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:

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:

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...