Skip to content Always Learning Part 2 Aug 23 · 46 min ...more
Always Learning Part 2
August 23, 2026 · 46 min
A pastoral call to be a praying people—pray without ceasing, bless God's Word, and let prayer shape and strengthen our lives for His glory.
Series 2 Timothy Video
Calvary Chapel teaches the Bible simply and literally, presenting scripture verse by verse so everyone can understand and apply God’s Word to daily life. We
August 23, 2026 · 46 min · 2 Timothy Video
A pastoral call to be a praying people—pray without ceasing, bless God's Word, and let prayer shape and strengthen our lives for His glory. ...more Show the full description Show less A pastoral call to be a praying people—pray without ceasing, bless God's Word, and let prayer shape and strengthen our lives for His glory.
Series 2 Timothy Video Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
In this video 0:00 Review: The Predator and the Prey1:58 The Power of Lived Faith8:55 Timothy's Pattern to Follow11:45 Enduring Persecution Faithfully38:12 Faithful Through Trials
Review: The Predator and the Prey 0:02 Father, I do pray and and and truly hope this is not the 1st time this morning that we've prayed, For your people are to be known0:15 as a people of prayer. Your church should be a a place of prayer, and we should be known by our prayer. People0:26 that pray, as your word says, without ceasing. That at every opportunity we get, we would stop and pray for ourselves, pray0:38 for others, certainly pray for the lost. There's much to pray for, God. So may we will never run out of content. But our prayer this morning at this moment, now that0:50 we've worshiped you and praised you, God bless your word as you always do. But more importantly, bless our hearts to receive it, bless1:02 our ears to hear it, and bless our lives to live it and to live it to the fullest. You know where each and every 1 of us1:14 are this morning. Whether we're on the mountain top praising you or we're in the valley seeking you, you are with us. And for that, we say thank you.1:26 You are a good and awesome god, righteous in all of your ways. May your people follow you and be like you.1:39 There's much work to be done. But, lord, you're still at work in each and every 1 of us. So transform us, renew us, and make us more like you.1:51 So bless this time, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Last time, we looked at verses 6 through 9, and the the point we
The Power of Lived Faith
2:03 made last week was, the predator and the prey. We saw in those verses that the apostle Paul says that there are certain people, certain believers, believe it or not,
2:15 that as we see in verse 6, for of this sort are those who creep in the households and make captives of gullible women, loaded down with sins, led us away by
2:27 various lusts. And verse 7, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And so I had titled this message, always learning. And for these, that section, the predator and the
2:39 prey, there were those that were always learning, always seeking, always trying to get closer, but never accepting the truth, never letting the truth change them. And we talked about how
2:50 important it is for us to allow the word of God to challenge us, to convict us, to correct us. The word of God is so encouraging. The word of God, we find promises after promises and truths
3:02 after truths that are so wonderful, but we also hear correction. We also hear cautions. We also hear, you know, urgency. I, you know, beg you, brethren. Well, the apostle Paul will say
3:14 many, many times. And so there's an urgency in us to keep learning the word of God, keep learning the ways of God, keep learning about the character of God so that we can conform
3:26 into his image. But this morning, I want you to think about 1 person. Just 1 person, not yourself. But I want
3:38 you to think of 1 person whose faith caused you to want to believe just a little bit more.
3:53 Do You have a name? Do you have a face? Now I ask you, was it something that they said,
4:05 or was it something you watched them go through that caused you to want to believe more? I'll submit to you. I would imagine it was what they did. It
4:17 was their actions. Words fall short. Words need substance behind them. And it's those people in our lives that have been
4:32 so important that we've witnessed their walk. We've witnessed their life. We've witnessed perhaps their struggles. We've witnessed their victories. And it's in that witnessing of that life
4:43 that we see a glimpse of the work of God. And that is what makes a difference. That's why that person came to your mind. That's why that person rose to
4:55 the top. It's like, this person lives to the best of their ability. Nobody's perfect. The Christian walk. They live their faith. They they they live out loud. They're an open book as some people
5:07 say. You know what's going on in their life. They they don't mind sharing it, but they also don't mind telling you how God's working in their lives, and the miracles that he's bringing, and the the peace that
5:19 he shows up in those storms. That's what faith is all about. It's learning to navigate this thing called life that stinks. Life stinks at times. But it's the only life we have,
5:31 and we wanna live it to the fullest, and we wanna live it to the glory of god. And thanks be to god, there are people in our lives that we can look up to and say, I wanna be like them because their faith is
5:43 so strong. And even now, I wanted to ask, are you that kind of person in someone else's life? Maybe someone in this room thought of you.
5:56 Maybe someone thought of you because they've seen you walk through a difficult time, because they've seen you keep your faith in a struggle. And you may not even realize it. You may not even know it. I
6:08 look around this room and I see testimonies of people that have gone through tough times. Whether it be a marriage, whether it be work struggles, family struggles, kids struggles,
6:20 all of it. Physical, you know, sicknesses, illness, troubles, just tough. And I've seen their faith endure. I've seen their faith carry them through. And
6:32 it's that that we need to latch onto. See, let me tell you why this matters so much this morning. We live in the most information rich moment in the history
6:44 of the Christian church. Listen to me. You have access on the phone you're either holding in your hand or in your pocket or in your purse to good Bible
6:56 teaching, to sermons, to commentaries, podcast, study tools. You can learn about the original language, what it meant when they spoke it, all of it
7:08 completely free. It's available to us 24 7. All of it. And the sad truth is
7:20 the church is still not as strong as it could be. With all this access, with all this ability, think about Paul's day. He didn't have a Bible. He didn't have an app.
7:32 He didn't have an email that came in for his devotion. He didn't have any of these things and what happened? He lived for God 24 7 himself without all those things.
7:45 Oh, hey, I get it. There's plenty of distractions in our lives. Right? Too many videos, too many TVs, too many screens, too many devices. But let's
7:58 understand the times that we're living in, that we have access to these things, and it is our responsibility to access them, our responsibility to look to them. But we can't only depend on
8:10 those things because that's just information. That's just information. What do we do with that information? Does that information change us? Does that information lead us to a place of walking with the Lord so that
8:22 we can be an example to someone else? Because that sermon that you listen to, though it might be great great content, you don't see the life behind it.
8:33 You don't see the life that is being lived by that pastor, that teacher, that minister because it's the life that's lived out in those messages that really matters. Right? It's the character.
8:45 It's the integrity. It's the man or woman that stands up for their faith no matter what because that's what matters. That you stay faithful to the end. Right?
Timothy's Pattern to Follow
8:57 The Bible says that Jesus says, in the end, well done good and what? Faithful servant. As a pastor of a church, my greatest desire is for you to
9:09 be faithful in what you do. Now, God wants to use you amazingly. Wonderful. God wants to help you feed an entire starving country. Wonderful.
9:21 But faith is important to God. Because that's the thing he says when you get to heaven, well done, good and faithful servant. You did a bunch of thinking. You did it faithfully. See, we can get a lot we can get so busy
9:33 doing. Right? And yet, we're not living faithfully. That's sad. That we walk the walk, but we don't talk to talk.
9:45 See, every 1 of those things that I listed that we have available to us are just voices that we cannot follow. You can hear them, but you
9:57 can't walk beside them. You have no idea what they're like when the microphone is turned off. You've got their content, but what you don't have is their life example.
10:09 That's the thing that's so important about the body of Christ. That we are involved in each other's lives. That we know what our struggles are. That we know what our victories are. That we share these things with 1
10:20 another. So that we can pray for 1 another, encourage 1 another, and at times correct 1 another in love. Right? That's the purpose of the church.
10:32 So as we get into this next section, again last week, the predator and the prey, this morning, the pattern that you can follow. The pattern that you can follow. And I am
10:44 so excited, and I hope you are as well, about what we're about to read. It's especially starting in verse 10, but I do wanna read verse 6 through 9 for context because I think it's important to
10:56 see the contrast. Verse 6, from of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women, loaded down with sins, led
11:07 away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And and now as Iones and Iombras
11:20 resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt mind disapproved concerning the faith, but they will progress
11:31 no further for their folly will be manifest to all as there also was. So we see the negative of learning and not growing and not receiving the truth. But look at verse 10.
11:44 But you, Timothy, have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose,
Enduring Persecution Faithfully
11:57 faith, long suffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions,
12:09 which happened to me at Antioch and Iconium at at Iconium at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, Highlighter ready.
12:21 And out of them all, the Lord delivered me. I love that. Verse 12. Yes.
12:33 You may not highlight this 1, but I think you should. Yes. And all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be
12:44 blessed. I really wish it said that. We we will. But it says, yes. And all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
12:56 Surely, that's a typo. They did not translate that properly. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Give me
13:08 your attention. Paul in verses 6 through 9 gives the bad examples of those men, those people that never seem to get
13:20 it. Always seem to be wise, always seem to be learning, always seem to be growing, but there is no fruit in their lives. And yet, as he's writing this to Timothy, as that warning comes in 6
13:32 through 9 verse 10, comes on the scene and you can feel the sun come out. You know, you can feel the clouds part and you can feel a just a beautiful day, but you
13:44 have carefully followed my doctrine, etcetera. He speaks to Timothy directly. He says, Timothy, this is what's going on in the
13:55 church. These are the things that are happening that are negative. You'd be mindful of those things. But don't be discouraged in your own walk, Timothy. You had a great example in your
14:07 life. You see that? The apostle Paul very confidently, very boldly said, but you, Timothy, you have followed my life. You
14:19 have witnessed my life. You have seen me, get this, in the good times and also in the bad times. That fascinates me that the Apostle
14:31 Paul says doesn't just say, oh, Timothy, you followed my doctrine, my manner of life, my love, my faith, all of these wonderful things. But he also throws in, you've also followed my persecutions. You've also followed my
14:42 struggles. You've also followed the things in my life that were difficult. You saw those and you saw how I responded, I might add. Obviously, it doesn't say
14:54 that here, but to Paul, it's important for Timothy to understand. Listen, when things were good, I praise the lord. And I'm gonna submit to you when things were tough, the apostle Paul praise the lord at the same
15:06 time. And he's saying, Timothy, good or bad? Praise the lord. Difficult, easy? Praise the lord. Abundance of
15:18 finances, lack of finances, praise the lord. Promotion at your job, demotion at your job, praise the lord. All of this stuff that Paul is talking about is temporary, my
15:29 friends. It's all temporal because it's it's it's his life here on earth. And he's saying, Timothy, you're not like that. You have
15:41 seen my and notice what he says, but you have carefully followed. Carefully followed. Let's see. Carefully followed is follow alongside to a company
15:53 closely to trace something step by step. Timothy witnessed the apostle Paul in all kinds of situation. He was that close to that man. I'm
16:05 gonna ask you right now. Who in your life are you that close to that you're witnessing their faith, that you're witnessing their love, their patience, their
16:16 struggles, their difficulties, their flesh. Right? We all have flesh. Right? I don't know if that's news to you, but you have flesh. And it comes out every now and again. So who in your
16:28 life, like Timothy, carefully followed? Who in your life are you carefully following? Is there anybody?
16:40 Now, of course, Jesus should be number 1 on the list. Of course. But who's number 2? God bless you. Who's number 2 that you're witnessing?
16:52 Because if we're not following, if we don't have people in our lives that we can look up to, that we can say, I wanna be like that or or they just show me the lord, then what are we doing? What
17:04 are we doing? If we're not following and learning from someone who's farther than us, or I'm gonna even say it better than us or more faithful than us, and we won't be challenged.
17:16 It's easy to stay in this place and not grow if you're just by yourself, if you're just sitting alone. Oh, well, maybe someone in here is like, well, I don't have
17:28 anyone in my life. Can I submit to you? Get somebody? Get somebody? You know, I like to remind mostly
17:40 men, obviously, for accountability person purposes, but we should all have an apostle Paul or a Barnabas in our lives, someone who's more mature than us, someone that challenges us, someone that
17:52 stretches us to be better. And yet we should also have a Timothy in our lives, someone that we're pouring into, someone that we're trying to encourage in their faith and in their walk because that brings a healthy walk
18:03 of the Lord as a Christian. I'm learning, but I'm also teaching. I'm growing closer to Christ because I'm following more faithful men or women, whatever it may be, but I'm
18:15 also pouring in. Because do you know the benefit of pouring into someone else? As you're pouring into someone else, guess what you're doing? You're also preaching to yourself. When you tell someone, you
18:27 know, oh, you need to be more faithful at work, and you need to make sure you put in your you're telling yourself the very same thing. And so to have people like that in your life, to be that person
18:38 and to follow closely after them, Timothy traced Paul's teachings. Timothy walked right beside the apostle Paul. And he
18:50 witnessed this man's life in prison, in stonings, in abandonment, in difficulty with people in relationships. How many times have we read Paul telling
19:02 Timothy, hey, so and so, they used to be faithful, but he abandoned me. He gave up on me. Let the lord take care of that, Timothy. Don't worry about it. Paul was still teaching even in the difficulties of his
19:13 life because he was trusting in god. And the things that the apostle Paul lists here, you have carefully followed my doctrine. That's content. My doctrine. What is that? That's
19:25 the gospel. Right? That's Jesus Christ. You followed that. You've embraced that in your own life. So that's the 1 thing that's content. The rest are character traits. My manner of life,
19:37 my purpose, my faith, my long suffering. You know what long suffering means? I love how you all whispered it. Pay patience. Let's not say that
19:49 too out loud. It's patience, though. Patience. Oh, we don't like talking about patience. Are you a
20:01 patient person? Don't answer that. Paul, long suffering, patience, my love, my perseverance that's continuing,
20:13 that's staying faithful, that's staying the course. Persevere through tough times. Persevere through these things in life. And then again, I love it. 11 verse 11. Persecutions,
20:26 afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. 3 cities the apostle Paul lists. And I wanna get this right.
20:39 Oh, if I can find them now. Right? Where are there they go. In Antioch, Paul was driven out of that city for preaching the gospel. At Iconium, Paul
20:51 experienced an assassination plot. This is all found in Acts chapter 13 and 14. And then in Lystra, it's when he was straight dragged out of the city, stoned, and left for dead, and then they all left,
21:03 and then he got up and walked back to the city. But here's the interesting thing about Lystra. Timothy's from Lystra. Timothy potentially could have been there during that
21:14 stoning. He could have witnessed it as a young man. He could have heard about it on the streets. See, when when the apostle Paul lists Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra,
21:27 Antioch and Iconium, Timothy would probably go, oh, yeah. I I know the area. Yeah. But when he says Lystra, oh, I know that neighborhood. I know that street. I know the shops. I know the neighbors.
21:40 That that hits home. He's like, Timothy, you remember that I was stoned there. And the point that the apostle Paul is making to Timothy, there's gonna be
21:51 good times in life, but there's also gonna be tough times. And they're gonna hit home, and they're gonna be difficult. But, Timothy, you're not walking into this thing called
22:03 ministry blind. You saw it happen in me, and you signed up for it. You you answered the call. That's why I believe a lot of times the call that we have on our lives from
22:15 God is simply that. It's a call. Will you give up your life for him? Will you surrender your will to his?
22:27 I'm calling you. Hey. Wanna participate? There's been times in our lives where we feel God ask us to do something. And if we're honest,
22:39 sometimes we're like, lord, I really don't wanna do that. Lord, that's gonna be hard. That's gonna be difficult. I could get stoned. I could get thrown in jail. For the apostle Paul, once the lord got
22:51 ahold of his heart, he was all in. No matter what happens to me, I'm all in. I'm gonna preach Christ no matter what happens. And I believe from the bottom of my heart, Timothy was the same kind of person.
23:04 And so, again, I ask, who in your life is an example of faithfulness. Maybe it's a spouse. Maybe it's a parent.
23:15 A lot of times, it can be children. Their faith is as pure as it can get. That's why Jesus says that you wanna come to come to me, you wanna come into the kingdom, come as a child
23:27 with pure faith. And he's telling Timothy, listen, Timothy. You knew my life. You saw what happened. And might I add, I love this verse. I
23:39 say it all the time. The apostle Paul to the Corinthians, imitate me as I imitate Christ. I I love it because
23:52 it's it's it's a it's a boldness from the apostle Paul. And and not in a negative way, it's a pride for the apostle Paul, not in a negative way. It's a
24:04 I'm living for Christ. I'm trying to be Christ like. When I'm being Christ like, imitate that. That's the heart of the apostle Paul. He's not just saying, hey. I'm a
24:15 perfect Christian. I'm wonderful. No. He's saying, listen. I'm walking the walk. I'm doing the best thing I I can do. I'm crucifying my flesh every single day. So imitate me when I'm doing that. And that's the confidence
24:26 that we have to have. Paul said to the Philippians, he said, the things which you have learned and received and heard and saw, notice, in me,
24:38 these do, and the god of peace will be with you. Again, to the Philippians says, you've seen my life. You've seen my walk. You've seen how I am. You've seen my faith.
24:51 Do that very same thing, and god will be with you. Anybody feel in this room like, man, I could do better.
25:04 I can. Don't let I could do better keep you from doing better. Does that make sense? Don't don't look at
25:16 it as, oh, I'm failing. I'm not I can't be like the apostle Paul is so amazing. He's just a super Christian. No. He's a man filled with the holy spirit living for God, focusing on God. It was his
25:28 life was absorbed in Christ. He had the mind of Christ. He had the heart of Christ. He had the love of Christ. And I know life gets in the way. Trust me, life got in the way for the
25:39 apostle Paul, but he stayed faithful. And so stay faithful. Wake up every single day and say, God, give me your will. Show me your will. Help me to be a good
25:51 witness. Help me to see the people in my life that you have placed in my life to help me, to come alongside me. Right? To carefully follow their lives. Show me those people,
26:03 lord, and help me to imitate them as I see them imitating you. There is nothing you can't do that Christ cannot enable you
26:15 to do. You hear that? The bible says, I can do what? All things. Well, you guys are good. I didn't hardly say the verse. I can do all things through Christ who gives me
26:27 strength. So never should we say, I can't do that. Never for should we oh, I couldn't pray with that person. Oh, I couldn't share share the gospel with that you can.
26:39 You can. Practice. Try it. Share share Christ with someone. And even if you mess it all up, you know how good God is?
26:51 He can use your mess up. Let him do it. See, I had a merit mentor in my early Christian walk.
27:04 Within the 1st year of me being a Christian, I met this pastor at the church I was going to. He wasn't the main pastor. He was an assistant pastor. And I've said it
27:16 I've known him gosh. I was thinking about this morning. I was 34 something years. I haven't known anybody for 30 something. My my father, I've known that long. Okay. Anyway, I digress. I've known this man, and
27:28 I've witnessed his life. And his faith his faith is amazing. He has an amazing heritage. He has an amazing lineage. He and he comes
27:40 from a very believing, godly family. But his walk with god has been so impressive to me. Pastor RJ, you wanna stand up? I'm kidding.
27:57 I saw Cindy lean over. You think he's talking about you? No. I'm kidding. But and I literally talked to this man just yesterday. I mean, he's still involved in my life. He's still
28:09 someone I can pick up the phone and call and say, hey. This is going on in my life. What do you think? And I respect his opinion, and I respect the fact that he holds me accountable. I respect the fact that he says to
28:21 me, Rob, you're you got stinking thinking. You're not thinking right. That's not what you should be doing. And I respect that. And whenever I think that he's displeased with a choice I've
28:33 made, oh, it burdens me. But what if we displease the lord?
28:45 Shouldn't that burden us more? He knows everything we do. He sees everything perfectly. See, I can put a mask on.
28:57 I can put a show on for you, for my pastor friend, but I can't for my Jesus. My Jesus sees behind all that garbage, and he sees the truth.
29:09 It's like, lord, I don't wanna disappoint you. I don't wanna displease you. And so God help me be better. Again, not a works thing,
29:21 but let's be better so that we can be like the apostle Paul and say, but you have carefully followed my life. You have carefully followed my walk. You've carefully followed my testimony.
29:33 You know me and be known. So, again, I'm gonna ask, whose life are you close enough to to actually follow closely to? Not
29:45 from a distance, closely. So you can ask questions. So you can why did you do that? Why did you say that? How do you do that? I was as I was studying for this, I was reading about a a pastor, an
29:57 older pastor that was helping a younger pastor. Anyway, he was kinda riding along with him and taking him to hospital visits and all these types of things. And the younger pastor had mentioned that he had ministered to
30:07 this 1 man that many years ago, was very cruel to this pastor and and very hurtful. And yet the pastor still prayed for him, still wished the best for him. And as they walked away and
30:19 as they got back in the car, the young pastor was like, how could you do that after all he did to you? You know what the older pastor said? I'd forgiven that years ago,
30:31 and I would appreciate if you didn't dig it back up. That young pastor said, to this day, I still remember that lesson.
30:43 It doesn't matter what people do to us. It matters what we do to them. And they don't they don't deserve anything but the best we can give them because
30:55 god gives us his best. Is it easy? Nope. It's not. That's why Jesus said, pray for your enemies. Love on them.
31:08 Give them something to drink. Eat and eat. Not easy, but we can do it through Christ who gives us that strength. Back to verse 11. Again,
31:20 the list of things. And then Paul says at the 2nd 0.5, what persecutions I endured, and out of them all, the lord delivered me. I want you to understand this
31:32 this this this one's gonna hit hard. God doesn't deliver you out of trouble. He delivers you through trouble.
31:45 Paul still had to be stoned before God took care of him. Paul still had to be thrown in jail. God Paul still need to be yelled at and persecuted. All the
31:56 things that the possible still had to go through them, but god got him through what? How many of them? All of them. How many of us in this room don't raise your hand.
32:09 Oh, well, you didn't get me out of that 1. Yet. Yet. See, the apostle Paul looked at his situation in his life, and he said, God, this was
32:21 hard, but you delivered me from it. And what I'm going through right now is hard, and you're gonna get me through it. That's faith. Right? That's trusting that God is going to get us through. And
32:32 here's the thing I want us to understand. That literally just came to me. Once we get there and you know where there is. Right? That's heaven. I don't know why it's right there, but it's right there.
32:44 Once we get there, we're delivered from it all. From it all. Whatever was left, whatever was tough, whatever was difficult, whatever you weren't delivered from here on
32:56 this earth, once you get there again, that's heaven. Once you get there, you're delivered from it. Paul's confidence was in his ability for his God to deliver him from all things.
33:08 So please, my friends, my brothers, my sisters, whatever it is you're going through right now that's very very very very very very difficult, Know that god's gonna get you through it. And know
33:20 that god is with you in it. Right? He doesn't leave us or forsake us. He's with you in it. He hurts like you hurt. He struggle the way you know, he he's feeling your struggle. He
33:32 understands your emotions. He understands you're tired. He understands you don't have any more strength. He understands. And he says, when you're weak, then I'm strong. When we're weak, we
33:44 just gotta hold on to him. We just gotta come to him, and he'll give us strength and deliver us from it all. I think it is very important that we allow tough times
33:56 to be exposed in our lives so that other people can understand that we all have hardship in our lives. That's why I love that the apostle Paul said, listen. Not only the good things, the persecutions and
34:08 the afflictions. There there's there's no point in you trying to hide the difficulties of your life. Well, you don't understand what my life is behind closed doors. You don't understand what it is. I'm I'm stealing what
34:19 I'm I'm dealing with. I'm trying to be a good Christian because everybody in here is perfect. Everybody in here doesn't have problems. Lie. We all have problems. And so if I tell you I'm
34:31 going through something difficult, if I share something that you that I I'm struggling with in my life, you know what that tells you? Well, pastor's struggling with it when we all struggle. I we're all in the same boat.
34:42 None of us. I mean, maybe there's 1 of us. Probably not, though. We're all dealing with something. We're all going through something.
34:55 And if we don't share those things, we won't allow people to see how god answers us in those difficult times.
35:08 Couple verses I wanna share. Acts 14 20. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day, he departed with Barnabas to to Derby. That
35:20 was Paul after he'd gotten stoned. He was raised through the situation, not from this. He wasn't spared from it. And, again, don't forget, the apostle Paul pleaded with the lord 3 times that that thorn in his flesh would
35:32 be removed. And And god says, my grace is sufficient. I'm not taking that out. And I hate to discourage some of us in this room, but sometimes the thorns in our lives need to remain in order for us
35:44 to fully understand and embrace god's amazing grace. And quite possibly, Paul the apostle is quoting Psalm 34 19 when he says, many are the afflictions
35:56 of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Here it is again. This is a verse I'm sure the apostle Paul was 1 of his life verses.
36:08 Again, many are the afflictions of the righteous. Paul was righteous. Paul was serving the Lord. Many are the afflictions. But yet, the Lord's gonna deliver me out of all of them. So that was the encouragement.
36:20 Think about all the things the lord has delivered you from. I know we always focus on the 1 thing we're going through right now, but we tend to forget what he's already gotten us through. And every
36:32 now and again, it might not be bad for us to take inventory and say, god, you got me through that. You got me through that. You got me through that. That was a tough 1, but you still got me through it because he
36:44 will deliver you from them all. Verse 12. Yes. And all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. I
36:56 think it's important for us to understand. That it's not
37:08 just Christians that suffer persecution. Doesn't say that, does it? Doesn't say in all will suffer persecution.
37:22 Do you see what it says? Those who desire to live godly. So what's the option? Don't live godly
37:34 and not per be persecuted? Quite a big no there. If you truly wanna live godly, you gotta expect persecution. I don't imagine
37:46 there's a picture on your wall with this verse hanging on it. Yes. And all who desire to live godly will suffer persecution.
37:58 Guys, it says that verse is as real as John 3 16, that god so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. This verse is in our Bibles,
38:09 and yet we find ourselves going, Lord, why are you allowing this to happen in my life? You know the simple answer? Because you wanna live godly.Show more