0:02 Okay. Um I want to begin my sharing by reading two verses first. So I request all of you to have your Bibles ready. Uh today most of the time we'll be in 1 Timothy. So please open your Bible to 1 Timothy chapter 0:21 3 verse 15. It says, "But in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which 0:39 is a church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth." That's one verse. And the second one is from chapter 4, verse 12. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, 0:58 conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word you have given to us. I pray as 1:17 I attempt to share the things that you have taught me and grip my heart, Lord, I pray that you'd help me to do it with your strength and to be your voice. Lord, that I may explain clearly what you have taught me. Please 1:34 help me Lord. I need you in Jesus name. Amen. U first Timothy. Okay children, who wrote first Timothy? Is it 1:53 Timothy? Who wrote? Paul. Yes. So in the very first verse in the first chapter, it says Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our savior and of Christ Jesus. Uh he starts with that apostilhip as an authority. He 2:12 was appointed by God himself as an apostle. So he writes with that authority. He writes to Timothy. Timotei he he because Timotei came to the Lord because of Paul's ministry in his first missionary trip. And Timotei 2:31 had a believer mother and also grandmother Lois. And ever since then he was gripped and he followed Paul and he became a co-aborer with Paul and many letters we see Paul and Timothy writing to the brethren like that. And here we 2:47 see lot of instructions in this book that Paul is giving to Timotei. Uh and in the second verse he says Timotei my true child in faith. He's literally like he's adopting himself uh you know Paul is adopting Timothy as a child in faith. 3:05 uh and then he's and the rest of the letter you see how he pours out and how he instructs Timothy and how he wants to establish him and help him to grow and he you see that love Paul had for Timothy my true child in faith and you 3:23 see the context of 1 Timothy 2 Timothy and Titus these are some of the last letters Paul has written before he was uh martyed and I think first Timothy was written after his first impression ment and then he came to Ephesus uh we see 3:39 that in chapter 3 and then he uh he asked Timothy to stay there and to take care of the church and that's when he mentions that in chapter uh sorry verse three and I urge you upon my departure from Macedonia remain on at Ephesus that 3:55 you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines and then he goes on so in this uh what I want to share today as I timothy fasimote is one of my favorite book very practical instructions. I want to uh divide my 4:09 sharing to two parts. First one, Paul's warnings to Timothy against false teaching. Uh we heard many times what is the sign of the end times. The end times one of the biggest sign we just I think uh Kalyan was mentioning that one of the 4:23 sign Jesus explained the deception. Make sure that you will not be deceived. There's a lot of strange deceptive doctrines all around the world. And here he starts with uh saying that certain he he's asking Timothy instruct certain men 4:41 not to teach strange doctrines and he is also asking Timothy to not to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering administration of God which is by faith. In the first three and four verses we 4:59 see that and uh he is asking this verse this phrase comes again and again do not pay attention do not pay attention. So Paul had this authority in this church. is saying ask certain men not to preach strange doctrines and uh not all of us 5:15 may not be the elders as being an elder have along with the four of us we have a responsibility not to allow anyone to preach strange doctrines in the church and at your home you being the leader men uh like we have an authority like we 5:29 have lot of wrong teaching come to our home directly through YouTube we we cannot allow uh we cannot give listening we should not give listening ears to those strange doctrines or pay attention to myths and endless genealologies u and 5:43 there's lot of debates also which go on in Christendom and I have been part of it I also in the in the days of my foolishness which I didn't know I we talked about a lot of things so we spend hours and hours talking about some of 5:56 the controversial doctrines uh there's no end to that we can never conclude and we can never win people by constantly debating against them and uh that's why Paul says of all these things they don't further the administration of God which 6:11 is by faith. All these debates and all of that but verse five is one thing that we all need to focus on. What is the goal of our instruction? Paul is saying is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere and a sincere 6:25 faith. of all these debates and all of that you know we don't let us not forget the most important thing which is which is focusing on love from pure heart and good conscience and sincere faith like we want to m we don't want to major on 6:43 the minors we don't want to be focusing on the things that distract us from the from the most important thing which is these three things that uh Paul is mentioning to Timothy And also he says about good conscience. We have been hearing a lot about keeping 7:00 good conscience. Maybe God is telling all of us through Friday Bible studies and even today good conscience. Keeping good conscience. And that's why Paul says I do my best to keep a good conscience before God and before men. 7:14 Why it is so important in we get the answer in verse 19 in the same chapter. keeping faith and a good conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck shipwreck in regard to their faith if we don't maintain clear 7:30 conscience and no matter what our faith is we are going to make a shipwreck of faith because what it tells is I don't really believe what I believe what I say I believe I have faith but I don't keep clear conscience and my faith in the 7:44 word of God says go ask forgiveness settle the matter but I don't follow and I continue to make uh continue to keep this bad conscience and one day I'll make a shipwreck of faith. That's why Paul comes back to this point time and again and this one 7:59 let's not forget the verse five the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith and talking about this uh strange doctrines and all of that and Kalyan mentioned this verse which we talked 8:15 about on Friday uh in the last days uh let's turn to chapter 4 now in the last days verse one but the spirit explicit ly says that in the later times some will fall away from the faith. Why? Why are they falling away from faith? 8:31 Because they're paying attention to deceitful spirits and the doctrines of demons. What are these deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons? Bible says do not believe every spirit. Test the spirit if it is from God. If we are not 8:47 careful, we can be deceived too. We are we we can also be targets of the deceitfulness that is uh rampant around. And why how does this deceitful spirit or the doctrines come in? Because by means of some liars the pro they become 9:02 so professional liars that their own conscience is seared. They don't even see they stop telling the truth. Their conscience is now so hardened and they continue to tell the lies. We see that in verse two. And some of the strange 9:16 doctrines they were teaching at that time is abstaining from certain foods and abstaining from marriage as if some of these things will make holy. And we know very clearly God has allowed us to eat uh is made everything okay to eat. 9:31 And also marriage itself is the institution uh created by God. It's ma I I always tell people who are seeking to get married remember marriage is not man's idea. It is God's idea. It is God who initiated that. So now some people are 9:47 coming and say forbidding marriages, don't eat this, don't don't do that. These are called doctrines of demons by Paul here. So let's be careful. And um uh and then verse four he says everything that God has created is good 10:04 uh and it should not be rejected if it is received with gratitude. when we are thankful about certain thing and we are receiving it with gratitude. There is no food that is prohibited uh by the word of God and um everything is sanctified 10:18 by means of word and prayer. What a liberating words this has been in my life in coming from India we also not just about the foods um uh there are certain certain ideas about auspicious time. Oh, we have to start certain 10:34 things at certain time then it will be good. Everything is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. I was also thinking about u speaking of food also. I used to think in my olden days oh certain foods make us help us to be holy 10:49 or certain things we do. We create rules for ourselves which are which don't have any biblical backing which don't have any scriptural backing and all almost equate them with the word of God. So and and that's why Paul is warning 11:04 Timothy and these warnings for us especially as we are living in these last moments last days. Um and also he's telling in verse 7 but have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old woman. On the 11:23 other hand discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. I think I think when he mentioned about worldly fables fit only for old women. I think when he mentioned old women, it may be people who have plenty of time. Uh and Paul is 11:39 saying have nothing to do with that. All these stories, myths and debates have nothing to do with that. That's only fit for people who have plenty of time. And that's why he immediately goes on to discipline yourself for the purpose of 11:54 godliness because uh that's the most important thing. That's the most important thing we must be focusing on the godliness as we saw just previously. Love from a pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith. Uh so there's so many warnings like this 12:12 we see if you go and study first Timothy about not to pay attention and uh not to waste your time on this debates and myths and genealogies because they are not going to administer uh they're not going to help you help you in growing in 12:29 faith but stay focused on what is the most important thing and um and and this verse about bodily discipline and godliness. Um, on the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but 12:49 godliness is profitable for all things since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. Uh, we all love to maintain healthy lifestyle, physical health-wise. uh when we become conscious about our health, we 13:05 take care of our health, what we eat, what we drink and how much time we spend on workouts. uh I I know certain I know a few people I observed so much taken up with the phys physical uh building of the body building muscle they're very 13:20 careful about how much time they sleep how much what kind of food how much of protein and what kind of workout cars what kind of exercises activate certain muscles they go to at certain level and they read about it and they implement it 13:34 and they take the pains and they we can see their progress in their lives the bodily discipline is good thing It profits. It has some profit. But Paul is telling godliness is profitable for all things. Why? Because we see that in 13:49 verse 8, second half of verse 8, it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. If I am not careful with my attitude towards growing in godliness. If I am not careful by uh in exercising onto godliness, I will 14:05 have uh regret not only now because I have wasted my physical life that God has given me but also in eternity there will be some loss. I don't know what it is but definitely I can say from this verse there will be some sort of regret 14:18 the way I live. The godliness is profitable not only for this life but for the life after. And also think about this when we are living a godly life and we are pursuing godliness. We are getting freed from fear and anxiety 14:33 because many people in the world are suffering from fear and anxiety all the time and we are getting freed from jealousy and envy and bitterness that causes ulcers and acidity and all of that because we are forgiving everyone. 14:46 We are not holding on to grudges. But that's why exercising on godliness is profitable not only for the current life for the life after and we we are very careful about our what we speak what we we don't have regrets about the way we 15:01 speak and all of that and we get good sleep because we are now we cast our cares and our burdens on the Lord no matter what we are going through the hardest bur burdens when we pursue godliness we know God is our heavenly 15:14 father so we cast our case and burdens on him and we can sleep happily And how many people in the world have this privilege? And people who go to gym, people who I know some of the people uh who are very physically fit, 15:28 they were shivering like anything during the COVID days. And I know certain people who are not physically that fit during COVID days. They are so strong. They're so peaceful. They're so restful. That's why because pursuing godliness is 15:41 profitable not only for this current life but the life after. Because Paul is also saying in the verses later on verse 10, for it is for this we labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on the living God who is the savior of all 15:59 men especially of believers. He's his eyes are set on heaven. His eyes are set on on the living God who is the savior. That's why he's more than interested about the physical aspect but he's looking forward for the uh heavenly 16:14 realm and fixing fixing his eyes on God. That is what is gripping him. That is why he is instructing Paul al uh Timothy also to focus on godliness to focus on exercise onto godliness to take pains. And then uh we'll see uh pre uh the 16:30 verses later on also he emphasized that again and again he's saying in verse 11 prescribe and teach these things and these are this is these are most important prescri because Timotei had that uh responsibility in the church 16:44 he's asking Timothy to prescribe and teach all these things and and and I I just missed one saying one thing uh when I was explaining about the strange doctrines and lot of things that are happening in the world. And the verse 17:01 uh in verse six uh there is an expression in the second half uh I want all of us to pay attention. It says he says that you constantly nourish on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. 17:16 One of the way we can defend ourselves from the wrong teaching from strange doctrines from the doctrines of demons is being rooted and grounded in the word of God. There is no other defense for us. The truth found in the word of God 17:30 is our only defense. That's why he's saying constantly nourish yourself in the word of God. The man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Not for yesterday's food is for yesterday, but 17:44 today I need to be nourished again. I never say, "Oh, yesterday I ate food. Today I'm fine." No, I need food for today also. constantly nourished as the newborn babes who s desire the sincere milk of the word of God whereby we may 17:59 grow for our growth. We need to be constantly nourished in the word of God and also sound doctrine. We are so blessed to listen to sound doctrine. I challenge you how how many people have this access. We have such good new 18:13 covenant teaching. We have uh so many apps through the Bible all that Jesus taught uh verse by verse studies fundamental basic teachings sound doctrine we are given that's why he's saying stand constantly nourished on the 18:26 words of faith and of the sound doctrine and again he talks about verse 13 also until I come give attention to the public reading of the scripture and exalt to exhortation and teaching uh we have physical bible now in those days 18:43 it's only few people had and everyone has to come and publicly read the scriptures constantly remind them about the word of God that because that's the only defense we have um and I want to go to the next few verses I want to focus on um verse 19:02 15 take pains with these things be absorbed in them so that your progress be evident in all and and verse Sorry, I I want to start with verse 12. Let no one look down upon your youth. The verse that I just read in the beginning uh 19:21 upon your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example to those who believe. Timotei may be very young but he is Paul is telling him let no one look down upon your just because 19:38 you're young that doesn't mean that uh people can look down upon but you strive to be example in five things he's giving right speech conduct love faith and purity let's talk about few uh I want to focus on each of them a little bit dig 19:57 deep into that speech one of our one of the sign of our spiritual Progress is shown in our speech. When we go to doctor when we were young in India, first thing when we go with sickness, the doctor puts a light and asks us to 20:11 open your mouth and see because most of the things the sickness will be shown in our mouth itself and they know. One of the sign of our spiritual progress is shown in our speech. Uh how are we doing with not gossiping? Um and uh and 20:26 maintaining the confidentiality. Are we just can can we be trusted with the confidential information? Uh or uh how you know Bible says Jesus said we are not defiled by what we eat but what comes out of our mouth. And um I think 20:40 Lucas was mentioning about about our speech. Uh there is it's a deadly poison. Uh are we reigning over our speech our words with the help of the Holy Spirit? Because if we don't have any control over our tongue, Bible says 20:54 our religion is worth zero, worthless, right? That's why on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came as a tongue of fire. The first thing we need to draw in is Lord giving control of my tongue to the Holy Spirit. And there are 21:10 so many sins of tongues that are mentioned in the Bible all the all the time. And Bible also says in the multitude of words there will be sin. And uh in the same book um Paul is also telling Timothy avoid godless uh avoid godless and empty chatter. 21:30 uh so many things uh we can we can cause so much harm with careless words we speak right so that's why Paul is telling Timothy be example in your speech and the second one is the conduct and there are two things I want to focus 21:47 on about the conduct that's why there's a verse in the beginning I read how do we conduct himself in the household of God which is the church of the living God do we recognize the church when we meet it is the household of God and the 22:02 church of the living God and the pillar and support of truth. Outside there is so much deception. The church is called to be the pillar and support of truth. And two things I want to focus one for men, one for women. Um please turn back 22:15 to chapter 2. I'm making you turn but we're all in 1 Timothy but we are in different chapters. Um bear with me please. Uh chapter 2 verse 8. This is for men. Therefore, I want men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands 22:35 without wrath and dissension. Um, there are few things we can focus on here. He's asking men to pray everywhere uh and lifting up holy hands. That means their conscience is clean. They're examining their lives and they are they 22:50 have the purity in their lives. Lifting up holy hands in a helpless manner. Even men right we need to go to God in a helpless manner lifting up our holy hands and without wrath without dissension in those times there was so 23:05 many arguments all of these things are going on in the church we raise up our fist right fist to fight ready to fight but he's saying holy lifting up holy hands without anger without without dissension without strife there is unity 23:20 so men of God seek unity seek unity in your lives pray everywhere where and without anger, without wrath, without doubting. Um uh I think Paul is Paul's burden is that in the church there will be more men who will be doing like like 23:38 that. And for women, um, the next verse, verse 9, chapter 2:9, likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of 23:57 good works, as is proper for woman making a claim to godliness. A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. Uh I urge sisters to read these verses in the and ask Holy Spirit to speak to you. What does it mean? What does it 24:16 mean when he says proper clothing? Uh dressing modestly and discreetly. And one thing I that I get is from the from this is as man as I read it. Uh do not dress up anything that draws attention to yourself because and cover everything 24:32 that is human glory whatever it is our beauty and everything because in the church of the living God the only one who should get all the glory is Christ Jesus. The lamb which is slain must get all the glory. Everything else should be 24:46 covered. Everything else, no human glory should be revealed. It's only God who should get all the glory to all the glory to himself. And uh this is one way we can do that. Not to seek attention, not to draw attention to ourselves by 25:02 dressing modestly, proper clothing and focusing on good works. Right? when when we are making claim to godliness he's saying uh by means of good works those good works will challenge other sisters uh then they'll say I want to follow this sister 25:21 because I see this good work in them and submissiveness and what a great virtue uh sisters we we you can ask by the submissiveness because the in the world there's so much spirit of rebellion but in the household of God in the church of 25:37 the living God the woman can be submissive that brings so much glory to God and that's why he he's emphasizing that receive instruction with entire submissiveness not being loudmouthed not being uh brash um and also there is a 25:54 verse in uh uh first I think it's in first Peter he says talks about uh desiring I mean what is most precious in the sight of God gentle and quiet spirit gentle and quiet spirit and sub submissive spirit. These are the some of 26:12 the things that are very precious in the sight of God. And I pray and encourage our sisters to uh meditate on this verses what God is telling. These are not Paul's opinions by the way. This is a scripture. All scripture is inspired 26:26 by God and this is given for us so that we can exercise unto godliness and grow in his image. And the next thing um he talks about and then after the conduct there's love. How is our love? Is our love for God growing? Is our how is the 26:43 love for the people that God has placed in our lives? Um can I love people who speak evil of me? Can I love people? Are we growing in love for people who are behaving like enemies? Uh do we have that fervent love for one another? The 26:58 fervent love that covers multitude of sins because we are in a church. We rub each others in a wrong way certain times. Do we have that love that fervent love where I can Lord I have enough love to cover all sin anything if someone 27:13 does anything wrong against me I have enough love to to cover those sins that's the third thing and then the faith um faith how are we doing when we go through trials and testing times last week we were so blessed to hear from 27:28 Jared like speaking of his life from his from the things that God is taking him through faith on display faith on When our faith is being tried, how are we doing? Be an example. That's what Paul is saying, Timothy. Be an example. 27:41 Speech, conduct, love and faith. Put your faith on display when you go through trials. And uh this is something that we can take it as a challenge. I want to be an example to my brothers and sisters. And the purity uh purity in my 27:55 thought life, purity, how how are we doing with that? Because only we know how pure we are in our own thoughts because we can read our thoughts. we the thoughts that nobody can see only God knows and we know and we can examine our 28:09 hearts before him and speaking of purity there's one more verse that I want to focus on uh in chapter 5 same thing 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 2 is uh instructing Timothy to treat older women as mothers and the younger women as 28:27 sisters in all purity this purity comes again and again in this book in this world saturated with sin. Especially uh we hear so many scandals, sexual scandals uh in churches, church leaders falling into sin of adultery and all of 28:43 that. Let's take these words very seriously. Uh older women as mothers and younger women as sisters, are we do we exercise guardrails? Do we have the guardrails? Do we maintain that healthy uh healthy distance in with the opposite 28:59 sex? Uh how are we doing with that? is saying that we may he's asking uh in 1 Timothy 5:7 prescribe these things as well so that we may they may be above reproach. Is our behavior with the opposite sex above reproach? If someone 29:15 comes from outside other churches or other people, can they say, "Oh, wow. They in this church they have this healthy distance maintain they have a healthy relationship or they say something is wrong here. Uh is it I think they're more relaxed. They're more 29:29 relaxed. No, we should our behavior should be above reproach." That's what Bah is telling. And I heard about a couple who are about to get married and they I mean this just some of these examples bless my heart. They were so 29:43 careful until they got married. Uh there they never drove alone in saying same car. They never hang out on themselves. I mean you know they met in a public setting. They put some guardrails to protect themselves. Even when they want 29:58 to go and check an apartment, they wanted to have someone else to be with them. It's such a good thing, good examples to have a guardrail so that our our behavior will be above reproach. Um this is it because we are living in a 30:13 world which is which is saturated with which is uh where we hear so many stories uh and scandals and all of that and that's why I think we can all take these words seriously older women as mothers and younger women as sisters in 30:30 all purity and finally verse 15 coming back to chapter 4:1 15 take pain with these things be absorbed in them all of these things Paul is mentioning. I did not go in the order Paul has written but all of this think about this take pain 30:47 be absorbed be engrossed I was thinking when be absorb when are we absorbed when we love to do certain things and when I'm working on certain problem I don't even know when my family came and went and all of that oh it's already 3 hours 31:00 have passed since I started working on this when we are absorbed in certain things we love uh we lose the time so he's asking us to be absorbed to be taken up why And also take pain with these things. It doesn't come easy my 31:14 brothers and sisters. Exercising ask anyone who is into exercise and uh bodybuilding. Is it easy for you? No. There is so much of sacrifice. There's so much of pain in the world. We hear the expression of no pain no gain. 31:27 Right? So there's no nothing growth comes without any pain. But exercise unto godliness because there is it is profitable for all things. It holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. And the second 31:41 part of verse 15 it says so that your progress will be evident to all. Just think about this your progress when we focus on these five things and being an example speech conduct love faith and purity when we focus on loving from pure 31:56 heart sincere faith good conscience your progress will be evident to all. And I challenge all of us especially men I want to say who will know more than I mean outside people in the church we they know 5 10% of our lives. I 32:11 encourage all of us to go back if you're married to go and ask your spouse do you see progress in my life compared to May 25th 2024. Today's May 25th 2025. Do you see a progress in my life? Have I become 32:28 little bit more like Jesus? Do you see myself growing in godliness? Give me frank feedback. Uh I go for a walk, take her out, uh go for a dinner, something. Ask honest feedback because this is your progress will be evident to all. Whether 32:47 we are progressing this way or this way, it will be evident. Please ask and get the feedback and your spouse will be the right person because they know better than many other people who know only some part of our lives. And if you're 33:01 single, ask someone whom you trust for a honest feedback. What do you think? Am I making progress in my spiritual life? This is a good question to ask at least once a year. And David was explaining about the stock market, right? Sometimes 33:13 we go up and down. That's okay. But over a year, have I grown by 10%. The return of investment is 10% or not? We see that in a finan financial uh portfolio. How about our spiritual portfolio? Are we growing from last year? And finally, I 33:27 want to close this with this verse. Verse 16. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things. For as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. Whoever endures 33:46 until the end will be saved. That we heard, right? But the beginning part pay close attention to your teaching and to your life. No no no to yourself to your life and to your teaching first your life. If my life is not backing my teaching this 34:04 is so much of gap I become a big hypocrite. Right? My goal is to make the gap as narrow as I can. It should be there should not be any gap because my attention pay close attention to yourself to yourself to your life what 34:19 you what you are. It is easy to come and teach a lot of things but first pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching and persevere, persevere, put hard work and so that you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for 34:35 those who hear you. Um those are the things the Lord has put in my heart from 1 Timothy. I hope I did not confuse you with lot of verses. I read a lot of verses but u there's so many things I encourage all of us to go and read first 34:50 Timothy and also second Timothy these are some of the last letters as I mentioned Paul really pours out his heart and again I want to end with this I the verse that I read in the beginning but in case I am delayed I write so that 35:03 you will know how you ought to conduct himself in the household of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and support of truth. If you truly believe the Lord's presence is with us in the church, uh let us conduct 35:19 according to the scripture uh so that God may get all the glory and uh God is pleased with our lives so that we make progress. Our progress is evident to all. May the Lord help all of us. Thank you. Thank you brother Surin for that 35:44 wonderful exhortation and uh you know you heard that last thing that he said just before that it says um take pain right like why many believers do not endure it's because they don't want to 36:01 go through that pain this is why in John chapter 6 we read this when Jesus uh started speaking when he multiplied the bread so many people started following him you know big crowd but towards the end Jesus started saying 36:15 something like this you must eat my flesh you must drink my blood right I am the bread from heaven when people heard this it says some of his disciples left and you know what they their reasoning when they when they left we know what 36:32 they say this is God who can live like this and dear brothers and sisters when you heard message today I think it's rightfully it's very difficult right like live like that but always remember it is talking to someone the 36:52 lord is prepared you for that his commandments are not say that with me his commandments are not burdensome remember he has equipped you with everything that you need 2 Peter 1:3 3 says his divine power has granted to us 37:08 everything pertaining to life and godliness. So pain is the only way. It says Hebrews 5:8 Jesus learned obedience through what was that word? Suffering. Remember suffering and pain goes hand in hand. Right? Without suffering, without 37:26 pain, there's no gain. That's the narrow way. Dear brothers and sisters, if any of us, if any of us are looking for a shortcut, unfortunately, I got to tell you, there is no shortcut for this life. Right? I'm willing to pay the price 37:43 because when I look at my savior, the one who died for me, he's the one asking me to do this, the one who paid me, the one who paid his precious life for me, he's the one who redeemed me, and then he's asking me to do something. Now 37:58 Lord, what a privilege for me to obey you Lord. I want to end with this verse in 2 Thessalonians 2:10. I think all of us familiar with this verse. And with the deception of wickedness for those who perish because they did not receive 38:12 the love of the truth so as to be saved. Why did they why did they perish? Because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. If I'm not a truth lover, dear brother and sister, there's something to be very fearful of. 38:32 But I don't have to be fearful. If I'm a truth lover, anytime the Holy Spirit reveals something to me, am I am I enthusiastic? Get on it, then I never have to fear about anything. And that's why we heard today Paul is telling 38:47 Timothy, fight the good fight. Clear your conscience. We heard from that verse 118. I think it says some of them have ship wrecked their faith. Why? Because they were not keen about keeping their conscience clear. And I wanted to 39:05 make sure that all of us, dear brothers and sisters, make sure you hear this very well in this church. This is what you hear very often. And I want to make sure all of us take that seriously. Having a a clear conscience is very 39:19 important. Be a truth lover. No matter what it takes, be get on it. Fight. And through him, I can do everything. Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. May the Lord bless us. Thank you brothers. And uh I'm 39:43 wanted to stand here and uh testify that um the sound doctrines uh which were taught from this pulpit and uh from brother Zach's teachings and many other churches uh who are god railed to build their homes and individual individual 40:02 individuals to to be that little light. That's uh my takeaway from these exhortations and encouragements. Um Paul if you see that uh Paul is not the person who worked uh upright from the beginning of his life. The majority of 40:21 his um his life like 50% 50% of his life not living as a worldly person but dead against the word of God killing the disciples um killing the Christians running after them as if that's his 40:37 mission. Uh but when he turned back Raza um full turn uh um 180° uh um his um he he had a full turnar around and then he was facing uh Christ and 40:57 showing his back to the world and then he is encouraging his uh disciple uh whom he was so close that he say um one of the words uh Brother Suren directed as in the beginning chapter 4:12 show yourself as an example in all 41:16 these things. Um uh as a as a brothers uh in church and sisters and also as a mother and some fathers or older siblings in the home. uh the responsibility of you and we all 41:35 um show ourself as an example to those who believe um this little children's song this little light of mine I'm going to let it shine let it shine um so big big messages as YouTube and say that we don't know their lives but here uh we 41:54 have an access to see uh the life um who spoke these things who practiced practice their individual lives and also want to be reminded that um we are an example. Uh we ought to be expected to conduct ourself um especially when we 42:14 meet in the house of God. Um these instructions were given uh in front of the Sunday school children and uh other new believers who are coming to this church. uh anyone who comes here may be uh lit by that fire that these people 42:29 are not just uh uh uh just listeners and goers but followers of Christ uh even at their workplaces in the homes. I believe the Lord help us to be in this part as the strong body grow um uh with the focus that be an example to others. 42:47 Thank you. Okay, thank you brothers. 43:06 Um, Bible trivia for the children. Which what was the name of the church that Timothy was part of? Was it Smyrna? Was 43:23 it Was it Leicia? The hint is one of the seven churches in Revelations. Which one is it? You shout it out loud. You're discussing. The chances of you getting 43:41 right is one out of seven. because this is a letter written to Timothy who is an elder at a one of the churches. Think of it like this. Brother Zach is sending a letter to a Austin CFC 44:00 and he has done it many times. Emma us. It's the church of Ephesus. And this is a letter uh in a way you may have thought as you're listening to this 44:18 morning. It's like your parent telling you brush your teeth, go to bed early, don't eat too much junk food, don't talk to strangers. for young kids. Um, as you get older or teenager, don't flirt or do other things. Um, 44:37 don't look at things bad for you or, you know, stay disciplined, exercise. And my reaction as a child would be like, "Yeah, yeah, I know. I know. I can I can go on." But what happens if that becomes your habit? And if your parents don't tell 44:54 you, you got cavities, you your life become unhealthy and you see the end. What happened to the church of Ephesus at the end? In Revelations, if you go to Revelations 45:12 chapter 2, you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake. So they were actually a very good church. The city of Ephesus was a flourishing trade town full of idols and full 45:31 of temptations, the worldly influence. Just like today when you go to school, when you go to work, are most people Christians and they pray and talk about Christ? No. They talk about the worldly things that moves they watch, whatever. 45:46 um sports, stocks, finance, you know, news, gossiping, the same today. And what happened to them? Although they the church of Ephesus persevered, endured and I have not grown, but I have 46:05 this against you. You have left your first love. Maybe maybe even though Paul was writing this letter warning to the church of Ephesus at the time, they didn't listen or they wasn't they w they didn't grip. Maybe they said, "Oh yeah, 46:19 yeah, I know this stuff already. This is elementary stuff." And what happened to them? They lost their first love. Is that the end of the story? No. But God gives another second chance in Revelations. He says is a prescription. Hey, you can get 46:39 back if you do this. What's the prescription? Remember where you have fallen from where you've fallen. And here it is. Repent. First, repent. Turn back. Man, if you've strayed away from all these discipline and things that I've told you 46:57 as Paul says and if you John gives another warning as you said drift of this church Ephesus repent which means turn back and do the deeds you did at first. What do we do at in the beginning as a church 47:16 with fervent devotion to the Lord? It wasn't just about activities. It wasn't just about events. It wasn't just about memorizing verses, but we prayed with fervent love. We were very sensitive about not talking in local languages because we 47:34 want to be considerate for others when we first began, but we're starting to drift could be uh we're focusing more on um tertiary things that are not as important in spiritual growth. And that's a warning I think applies to us 47:51 to me to this day. And when we do listen to them, it will go well with us because the warning is it has happened and I'm thankful the Bible is so transparent. It says there and the trans he will remove your lampstand out of its 48:11 place unless you repent. And that's what happened to Ephesus. Do you know where Ephesus is today? It's gone. It's not lasting. It's a It's a tourist place right now in Turkey. It's the city of Selsuk or something like that. Um, so 48:27 it actually happens. And when you think about ACFC, maybe the future if we don't listen to these elementary teachings and the basic teachings, we can also disappear. That's very possible for us as well. So, I want to take this to heart and go back this 48:46 week and listen to what the Lord is telling me personally um to listen to this instructions and the discipline. Let's close the meeting in prayer. Our father, we thank you Lord 49:04 for reminding us that we never want to sit on our laurels by our numbers by the activities but we want to listen to your warnings. We want to grow that first love and we want to do the deeds that we 49:24 did at first going to you our personal inner life where no matter what other people think or see but you know you're the one judge that we all want to be be held accountable to Lord help us do that make the 49:43 main the vertical cross strong with you Lord for us Lord Help us to have that pure devotion to you. Thank you for waking us up before it gets too late. Let us repent, Lord. Pray in Jesus name. 50:01 Amen. Amen. Thank you for uh joining us on Zoom. Thank you for concluding the meeting and please help us uh get ready for the um lunch. Amen.
