christ. He knew the work of Christ was of God. He knew that Christ's work was sufficient to save him from his sins. He knew that in being declared guilt-free, he stood justified. He didn't question and say, well, you know, maybe I've lost my salvation and Jesus doesn't love me anymore. He understood the nature of an eternal decree of God. I have proclaimed you guiltless, and you are guiltless forever. You're not going to lose your salvation. And preachers that teach that doctrine are not abiding with the Word of God. It doesn't mean that they're intentionally doing it, it just means that they have not understood the nature of God. The relationship of a covenant that God makes with the receiver of that covenant. If they understand the nature of Israel in her disobedience, they would understand the nature of you in your own disobedience. justified. He knew that being justified he was positionally glorified. It's done. He even says that in Romans. You're sanctified. You're justified. You are glorified. In God's mind it is done. The decree is eternal and therefore the action is eternal. Okay? And that he would actually be glorified someday because in God's mind he already is glorified. It's done. There was a deep-seated trust in this which could not be beaten out of him. It could not be wrung out of him through imprisonment. It was steadfast in him to the end. As he says in confirmation of this, he is persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him. What fear had Paul in any trial? What remorse had he in any public punishment? What temptation of walking away from the Lord did he have because of his suffering? Think of these guys that went to Uganda. Exact same attitude. They went down there saying, I'm going to commit to this. What did it say? Three of them defected. Three of them weren't even willing to go the rest of the way down to a garden. They just left. Okay, but these other people knew that they would probably not survive and they went anyway. There was nothing that could deter him, meaning Paul from the course he had set because he knew the character of God. He is ever faithful to keep that which is committed to him. I wish people would understand that. The most important precept that I would hope people would understand from the Bible. The most important, which is seen in almost every typological sermon I've done, Old Testament is very clear on it and the New Testament is clear on it. It is, I'd say it again and again, the first words ever spoken to man, the last words spoken to Israel before the end of the Old Testament, the last words of the Bible in the very last sentence of the Bible. Law versus grace. law versus grace. That's the most important point that you can come to a resolution in your mind of any other. Do I serve under law or am I under the grace of God in Christ? If you get that wrong, you are going to have bondage in your life. you are free from the law. Paul says it explicitly numerous times. Law versus grace. But the eternal decree, the eternal nature of God's decrees is a very important point. It's something that he harps on again and again. He's doing it right here. where was that suffering? There was nothing that could deter him. He is ever faithful to keep that which is committed to him. The body could be beaten, imprisoned, crushed, and brought to its end, but the bonds of even death itself had been defeated. 1 Corinthians 15, last week's sermon. The jubilee for the captive had been proclaimed and the human soul which belonged to God because of Christ was free, or in your case is free. This was a certainty from the unchanging God who carefully tended to that which had been entrusted to him, Paul's words, until that day. The day he speaks of is the day when Christ will come for his people as described in 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4. If you don't remember those verses, go watch last week's sermon again. There it is, the one that he says should be taught in seminary. Thank you. I feel so nice you saying that to me. Paul had already explained the doctrine on the rapture to the church in those epistles. something that Timothy was surely aware of. On that wondrous day, the soul would be united to an eternal body, one which would never suffer, never endure shame, and one which will possess a glory unimagined by man at this time. Paul knew this lay ahead, and so he stood ready to possess it without fear. Man, if you've got that attitude already, you are in the sweet spot. You're not going to let this world get you down in regard to salvation. Once again, I always try to qualify this because it sounds like, you know, I have troubles and I get down. I have troubles and I get disappointed. I have troubles and I get angry. If you do, that's human nature. We all have troubles and we respond to them the way that we are built. Some people can handle this pressure better, but they can't handle this one. We are all different, okay? That's not what I'm speaking of, is this life and the troubles we have. You know, somebody dies and you mourn for them. You have to go to the hospital and you think, I don't want to be here, this is terrible. Lord, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about your state before God. If you have that down, if it's settled in your mind, nothing can take away the joy that you possess in that thought. All the other things are part of who you are and you just have to live through them and express yourself as you would in any other way. But that one thing, Knowing that Christ will redeem you he will bring you out of the grave And it doesn't matter what happens to you is the most freeing thing of all okay Paul understood that all right, so Paul knew this lay ahead and so he He stood ready to possess it without fear. Life application, we're right on time. How certain are you of the faith you proclaim? How ready are you to suffer for it, or to even die for it? Okay, those guys that went to Uganda in advance said, we're probably not coming back, or at least some of us, okay? A little bit of faith is all that is needed to bring you to a right relationship with God. But exercising your faith through study of the Word will cause it to deepen to a point that you can truly say, no fear here, I belong to Christ. If you have that in your life, if you have that one ability to make that proclamation, nothing is going to take away your happiness, even through all of your trials, sadnesses, pains, and suffering. I know somebody that suffers greatly, he's got cancer, he's got emphysema, he's got this, he's got that, he's got every possible medical condition on this planet and yet I see him every single week of his life go out to the projects and tell people about Jesus. He doesn't have to do that anymore. He could say, I did that for 20 years and I'm just, I'm broken down. I can't do this anymore. But he does it because he understands that he is free. It doesn't matter what happens to him. Okay? If you have that attitude, then the things that happen to you and the struggles you're going through really don't matter that much. So have the right attitude. No fear here. I trust in Jesus and everything is going to go really well for you. I'm talking about in your state with the Lord. Once again, I don't qualify that. I'm not trying to say everybody's going to be happy or you're not going to have bad days. So that's going to come. All right. And Paul even said that in his writings. You are going to suffer. Okay. Suffering means not liking it. Okay. You're secure. Heavenly Father, thank you for the surety that we have in Jesus Christ. Thank you that he prevailed over the law so that we are free from its precepts. We have complete and absolute assurance of eternal salvation because of what he has done. Help us to trust that precept. It's what your Bible teaches. Help us to cling to it and to know that it is correct and that we have a sure hope in this life. Lord, because we do. Because of Jesus. Thank you for Jesus. Amen. All right, let me back this thing up here. Oh, just in time today. Look at that. We're just in time. Thank you, Lord. Okay. We love you guys. Have a great weekend. Yeah, weekend, and we'll see you here Sunday. Be blessed. Take care. Bye-bye. All right, here we go. So good. Jesus is so good. So good. Crispy duck. Crispy duck. I can't wait. I can't wait. You know, she ordered it, so I only get a little bit, but I'll be picking that up every time. Oh, enjoy. You what? What is it? It's soap. But it has a string. OK. Take care. Have a great evening. All right. Be blessed. It reminds us of your perfume or something. Patchouli? Maybe. OK. You don't want it. You don't like it. Rhoda doesn't like it. OK. That's fine. You know me. I'll never turn down.