GRINDIT podcast

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?

Paul sends Timothy back to Thessalonica to check on them. He wanted to know if their faith was still strong or if the tempter had gotten the best of them and they had quit following Jesus. By the way, Timothy, a fairly new convert to Jesus, would be going alone. Is there any fear in Timothy? If so, he didn't let him stop him from doing what Paul asked! He went to Thessalonica, he met with the believers there, and he came back to Corinth and reported to Paul about what he discovered from his visit. As a follower of Jesus, can we have fear? Absolutely...but, it's what we do with that fear. Do we let that fear hold us back from being obedient? Or do we have courage and overcome our fear, being obedient to our calling?

Could you imagine being a church that was being persecuted, you're seeing your loved ones tortured, even killed for following Jesus, and the man who brought the gospel to you writes a letter of encouragement and during his letter, he says this, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.” Paul reminds them to keep walking with the Lord because he will come to the rescue soon, and he says the church at Thessalonica are his glory and joy. We put stock in so many of our accomplishments: bank accounts, houses, fancy cars, etc...but what about the people we have shared the gospel with? Have you won anyone to Jesus? Do you consider them your joy and crown?

One thing the early church had as a part of its DNA was persecution. Jesus told his disciples they would face it, he faced it, and after Acts 2, they faced it. Jesus even warned Paul he would be persecuted as he travels around taking the gospel to the Gentiles...and he was the very one who led the charge when it comes to persecution! He was there at the stoning of Stephen and he says he gave his approval when it happened. Now, this man and his colleagues, are getting beaten with rods, whipped, flogged, and even stoned! But...they never flinched or backed down. Why? How? Because the love they have for Jesus and how badly they wanted others to experience him!

When we look at what Paul says about the church at Thessalonica, it puts the American church to shame. This church was facing severe persecution yet they worked hard and did loving deeds. The Greek word for “deeds” is kopos and it means they toiled and labored, even against opposition, to the point of exhaustion. They made such an impact for the kingdom that Paul said everywhere they go, people are talking about the church in Thessalonica. In America, we have turned “church” into big buildings with air conditioning, we come in and sing a few songs then listen to a preacher for a few minutes, while our kids are hanging out in youth ministry where they are entertained for a while. We soak it all in like a sponge, go home, and hardly mention Jesus, if at all, outside of that building. We expect people to just “come in” instead of us “going out” and bringing them in. What have we done?

The church at Thessalonica started in Acts 17. Paul and Silas made their way there after getting run out of Philippi. Luke says Paul reasoned with the Jews at the synagogue for three Sabbaths while most historians say Paul stayed there for about three months. He was run out of Thessalonica as well and went to Berea. However, that three month period made a huge impact there! The men and women who chose to obey the gospel took it to heart and wanted others to know about Jesus too! They were known in the region around them as people who did faithful work, loving deeds, because they put their hope in Jesus. May that be said of us!

This is a concept I have heard all of my life and it has been completely out of context. What does Paul mean when he says, “You reap what you sow?” Is he saying like these ministries today, “If you sow money into my ministry and make me rich, you will receive a big ole blessing from God later.”? 100% no! That is not what he is saying at all! He is telling the church at Galatia to quit being conceited and selfish, to sow into the lives of others and help pull them out of sin. He is saying we are to have such communion, fellowship with one another that we can share burdens with another so we can pray for one another and walk along side of each other to keep us from falling. That...that is the context of “reaping what you sow.” If we sow into others, when we need help, they will be here to help but if we stay focused on ourselves, when the time comes that we need help, it won't be there!

Every child dreams of becoming someone, something great, especially boys. We have a drive to hunt and conquer, to rescue the damsel in distress! We set out on a quest to become a hero, to win that battle! We set goals, we discipline ourselves and work hard to conquer them. Unfortunately, too many times we get so caught up in the quest and forget about the people around us. In fact, far too often, we use them to get a step higher on the ladder or to get us closer to the goal! Paul calls it being conceited, selfish, and the Greek word he uses says it is “empty glory.” No matter how much success we have, if we don't have Jesus we have nothing. It's all empty! So big shot, how did you get where you are? Following God as you let Him lead? Or did you cheat your way there? Did you commit a lot of sin to get you where you're at?

We were asked to speak at Authentic Church during the Joel series. This is part 2 of a 2 part sermon.

We were asked to speak at Authentic Church during the Joel series. This is part 1 of a 2 part sermon.

While talking about freedom and that freedom coming from Jesus, Paul issues a warning to the church at Galatia, “Don't use your freedom to gratify the flesh and its desires. He then posts a list of sins that gratify the flesh and in that list he says, “Those who do these and things similar, will not inherit the kingdom of God.” In the next breath, he lists the fruit of the Spirit and he says, “You're free to do these things as much as you want.” Why? Because they bring glory to God. When God is holding our leash, and the Holy Spirit is leading us, the fruit we produce will show it.

Paul says to the church at Galatia, “Christ has set you free” and “You have been called to live in freedom.” Over ten times in this letter, Paul uses some form of the word “freedom”. What does Paul mean by “freedom”? If we only have true freedom in Jesus, then what about those who are outside of Christ? They are in bondage, but so are those who are trying to follow the law or work their way to salvation. Why would anybody choose bondage after being set free?

Paul tells the church at Galatia, “Yall were running the race with all you had, exerting all the effort you could, but something happened and it has hindered your running.” What happened? Circumcision. It's hard to run when you've had a knife cut into private part! That is a lot of pain and it takes a little while to heal up! Paul uses two words in the Greek to explain what he means by “hinder” but we don't fully grasp it in the English translations. Check out this podcast to see what Paul means and ask. Yourself this question, “Am I giving my all for Jesus? For the kingdom? Or is something hindering me from fully serving him?