GRINDIT podcast

2 Timothy 3 is basically Paul warning Timothy to stay away from teachers who don't teach truth. Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to correct false teachers who have come in wreaking havoc in the church there. They have taught doctrines that sound truthful but when someone falls for it, they realize they have been deceived and they are left picking up the pieces from the destruction. Paul tells Timothy the word of God, (he is referring to the Old Testament) is God breathed and will teach people the truth and how to live a life pleasing to God. Paul tells Timothy he must remain faithful to what he has been taught. That's some great advice for us today!

Looking back in your early years of life, how many of your friends that you were so close to, are still a part of your life? Probably not many, if I had to guess. Sure, they may be a friend on social media, but you haven't heard from them in years. Paul has poured so much into the kingdom of God, traveling over the known world and preaching the gospel, being chased, beaten, stoned, persecuted in many ways, and now he is in chains, awaiting his death. Many of his coworkers have deserted him, deceivers have come in behind him trying to shame him and convince his followers to give up on him and follow them. So now he turns to Timothy...Timothy, you know me bro...Guard the truth.

Paul says in the last days people are going to be so evil and not care. It seems as if he is describing the world in 2025! He gives a long description of people and how empty their hearts are. Paul calls out deceitful men who prey on vulnerable women, gaining their confidence, only to take advantage of them in the end. He mentions two men by name that aren't found in scripture, Jannes and Jambres. These two men, according to the Talmud and tradition, are the two magicians that stood against Moses before pharaoh. They were able to recreate some of the plagues but not all of them and their sins were exposed in the end. You can pretend to play church and deceive many people, but your sin will find you out! And you aren't fooling God...He knows everything about you, including what is in your heart!

Paul warns Timothy of what is coming the near future: counterfeit believers. His description of these counterfeit believers sounds as if he is looking into our world today in 2025, but he isn't. He is speaking about people in his day and time that have turned against the truth and they are deceiving others, in particular, vulnerable women who give these deceiving men time and attention. Paul warns Timothy to stay away from such people...why? Because he doesn't want Timothy to be corrupted by their deception!

Elvis sang a song that said, “I'm caught in a trap...I can't walk out...” He was talking about love. He loved someone and no matter what, he couldn't walk away from the relationship because he loved that person. Paul talks about a different trap that people get caught in and that trap is set by Satan himself. He says these people are being held captive by Satan and doing whatever he desires. The sad thing is, they don't even realized it. They think they are living life to the fullest and doing whatever they want, not caring what God thinks about it. Jesus came to set us free and they only way to be free is to be living for him which is Paul's message to Timothy...stick with Jesus and pursue him!

There are many men and women way smarter than I will ever be but that doesn't make their teaching right. I want to challenge you to read the bible for yourself and not study another man's teaching and take it as gospel. Since the 1500s, man has fought and divided over teachings that are not from God, they are simply man's ideas. Hundreds of denominations have formed from these teachings but before these teachings there was one church with one message. Paul said there is one foundation, Jesus, and we are to be careful on how we build upon that foundation. He also makes it clear there are things that Timothy, as well as us, are to do. We discuss these things in the second half of 2 Timothy.

How many times have you heard something like this, “You don't have to do anything to be saved. Only believe.” I agree one hundred percent salvation is through faith in Christ given to us by his marvelous grace, but I am not sold on the “you don't have to do anything” bit because if you are believing, you are doing something and Paul tells Timothy many things in chapter 2 that he must do in order to remain strong in his faith in Christ. In vs15 Paul tells Timothy to “work hard” and “be a good worker” so that he will “receive God's approval.” James says that faith without works is dead. Most of this type of teaching came from a few people in the late 1500 to early 1600s. Believe what you will, but if I were you, I'd stick with the truth of God's word over man's opinion, especially when eternity is at stake!

When I was a young man in my late teens, I played drums at a big church in West Tennessee where Sam Austin was pastoring. He now pastors somewhere in Arkansas now and is an evangelist. He would sometimes say, “You can clean up a pig and win first prize at the county fair but as soon as you get that clean pig home, it's running straight for the mud! Because that is what pigs do!” Paul tells Timothy, “Teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others...” Some people just aren't trustworthy, they take what they have been taught and do nothing with it, they just soak it all in and never share it, like pigs, they devour all the food and go play in the mud.

Due to sickness, we can't record this week so here is part 2 of Randy's sermon from November 9 on David and Goliath. We will return to 2 Timothy next week! God bless and thank you for watching, listening, and sharing the GRINDIT Podcast!

Due to sickness, we can't record this week so here is part 1 of Randy's sermon from November 9 on David and Goliath. We will return to 2 Timothy next week! God bless and thank you for watching, listening, and sharing the GRINDIT Podcast!

Onesiphorus is only mentioned a couple of times in Paul's second letter to Timothy but he made a huge impact on Paul. Why? Because, when Paul was imprisoned a second time in Rome and new he was about to face death eye to eye, everybody left him, except Luke. He felt what it was like to be abandoned by his closest friends and coworkers which is why he reaches out to Timothy telling him he was eager to see him. Onesiphorus searched all over Rome until he found Paul, and after finding him in prison chained like a criminal, Onesiphorus made many trips to visit Paul. Paul ends the chapter with a blessing to this guy, “May the Lord show him special kindness on the day of Christ's return.” May we all be like Onesiphorus, visiting the destitute and forging boldness in the kingdom!

Paul is in a prison in Rome and will soon be killed by the Emperor Nero. The only person with him is Luke, the author of the gospel of Luke and Acts. Paul begins to write Timothy, his son in the faith, to tell him he misses him and would love to see him one more time. He tells Timothy to not be ashamed of his chains like the other guys and he explains how they all left him alone, but he also tells Timothy, "You too, will suffer like me so keep in mind that God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self control." Timothy would soon be on his own, without his teacher. Would he buckle with fear? Or stand strong on faith?

We take a break from our regular study to share with you some things about our Spain trip and some lessons we learned. We will start 2 Timothy next week! Here is a link to a short video you can watch to see some pictures. There are other videos on my personal YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/em6-YSdOC88

We take a break from our regular study to share with you some things about our Spain trip and some lessons we learned. We will start 2 Timothy next week! Here is a link to a short video you can watch to see some pictures. There are other videos on my personal YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/em6-YSdOC88

Did you ever watch Animal Planet or one of those animal videos that show a lion or some type of predator watching a herd of animals just waiting for one to leave the herd? The predator literally lays in wait just biding time until one of those unsuspecting animals walks away from the herd just enough to be vulnerable, and as soon as they get away from the protection of the herd, the predator attacks. This is what Paul is warning Timothy about and he tells him, “Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you.”

THIS IS OUR 500TH EPISODE!!!! Paul tells Timothy these false teachers have come in and wreaked havoc on the church ion Ephesus. He leaves Timothy there to help get things get back on track and in chapter 6, Paul is going to finalize his instructions. In them he says these false teachers have one main motive—money. They want to get rich and Peter says something similar in his letters to the church. Paul says real wealth comes from two things: godliness and contentment. How do we get those two things? By trusting God to meet our needs...

Paul leaves Timothy behind in Ephesus to help a struggling church get back on track. One of the many issues is widows. Who is supposed to be taking care of the widows and what constitutes a widow that can be helped? Are their stipulations? What does Paul have to say about the younger widows? What about the widow who decides she isn't going to be devoted to God and just wants to liver her life the way she sees fit? We dive into all of this and more in this podcast!

In today's podcast, we start to cover 1 Timothy 5 where Paul is writing Timothy to give him instructions for the church in Ephesus. In chapter 5, Paul deals with widows and how they are to be taken care of. Is it the church's responsibility to take care of widows? We go back to the Old Testament and see what God had to say about widows back then and the laws He gave to the people through Moses and some examples of how God used widows to usher in the Messiah!

I was taught spiritual gifts could only be passed to others by the apostles and when the apostles died, so did the spiritual gifts. This is clearly false because Paul tells Timothy to use the spiritual gift that was given him when the elders at the church in Ephesus laid their hands on him! He will tell him again in his second letter to Timothy to fan into flames the spiritual gift given to him when Paul laid his hands on Timothy. This tells me Timothy was not using his spiritual gifts as he should. Why not? What was his problem? Fear...in particular, fear of man. Because Timothy was so young, the older believers, even false teachers, would intimidate him by perhaps challenging his teaching and he would clam up instead of being bold. It is not time to be timid, but bold for Jesus and the truth! God, stir the gifts within us so people will see you working in us!

The early church didn't have multiple copies of the bible to pick up and read but they did have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, as Jesus said in John 14, leads to all truth. In other words, the Holy Spirit comes from God, who is truth, and therefore will lead us in truth. Jesus said he is the truth in John 14:6. Some people in the church at Ephesus were following truth but at some point, they quit and started following demons. Paul is writing to Timothy, a young man, to stay in Ephesus and fight the enemy that is teaching false doctrine that comes from demons and is leading people away from the truth, away from Jesus. He tells Timothy that of he teaches the church the truth, he will be nourished by his faith and his teaching, which is all about Jesus. Who do you receive your nourishment from? The truth? Or false doctrines taught by demons? Does what you learn and teach line up with the truth of God's word? If not, you're being fed lies by demons and it is leading you away from Jesus!

We are on vacation/ mission trip to Spain so here is Mary's sermon we presented at Authentic Church as a part of pastor James' series about Hope from the book of Philippians. We will return to 1 Timothy next week. Muchisimas Gracias!

We are on a mission trip to Spain this week so we are giving you the sermon Mary and I preached a few weeks ago at Authentic Church from Philippians 4. We will be back to 1 Timothy next week! Good bless...

Paul says these false teachers have seared their conscience with a hot iron. This practice goes way back to the Egyptians who would take something, stick it in a fire, get it super-hot, then stick that hot object to a wound which would seal it up, kill infection, and it would heal faster. It is the same idea today of branding an animal. These false teachers have sealed themselves from the truth of God and are teaching false doctrine that Paul says comes from demons and they are leading people astray from Jesus! He sends Timothy in the heat of the battle and tells him to cling to his faith and keep his conscience clear!

Paul makes a strong statement in chapter 4 saying that some people have quit following truth and started following these false teachers whose teachings come from demons! Yikes! This means there were men and women who had given their life to Jesus, they were filled with the Holy Spirit who leads people into all truth, they were operating in the gifts of the Spirit, yet, after giving time and attention to these false teachers, they deliberately turned from Jesus to follow demons. It is easy for us to say we would never do such a thing but...watch out! You may already be doing it! If you are following someone who teaches false doctrine that doesn't line up with the word of God, then you may have a seared conscience and following a demon!

Paul gives Timothy instructions to choose church leaders, in particular elders and deacons, for the church in Ephesus. We breakdown the qualifications for both in today's podcast and discuss how the American church doesn't follow these instructions very well. We tend to choose people who have money or who is from a prominent family in the she congregation and forget the qualifications...AND the Bible is clear these positions are plural, not singular! There should never be one, what we call "pastor" with a bunch of deacons under him, these positions were always plural in every church!

Since we have covered a lot of things just in chapters 1 and 2, we decided to review those two chapters...Actually Randy got long winded and took too long with the review so we made two separate podcasts for chapter 3. This is part 1 and awe will cover church leaders--elders and deacons, in the next podcast. Thanks for listening and sharing the GRINDIT Podcast! God bless you!!!

We are tackling one of the most difficult passages in the Bible that comes from 1 Timothy 2 about women keeping silent and not being able to teach a man. It has been a hot topic and debated for centuries! What does Paul say? What does he mean by what he says? Is there a contradiction here? Does Paul contradict his very own thoughts? We're going to dissect it and give our input in this podcast. This is part 2.

We are tackling one of the most difficult passages in the Bible that comes from 1 Timothy 2 about women keeping silent and not being able to teach a man. It has been a hot topic and debated for centuries! What does Paul say? What does he mean by what he says? Is there a contradiction here? Does Paul contradict his very own thoughts? We're going to dissect it and give our input in this podcast. There is a part 1 and a part 2.

Paul leaves Timothy in Ephesus so he could help the elders and the church in Ephesus to fight against false teachers and help them get back on track with the will of God. In chapter 2, Paul begins giving Timothy some instructions that will help him fight the battles and keep his conscience clear. In today's podcast, we break down two of the four things that Paul instructs Timothy to do on behalf of all men and women, kings, and all of those who are in authority. He tells Timothy these four things are also pleasing to God. The church today would greatly benefit from these four things if they would be obedient!

Paul leaves Timothy in Ephesus so he could help the elders and the church in Ephesus to fight against false teachers and help them get back on track with the will of God. In chapter 2, Paul begins giving Timothy some instructions that will help him fight the battles and keep his conscience clear. In today's podcast, we break down two of the four things that Paul instructs Timothy to do on behalf of all men and women, kings, and all of those who are in authority. He tells Timothy these four things are also pleasing to God. The church today would greatly benefit from these four things if they would be obedient!

What does Paul mean when he says there are some that have shipwrecked their faith and have violated their conscience? What were the consequences of the actions of Hymenaeus, Alexander, and in chapter 2, Philetus? Paul says he threw them out and turned them over to Satan! What does that mean? How can someone who is saved by Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, belong to Satan? Are they still saved? Can one be led by their flesh and not the Spirit and still make it to heaven and be with Jesus for eternity?

Paul tells Timothy to cling to his faith and keep a clear conscience. This tells me that there was something Timothy had to do which is contrary to teaching that is happening in many churches today that say, “There is nothing you to be saved. It is beyond your control.” If that is the case, why would Paul command Timothy these things? And not only that, Paul gives examples of men whom he threw out of the church in Ephesus because they violated their conscience and taught false doctrine! Do you have a clean conscience?

Paul goes into a testimony of how Jesus changed his life. He talks about his past and tells Timothy that he was the worst of sinners. This was triggered because he was talking about these people who think they know the law but really have no idea what they are talking about. As he was talking, he starts going through the ten commandments and he must have started reflecting back on how, even though he knew the law well as a Pharisee and had a zeal for God, was a sinner and needed the grace and mercy of God. We are all sinners and need Jesus to save us. We all have a sinful past, some of you are still in sin because you have never died to yourself and been washed in the blood of Jesus! Why not? What is holding you back? We want to hear your story of how God changed your life when you met Jesus!

Have you ever listened to someone who sounds smart yet they have no idea what they are talking about? If you ever watch a “Reel” on social media, then you have listened to these people we call “Influencers.” They do these little, short videos, little snippets, sound bites, that sound amazing but once you get hooked and “Reeled” in, you find out they really have no idea what they are talking about and they lead people astray from the truth with their false teaching. Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to deal with people like this. People who sounded smart by telling myths and fables, using genealogies to sound educated and important, were leading people away from Jesus and destroying their faith. Paul tells Timothy to put a stop to these people!

Paul leaves Timothy in Ephesus to deal with some issues in the church at Ephesus. He is a young man who is timid so Paul will tell him not to let that be a deterrent to what he is called to do. Before diving in to what instructions Paul gives Timothy for the church at Ephesus, we take a deep dive into the book of Ephesians to explore what some issues the church had, along with what Jesus had to say about the church in Revelation 2. There isn't a perfect church because there aren't any perfect people, so the church is full of imperfect people, or what people in the world call “hypocrites”. We are all sinners in need of salvation, grace, and mercy, and thought the church is full of imperfect people, it's still the body of Christ and together, we strive to be more like him every day! Want you join us?!?!

Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to confront some issues the church was having and we dig into all of these issues looking at what we know about the church given to us in scripture. Timothy was a young man that Paul had converted to Jesus and he had traveled with Paul on his journeys as he started new churches and visited churches he established in the past. Timothy would be a little intimidated by what he was given to do and Paul offers him these three things: grace, mercy, and peace. Three things that are much needed today as we confront sin in the church and false doctrine, because these things stem from one place—an enemy that wants to stir up strife, chaos, confusion—an enemy who wants to divide the kingdom of God to weaken it. That is why it is imperative to keep our eyes on Jesus and not on one another!

Paul writes a letter to a young man that he pointed to Jesus and after accepting him as his Lord and Savior, Timothy joins Paul in his travels as he starts churches and visits the ones he had already established. The point of Paul writing this letter is because there are issues beginning to crop up with the Gentile church in Ephesus and Paul is going to leave Timothy in Ephesus to confront the issues. The transformation that Jesus makes in people when they dedicate their lives to him is amazing! Just look at the one who is writing this letter—Paul! He was so full of himself and who he thought he was until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul was completely changed from the inside out. He was given a new identity in Jesus and Jesus will do the same for you!

Paul writes a letter to a young man that he pointed to Jesus and after accepting him as his Lord and Savior, Timothy joins Paul in his travels as he starts churches and visits the ones he had already established. The point of Paul writing this letter is because there are issues beginning to crop up with the Gentile church in Ephesus and Paul is going to leave Timothy in Ephesus to confront the issues. The transformation that Jesus makes in people when they dedicate their lives to him is amazing! Just look at the one who is writing this letter—Paul! He was so full of himself and who he thought he was until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul was completely changed from the inside out. He was given a new identity in Jesus and Jesus will do the same for you!

Paul ends his letter like he started it, by telling the church, “May the God of grace give you peace...at all times...in every situation. The church at Thessalonica has gone through severe persecution since it started and they have lost loved ones because of it. They have to wonder what is coming next...Will they make it through the next day? Will they make it through the night? Are they going to get beaten before they get home from work or while they are out shopping? We may not be undergoing persecution like the church at Thessalonica, but we all face something in life that is difficult. As we do, our prayer is the same as Paul's...may the God of grace give you peace at all times, in every situation.

Paul is going to give some final thoughts to the church at Thessalonica as he wraps up this short letter in chapter 3. He tells them to avoid any brother or sister in Jesus who doesn't live according to his rules and the example that he set before them. What rules? What example did he set? He tells them he could have eaten their food for free but they all worked hard day and night and paid for everything they received. Paul says if there is a brother or sister that wants to be a freeloader and not work, make plans to avoid them at all costs!

God's grace allows us the opportunity to hear the gospel and believe the gospel. God's grace gives us time to accept Jesus and live for him, even while people reject Jesus, doing their own thing, every second they live they are given grace because they have breath in their lungs and have the capability to accept Jesus and the sacrifice he made on the cross for our sins. But someday, that grace is going to turn into vengeance when Jesus returns. All of those who rejected Jesus will separated from God for eternity, never having another opportunity to repent of their sins and be washed in the blood of Jesus. Don't let God's grace run out on you. Accept Jesus today so you will be with the redeemed in heaven for eternity!

The church at Thessalonica has another concern about the return of Jesus so Paul writes a second letter to help them understand but in this letter, he causes confusion for us today! How? Because of what he says to them about the man of lawlessness and him being revealed some day; how this man will even sit in the temple of God! How can this happen when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 and no longer exists?!?! Did we miss the return of Jesus? Who is this man that will one day be revealed? Who will he deceive? We answer all of this in this podcast...

God's grace allows us the opportunity to hear the gospel and believe the gospel. God's grace gives us time to accept Jesus and live for him, even while people reject Jesus, doing their own thing, every second they live they are given grace because they have breath in their lungs and have the capability to accept Jesus and the sacrifice he made on the cross for our sins. But someday, that grace is going to turn into vengeance when Jesus returns. All of those who rejected Jesus will separated from God for eternity, never having another opportunity to repent of their sins and be washed in the blood of Jesus. Don't let God's grace run out on you. Accept Jesus today so you will be with the redeemed in heaven for eternity!

Can we fully know and understand what grace is and what grace brings us. I've heard it said grace is God's Redemption At Christ's Expense as well as, grace is God's unmerited favor. What does that mean? How do we explain what grace is? I'm not sure we can fully but we try our best in this podcast. Paul starts out chapter one with grace and he ends it with grace. There's a lot of things sandwiched in between that may help explain what grace is and does. One thing for sure, without God's grace, we wouldn't even be alive to listen to this podcast! Don't take grace for granted!

After discussing Jesus' return with the church at Thessalonia, Paul offers some final thoughts for them, encouraging them to stick it out with Jesus and follow the Spirit's leading. In these thoughts, he gives another “This is God's will for you...” He tells them to be thankful in ALL circumstances...could you imagine being persecuted, seeing your loved ones die for following Jesus, and then a man comes along and tells you to be thankful?!?! Jesus did the same thing in Matthew 5 when he was giving the Sermon on the Mount! But there is more to Paul's final thoughts and we finish them up in this podcast.

After discussing Jesus' return with the church at Thessalonica, Paul offers some final thoughts for them, encouraging them to stick it out with Jesus and follow the Spirit's leading. In these thoughts, he gives another “This is God's will for you...” He tells them to be thankful in ALL circumstances...could you imagine being persecuted, seeing your loved ones die for following Jesus, and then a man comes along and tells you to be thankful?!?! Jesus did the same thing in Matthew 5 when he was giving the Sermon on the Mount! But there is more to Paul's final thoughts and we cover them in this podcast.

There has been person after person trying to predict when Jesus is coming back. They have sold books, made videos, movies, tv programs, etc talking about Jesus' return. We talk about it in this podcast because Paul talks about it to the church in Thessalonica. He does so because he wants them to be encourage by it. They had lost loved ones to persecution and they thought they would never see them again, so Paul comforts them by telling them, “Jesus is coming back and when he does, your loved ones that were following him, they're coming with him...” We're going to look at the facts and stay away from the fluff...

Sex sells and it's everywhere. The enemy has taken something God designed between a husband and wife to enjoy, to procreate, and has twisted into something evil, sinful, that separates us from a Holy God. Even people who claim to follow Jesus have been duped by his deceitful scheme and, like a spider web, they have become entangled and wrapped up so tight they can't escape. But they can if they are willing to do what Paul says and live a holy life that can only be found in Jesus. Those who have turned sex into an evil desire must return sex to the original design God had for it. Anything with sex outside a marriage bed is sinful and separates us from God. It was a struggle with the early church and has been a struggle since the fall of man in Genesis. Every time the bible talks about sin, the very first thing mentioned is a sexual sin and if we continue in it, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. We are called to be holy and the only way to be holy is to walk with Jesus. We can't take a holy God with us and commit a sinful, sexual sin. We discuss it on today's podcast.

Paul says God's will for us is to live holy lives and stay away from all sexual sin. The podcast was so long for this part, we made it into two podcasts because we talk in depth about what it means to be holy and how we are made holy by our faith in Jesus. We are to be different from the world around us, we have been called out and filled with the Holy Spirit! God lives inside of us, changing us from the inside, therefore, people should see that change taking place from the outside! In turn, this would let them see the change God has made in us and they would desire for Him to live inside them!

A question every follower of Jesus asks is, “What is God's will for my life?” Well, you don't have to wonder what God's will for you is any longer because Paul reveals it in chapter 4! He says, “God's will is for you to be holy...” Wow! Just be holy and you are doing God's will but what does that mean? We talk about it in today's podcast as well as the next two. It was a long discussion so we split this one up!

Paul tells the church at Thessalonica, “And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.” The motivating factor for serving Jesus is and should always be “love.” Jesus told his disciples the people would know we belong to him because the love we have for one another. Paul says his love overflows for the church at Thessalonica but also he brags on their love for one another and their love for others in their community...and that is despite of persecution that the outsiders are bringing upon them! Does your love overflow into others' lives? Can people actually see Jesus in you and your love for him?