With Complete Patience and Teaching

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV).

I talked a little bit about this in the last devotion titled, “The Spirit and the Water and the Blood.” 

“The testimony of God, via the holy Scriptures, is greater than the testimony of human beings who are speaking from their flesh and not from the Scriptures. Too many people these days are putting their trust in the words of human beings over and in place of the Scriptures, in many cases, and sometimes they trust these people because of who they are, and because of their credentials, without even testing their words against the Scriptures.

“They are putting their trust in preachers/pastors, and in church denominations and in their theologies, and in commentators and theologians and in people with seminary degrees who have titles before their names, even if their words contradict the teachings of the Scriptures, and even if their words ignore the teachings of the Scriptures. So, we need to be students of the Scriptures,” and not followers of man (human beings).

Also, it is important to note here that all of us who are believers in Jesus Christ are to be preachers of the word of God. For we are called of God to proclaim (preach) the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. We are all to spread the message of the gospel of our salvation to the people of this world. And all of us are to encourage and exhort and urge one another to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands (New Covenant) and in holy living, and against deliberate and habitual sin.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]  

So, all of us who believe in Jesus are to be proclaimers of the truth of God’s holy Word. And so we must all be diligent, as far as it is possible for us, to make certain that what we are teaching (or sharing, proclaiming) is indeed the truth of God’s word and not the teachings of man (of human beings). And this requires that we be students of the Scriptures who study them in context and who inquire of the Lord as to their meaning so that what we share (or teach, or preach) is truth, and not lies (distortions of truth).

And, again, we are all to reprove, rebuke, and exhort one another so that none of us are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness, and so that we do not wander off from the truth to follow after the lies being taught by people in their cunning, craftiness, and deceitful scheming (same Scriptures as noted above). This is not the sole responsibility of people called “pastor,” but this is the responsibility of every part of the body of Christ, as each of us does the work we are called of God to do, as our body part.

And why is it critically important that we who are following Jesus Christ with our lives are busy spreading the truth of the gospel? Because the time is now here when it appears that the vast majority of those professing faith in Jesus Christ are not enduring sound teaching, but having itching ears they are accumulating for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. And so they are turning away from listening to the truth, and they are wandering off into myths, to false teachings, false doctrines, false gospels, to deceiving spirits, to feel-good messages, and to misimpressions, i.e. to indirect lies.

But no matter what other people do, we are to remain faithful to the word of God, the word of truth and of righteousness, and we are to continue to preach the good news of the gospel. For Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow him in obedience. For if we hold on to our sinful practices, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, we have eternal life. But if we deny him by how we live, when he returns, he will deny us (see Luke 9:23-26).

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Now, the other day, I think yesterday, the Lord Jesus led me to watch a YouTube video put out by a young Christian woman who was sharing what the Lord had laid upon her heart to share regarding the times we now live in and what the Scriptures teach regarding these last days. And so I included that video in one of my posts. And today he led me to a video put out by a young man who was sharing this passage from 2 Timothy 4 and what he believed the Lord was impressing upon his heart to share. I was encouraged by both of these videos, so I am going to share this second one with you.

Video by Brett Rabon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK1Vtg9rb9s

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Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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