Final Faithful Instructions Pt 1

All right, good morning. It's good to see you all. I'm really glad you're here. I want to invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started. Lord God, we just thank you for another day and we thank you for another opportunity, Lord, to be in your house this morning, God, to sing praise to you, Lord, and to spend some time in your word, Lord. And now as we come into your presence, Lord,

just help us to focus on you and lavish praise upon you, Lord. We ask these things in your precious and holy name. Amen. I just want to take a moment. I just want to offer you praise, Lord, for who you are, for what you've done for us, Lord God. And Lord God, you know, you took us. You loved us, Lord. You first loved us while we were still in our sin, Lord. And Lord God, without you, we wouldn't know

what love is. You took us. You saw us, our sin and all. You still loved us and you still chose to go to the cross for us. Amen. Because you did, Lord, we are able to stand here, Lord, in newness of life. Lord, we are able to leave that old life behind. Lord, you clothed us in righteousness. And so, Lord God, we have so many reasons to praise you this morning, God.

We want to use the breath that you give us to return praise to you.

Lord, you've done what nobody else could. In our sin, you cast us as far as the east is from the west. For our sins, we also have a chance.

Great are you. Just thank you for this time to worship you, Lord. Now, as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, I just pray that you would speak mightily through him, Lord God. Go before us in the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord God. Fill us afresh. Fill us anew this morning with your Holy Spirit. Father God, we just love you and we praise you and we thank you. All God's people said, amen.

Let's take some time and greet one another.

Good morning. If you could begin the process of locating your seat. Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A few things to take note of. That's always over on the left-hand side. Things that go on throughout the week. Places to get plugged into. Take note of those and find yourself a spot. Over in the middle section, a reminder that in a couple of weeks, we're going to be doing a baptism and picnic on August the 3rd.

So, if you have questions about baptism or need to be baptized, please come talk to me afterwards. Otherwise, there's a list. I'm out there to sign up on. And if you can't catch me, put your name on that list and I'll give you a call. And then also, there'll be a covered dish at that from 530 to 7. Baptism at 7. And then we'll have time at the pool after that over at Paris Park.

And then there is a new grief share group that's going to be starting up at the end of August. If you have lost a loved one and you just need a group to be able to be alongside you, it's a great opportunity for that. All of the information is right there. And then, ladies. There's a women's retreat coming up hosted by Calvary Chapel of Wichita. All the information is right there as well as a QR code to sign up.

And I failed to get this out a couple of weeks ago. So, you've got until August the 1st to sign up for that. Surprise. So, it is what it is. So, take note of that. Also, there's our memory verse, 1 Timothy 6, verse 6. And we'll be talking about that today. And then one last thing that's not in your bulletin. I need my wife to come up and make it. Make an announcement.

I don't even remember what it's about. I just know it's written there.

Give a little reminder or maybe this is new to you. But if you are dropping kids off at nursery, twos and threes, or children's church, when you sign your kids in, you get like they get a name tag. And then you get a guardian receipt. And as we have so many new faces and we've got new people serving in children's church, we would be really grateful. If you make sure that whoever picks up your kids, if it's not you, if you want like an

older child or an aunt or uncle or whoever to pick them up to just bring this receipt with you and present it to the nursery worker or a children's church worker, just so that we can keep your kids safe and make sure they get back to the right person as we're getting to know everybody and things like that. So, we would really appreciate that. Thank you.

She's with me. Right? Okay. That is what's going on. So, if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 20. Psalm 20. Looking at the New American Standard so that theoretically we all sound the same. If you need a copy of the New American Standard, there should be one in a row around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 20, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word. I will read it to you. The odd verses, if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 20, for the choir director, a Psalm of David. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high.

May he send you help from the sanctuary and support you from Zion. May he remember all your meal offerings and find your burnt offering acceptable. Selah. May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your counsel. We will sing for joy over your victory. And in the name of our God, we will set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed.

He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God. They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stood upright. And read verse 9 with me. Save, O Lord. Lord, may the King answer us in the day we call. And Father, we do just want to say we put our trust in you this morning, Lord.

There are so many things that would want to distract us from that. So many things that would want to take the place of you. But Father, at the end of the day, you're the one that has always proven trustworthy and faithful. And so, Father, we thank you for who you are. And just ask that you would bless our time together this morning now. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy. Chapter 6.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will finish up this book of 1 Timothy. Again, we've said that the theme of 1 Timothy has been faithfulness. Really, the theme of the pastoral epistles in general has been faithfulness. And so, we've looked at lots of aspects of faithfulness. Paul told Timothy he needed to be faithful in the word, to be faithful with the way he handled the word, the way he taught the word, and things along those lines.

He told him he needed to be a faithful prayer warrior. That prayer needed to be a big part of not only his own life, but also the way that the men, especially in the church, were supposed to lead in prayer. He told him to be faithful in the way that he treated the women in the church. And we discussed that at somewhat of a great length. He told him that he needed to put into place faithful leadership.

Leaders who would be able to lead the church in the right direction. He told him he was going to have to be faithful to stand. That in the midst of apostasy and all of the difficulties going on around him, he would have to be faithful to stand in the Lord and on the truth. He told him that he needed to be faithful in the way that he chose. He treated people no matter who they were or what their social status was.

And as we come to chapter six, Paul is going to now give sort of some rapid fire, faithful final instructions to Timothy. It's kind of like, I said this to first service, I equated it to, it's like the first time your kid takes off in a car on their own for the first time and you're like, don't forget to wear your seatbelt. Don't forget to also use your blinker and don't forget that there's other cars on the road. And don't forget, don't speed and don't hurt yourself and call me when you get there.

You know, it's kind of one of those final instructions thing. He's just wrapping up the book. These are some things you're going to need to know. And so in chapter six, he's going to give him six faithful final instructions. We're going to look at the first three of them today. So we pick up in chapter six of first Timothy in verse one and it says this, all who are

under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them. Because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved teach and preach these principles. If anyone advocates a different doctrine that does not agree with sound words with those who have, or those of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing, but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words out of which arrive, arise, envy, strife, abusive

language, evil suspicions, constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of truth who suppose that godliness is a means of gain, but godliness actually is a means of great gain when it's accompanied by contentment for we have brought nothing into the world. So we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering with these. We shall be content.

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction for the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Final faithful instructions. Number one, the first instruction that he gives to Timothy that he has to teach and preach to the people. Is that they are to honor their masters.

Honor your masters. Now, before I get into what this has to say, I feel like you always have to address the elephant in the room. Anytime slavery in the Bible is brought up because the Bible often gets criticized for being pro-slavery. As a matter of fact, there have been points in time where people have tried to use the Bible and twisted to support their view of slavery.

First of all, may I say that God has never intended anyone to be owned by another individual. Slavery is never what the Lord intended. Freedom is always what God has intended. It is sin that has brought slavery into the world. But as Paul was writing to a Roman culture, we must understand that slavery was a way of life at that point in time. More than 50% of those living in the Roman Empire at the time that Paul was writing the

book of 1 Timothy were enslaved. Something magical would seem to happen and that's that as the gospel would begin to spread, people begin to find their freedom in Christ. Something interesting would take place. You would come to the local assembly. A few chapters Ed per God wrote about the Romans. Jess 2 verse 6. Saw those who fled the Word of God in Pharaoh's kingdom.

Yea, Elias, from the beginning to the end. Turns out they've never had any greed. monks and the apostles themselves never were once to promote a militant overthrow of slavery. There was one main reason because Rome never handled militant overthrow very well and it And it would have compromised the message of the Second cucin together with false assertions of the gospel if the Apostles would have said you need to throw off the restraints of your slavery and you need to begin to live as Freeman instead they dealt with the heart of the issue which is the spiritual reality of freedom that your outward circumstances were not or your your inner self was not dependent upon your outward circumstances that that your freedom in Christ was not had

no bearing upon who you were on the outside and so because of this they dealt with the heart of the issue and what you'll find is that anywhere the gospel is spread anywhere the reality of freedom in Christ is spread freedom exteriorly spread as well we saw it in the Roman Empire you saw it in England we saw it in the United States of America anytime the gospel and freedom in the gospel is truly spread it always ends in people living in freedom now Paul was addressing a group of people and telling them to honor their masters but since we live in a very different culture we're going to apply this mildly different and we're going to look at this as an employer-employee relationship

because we in this Western culture in our Kansas City Kansas none of us are owned by anyone all of us have jobs right and so he says you must honor your master so with that little backdrop he says all who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their masters as worthy of honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against he says those of you who have jobs you should honor your master that word honor means to consider them worthy of respect and to consider someone worthy of respect has less to do with who they are and it has more to do with their position because I know what some people in this room are probably thinking you've never met my boss he is not

worthy of any respect he doesn't do anything she doesn't do anything they give all of their work to me it doesn't matter that person's been put in a position of authority over you and they are to be considered worthy of your respect and so he says this because your work ethic says more about your Christianity than how much scripture you know your work ethic says more about your Christianity than the theology that you can spout your work ethic says more about your Christianity than your testimony of what Jesus saved you from even does because your work ethic is so closely tied to your morality as a Christian that the two are inseparable you know how I know that because he says you should consider them worthy of all honor so that the

name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against because you know that the worst thing in the world is someone who claims their Christianity with their lips and shows up and is lazy at their job that's what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable and that's the culture that we live in right now we live in a culture that doesn't like work we live in a culture that doesn't seem to really enjoy work I hear it all the time I hear it from bosses I hear it from from managers I hear from business owners particularly in the construction world they're like I just can't find anybody to work and if I can find them to work they won't show up and if they do show up they don't show up on time and sometimes if they do show

up and they show up on time I give them tasks and they don't come back after lunch those are all actual statements I hear from people who employ other people in this town this isn't just throughout the world this is in Ark City and it's one thing when the rest of the world acts that way I expect the world to act like the world but it's a whole other thing when the church acts that way it's a whole other thing when someone who claims that Jesus is their Savior and he has set them free from the things of the world and he has given them a new purpose in life shows up and won't put in a full day's work because that is what your unbelieving boss will simply find unbelievable and so your work ethic

is very much tied to your Christian morality and so he says you need to be someone who is who respects and honors their master someone who respects and honors their boss as a matter of fact I want you to go with me one place in Scripture go over to Colossians chapter 3 it's over to your left not very far to your left Colossians chapter 3 and I want you to look down at verse 22 again this is Paul speaking Colossians chapter 3 verse 22 and it says this slaves in all things obey those who are your masters on earth not with external service as those who merely please men but with sincerity of heart fearing the Lord whatever you do do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men knowing that from the Lord you will receive the

reward of the inheritance it is the Lord Christ whom you serve did you pick up on a theme there in Paul's words and that's that who you ultimately serve in your job is not the guy that actually pays your check, not the guy that signs your check. Who you serve in your job is not your direct supervisor that you report to. Who you serve in your job is actually the Lord. Therefore, you should view your job not as serving the guy that you have a hard time respecting, but as serving the God who has saved you. If you view it that way, then you'll

begin to view it differently. And did you notice the command that he gives there? Along with the idea of honoring those, he says, whatever you do, work at it heartily as for the Lord. That word heartily means wholeheartedly. And so I have a question for you. Can you honestly say, can you honestly say when you show up to work, you work wholeheartedly for your entire shift?

From Tuesday through Thursday, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., I work wholeheartedly, but Monday I'm warming up. Every morning until lunchtime, I'm warming up. Friday, I'm cooling. And from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., I'm cooling down. So that 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. period on Tuesday through Thursday, wholeheartedly. No, that's not what he says. It also doesn't say, work wholeheartedly at

things you're passionate about. You see, I realize that job pays my bills, but what I'm really passionate about is gaming, right? What I'm really passionate about is restoring cars. Well, is that your job? Nope, but that's what I'm passionate about. Well, then be passionate about paying your bills, okay? Be passionate about working hard. Be passionate about being someone who

shows up and shows how wonderful your witness is by the way that you work. Because brothers and sisters, you need to know your witness is tied to your work. Go back to 1 Timothy. He goes on to speak to this. He says, those who have believers as their masters must not disrespect them simply because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more because those who partake of the

benefit are believers and beloved. You know what he means by that? Don't take advantage of your boss because they're your friend. Maybe you go to church with your boss here right now. I don't know. Don't look at each other right now because that'll be awkward for all of us, right? But maybe your boss goes to this church too, and you show up on Monday and you're like, listen, he knew how

long my weekend was. He's a brother. I fellowshiped with him about it on Sunday. He's going to understand that I'm going to show up a little bit late. He's going to understand what I've got going on in my life. No, he's not, and it's not his job to. It's your job to show up and work even though he's a brother in Christ. You can't say, well, I'm going to show up and work. I'm going to show up and

I'm going to take a little bit longer of a lunch because I'm going to spend a little more time in prayer. My boss will understand. He's a Christian. No, he won't, and no, he shouldn't. You see, I'm going to take off a little bit early on Friday, and my boss will understand. After all, it's to minister to my family. No, he won't, and no, you shouldn't. You can't take advantage of him just

because he's a believer in Jesus Christ, and that's what Paul says. He says, instead, he should be worthy of even more honor because he is your brother in Christ, and then he finishes this section by telling Timothy, teach and preach these things. Why does he tell Timothy that? Because whether it's the 1st century AD or whether it's the 21st century AD, everybody needs to be reminded of this. Have you noticed

that almost every single one of Paul's letters includes an exhortation to hard work? You know why that is. We think somehow we live in this unique generation when nobody wants to work today. People haven't wanted to work from the beginning of time, okay? There's a reason why in the book of 1 Thessalonians, it has to say, if a man doesn't work, he shouldn't eat.

It's because it's our nature to be lazy, and so when he says teach and preach these things, and so brothers and sisters, once again, I exhort you, your witness is tied to your work ethic. Honor your masters. Number two, he says, he begins to tell them the truth about false teachers. Notice what he says in verse 3, if anyone advocates a different doctrine, it does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing. Now, as I was studying

this, I thought, man, I feel like I've seen this tree before. I feel like I've, I feel like I've read this before, and I did. It was in, back in chapter 4, when he told me that he needed to be faithful to stand, to stand on the truth, because there would be false teachers who would come in, because there would be apostasy that would come in, and yet as he gives him these final faithful instructions, he reminds him once again that there are people out there who are going to teach the false. He says, beware of them, and the first thing he does is he describes that which is false, and then he describes those who either follow or teach that which is false. He says, if anyone advocates for a different

doctrine, and then he describes this different doctrine three ways. Number one, it does not agree with sound words. It does not agree with sound words. That word sound literally means wholesome or healthy. In other words, if someone is teaching something that is not either wholesome or healthy as far as truth is concerned, it does not agree with sound words. It does not agree with sound words.

Scripture is concerned. Well, how do you know what's wholesome and healthy? Well, if it points you to Jesus, if it points you to holiness, if it points you to surrender and obedience to Jesus Christ, and if it's based in the Word of God, then it's wholesome and it's healthy. If it doesn't do all of those things, if it doesn't line up with all of those things, then it is neither wholesome nor healthy. It is not sound doctrine. It is not something that is truly going to help you grow,

and we live in a world today where a lot of people are promoting ideas and very few people are promoting scripture. Everybody wants their YouTube channel to be able to say whatever they want to say, but nobody really wants to dig deeply into scripture. Everyone wants motivational talks. Nobody wants exposition of scripture. And he says, you need to pay attention to those who would promote

a different doctrine that does not line up with wholesome or healthy teaching. The second thing he describes this false as, that which is a different doctrine, is that it does not line up with the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't line up with the words of Jesus. Do you know one of the big things that they had to do in order to canonize the portions of scripture that they canonized, that means how we got our Bible, is it had to line up with everything that Jesus had to say. And this is what's fascinating to me

when somebody says, yeah, but what about tradition? I'm like, listen, if tradition doesn't line up with the words of Jesus, then it's false teaching. And we just need to understand that because a lot of people want to base their life on tradition. Yeah, but this is what the church has always done. Yeah, but that's not what Jesus said. Ah, but tradition. But if tradition doesn't line up with Jesus, it's no longer tradition. It's called false doctrine.

And you have to pay attention to that because it should line up with what the words of Jesus have to say. One of the greatest things that you should do is spend a lot of time in the Gospels. The words of Jesus are so important that the Holy Spirit and the writers of the New Testament felt it necessary to include four different accounts of the words of Jesus. They are all four of the Gospels, and some of them presented in a different way, with a different flavor, and sometimes some different stories. But you should pay attention to that.

You should pay attention to that. You should pay attention to that. You should pay attention to that. You should pay attention to those words that Jesus has to say, because the words that Jesus has to say will line up with all of the rest of everything that Scripture has to say, because we can't get outside of the bounds of the words of Jesus Christ. And then the third thing he says is this.

He says, and it will, and with a doctrine that conforms to godliness, a doctrine that conforms to godliness. In other words, a false doctrine will not lead you to true godliness. I've talked to people a lot. I like asking people questions and having conversations about these kinds of things. And I find across the board, any time I talk to somebody that has fallen away from the

faith, they have stepped away from Christianity, or at least the pure teaching of Christianity. I like to find out why. What led you to this place of not believing anymore? And do you know what I find? About 95% of the time, about 5% of the time, it's church heard or genuine questions that haven't been answered and things like that. But I bet 95% of the time,

people fall away from the faith because there's some sort of sin in their life that either they can't justify with Scripture, or they just want to continue in. And so because of that, they stop believing what Scripture has to say, because after all, a loving God would want me to be happy, right? By the way, the Bible doesn't say that. But that's what happens to people. I remember having a conversation with a guy when I worked construction, and I can't

remember his name. I can see his face, and I can watch him smoking cigarettes, because that's what he was one of those supervisors I had to respect. Anyway, he was one of our superintendents. And when you have gone to Bible college, and you want to go into ministry, people ask you questions. And so he was asking me questions about the Bible, and I was trying to answer his questions about the Bible.

And finally, he said, you know, I grew up Catholic. I went to Catholic school, confirmation, all this kind of stuff. And he goes, I was pretty solid in my faith until I met my wife. And we started to, you know, do some things. And then I started thinking, maybe I don't really believe this anymore. And he was like, yeah, pretty much. And I was like, that's exactly what I'm talking about.

You will find that most people, the reason they fall away from the faith is because it means that they can't live in sin any longer. And listen, Jesus wants to set you free from the slavery of sin, not let you affirm and live in that slavery any longer. But a doctrine that allows you to continue in sin that does not conform to godliness, listen, is a different doctrine. It is a false teaching. And so he says, beware of these things. If anyone is preaching something

different that doesn't line up with wholesome words, that doesn't line up with the words of Jesus, that doesn't conform to godliness, he describes what this person is like. Verse four, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abuse, negative language, and evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of a depraved mind and deprived of truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. He describes these guys five ways. Number one, they are conceited. They are conceited. The word can also be translated proud.

Now, there's an interesting definition of this word proud given in the Kenneth Weiss word studies. He said the word proud literally means a clouded state of mind or a stupid state of mind because of pride. Can we put that in Ryan language? They're so proud that they've become stupid. And that's exactly what happens to people. Have you ever noticed that, that pride leads people to be really stupid?

Have you ever read these things called the Darwin Awards, right? Listen, I'm not saying you should go look that up later, but they're kind of funny. And it's people that basically have harmed themselves really badly because of pride. And you'll find that every time something like that happens on one of these, you're like, yeah, this guy was so full of pride that he ended up being stupid and doing something stupid.

That's what happens to us in life, right? That's what pride leads to. Sometimes we get proud over our accomplishments. We're like, look how great I am. And then we stop working. And so we don't have any more accomplishments because we became stupid because of all of our accomplishments. Sometimes we're proud because of who we are, how we look. And we end up becoming stupid because of

it. And what's really bad is when you have spiritual pride, you start thinking you're so great. You start thinking you know so much. And pretty soon you're no good because you've become stupid because of that. You start thinking you know so much. And pretty soon you're no good because you've become stupid because you've become pride. You want to know the perfect example of that in the Old Testament? God by the name of Samson, right?

So Samson had been called by God. He was a Nazarite, meaning that he had a specific way that his life was supposed to be lived, set apart unto God, completely set apart unto God. Only he didn't live set apart unto God, but he had this massive strength, right? Like everybody always views, this is my own personal thought, everybody always views Samson as this great big guy that, oh, Samson must have been like this great big bodybuilder sort of a guy. But

he wanted to figure out the source of Samson's strength. Now if he's a big bodybuilder, no one would have that question, right? I think Samson was the most average guy you'd ever look at in your entire life. And you just look at him and go, how on earth is that guy just crushing things every single day of his life? Well, he ended up having this relationship with a

woman named Delilah. She was a Philistine and somebody that he never should have been with. And so as he's having this relationship with her, the Philistines want to destroy him because he's the one that keeps defeating them in battle because of his great strength that came about because of God and this Nazarite vow. And every night she asks him, Samson, what's the source of your strength? And the first day he's like, well, you know, if you bind me with brand new

ropes, then I won't have any strength at all. And so he wakes up the next morning and he's bound with these ropes. And she says, the Philistines are coming. And he jumps up and he pops the ropes off and he defeats them again. A couple of different things like that. The next one is, well, if you weave my hair into a loom, then absolutely I'll have no strength. So she

weaves his hair into a loom and he jumps up and of course he defeats them again. Now, after about three or four times of you saying, if you do this, it'll take away my strength. And then somebody does that. Don't you start going, maybe I shouldn't keep telling them things. Maybe they're going to use this against me. But his pride will finally one night she says, you don't even love me, do you? He goes, of course I do. Here's the source of my strength. If you cut my

hair, I will be just as average as everyone else. So that night she shaved his head. Now listen, I'm pretty familiar with the shearing of someone's head. You notice. I can't imagine how he didn't notice this. Other than in his pride, he was completely blinded to what was going on around him. And there's this great line. So she shaves his head. The Philistines come in and she yells, the

Philistines are here again. And he jumps up just like every other time. Only there's this devastating line in scripture and it says, but he did not know that the spirit had left him. You know why? Because he had become stupid in his pride. See, when we start thinking we know more than God, when we start thinking we can get outside of the bounds of scripture, we get lifted up with pride and ultimately it makes us stupid. So he says, number one, he's conceited. Number two, he has a morbid

interest in controversial questions. That word morbid means sick. In other words, he is, he has a sick obsession with controversial questions. You ever been around somebody like this? Like all they want to do is debate something. I'm Talene, with you usually something random, usually some conspiracy theory or something along those lines in there. They're so caught up with it. And you know what happens when

somebody gets like that. Notice what it says questions middle of verse four and disputes about words out of which arrive arise envy, strife, abusive language, and evil suspicions. They become so sickly obsessed with whatever their pet doctrine is, but pretty soon they're arguing everybody that's around them. No more is the love of Jesus flowing. It's just an argument about who's right.

I was just having a conversation with somebody right before the service, and we were talking about witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses. And I said, you know, we both discussed the fact that, you know, the most important thing that you have to do is keep it about what are you going to do with sin and what are you going to do with eternity? Because the minute that you get into a debate, pride gets involved. And it becomes now who can win the argument, not I care about your soul.

But that's what those other doctrines do to you, is they make you want to argue instead of love like Jesus. So number one, conceited. Number two, morbid. Number three, they have a depraved mind. Notice what it says in verse five. And constant friction between men of depraved minds. That word depraved means corrupt. And ultimately, that's what happens is a corrupted mind.

Number four, describes them as destitute of truth. And I think that's the scariest one for me, especially the more I studied what that phrase means. We think of destitute of truth as someone who just doesn't know the truth. But that's not the idea behind this phrase in the Greek. The idea behind this phrase in the Greek is this. And again, I'm quoting Kenneth Weiss on this.

He says, those who are destitute of truth are those who at one time knew the truth. The truth was theirs, only they put it away from themselves. I would like to point out the fact that I don't think false teachers always start off being false teachers. I think a lot of times, they start off well-meaning. They start off intending to do the right thing. But either A, they get caught up reading their own press.

B, they just want more power. Or C, they just get deceived by sin. And eventually, they begin to drift away from the truth. And they find that when all is said and done, that they are now destitute of truth. Though at one time, they owned it. Though at one time, they lived it. They walked away from it. And brothers and sisters, nothing would hurt my heart more

than to see anybody in this congregation that I love so much become destitute of truth. And then he describes them one final way. He describes these false teachers as those who view godliness as a means of gain. Godliness as a means of gain. I've shared it with you before, but when I worked construction, everybody always said, you want to be a preacher so that you can make all of that money.

And the reason why they said that is because they'd all want to be a preacher. And the reason why they said that is because they'd all want to be a preacher. And the reason why they said that is because they'd all want to be a preacher. They would all watch televangelists. I don't even know if those are a thing anymore, although I can't believe that they're not.

People who get online or get on TV and say, you know, if you don't sew a little bit of money into this, then this ministry is going to go by the wayside. And if you'll just sew a little seed money into this, otherwise, the ministry will go broke. Listen, we just need to understand something. If a ministry is going to go broke, it's because God doesn't want it to be there anymore.

Because God's the one that supports ministries. But then if you don't have money in your life, you can't go there. unfortunately there are those who view ministry as great gain and it always hurt my heart when they would say that not because not just because i felt like they were impugning my own integrity but because i knew that they had been hurt by seeing that that's how somebody viewed the gospel as a way simply to make money so they view godliness as a means of gain well now that he has given us the truth about false teachers we now come to the third faithful final instruction and that's the necessity of contentment the necessity of contentment i want you to notice

what he says but godliness is actually a means of great gain when accompanied with contentment godliness with contentment is great gain that word contentment there's a very interesting word it's one that the stoics you used and this is what it means it literally means an inward self-sufficiency an inward self-sufficiency but it is an inward self-sufficiency that is independent of outside circumstances an inward self-sufficiency that is independent of outside circumstances amplified bible translates it like this it is an inner confidence based solely upon the sufficiency of god in other words your outside circumstances have no bearing upon the fact that you can be content in your life

paul said something along these lines in philippians chapter four he said i have learned in whatever state i am to be content i know what it's like to live with plenty and i know what it's like to live with want i know what it's like to be imprisoned and i know what it's like to be free i know what it's like to be hungry and i know what it's like to be fed i know what it's like to have no place to sleep and i know what it's like to sleep in a beautiful bed and i have learned the secret of contentment in all of these things i can do all things through christ who strengthens me you know that that's the you know that that's the context of that verse that's not the power

lifter verse that's not the that's not the athlete verse that's the contentment verse i can do all things through christ who gives me strength i have a question for you what affects your contentment what affects your contentment what keeps you from being content in your life you know maybe maybe for you it's that it's that you always need a bigger house maybe for you it's that it's that you you may have remodeled your bathroom three months ago but that was in the country something or other that it used to be and now hgtv told you that you need a new one that's right i live with women i know what this is like right you've been told you need a new bathroom or a new kitchen and you're not content with that anymore maybe fellas

maybe you're not content with your pickup truck anymore because it doesn't have big enough tires or it doesn't have a good enough exhaust or it doesn't have a sweet enough stereo in it or you name the thing i don't know for me i'm never content with the right amount of sneakers or bibles right and i'm like oh i need another pair i need a new bible that's going to make me happy what is it that keeps you from being content maybe it goes even deeper than that for you maybe you're not content with your husband maybe you're not content with your wife maybe you're not content with your job maybe you're here and you're single and you're not just content being single and serving god

until god provides you with someone maybe you're not content with the amount of money that you make maybe you're not content with your social status maybe you're not content with with the job that you have, whatever it is, what outside circumstances are affecting your contentment? Because Paul tells us here, godliness with contentment is great gain. He goes on to say in verse 7, For we have brought nothing into the world, so we can take nothing out of it either. If we have food and we have covering with these, we shall be content.

Have you ever thought about that? I've thought a lot about the end of life here recently for obvious reasons. And because of that, I'm reminded that when you show up on top side of planet Earth, you show up in your birthday suit wearing nothing, right? You didn't bring nothing into the world. And when you go out, you got nothing. You don't take anything with you.

I used to always say, do a lot of funerals, and I've never once seen a U-Haul truck at one. I can't say that any longer. I've actually seen a U-Haul truck at a funeral one time. I did a graveside funeral over here out west of town, out by the drag strip, Mount Hope, something along those lines. Anyway, I did a funeral out there, and in pulls this car that's pulling a little U-Haul trailer.

And I'm like, son of a gun, there goes that sermon illustration. I can't use that one anymore. I saw a U-Haul at a funeral. Only you know who wasn't taking it with him? The guy in the casket. It was his family. It was his family hauling off all of his stuff that he'd accumulated over the years. The old story goes like this. An old man died, and someone asked,

how much did he leave? And they said, everything. It's all that there is to it, brothers and sisters. We live our lives amassing wealth we don't need so that we can impress people that we don't like. You ever notice that? And we don't live a content life because of it. As a matter of fact, our entire economy is based upon a lack of contentment. The entire economy.

The entire advertising world is based on a lack of contentment. Have you ever noticed that? Are you tired of that old phone? It's time for an upgrade. Come see us at Cricket Wireless. What if I can put a little trademark next? I'm just kidding. That's a joke. Maybe I get some advertising dollars out of this. You know, are you tired of that old house? That old ride not getting you by any longer?

Is it time for a sneaker refresh? Right? All of these things, they're all based upon a lack of contentment. It's not you need this. It's you want this. It's you want this. It's you want this. It's you want this. It's you want this. It's you want this. It's you want this. It's you want this. That's what's going to make you happy. And what you find is the more stuff you own, the less happy you are.

Have you ever noticed that? I remember listening to Chuck Swindoll teach on this one time, and he goes, the biggest thing I've learned in life is that every new thing I get, I either have to wash it, wax it, paint it, or mow it, and I'm tired of it. And that's kind of the way it is in life. He says, godliness with contentment is great gain because you didn't bring anything into the world, and you're not going to take anything out of the world.

If we just have what we need. That's what he means when he says, if you just have food and covering, the idea of covering is not only covering, but it's covering. If you've got food, a place to live, and some clothes to wear, can't we just be happy with that? Can't you just find some contentment in that? If you just have the necessities. I had a guy come up to me after first service, and he goes, I wish we could get people to

understand the difference between needs and wants. You know what the Bible promises? The Bible promises that God will supply all of your needs. According to his richness and glory in Christ Jesus. So if you need it, God's going to provide it for you. But if you want it, sometimes he might tell you no. Sometimes just out of his great love for us, he'll say yes.

But a lot of times he'll say no, because that's not what's going to be best for you right now. It's not going to be best for you because you're going to end up taking your eyes off of me and putting it on that thing. And so he says, we didn't bring anything into the world. We're not going to take anything out of it. If we have food and covering with these, we shall be content.

But notice what he says in verse 10. But those who want to get rich, they fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. And this is absolutely true. When you want to get rich, if that's your goal in life, you may achieve riches, but you'll probably lose your soul in the process. I watch it happen in people's lives where they think, if I just have a little bit more

and maybe you have a really solid walk with Jesus, but you're like, but you know what? I want a little bit more. And so maybe you're willing to be. You're a little bit dishonest in some areas. After all, no one's really going to be hurt by it. Nobody's really going to notice it. See, so maybe you do a little bit of dirty business dealings or you do some stuff that's

kind of under the table that it's gray, right? And then pretty soon once you start doing some of the gray area things, pretty soon showing up to church is really not that big of a deal to you anymore because you've got to make more money. And if you want to keep getting ahead, it's going to take more time and it's okay. God made us to work. And so, so pretty soon you stop showing up to church and stop showing.

Going up to church events and then pretty soon your devotional life goes by the wayside and then your prayer life, that's not even a thing anymore because you only think about one thing and that's chasing the almighty dollar. And pretty soon you find that your life is consumed with it and you sit back and like Samson, you didn't even realize that the spirit left because you were way too distracted with all the things in this world. It says those, those who want to get rich, they end up falling into a snare. They end up falling into temptation.

And then notice what he says for the love of money. Verse 10 is a root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many griefs. I want to first of all, tell you what that does not say. This verse gets quoted wrong all the time. You ever noticed that? How do most people quote this? We know what the Bible says.

The law, they say, you know what the Bible says? Money is the root of all evil. That's actually not what the Bible says. Did you notice that? Money is a benign. Entity. It has no power other than what you give to it. Riches have no power over you other than what you give to them. It's like anything else. It's like a hammer. A hammer only has as much power as it is the guy that's holding it, right?

And that's the way money is, but the love of money becomes the root of all kinds of evil. Why? Because once you begin to love money, all of a sudden, now it has power over you. Not because it has power, but because you gave it power. And once. Once that becomes the love of your life, listen, Jesus told us, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

And if your treasure's in the things of this world, listen, your heart is going to be so slavishly chained to this world that you'll never be able to focus on anything else. But if your treasure's in heaven, then your heart will be so freely tied to heaven that you have no care or concern of the things of this world. He says, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And those who have pursued it.

Have found themselves wandering away from the faith and given over unto great sorrow. Well, as I was thinking about this, especially this particular thing, contentment, because I think this is something that's so necessary to be taught on in the culture that we live in today. I started asking myself a question. If we're supposed to be content, how do we become people who are content?

How do we land in this place? How do we find biblical contentment in our lives? Well, the Lord sort of led me to a place in scripture. Go over to Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter six, turn those pages. I love hearing it.

And I want you to look at verse 30, put 31 up there. I didn't mean it. Look at verse 30. This is Jesus speaking to his disciples and what's often referred to as the sermon on the Mount. And I love the heading of this section in my Bible is called the cure for anxiety. Matthew chapter six, verse 30 says this, but if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today.

And tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothed you or you of little faith? Do not worry than saying, what will we eat or what will we drink or what will we wear for clothing for the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. Your heavenly father knows that you need all these things, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. So don't worry about tomorrow.

Tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough. The trouble of its own. So how do we become people who are content? How did Paul find the secret of contentment saying I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me? Well, Jesus just gave it to us right there. If you will seek first the kingdom of heaven, if you will make your main priority in your

life, seeking the kingdom of heaven, if you will make the main priority in your life, pursuing your relationship with Jesus Christ and your serving of him, then you will be amazed at how everything else will begin to fall into place because your priorities will be right. Your priorities will be correct. No longer will you live a life where you're constantly stressed about your money because you know that he'll supply all of your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. No longer will you be a slave to a job because you will begin to view your job as something that you do to serve your savior, not something that you do to serve your pocketbook.

You will begin to view your life not as something to bring pleasure to yourself, but as something to bring pleasure to God. And after all, for his pleasure, we are and were created. You see, if you seek first the kingdom of God, it changes your perspective. It changes your perspective on everything. And once that perspective is changed, why all of a sudden you begin to live with contentment.

I found a great quote by David Guzik, and I had him put it up here. It says this, we can only be content when our hearts are rooted in eternal things. We can only be content when our hearts are rooted in eternal things. I quote this a lot, but it's such a great line from a Rich Mullins song. And it says, Brothers and sisters, if you'll begin to give your allegiance to Jesus, you'll be amazed

at how much it changes your mindset. Amen? Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me.

Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I thank you for some time that we've had in your word. As always, I ask that the things of me would just begin to fade away. And Lord, the things of you would stand true. Lord, that the things of you would stick in the minds of people. Father, I with that great hymn writer say, turn our eyes upon Jesus so that we can look

full in his wonderful face, so that the things of earth can grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. So Lord, turn our eyes upon you, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great. Our God.

Our God. Sing that again. God, we just thank you for this time of praise, Lord. Lord, we thank you for this time. Lord, as we leave this morning, God, just pray that your Holy Spirit just overflow us, Lord. Minister to our hearts, Lord. God, change us. Help us to look more like you every day. And we ask you in Jesus' name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week.

Lord bless you.