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Ponder with me a little deeper about handing someone over to Satan and its connection to church discipline. We ended last episode with a question - WHY? Why is handing someone over to Satan a good way to speak about discipline? What does that say about the domain of God's church vs. the domain of the world? And perhaps more importantly...does this mean that those in Christ's kingdom have special protection? To God be the glory!

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Ponder with me what it means to hand someone over to Satan. That is not a phrase you'll hear used very often in churches (if ever), but Paul uses that phrase twice in the New Testament. However, before we think through that phrase, we really need to wrap our heads around the possibility of Christians falling away. Is this possible? Many say it is impossible to lose your salvation but is that true? Join me and we'll think through it - to God be the glory!

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Ponder with me the possibility that God has pre-determined some things in your life. Most that listen to the podcast, me included, believe in human free will and that God has not pre-determined everything. However, it would be a grave mistake to ignore the fact that God is at work in all of us. What happens when we open up to the possibility that we are in this exact moment because God wants us to be here? To God be the glory!

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Ponder with me one of the most famous quotes from Paul - that he was the foremost or chief of sinners. Is Paul saying that he was the worst sinner of all time? Is that even a biblically accurate thing to say? That's how most people have interpreted it, but we will think about the original word and the original context a little deeper in this episode to unpack what Paul is saying. It has more of an application for us than you might think. To God be the glory!

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Ponder with me the art of double checking everything we hear, even in the church. We are diving deeper and more specifically into the problems of Ephesus, where Paul left Timothy to help the church through problems. The issues arose with people mishandling Scripture...and we can be sure that the greatest problems in the church today will arise in the same way. What can we do about it? To God be the glory!

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Ponder with me the beginning of 1 Timothy and start by being amazed at the fact that Paul had Timothy stay in a troubled church. Timothy stayed in Ephesus because of the mess that existed there. After all the years of N.T. study, I'm still stunned by how open and honest the church leaders were about the problems that existed. We can learn from this. However, especially in dealing with problems, our attitude and our goal is central to being successful. To God be the glory!

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Let's ponder about what the word "glory" means. We are going to embark on a series about the glory of God which we will tackle on the first Sunday of each month...this episode being the first. We'll begin by thinking about the original meaning of "glory" in Hebrew and then think through how God first demonstrated His glory - in creation. Are we listening to creation enough? To God be the glory!

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Ponder what it means to hear with ears like Jesus. In Psalm 40 we have a strange phrase in Hebrew - "ears you have dug for me" (vs. 6). This is quoted about Jesus, which is clear enough. However, it gets stranger when you hear the Greek translation of it, and how the Hebrews writer uses this. We'll dive into the weird world of translation but in the end it's all about what listening is really about. To God be the glory!

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Ponder with me one more time about helping one another thrive in the church. That was the theme of the congregation where I worship (Plainfield church of Christ). We dedicated one episode to that theme every month in 2025. However, in this episode we'll sum up everything we talked about in regard to the theme and then tie it up with a few thoughts on the chain of love, binding us all together. To God be the glory!

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Ponder with me some of the broad themes in 1 Timothy. This book is not given a lot of attention. It certainly isn't given the attention other books are, and I think it's because it is viewed as a "preacher book". Is that the best way to view it though? Also, as we have done several other times on the podcast - we'll read through the letter in its fullness at the end of this episode. I love doing this as a spiritual discipline. To God be the glory!

Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]