I know! He said, Doge. Oh, wow. It's live. Google and Aircraft. We're live. Okay, go ahead and start, Jim. Okay, we are at the end of Psalm 119, which is taught. Cross sticks, mark, sign, signal, monument, and also it is a cross. May my cry come before you, O Lord, give me understanding according to your word. May my supplications come before you, deliver me according to your promise. May my lips overflow with praise for you each, for you teach me your decrees. May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous. May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me. I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands. Great, great, great, great. Okay, today is the 13th, which means tomorrow is the 14th. So if you've got a sweetheart, you need to take care of her. Okay, 14th, 13th. But it does move. Genuine science and correctly taught scripture are never in conflict. For the same God created both. But endless damage occurs when either is misinterpreted and used to condemn the other. Here's one of the church history's saddest, sorriest examples, which is exactly what I'm thinking, Galileo Galilei. He was an Italian astronomer and physicist who made his first scientific discoveries while a student in Pisa. Not pizza, Pisa. He dropped out of the university for lack of money, but returned at age 25 to teach mathematics. He formulated laws about gravity by conducting novel experiments like dropping weights from the leaning tower at Pisa. He devised the law of the pendulum by watching a lamp swing from the cathedral ceiling. his fame spread across Europe, drawing both students and criticism. In 1609, he began building telescopes and made spectacular discoveries about the heavenly bodies. Galileo was a Christian who believed that God's world and God's word were both valid subjects for study. Using one of his telescopes, he even showed Pope Paul V some of his findings. But he was nonetheless attacked by the church for his discoveries. contradicted traditional teachings. Some clergymen condemned the whole study of astronomy by quoting Acts 1.11. Why are you men from Galilee standing here and looking up into the sky? That's like right out of context there, buddy. In 1632, Galileo was called before the Inquisition to answer charges that his writings violated church teachings. despite being 70 years old and infirm, he was forced to teach to travel from Florence during the winter, arriving in Rome on a litter on February 13th of 1633. Historians are unsure whether Galileo during his trial was tortured or simply threatened with torture. In any event, the old scientist was forced to read a statement renouncing his views. especially his observation that the earth moves around the sun, confessing them as errors and heresies. A legend persists that having read his recantation, Galileo muttered, but it moves after all. Galileo remained under house arrest, treated badly by church officials, until he became blind and feeble. This is typical Roman Catholic stuff here. He died on a winter's day in 1642 in the presence of his son and two of his pupils. The heavens keep telling the wonders of God and the skies declare what he has done. They don't speak a word and there is never the sound of a voice. Yet their message reaches all the earth and it travels around the world. So there are people to this day that deny that the earth moves around the sun. They're called flat earth creationists and they're absolutely lunatics. But if any of you are watching, I apologize. No, I don't. They're just crazy. Anyway, you know, you can figure that out without leaving your hometown, okay? You can figure it out. If you really want to figure it out, you just get 15 of your friends around the world all at the same time on a Zoom call and have them tell you where the sun is, okay? There's nothing difficult about this, especially in today's world. But, okay, a couple things here. The first is, where did it go? I had a Jesus Phil meeting paper here. Oh, here it is right in front of me. Okay, here's what I got. Jesus Phil, what is this? Okay, we got that last week. We'll leave this, if anybody wants a copy of this with pictures, they can email me and I will send it to them, or I will leave this for the people if they want to read it. The Jesus film meeting this month, we had 46 people in the meeting. Seven came to believe in Jesus as their Savior. He handed out all of the mosquito nets. Everything was taken care of, so thank the people that helped with that this month. Very appreciative, and I'll put that, like I say, I'll put that over where anybody can read it. And let's see here. I know we got some prayer requests, and I don't have any written down. We have Kent, who was here on Sunday. We want to just keep remembering him in prayer. If you weren't watching Sunday, he's a person that three months ago was given three months to live. and he got a little better where he could travel. He came and he fellowshiped with us, and he wanted to take communion with the church. So it was very good to see him, and I told him to email me at least weekly to give me reports on how he's doing. Okay, so one other thing before we get going. Now, I just took a knife and opened this. I have not opened it yet. I've been saving it for today. Now, just in case anybody needs an emergency wastewater treatment, operator, I have my new licenses for the next two years. Class A water and Class C drinking water. Wastewater and drinking water. So if anybody needs an emergency wastewater treatment process or they're water treated, call me and I can hook you up, okay? I'm certified for two more years just in case, you know, as Solomon says, cast your bread upon many waters and you never know what the future holds, so I am for two more years certified as a valid waste... and we have reciprocity in like every country in the world. Florida has... I can go anywhere. I can go to Thailand and be a wastewater operator, so don't make me angry. What's that? You have to do CEUs, you gotta do, I gotta do the number for the different levels, like I only had to do 10 hours of CEUs for the water, and I had to do 20 for the wastewater. And then from there you have to, of course, pay for your license, which is another 150 or whatever dollars, and I was probably the first person, now you talk about the negligence of the wastewater field, I'm probably the first person in Florida to have the new licenses. The other people they they probably won't have theirs for another two or three months, but I'm Charlie due diligence, right? Okay, so how much has it changed since you last did it's Listen, it's like having a stomach. Okay stomachs do the same thing all the time. It's a process I mean you'll get upgraded pumps and stuff But the process is all natural and we do add in chemicals into them to treat the wastewater But for the most part it's a very natural process just like your stomach, okay? What's that? We do fluorinate the water in Sarasota, but one town south of us, I just read it a day ago, they have approved no more fluoridation in their water. It's on the East Coast. I can't remember the town, but anyway, and that will be happening more because people, if they want fluoride, they can put it in their toothpaste. Okay. The gumball machine? Yeah, this came out of a gumball machine. Yes. Okay, we got to pray. Heavenly Father, we are very grateful to you for all the blessings of this life. We thank you for every good blessing in Christ. The word that you've given us is so special. It's so precious. Thank you for your word and we would pray that it would be handled properly and that you would be pleased with how we do, and if there's something that is not in accord with your will, that you would open our eyes to it. And Lord, we certainly pray for all the people that are having afflictions or difficulties, whoever they may be, and we just ask that you look into their lives and comfort them, even if they're not going to be healed by you until the day of You're coming or if you will heal them that would be our preference to take away their ills But either way just give us enough strength to praise you and with that we will be pleased We thank you for that. We love you Lord, and we just ask that you Revel and be blessed in this class, and we thank you in Jesus name Amen Okay, so here. We are we're in a 1 to Timothy, chapter 1. I think we're in the last verse of it, too. It's verse 15, and I do think that's the last verse of chapter 1. So, no? Close. Okay. Okay, well, we're getting close. 12 and go down to 15. Okay. That is why I am suffering as I am, yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. 13. What you heard from me keep as a pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. Guard it with the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 15. You know that that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygellus and Hermogenes. Okay, this you know that all those in Asia have turned away from me among those who are Phygellus, I guess, and Hermogenes. And you're right, we have to get to verse 18 to finish, so. I know, we're getting there. Yeah, sorry about that. I don't know why I was thinking that was the end of the chapter, but okay. Paul's words, this you know. introduces a new thought which will be explained as he writes the verse. But it shows that Timothy is already aware of the matter which Paul will relay. The specific thing is that all those, Paul's words, that all those in Asia have turned away from me. Now remember, even Ephesus is in Asia, okay? I do believe that. Yeah, I'm pretty certain of it. And, you know, this is the guy that established all of these Gentile churches. And then you have them turning away from him. And that's not to be unexpected. I mean, you got the Judaizers coming in everywhere he goes, and they're trying to just harm people's faith. They're trying to get people to observe the law of Moses, and it just goes on and on. But the area of Asia is not what we think of as Asia today in the modern sense. Rather, it is a vague description for the churches around Lydia, Mycenae, Phrygia, and so on. it could be, speaking of the area, referred to in Revelation 1 verse 4, and if so, it includes Ephesus, where Timothy is as Paul writes. Okay, so, you know, it's kind of a vague area that probably even changed as the Empire, you know, changed with wars or with, you know, different what do you call them, people that are appointed governors over various areas, the lines probably change, but anyway, with that in mind he says that in this area everyone had turned away from him. Okay, it's obvious that this was not the case in the absolute sense. Entire churches had not turned from Paul and Timothy was in Ephesus receiving Paul's letters. And so what it is believed to mean is that Paul in prison in Rome was accompanied by representatives from Asia and they had turned away from him. That seems like a possible explanation. You know, you got your representatives there, but they're in the household, they're in the area, and you know, for whatever reason, in their time with him, they had turned away from him. Although entirely conjecture, it is believed by some scholars that they had been sent to Rome to testify of Paul's character, but due to increased pressure on Christians and the possibility that they too could be caught up in the persecution and imprisonment, they had turned away from him. Now you can see kind of parallels with what we saw there. Rome at the time was not a Christian organization. It wasn't a Christian capital yeah and so but eventually it was the Vatican that was established in Rome and they did the same thing after you know instead of being a political entity it became a religious entity but they did the same thing with Galileo. They turned away from his teachings. Here's a guy that's faithfully representing science in the world, and they not only turned away from his teachings, but they persecuted him and made him recant of what was the truth. And, you know, something like that alone, we've got these, I've mentioned a week or two ago, is that we've got these people today. They're all over the world, and I was thoroughly shocked to see it, you know, but people posting from Catholicism about the the almost divine nature of the church. Decisions are impeccable. They're without any error. You are to follow what the church says. All they have to do is go back in their own history and look at the terrible decisions that the Catholics have made about science, about morality, about a multitude of other issues, and you would think that they would say, I got my eggs in the wrong basket. you get into a cult, the mindset is almost impossible to overcome. Now, for some reason, and you know this, that a large percentage of the people that attend this church, either here personally or online, have come out of Catholicism. So it's not impossible, but it is such a hindrance to people's walk with the Lord to be in Roman Catholicism. The things they teach are not only incorrect, they are often heretical. And then they're the ones that say that what you're saying is heretical. So it's a very sad situation to be, but that's how it is. It's just that the military and civilian empire became a religious entity, but it really didn't change in their thinking about the world at large. Anyway, in their time with him, they had turned away from him. I read that. Let's see here. Yeah, I read that. Oh yeah, okay. They possibly too could be caught up in the persecution. They were unwilling to stand and defend Paul in order to save their own skin. This certainly seems likely, and it gives a good reason why Timothy would already be aware of it. Okay, people are not willing to defend the faith, and if Paul is a member of the faith and they walk away from him, they're basically walking away from the faith in the process. You've got a responsibility to people that are faithful Christians that you would defend them, at least in the sense of, I support their decision, because if you believe what he believes, why would you walk away from that? Anyway, Paul then names two of these offenders, Phygelus, or I didn't look up the name in Greek, so I should have done that, and Hermogenes. This is the only time these two are mentioned in Scripture, and so nothing more is known about them. However, Phygelus' name comes from the word phuego, meaning to flee or to shun. What an appropriate name. for the situation, okay? And it could be that, you know, now I was going to say that possibly Paul named him from that, but he wouldn't have done that in a letter to Timothy because Timothy wouldn't have known who he was talking about. But the name just happens to match the character there. Anyway, Hermogenes comes from two words. The first is Hermes, the messenger god of, the messenger of Greek gods. Remember that when Paul and, what's his name, Barnabas were in No, not Laodicea, and it wasn't the island, it was, I'll think of it, Lydia, I think. They were there, and the people went and sacrificed to them, and they said that Paul is Hermes, And what's his name? Yeah, Barnabas is Zeus because Paul was the greater speaker. And so they called him Hermes because he's the messenger of the Greek gods. Anyway, I think it's Lydia, one of those areas over there. It was on the first missionary journey. And so Hermes, the Greek gods. The second word in Hermogenes comes from the words come into being. In other words, genesis, like Genesis. Okay, yeah, and so come into being, in essence, born of Hermes would be what his name is. He is generated from Hermes. Okay, did Paul choose to name him here to indicate that he was more of a herald to Hermes than he was one for Christ? Okay, could be. Anyway, he chose two names out of all of the people who had deserted him, maybe in order to tie their names into their actions. Either way, it is probable that Timothy personally knew them because Paul has mentioned them by name. Okay, life application. Your life is being recorded, and you will be remembered for something. In this verse, the only remembrance of these two people is that they were unwilling to stay with Paul, but instead turned away from him. Now think of that. They're actually recorded in the Bible. They were probably saved believers that were just weak in their faith or weak in their constitution, but the only thing that we have of them at all in recorded history is that they deserted Paul. That's all we have, and it's in God's Word. Anyway, that is the entire record of their lives. If you were to be remembered, and you will be, what is it the people will say about you? So there you go. If the Lord doesn't come first, we should say, because He may. I really believe that the Lord is, His coming isn't far, and I don't mean like tomorrow. It could be a hundred years from now, but we're just closer than we were ever before, obviously. But if the Lord doesn't come first, you are going to die, and when you do, people are going to stand and they are going to speak about you at a funeral. Okay one time my uncle was talking about a funeral he went to and he said all they did was talk about how he got wasted all the time. Yeah I went to the bar every Friday night we got wasted. You know is that what you want to be remembered for is sitting in a bar getting drunk every Friday night and all the things you did in the bar that you probably shouldn't have been doing. right? And he was just totally disaffected with that funeral. He was like, I just, I don't even want to go to funerals anymore because I don't want to hear that kind of thing again. Anyway, so you got to figure what are you going to be remembered for. You know, hopefully it'll be more than getting wasted at the local bar. But, okay, we are already into 116. This is just great. May the Lord show mercy to the household of Ona Sephoris. because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. Okay, the Lord grant mercy to the household of Anisiphorus for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. So you say chains, this one says chains. I don't know what the Greek says, but anyway, it's either plural or singular, because there aren't any other options. But, very close on the two translations, though. My morals will be tough on you. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaking of that, I was, Maya posted, I think, the second to the last Jonah Byte yesterday. It was so exciting, it is so exciting, I had forgotten everything. She posts them every day. I've been watching Jonah and I've been waiting for chapter 4 and then I've been waiting for the end of it and I know that sounds stupid because I'm the one that typed the thing and I'm the one that sat down and did the sermon but I could not remember all of the details of how it And it was so exciting to watch yesterday's Bible bite man. I'm telling you what a great book I gave somebody a Bible today and She said well. I have a Bible and she said The only time I opened it and I said is when you have troubles right and she says yeah I said, you know, you don't go to the Bible when you're having trouble. You remember the Bible when you're having trouble because you go to the Bible every day. And I gave her a new Bible, her and her husband, a Bible. I told them in a letter to them, I want you to read this every day of your life, and I explained, if you read this 30 minutes a day, that's it, just 30 minutes a day, you will be done with this book in 154 days. Okay, I know that because an audio Bible is 150, 30 minutes, anyway, I did it based on 70 hours, that's why. And so I said, now imagine that. You can read the Bible twice in a year. What is your excuse to not read the Bible, okay? And that was in the letter to them. And she then asked me, well, what book do you think I should read first? And I said, I explained it in the letter what you should do. Pick it up and start with the first page and read all the way through. And I said, if it gets difficult, just read it anyway and keep going because it'll get un-difficult again. I said, there are parts that you will just not understand. But I told her, you know, if you just have to start with a small book, I said, start with Jonah. It's such an interesting book. You can't help but like it. I mean, even if you don't understand the thing and what it's pointing to, you can't help but like Jonah. It takes you ten minutes at the most to get through the book, and you say, that was a fun read. But watching those videos and rethinking the sermon, and I can't wait to see the last one. I think there's one more Bible bite coming out. The translations that you read are not at all, not even close to the way that I translated the last chapter of Jonah. Not even close. And I am certain that the way I translated it is correct, and the analysis I gave is correct. And I was so excited to see that yesterday because I've been waiting to see exactly how I worded everything. And, you know, I could go back and watch the sermon any time, but she's been posting it, so I thought I'm going to watch it with her and with what she's doing. when you get to the last chapter of Jonah. I want to tell you this now if you've never read it. It'll end, and it'll make no sense to you. That's just the way the Book of Jonah is. It just ends without any thought of, you know, don't get me wrong, it's very interesting, but you're left kind of just hanging. But when you read my translation of it, and you watch the sermons, you will say, now I get Jonah. I promise you that's true. I absolutely promise you that's true. Because the translations that you read are wrong. they are incorrect, okay? Only one translation went down the right path, and that was Young's literal translation. Every other translation way varies from what the Hebrew is telling us. And then even Young's doesn't give the final sense of it in the last two verses. And so if you want an interesting read and to find out what Jonah is actually saying, and I'm certain of it, I would not say it otherwise, you should watch the Jonah sermon. That sermon was on March 19th, 2017. Okay, wasn't that many years ago. 2017, we finished. It was just, I know that you will enjoy it. I absolutely am certain of it. There you go. That's just my thing about it. I just can't wait to watch the last Bible Bite on Jonah. Or there may be two more, but I think there's only one. Anyway, I was so, so excited to sit there and watch it last night. Okay, here we go. 116, in the preceding verse, Paul spoke of those who had turned away from him. phygellus and hermogenes. Now he contrasts their faithlessness to the faithfulness of anisphorus. He is mentioned only here and in 2 Timothy 4 verse 19. Anisphorus. Yeah, okay, that's right. I just... Anyway, in both instances Paul writes of the household of anisphorus. For this reason, some scholars feel Paul is conveying that he is now dead and he is asking for mercy upon his household. Others disagree and say that he was still living, citing verse 18 as a proof, and it was simply absent from his home at this time. The reason for supporting the second view is because Paul's words of verse 18 almost sound like a prayer for him. Okay, and we'll get to that in two more verses. If this is so, then it would supposedly be evidence that one can pray for the dead. However, Paul's words in that verse are no different than anyone else who simply refers to the dead in a manner similar to this. Okay, having said that, and this is one of the things that I get a lot. People will ask me, you know, my friend's brother died. Would you pray for him, meaning the dead brother? And that doesn't work. When somebody's dead, they're dead. Whatever their state is, it is settled at their last breath. There's no changing his state. There's no changing how comfortable he is going to be or how uncomfortable he is going to be. That is done. So there's no point in praying for the dead. There are verses that seem to indicate, especially in Peter, which we'll get to in not too long, it seems to indicate that the dead can be evangelized. And people take those verses and they, you know, Mormons use it. They use the one about baptizing for the dead and they baptize for the dead. In other words, we're going to baptize for a dead person and maybe convert them after they're dead, okay? That's not what that verse is saying at all. There are also people that take the words of Peter and they talk about Jesus going in and preaching to the saints in prison, meaning the dead people, and etc. That is not what that verse is saying either. If you need to know that before we get to those passages, all you need to do is go to the Superior Word, go down to Writings, and go to the PDF file on whatever book and whatever, you can scroll right down and you can read those comments. But that is not what they are saying. The dead are dead. There's no change in their state after they're dead. There's no purgatory. That is not a doctrine taught in the Bible. That's a Catholic invention to justify getting rich by the Catholic Church. Speaking of the Catholic Church again, They're losing hundreds of millions of dollars in the last week. Hundreds of millions of dollars because of what Trump has cut out. They have been profiting hugely off of bringing illegals into the country. All it has been is a ploy. And now you wonder why the Pope has been talking about how bad Trump is. It's because this was inevitable. that the Catholic Church is going to lose hundreds of millions. How is it, and I've reported on this twice now over the past year, how is it that the Catholic Church can pay five billion dollars in compensation to victims? In the U.S. alone, not around the world, just in the U.S., they have paid five billion dollars to victims. Are you sure we haven't? That's what I'm saying. How is it that they could do that? How can they have that much money? It's because they've been getting it from the U.S. government, taking our money and paying for their perversion. That's all ending. That's not going to happen anymore. Here we go. You just got to be really, really careful about who you believe and why do you trust somebody. Because the Catholic Church has been a giant money-making industry for hundreds and hundreds of years based on purgatory, indulgences, and based on illegal activities in the United States of America. That is ending here, at least in a temporary, while we have the guy in the White House that's cutting out all of this fat. Anyway, just one of those interesting things. You warn people, you warn people, you tell them, and they won't listen. And then they find out that, you know, it's been true. that the church that they are in is not what they claim to be, okay? But the reason why we know that is because the Bible doesn't support their doctrine. But they don't read the Bible, and people, they say, well, it's just a Christian entity. It's hardly. There may be some Christians in the Catholic Church, but it is hardly a Christian entity. So that's our job as preachers in the church, is to warn people about false churches. That is our job. One of the things that you call out is bad doctrine. I was talking to somebody a day ago through email about that, and what is it that Paul did with Peter in Galatians chapter 2? He called out false doctrine right there, right in front of everybody, and it is recorded in the Word so every single person in the church from that point on would know that even an apostle can get led astray. by bad doctrine. That's why that's recorded in there, is to call out bad doctrine. We have a responsibility to do that, and so, you know, people get upset, and, I just want to hear about the Bible, I don't want... That is the Bible. That is the purpose of the Bible, is to correct our doctrine, to lead us on proper paths of what we should be doing, and to stay away from people that are teaching wrong. It's just a part of it. It's not the whole, but it is a part of it. Eyes on Jesus. That's where we need to be. For this reason, some scholars feel Paul is conveying that, oh I read that, it is not necessarily a prayer, but an acknowledgment that their lives were well lived, and we are entrusting their judgment to the Lord's wise discernment. Okay, so this thing about praying for the dead, that's not it at all. Either way, living or dead, Paul desires, here he says, Paul's words, "...the Lord grant mercy to the household of Viniciferus." He trusts that the benefit of mercy hoped for because of Viniciferus' life and actions be granted upon his whole household. And the specific reasons for this are given by Paul. One, for he has refreshed me." That's Paul. Onesiphorus was kind to Paul, ministering to him while others had abandoned him. He lifted Paul up when things were grim and difficult. It is reflective of the words of Jesus in Matthew 25 verse 26 which say, I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. Okay, so that's the first one. I heard somebody doing a sermon. I was listening to Moody today on the way somewhere, and I was listening to a sermon, and the guy brought up this particular verse, and he so mishandled it, I had to turn off the sermon. I couldn't listen anymore. I felt bad because I was liking, you know, I was like on the second sermon that I heard today, and the reason why is because I can't get my Bible app to work, and so it's not working, and so I thought well I'll just listen to the radio and I got sick of listening to commercials on 107.9 and so I put on Moody and I've just great great sermon and then the next guy just he blew it. So anyway and I'll tell you about that in a second. Two, that was first point. Two, he was not ashamed of my chain. Okay his says chains, this one says chain. It depends you know. Chains are a plural and a singular at the same time sometimes. But if it's plural and it's evident plural, then it could be, you know, sometimes people had two chains. They had one binding the top, one binding the bottom. Or they had two chains on their ankles or whatever. And so, you know, chain and chains are all throughout Acts, and you just kind of have to guess what is being conveyed at any given time. Okay, so, it was not a shame to my chain. Paul was a prisoner for the sake of the gospel, but this meant that he was an enemy of the empire. By tending to him as a prisoner in this capacity, Onesiphorus was aligning himself with Paul. and he was thus risking himself in the process. And yet he was more concerned about Christian charity, which is what I was mentioning a while ago, for Paul than he was for his own safety. If you believe the doctrine that you possess, and Paul believes the doctrine that you possess, and somebody says, we want you to persecute Paul, why would you do that when you believe what Paul believes? Why would you not stand on what he believes and sit next to him in chains? I mean, we're talking about Jesus here. We're talking about your future, forever future, and you're not willing to defend it? Okay, that doesn't make any sense if you think about it. I understand we're humans and we get timid and we get scared and you know, but if you really in your core believe the message about the gospel, why would you shy away from it? Why would you do that? Anyway, he was more concerned about charity for Paul than his own safety while others walked away, and this verse stuck fast to his duty to the chained apostle. Okay, so those are two good reasons for complimenting this guy. Now, going back for a minute to, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me. He took those verses from Jesus speaking to Israel under the law and he applied them to why you have to have good works after you're saved, okay? It's completely unconnected in any way, shape, or form. Now, he did say that, you know, I don't believe that you have to do works in order to be saved. But, and then he went into the typical, you know, it was like a diversion. People don't know how to handle certain verses in the Bible. And so they say, I believe in salvation by grace through faith and nothing else. But then they say that good works must naturally stem from your salvation to prove that you're saved. Okay? And that's what he was doing with that verse there. There's nothing in the Bible that says that good works stem naturally from your salvation. In fact, there are people that are saved in Scripture that don't have any good works. Okay? And their salvation isn't in question. Jesus speaks to some of them in Revelation 2 and 3. There are people that, you know, just met the Lord and they don't have any good works to stand on. They don't know any doctrine. They don't know anything. So how can good work stem naturally from your saving faith? Okay, it's not a true analysis. It is a false teaching based on the words of James in chapter 2 where they don't know how to handle those verses. And so they say good works must stem naturally from saving faith or you're probably not saved. That's not at all, to Peter 1, chapter 1, finishing up in chapter, verse 9, will tell you that that's not at all the case, okay? There are people that never have any works at all, none, and they forget that they were saved, they walk away from the faith, and Peter doesn't question their salvation, okay? So... Thief on the cross? See, well, that's a bad example. People use it all the time, but the reason why it's a bad example is because he died. Well, true. Okay, so he can't have works. Definitely didn't have works. Yeah, he can't have works. So, but I know people like to use that saying, well, you're saved. But what I'm saying is people will say that you're saved and then sometime after you have to demonstrate saving faith by good works. It would be easier and clearer if you talked about the Beeman sequence. Absolutely. Okay, absolutely. But this verse here from Matthew 25, all the surrounding verses, are Jesus speaking to Israel under the law. Okay? He is speaking about, let me read you what it says here, just so you, context, you've got to go to the context of what's being said, or you're just pulling verses out of their intended meaning. Okay, Matthew 25, Luke, Mark, okay, Matthew 25. And then he says, He's speaking to them about things going on, and, Lord, Lord, and, you know, haven't we done this for you, and haven't we done that for you? But where does he say this? For everyone who asked more, Shepard, I think what I want, though, is actually going back a little bit, might be 24. It's the separating of the sheep and goats, and that's what I'm looking for. Anyway, I'm gonna find it in just a second. I'm sorry to keep you waiting on this, but visited me. Oh, okay. There it is. It is. Chapter 25. He will sit on... Here it is! Verse 31. This is... The verse we're looking at right now is verses 35 and 36, but verse 31 begins this particular thought. When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all His holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats." So who is he speaking about? People and individuals? He's speaking about the nations. Okay, these nations, think of, just to help you think this through, if he was speaking about World War II. We'll just suppose he was speaking about World War II. You got sheep nations and you got goat nations. Give me a Goat Nation. World War II. Germany, right? They'd be a goat nation, right? They persecuted and killed the Jews. Speaking about the Jews' treatment in the end times, okay? You got plenty of other goat nations, but you got some non-goat nations. We found out about what Germany was doing and we took the side against them, okay? So, the U.S. at that time would be a sheep nation. We are supporting, but it's going to be based on the nation's relationship with Israel. Because why? The church is gone. God's focus is back on Israel. And so what God is doing is now in relation to how the world is treating Israel, who has now come to understand who their Messiah is. That's the context. It has nothing to do with good works and bad works and anything else like that. And even if that wasn't the context, it still wouldn't have anything to do with works because Jesus had not yet been crucified. And so you can't have salvation by faith, grace through faith, with a Savior that hasn't yet died to bring that about. See that? So keep things in their context. You start pulling verses out of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and putting them into your New Testament doctrine, you will have contradiction always. Not sometimes, you will always have contradiction. We are to learn from those Gospels what Jesus did in fulfillment of the law and how his life in relation to Israel during the time of Israel and during the time of Israel in the end times corresponds to his dealing with them. That is what we are to learn from them, not how to conduct the church. Now there are verses within Matthew and Mark and Luke that speak about those things. And he is specific when he says those things. But for the most part, he is speaking to Israel under the law in his relationship with them. And his coming to fulfill the law and ending the law for them, which they did not receive, hence the end times, and the nation's treatment of Israel." Okay, just so you know, and that's why I had to turn that sermon off, is because I was thinking to myself, this guy is standing in the pulpit, he's taking verses that don't apply, even if they had nothing to do with the nations. He didn't go back up to verse 31. They still don't apply because Christ had not yet been crucified. and he's taking that information and he's feeding it to his congregation saying, see, you need to do good works. You need to do these things. And what is that doing? That's putting a burden on them that the Bible doesn't impose. And therefore he's happy with us. That's the end of that. So it just, if you're going to preach salvation by grace through faith, leave it there, and then preach all of the other things after salvation, not in accord, I'm sorry, to substantiate your salvation, which none of us could ever substantiate. I don't care how much we ever did. It would never meet the requirement of the cross. It would never do it. You know, we go to the projects every single week of our lives. Okay, we're down there. That's nothing. We could do that every day of our lives. We could live down there and as Paul says, I give my body to be burned. It's not going to do anything after being in Christ. to make us more sufficient. Nothing. Okay? What he has done is totally sufficient. So don't let people put you in a box and make you feel that you're a bad Christian because you're not doing things for the Lord. He's happy with you because you believe that Christ died for your sins. What you do for the Lord now should come out of you just because you love the Lord. Not as proof, but simply because you love the Lord. Okay? And you may not have money to do it, so you want to do something, do something over here, or you may be able to cook something or whatever, but you don't have to. You've done what God wants you to do. What comes afterwards should just come out of you in whatever way is good for you, okay? You're not buying God anything else by doing good works. You're just not going to. That's what He wants, is your faith in the cross. Anyway, so that's just one of my pet peeves, is salvation by grace through faith must be left alone. It must be sufficient, and not to teach people that maybe somehow it's insufficient. It's not. Okay, so those are the two things that Paul was happy with the household of Vinicius and him personally over. Life application. How faithful are you willing to be to those who have been faithful to the Lord? There may be a time when Christian friends are sick at home, laid up in the hospital, or facing some other sort of trial or difficulty. Are you ready to refresh them in their time of distress? Or will a simple post on Facebook hoping for them to get better be the extent of your effort? People do remember such things. I can tell you when he to go had her first operation we had so many people that were supportive of her. I could not believe it. It's scary the first time you get a surgery for cancer you don't know how it's going to come out and people are so kind and I will never forget that ever the kindness that people showed. I know she feels the same. She's quiet about those things but I know she feels the same. Now something I want you to do because I'm going to get home and I'm going to get busy when I leave here I go home and I got all this work to do. before we eat dinner. And I want you to try to remind me. I wanted to call Ray today, okay? And I don't have his phone number in here. It's only in the computer at home. So I need you to remind me to call Ray, because I need to know how she is, if she's in the hospital, and if she is, where can I visit her? Because I told him to call me on Thursday, and I know I haven't gotten a call yet. So please remind me of that. I want to call tonight, and just in case she's in the hospital somewhere. Okay. People do remember such things. When your time of trouble comes, they will probably respond in kind to how you extend yourself for them, okay? So it's always good to remember those things and to, you know, just be there for people when they need it, okay? And some people, you know, you know how some people are. They're just very quiet and they don't ask for things. And all you need to do is just call them and say, is there anything I can do to help? And that's sufficient in itself. Yeah, I got people pointing fingers at other people back here, okay? Some people want to help everybody and they don't want any help for themselves, and we got some people like that back there right now. Fingers are pointing and accusations are being made right now. Anyway, so there you go. Yeah, I didn't mean to say that the guy on the cross next to Jesus is a bad example. It's just not a sufficient example. Their intention is to prove, and he died. He died. He couldn't have done any works after that, and he didn't do anything to earn his salvation. That's right. I didn't mean to say it's a bad example. It's just not a sufficient example. What you said is right. Take him to the Bema seat. show them what Paul says, and then, you know, you've got an argument for that there. And I've used that one in the past. It's just that when you do, I always try to find something else that's fuller than that, okay? And 2 Peter 1 verses 2 through 9 is a complete description of that. People getting saved and not doing anything. anything with their salvation. Zero. And then finally in verse 9, they've just walked away from the faith. They don't even remember they're saved, but God does. Okay, that is a great, great example. Now you explain to me how that guy had to have, you know, fruits to prove he was saved. He didn't have any. None. The thing about that is so ridiculous because this tells you what the bar is, that you have to do it. Right. That's it. Whereas if you're playing that game with them, it's like, who you asking? You're asking them. Yeah. It's like more control. It's like, no, no, no. You have to work a little bit harder. And hey, that's exactly right. The dish is over there. That's why I say churches should not do that. They should not impose this burden on people that is not imposed by Scripture. But they do. Keep salvation by grace through faith completely separate. It is a done deal. And you know, people, I say it again and again, people cannot get that simple five-letter word, grace. They cannot get it. Grace means grace. It doesn't mean anything else. It is unmerited favor. God has given you grace, and you have received it, and it is done. Okay, verse 17. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. Okay, this is way different. It says exactly the same thing, but instead of on the contrary, it says, but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. I love that word zealous. I just, there, that NIV uses it in the book of Nehemiah. It says, Beruch, the son of Zabdai, zealously repaired his section of the wall. And every time I get to that, I don't read the NIV anymore, so I don't see it, but every time I would get to that, when I read that, that was my favorite verse in the book of Nehemiah. Here's a guy, that's all he's remembered for, in all of Scripture, he's mentioned one time, Beruch, son of Zabdai, and he zealously repaired his portion. I think, what a testament to that guy. Anyway, so, zealous, I like that word. Okay, let's see, 117. Still speaking of anisphorus, of the previous verse, Paul continues to relay the remarkable nature of the faithful brother. He had come to Rome, an exceptionally large city, and he had searched out Paul. Unlike his first captivity, where he was kept in a house with a guard, which is Acts 28 verse 16, he was probably now confined in prison. Okay, and there's a big difference between being guarded in a house with liberty and being guarded in a Roman prison. When you're in a Roman prison, I have to tell you, that was a dirty place. I have heard some accounts, and you know, you have to take history with a grain of salt and commentaries on history, but I have heard some accounts that somebody had to bring you your food because they wouldn't feed you. And if you died in there, it was because nobody brought you your food. Also, they obviously didn't have heaters in Roman prisons, and if it's a stone edifice, it's going to be really cold, you know, so if you don't have a blanket or something, which Paul says, bring me my blanket later, or bring me my, especially the, bring me my cloak, and then he asked for the parchment, whatever. Anyway, a cloak, especially with coming of winter, would be life-needing. So when you read something like that, you say, well, why would he need a cloak in a prison? It's because he'll freeze to death if he doesn't have one. Just think of the worst place on the planet, and that's where Paul was, if he was in a Roman prison. The toilet facilities would have been non-existent. It would have just been terrible. But I'm a wastewater operator, so I can help him with that, okay? Anyway, okay, so here we go. He's speaking of him. In order to find him, he would have to go to each prison and ask if he was there. Paul also may have been kept in some other place related to state prisoners, rather than a common prison. Okay, because he was a Roman, that is true. That's one point that I should make. Because he was a Roman, they may have better facilities for Roman prisons or different sections within there. So where he was may not have been the worst of all. But we don't know that. We do know that when he was arrested in, where was that? He was arrested and where they cast out the girl, the demon from the girl, and the The owners lost their money from her and so they arrested him and Barnabas or was it? It was him and Barnabas and they threw him into prison and it would have been a regular prison because they didn't know he was a Roman. They beat him and he was, you know, obviously bleeding because the next day they had to treat his wounds and everything. But, you know, he was in some really bad prisons as well. Chained to the floor, etc. So, anyway, where was that? What? It might have been Philippi. Thank you. I think that's correct. He was, I think you're absolutely correct. Philippi sounds right. Anyway, so they're in prison and yeah, and then they, he kind of got, he left town quickly after that, but they asked him, please go, please just go. so on he went and he kept you know Paul just kept on going anyway in order to find him he had to go to each prison and ask if he was now imagine that you got like in you're in Rome and you probably have it's six or seven large prisons there I mean I don't know it's a big city I don't know how many they would have but he would have had to have gone if he's told Paul's in prison in Rome they have to find out where he's got to go to each one and say there's a prisoner here and I you know I'm here to minister to him and he's got to find out where he is and then you know they may just This is what happened today. I was just going to make a point about Paul. Somebody comes to tend to the prisoners, and I have heard, we've got some police officers in this church, and they will say that sometimes people will actually give other people a really difficult time. I'm talking about the officers. of the people that work in prisons, not specifically police, but people that work there, is that they're unhappy, they don't like anybody, and they make everybody's life miserable, even people that are visiting the prisoners, okay? And so I was going to say, they could even say, well, no, Paul's not here, and then send him away and, you know. Okay, but here's what happened today, which was kind of like what I was going to say. I got a delivery at my house last Saturday and of course I was gone for like three minutes or something and so the UPS guy just said well this will be at this CVS and it's down that way in town okay and so I okay well I can't go I called him up I said is it there no it won't be here till Monday because they won't ship it here until Monday because it's a weekend delivery. okay so I waited I said I can't go Monday I can't go Tuesday yesterday was terrible Sergio and I had nothing but grief poor Sergio and so I never got there until today and I went down there down that way and you know what the traffic is like right now it's just horrifying so I got there and she said no we don't have anything for you and I said well what do I do she said you can go to the UPS store I had to walk all the way around the mall it's like 10 miles right so I get over there and I had forgotten the receipt I figured they can go by my address or my whatever so I'd walk all the way back to the car get the car drive all the way back around I go to the UPS store and I hand it to him and they said no it's not here they said you got to go all the way to the UPS store all the way down south So I drive all the way through all that traffic to get down there, and what happens? I get there and they say, we don't have it. But at least the lady was nice enough to get on with UPS, and she put it on a speaker call. She said, this guy's listening. He wants to know, he's been all over town. And so finally, they say, oh, it's at another CVS farther down. So I had to go to four places to pick up that box today. Oh, it was just terrible. Anyway, that's what they would do to people coming to look for Paul. They just give him the run around. You probably know that. You try to, whatever. Anyway, so he's asking at the prisons, and Paul may also have been kept in some other place related. But inside, I felt like I was just gonna explode. Anyway, as Paul says, he sought me out very zealously. Paul knew the amount of trouble that Onesiphorus must have gone through in order to find him. And his heart must have been overjoyed when he came in and gave a brotherly Christian greeting. Imagine that. You know, Paul's sitting there and he's not expecting anybody and all of a sudden you hear, hey, Paul! You know, that's just wonderful. Imagine the questions. Imagine the joy. And for Onesiphorus, imagine the relief. I mean, if I was happy just driving around town after Probably two hours, right? If I was happy with that, imagine how happy this guy was after traveling how many miles, searching around for the guy, finally finding him, and then getting to finally sit down with him and talk and, you know, help him. What can I do for you today? All right? There must have been just a great, great reunion for him. So the quality of Onesiphorus' faithfulness is set in stark contrast to those who knew Paul, knew where he was, and yet abandoned him. take normal life, add a bit of trial or trouble, and what is the standard result? It is normally a parting of the ways and a best wishes to you. Onesiphorus was not such a person, okay? And once again, we've got this record of these two guys, Hermogenes and what's the other name? Phygelus, yes. Okay, thank you. We've got those two people and all they're remembered for is abandoning Paul. In God's word, forever they are. You know what? I was thinking about Adam and you know every time somebody gets into a conversation about Adam The same thing comes up. I can't wait to meet him and ask him why he did what he did. You know what? We wouldn't be here if Adam didn't fall. It would not have been the world that we exist in, and we wouldn't have known the Redeemer. So I will never go up to Adam and say, gee, you really brought us a lot of grief. But that's one thing people want to hold against him. I want to go up to people like this, and I want to say, why would you abandon Paul? Why would you do that? He's an apostle. He brought the message to all of these people. Why did you do that? That's what I want to know, is people like that throughout human history that have not been faithful to the Lord when the Lord has been faithful to them. You know, now I have not, and I'm going to admit it, I have not faced any trial where I could have a problem. because of my faith. I haven't faced that. A lot of people have. We read about them every week, and somebody gets killed in Africa, and they knew they were going to die before they left, right? We know that happens. I have not faced a trial, so I really have no right to stand here and say, you know, I wouldn't have done what they did, okay? Maybe I would. I don't know my own character until I'm tried, okay? I do know my Lord, and I do know that I believe what I believe, and I don't think that I would do that. But, once again, I don't want to speak too badly about these people, but I will ask them, why did you do that? What is it that prompted you to do that? Okay, Adam, I'm not going to talk to him about that. I'm going to say, you know, Nice to meet you. Whatever. Yeah. You know. Hey, you seen a Nephilim? Yeah. Yeah. Tell me about the Nephilim. Okay. Okay. So life applications. How caring are you about those who are down and out? Are you there for hospital visits? Okay. That's one of the things I don't understand what's happened. Okay. But before COVID, I was in the hospital probably every week, probably every week. And every time somebody went to the hospital, I went there. Since COVID, I think the only person I visited other than you was Mabel. Have we had anybody else that I visited since COVID? Oh, I did go visit Mrs. Magnuson. That's right. Okay, that's two. I can't think of it. That says it just not a lot has been going on. But before COVID, I was down there all the time. I actually had planned into my week time just in case somebody got sick and now I use it all up because it hasn't it's been so rare. So when somebody does get sick I'm like oh my gosh I gotta restructure the week now. So anyway that's just the way it is but I don't know why that is the case but we do have somebody in the hospital supposed to be today. I sent it to you you'll find out about when you get home. Oh okay he sent that? Yes no no this is Mike. Okay, did you send that to him or did I got to Mike I said, do you know his number? Okay, how's she doing? So you sent that to me? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay, because I need when I get home I need to call them and so she is going to have surgery today Okay, so we need to pray for Sully before we finish up. Okay, what's that? Well yeah, I mean she was supposed to have it last week. I think she's still awaiting surgery. Ray's number is. Okay, yeah, well they were supposed to have her last week and then they didn't do it. So I hope they're not doing it again to her because this is a lady walking around with a broken back. So we need to get her in and fixed. But, okay, people online don't know what we're talking about, but you know, when somebody is in the hospital, you want to know how they are. What room are they in? How can we tend to them? You know, whatever. Okay, hospital visits. Are you there for the good times and the bad? How strong your ties are depends on how willing you are to expend yourself for them. And that takes advanced planning and conviction that you will stand fast and true. God could have left us all captives, and it would not have changed his lot one little bit. But he didn't just care and speak comforting words. Rather, he came to our prison and took our place in our deserved execution. Think about that as your fellow Christians sit alone and miserable. Jesus came and what does it say? I'll read it. It's just such a great passage. We'll stop there and we'll just read it just so that you can be reminded of what Jesus did. Hang on, let me... These pages are small and they get kind of hard to... Come on, back one more. Oops, one more. All right, here we go. Philippians chapter two. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded. Okay, now we're talking about going and visiting people, helping people out and all that. Having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Verse five, let this mind be in you. which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a bond-servant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Now think of that. He came to be a bondservant, just like we are. We're in prison. We have no way out. And he came to join us in this state. He went and he served. I typed the commentary this morning on Matthew 8. Let me read you this. Here's what it says. Now you can't get this from Matthew. You have to add in Mark or Luke. They both say the same thing. But in Matthew chapter 8, this is what I typed this morning, talking about Jesus serving. And why we should probably think about doing the same as well Come on pages Matthew 9 Matthew 8. Okay, it says Okay, it was 8 And here we'll start in verse 14 8 14 Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever. So he touched her hand and the fever left her, and she arose and served them. Okay, now it says this. When evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he cast out the demons. So people waited until the end of the day, it's already nighttime, to bring people so that they wouldn't violate the Sabbath. Bring in the demon-possessed and they bring in the sick and everything. Jesus is ready to go to bed and instead what does he do? He serves the people of Israel. He serves them. He's the creator. He's the one that gave them the law and he came and he served them. And it doesn't say how long he did it, but he certainly, it says, what does it say right there? It says, when evening had come they brought him many who were demon-possessed and he cast out the spirits with the word and healed all who were sick. Many. It wasn't just like he had five people waiting, there were many people. And they probably kept coming and coming and coming. We've had our Sabbath. We've been resting all day. They don't know that Jesus has been doing his thing all day. And then what do they do? They say, we're going to go over to that house and we're going to have him heal them. Instead of waiting till the morning. And he, there's no complaint. There's no hint of that. You know, it's just, he healed them, all of them. This is what Jesus came to do, is to give his life that he had here on this earth for the people that he came, that he created. He came to serve them. Anyway, so think about it. God could have left us all captives. I read that. Okay, think about that as your fellow Christians sit alone and miserable. 118. Let's go. This is it. Last one of the chapter. Sure is. Let's go for it. Here we go. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day. You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus. Okay, the Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day. Very similar, just a little changed around. And you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus. So it's really close. I know. Really close. Somebody's plagiarizing somebody else. Okay, let's see here. 118. As noted in verse 16, the words of Paul are taken by some that Onesiporus was dead at this point. So Paul is actually making a prayer for the dead. This is Roman Catholic opinion, which is used to justify praying for the dead. etc. Yeah, hello. Yeah, paying for the dead. Exactly. Very well. Drop the R from that word and that's what they're asking for. Okay, we'll pray for the dead and you just put some money in the box in the process. Okay. Others disagree and state that this verse shows that he is alive and simply not with this household at the time. Thus, the doctrine of praying for the dead cannot be found here. Regardless of which is true, using this one verse to build an entire doctrine of praying for the dead is not wise. The words could merely be Paul's way of saying something in writing that expresses his great appreciation for the efforts of Anisphorus. One might write to another about Paulinius Maximus and say, the Lord grant him mercy that he may stumble upon a treasure chest of gold for all he's done for me. The meaning would carry the same intent to Paul's words. Understanding this, Paul begins the verse by saying, the Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day. Even if he said that, even if he said that and the guy was dead, there's no hint of praying for the dead. He's just making an exclamatory statement, right? We would do that today if you, a lot of people don't like Billy Graham, I understand that, but a lot of people do like him. Billy Graham did a lot for the church, regardless of what you think about him. He did a lot of crusades. He evangelized a lot of people. He had a lot of effect. I've met many people over the years that have said, I came to Christ through a Billy Graham crusade. Many people. Okay, so regardless of what you think about him personally, He did a lot, okay? And even today, we might say, may the Lord grant him mercy on that day. You're not praying for him. It's done. He's already dead, okay? You're just making an exclamation about what you think he deserves, okay? And even if the guy's dead, you could say that. So you don't want to make doctrines out of things like this that may not actually be what you think it is, okay? So the more unusual aspect of this isn't whether he's speaking about someone who is alive or dead. Rather, it is the mentioning of the Lord twice in one verse. What is probably the case for doing this is the highlighting of the action to be taken. The Psalms will do this by repeating the word Lord in one verse after another. They just keep repeating a thought, or sometimes they do things in parallel, okay? We're seeing that right now in the Song of Songs, and we're gonna see a lot of parallelism in the Song of Songs. Okay, what a great book. I'm really enjoying it. Monday's sermon. Ooh, I gotta tell you what happened. It's so exciting. Look, my hair's standing up. Monday, I'm typing the sermon, okay, and the roofers are there. They're finishing up, and I made kind of a joke about it in the video, but I said, you know, oh, it's been really noisy. I said, the past hour has been terrible. And it wasn't that bad. I'm just saying something in the video to make it fun. And then I said, so I'm going to have to charge him for taking away from my attention from the sermon. I said, we'll just say the job is $100,000. I'll charge him $99,900. So we'll give him $100 for the job. OK. So that was my joke. But literally, literally, I got down to the very last paragraph of the sermon. everything is done and the power went out. I don't even need the power to finish that last paragraph because it's just me writing stuff to, you know, make people feel good at the end of a sermon. I was so happy about, if it had gone out two hours earlier, the problem is when the power came back on, I didn't have any internet. I had no internet at all. And I had to get, I had to call the lady, and then they said, well, you've got a bad router, and I'm thinking, oh no. I was so tired. That means I've got to move into the church for the next four days because Frontier is not going to come tomorrow. They're not going to do that. So I'm thinking, I said to him, I just, I'm so tired. Sunday and Monday together take everything out of me. There's nothing left. Those two days are long and tedious and tiring. And I thought, I've got to go. I've got to go to the church. Anyway, We got the internet finally working after all of that grief, and so I turned on the computer, did a little bit more work. The sermon was already done. If it had been an hour or two earlier, I would have been beside myself. I've never not finished a sermon on Monday, even if it meant Hedeko bringing me dinner there and then going hours after dinner still working on it. So the whole week would be off. That cell phone doesn't work either, so there's something wrong with it. It's my digital Bible. That's my digital Bible. That's what I listen to the Bible on when I'm driving, and it's not working. I don't know what to do. I have no idea what to do with the thing. So anyway, I can't mobile hotspot. You know what? I can't even call because my phone is a magic jack. So I can't call anybody. I can't get calls. I can't get texts. This is the life of Charlie Garrett. So don't go telling me what I should do when I have no capabilities. Putting a generator to it? I don't have a generator. It was flooded in the storm. The generator was flooded. So I'm not going to buy another generator because it, why? Okay, you guys are all in trouble. All of you. Don't pick on Charlie. He's trying to help you with your theology. Okay, let's see here. The Lord twice in one verse. What is probably the case for doing this is the highlighting of the action to be taken. The Psalms will do this by repeating the word Lord in one verse after another. It is then a way of showing the all-encompassing hand of the Lord from beginning to end in what is being relayed. So read that verse again just so you see what I'm saying. It's funny how it's a phrase, but anyhow, may the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day. Okay, he's repeating the thought as an all-encompassing thought. All right, the words in that day are speaking of when the saints stand at the bema seat of Christ to receive judgment for the things done in the body. That is found in 1 Corinthians 3 8 through 15 and 2 Corinthians 5 9 and 10, the Bema Seat of Christ, okay? We've talked about that in a sermon recently, one that I thought I would get absolutely skewered on, and nobody skewered me. I'm so thankful to not have... Now, one thing I don't know is that I don't read comments below sermons. That's not my thing. I don't do that. But I do know that we got one person that is online that has access to the Superior Word channel and he will take out bad comments. So if people make bad comments, he deletes them. And I appreciate that because there are some people out there, their whole existence is to destroy other people. And so, anyway, that's very nice that he does that. But I still don't read comments. The only thing I read comments on is when I do one of the Life Home videos. I will read those, you know. And I haven't had time to really go through all of them on this one that I did yesterday. But I just, I'd love to see what people have to say because they're just things I do around the house. Whatever. Okay. They did such a good job. I don't think I said that during the class, but the people, we got our roofs replaced at the house, dad's house and mine. And dad's house had real bad damage. I didn't know it was there. And so I'm thinking, oh my God, it's going to be really expensive. But they kept it within the budget they originally gave, despite all of that damage. They did such a good job. They did such a good job. And then I asked them, I had to pay for it today, which was, that's the hard part. And I said to them, you did extra work and you didn't put it on the bill. And she says, no, we did the contract and we're going to stick to the contract. And I said, no, I want you to tell me what that cost you. And they wouldn't. They wouldn't have me pay extra. So I took care of it another way, and they have no choice in that matter, so it's done. But they are very, very nice people. I was so impressed with their work. Okay, so anyway, and if you want to see that roof job, the video is out there right now on the channel. Okay, some scholars speak of that day as being the Great White Throne Judgment found in Revelation. This is not the case. Believers in Christ will not be judged for salvation or condemnation. Not one person that is saved in the church will ever go to the great white throne. That's not something you need to worry about. We will go to the behemoth seat of Christ for our judgment. Rewards and losses. No person that has ever been saved by Jesus will be unsaved by Jesus and sent to the great white throne. That's not going to happen. We are not judged for salvation or condemnation because that was done at the cross. And Paul says we are justified, we are sanctified, we are glorified. So we can't be judged for condemnation, therefore we can't go to the great white throne. Okay, always one and one will always equal two when you have the proper way of identifying what Paul is saying. Yes? Okay, back in verse 12, that day was used again, but that was supposed to be the rapture, correct? I don't know. I don't even remember what... I took the note. I'll read it to you. It says, that is why I am suffering as I am, and yet I am not ashamed because I know whom I believe and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him... Until that day. For that day. Whatever day, yeah. It would be the day that we are brought to the Lord, which for Him, obviously, is being raised. But for us, it would be when we are translated, okay? But yes, that's what that would be, and then we will stand before Him for rewards and losses. Yes. Okay, so 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians is where the judgment at the beaming seat of Christ will be. Okay, after this, and we got just enough time, this is great. After this, Paul takes the time to remind Timothy of the marvelous care that Onesiphorus had provided to him. even before coming to Rome. He says, and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus. So this was a guy that obviously loved Paul. He ministered to him. Paul worked with his own hands to provide his own way, but this guy probably, honey, would you bake a apple pie? Well, what do you need that for? I've got to take it somewhere. Probably didn't even tell his wife what he's doing. You know, he might have snacked on it on the way over there, but he gave it to Paul. No, I'm kidding, of course, but you know, he ministered to Paul. Paul didn't want anybody to minister him at these churches, okay? He took money from the poorer churches because he had a smart reason for doing that, okay? The richer churches would think he's there to ingratiate himself to get rich off of them, where the poorer churches They're in the same boat he's in. And so he would accept money from them. Okay, he was brilliant in how he approached people. But he's at Ephesus, it's not a poor church, and he wouldn't have taken anything. I'm working with my own hands, and you know, as a matter of fact, he says that in Acts chapter 20. Let me read it to you so you don't think I'm making that up. It says here really quickly. And then we're going to get just on time. We're going to be done. I know we are. I'm not going to go over today. Nobody's going to have to beat me up for going over. Okay, it says right here, Acts chapter 20, and yeah, 20. There it is. Okay, so he's talking to the people at Ephesus. So now, brethren, I commend you. to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, except one anesthetist took him a cake or something, okay? We don't know that. I'm just saying that. And for those who were with me, I have shown you in every way by laboring like this that you must support the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he said, it is more blessed to give than receive." That's when he's departing Ephesus, he says, I'm never going to see you people again. You're not going to see my face again. And this is what I want you to remember above everything else. Okay, so Paul didn't take things from Ephesus. He gave to Ephesus. what's his name, Onesiphorus, ministered to him. Whatever he did, it was very nice of him. So Onesiphorus was a faithful soul all along. He was there to minister to Paul at Ephesus and he followed through with that same care in Rome. He went all the way to Rome to take care of this guy. That is a nice guy. As a note, some scholars see this as care for Paul after Onesiphorus had left Rome, meaning he tended to things requested to be done upon his return. This is explained by Paul having written first about Rome and then about Ephesus. Either way, Onesiphorus was a faithful guy in Paul's time of need. So he may have ministered to Paul in Rome or he may have done what Paul asked him to do in Ephesus. Either way. Okay, life application. How great is the burden you are willing to bear for others? Are you actually willing to go out of your way to help someone when it may inconvenience you a bit? We get so caught up in time schedules, anticipated projects, lunch engagements, and the like that we often forget people's needs may be a bit more important to getting home and watching a football game. I will say this to embarrass him is that I already said it once but I will say it again is it yesterday I had all kinds of problems and somebody took his time out of his day when he's got really full days and even really necessary that he did and he spent a lot of time on it but it's to help other people like you if you participate in what he fixed okay so you don't even know what he did but he's there taking care of all kinds of people when he can't even take care of himself that's why he's got a wife anyway So keep your priorities straight and use Onesiphorus as an example of how you can be considered a faithful friend as well. Okay that's what we need to do and we're giving these examples for a reason. It's not like God is saying well you know what I'm just going to put these words into the Bible and you know just He's given everything in here for a reason. And the reason is so that we can learn how to properly conduct our lives in the presence of the Lord. When that lady asked, when first this morning, when that lady, I gave her the Bible and she said, well, you know how I read the Bible? And I told her even before she said it, like I said, I said, you go there when you have a problem. She said, yes. And I said, exactly what I told you earlier. You go to the Bible so you know where to go. You don't have to go to the Bible when you have a problem because you already know what the Bible says. And then I explain to her what I explain to you all the time. And I want her to remember this, and I want you to remember this. We cannot know God. It is impossible to know God apart from knowing Jesus Christ. It is impossible. We can know things about God, but we cannot know God. It is impossible. He is the one that allows us to understand who God is, and we cannot know, it is impossible to know Jesus Christ without knowing the Bible. You can't. There's no other source where you will ever get information about Jesus Christ. You're not going to get it from opening a refrigerator. You're not going to get it from going to the movies. You're not going to get it anywhere else. There's no other source on this planet. Now, I'm saying that, and then people preach on the Bible, but where are they getting their information from? From the Bible. You cannot know Jesus Christ without knowing the Word. So, if you don't know this Word, you can't know God. Okay, that's the point. Please read your Bible. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Oh, it is precious because it tells us all the things we need to know about you, about what you have done, about our relationship with you, about our relationship with others, how to work our lives out. It's all there. It's the blueprint for humanity. Lord, help us to remember to read the blueprint before we put the parts together wrong. May it be so to your glory, and we thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Ah, just in time. Hey, you keep my Bible in the refrigerator. In the refrigerator. Well, that's a good place to keep it. Okay, we're gonna go to break. Say goodbye to everybody. Here we go. Keep it cool. Okay everybody, have a great, great weekend. We love you. Take good care. Hope to see you here Sunday where you'll be square. You're really interested in that thing. I saw you over...