Good morning. Continuing
from yesterday: treacherous (definition – guilty of or involving betrayal or
deception - better watch your back. They will pretend to be your friends just
to deceive you and stab you in the back), reckless (they don't care who they
hurt - the thrill is more important than safety), conceited (they are not just
confident - this goes along with arrogant), lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God (pleasure is paramount – and who cares about God, even if He did
exist), holding to a form of godliness (of course they are the ones who define
godliness – they may even go to church every Sunday), although they have denied
its power (religion can't change your life – and never mind this healing stuff;
it doesn't exist). So what are we to do? One thing is to avoid such men as
these. Sometimes though they won't let you avoid them. They "come after
you". They are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of
the truth. There are people who study all different kinds of religions trying
to come to the perfect knowledge of the truth. The truth is not knowledge, but
a person – Jesus Christ. Paul then tells Timothy to follow his teachings,
conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and
sufferings. Don't just do what I say – do what I do. Of course people won't
like it, and you will be persecuted. All who desire to live godly in Christ
Jesus will be persecuted. And when that persecution happens, many people will
fall away and deny the faith. Father thank You that the reader lives a godly
life and follows Your word. He/she will never fall away.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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