I love baseball.

A year and a half ago, the Toronto

Also unfortunately, the Blue Jays had

The coaching staff for the Blue Jays

On numerous occasions through the years, I've been a part of a Pastor Search committee. It's really quite amazing to see the longlist of qualifications in a desired pastor. I especially like this list:

A good pastor must have:

From <http://eaglesummitministry.org/index.php/qualifications-good-pastor/>

In fact, if Jesus Himself applied for many positions, I don't think He would get the job!

So, what is actually expected, based on Scripture? Character and skill wise, a good place to start would be the description of an overseer or elder in chapter 3. But here we get further description of what a teacher would look like: 6 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.

For everything God created is good.

It seems to be that there are exceptions to this.

Like mosquitoes. And flies. Hornets and wasps. Poison ivy. Skunks. Need I say more?

Everything?

And yet, we know that these things all serve a purpose in God's eco-system. They are probably things we never would have thought of, or if we had, would have rejected the idea.

Skunks are beneficial critters. They are omnivorous and eat a variety of garden pests, including mice, voles, beetles, various larvae, wasps and crickets. Skunks are also scavengers. They will seek out animal carcasses, which helps keep an ecosystem free of carrion. Scavengers are important to the health of the environment. (insidenova.com)

Who knew? Well, maybe you did - but it's not surprising. Some of those things in the world that we might think of as "optional" have been placed there by the Creator.

For everything God created is good. Everything fits into God's plan, God's system.

aul then gives us a second examples of the kind of teaching these hypocritical liars are guilty of, so we're looking at them one at a time. Last week, it was forbidding people from marrying. Here, they're ordering people to abstain from certain foods.

Food! Glorious Food!

In our world, food choices go round and round. Not too many years ago, eggs were to be avoided at all cost, or you will get high cholesterol. Then, avoid egg yolks - egg whites are okay. Now, they are considered a super-food - except that these day, the price has gone through the roof! Who knows what comes next, but I'd guess that eggs are neutral - you can take 'em or leave 'em - if you can afford them. Something similar happened with salt a few years back.

4 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

Paul then gives us two examples of the kind of teaching these hypocritical liars are guilty of, so we'll look at them one at a time: They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods.

Why would they forbid people to marry?

God's plan from the beginning was that the two (husband and wife, man and woman) would become one, to create a family. The plan is that most of the time the two-member family will become 3, and then 4, maybe 5, and so on. "Be fruitful and multiply," the Lord said. In fact, the family became the central building block for society. The family is where people learn about their customs, their beliefs, their practices, and their relationships. As goes the family, so goes the world.

4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

Teaching that leads people to abandon their faith comes from hypocritical liars.

And the greatest liar of all time is Satan himself.

So, 1 Timothy 4:1, what is it that the Spirit clearly says? "That in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons."

We know that is true, because the Scripture says it, but is there other evidence elsewhere in Scripture that some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits?

Well, we know that in Luke 22, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (v.31-32). We know that Jesus then went on to tell Simon that in spite of his self-confidence that he would remain faithful, he would fail miserably - before the rooster would crow the next morning, he would deny Jesus three times. Heartbroken, Peter strikes out with his sword in the garden, and then seems to disappear into the background until he runs to the empty tomb on Sunday morning. Thankfully, Peter's failure isn't final, and Jesus' prayer is answered. Remember that Jesus anticipates what is about to happen, when he tells Simon, "when you have turned back" to me. So Jesus is also anticipating Simon's return to faithfulness.

Welcome to a new era in FIVE Minutes with Phil.

I'm Phil Routly, president and head coach of Soul Impact.

Since 2021, I've been writing, recording and producing weekly posts and podcasts which appeared on my website, philroutly.com, and on Spotify. Beginning this week, they are on my Youtube channel, @soulimpact. I'd really appreciate it if you would subscribe! So as of today, you can watch it, listen to it, or read it. Pretty cool.

When FIVE Minutes with Phil began, there were three tracks. Grampa Talks was mostly my comments on stuff that was going on in the world, while Soul Impact was all about leadership development. The third track is where we are today, with a weekly installment called "Timothy, My Son." It's based on Paul's first letter to Timothy, his mentee and spiritual son. So far, we've covered the first three chapters. They're still available, and eventually I hope to get them on video, too. But that could take a while.

So, let's dig into 1 Timothy chapter 4.

Ready of not, here it comes! As we are getting ready to enter 2023, I've been reminded how important it is for us to have a kind of map in our heads of where we have been, where we are, where we are heading, and what we expect that journey to look like. I'm writing "The Seven C's of a Disciple," and the first C is Clarity, so it only makes sense that we do all we can to be really clear of three things: