Good morning. I solemnly
charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the
living and the dead (all are to be judged) at/by His appearing and His Kingdom:
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort,
with great patience and instruction. We have to be ready at all times. The
opportunity will come when we least expect it. It's not the unbelievers that
will listen when we reprove, rebuke, or exhort. We are to help steer believers
in the right direction. After all they will be judged too. It doesn't mean they
won't go to heaven; it does mean their actions will come under judgment. But we
are to be patient. It's hard to do that when you know what is right and that
they are supposed to know that also. For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will
accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will
turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. This can be
both believers and unbelievers. Neither one wants to hear that they are doing
wrong. It's kind of like today as to which news channel do you listen to. You
don't want to listen to some channel that is going to disagree with your
political beliefs. You want to listen to one that reinforces your beliefs that
you already have. After all the other ones are wrong. It's that way with the
word also. You want to hear the "word" that says you are OK – so you
go to the church where they preach that "word". If you don't believe
the truth, you will believe a lie. Father thank You that the reader seeks out
the truth. He/she believes the word, and turns away from anything that opposes
it. He/she is ready at all times to preach the word to everyone.
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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