PAUL'S ENDURANCE IN HIS PERSONAL LIFE

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=683032" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=95 BGCOLOR="#330066" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="048005f0dkblkv.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Preach The Word</b></FONT><B>     </b><B>|    </b><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preach The Word"><U><B>home</b></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2 Timothy"><U><B>2 Timothy</b></U></A><B>   l   </b><A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DANIEL"><U><B>Daniel</b></U></A><B>   l   </b><A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ZECHARIAH: "><U><B>Zechariah</b></U></A><B>   l   </b><A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MARK"><U><B>Mark</b></U></A><B>    I</b><B>   </b><A HREF="id136.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TOPICAL STUDIES"><U><B>Topical Studies</b></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=385 BGCOLOR="#DDDDDD" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>PAUL'S ENDURANCE IN HIS PERSONAL LIFE</b></div> <div> 2 Timothy 3:10d-11a</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> If there's one man in the New Testament who stayed totally committed to the Lord Jesus Christ it was the Apostle Paul, right?</div> <bR> <div> In this section of his second letter to his disciple, Timothy, he's admonishing Timothy to remember what he has seen in Paul's life throughout the years and to continue in his footsteps.</div> <bR> <div> This third chapter of 2 Timothy is really a chapter of extreme contrasts. The dividing line starts with <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >v.10</FONT>.  In the first nine verses we have the devil's agenda, while in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >verses 10-17</FONT> we have Christ's agenda. False and Dead Religion / True and Living Religion.  Those in need of Salvation / Those who bring Salvation.  Man's Philosophies / God's wisdom.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>1. PAUL'S LOVE</b></div> <bR> <div> "You… know all about my… love" (10f)</div> <bR> <div> Now, the Greek word here-translated <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"love"</FONT> is not just any kind of love.  The word is "agapé". So Paul is not talking about physical love, or family love or between friends. He's talking about "divine love."  Agapé love is not based on feeling. It's not based either on lust.</div> <bR> <div> Agape love is based on principle and will.  It's a calculated gesture.  The person who demonstrates agapé love is not motivated by what it's going to bring him, but rather what it's going to bring to the receiver.  It's not selfish, but selfless.  It's not physical, but spiritual.  It's actually the highest form of all the spiritual virtues.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Examples of Agapé Love</b><B>: </b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>PAUL</b><B>:</b><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  Turn to: </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >1 Thessalonians 2:6-12</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>OBADIAH</b><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >:  "While Jezebel was killing off the Lord's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water."  1 King 18:4</FONT></div> <bR> <div> For a good demonstration, turn to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >1 Corinthians 13:4-7</FONT></div> <bR> <div> In other words, God is showing us through Paul here that, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >"If you're going to stand firm under the assault of these selfish and self-centered last days, don't join the crowd, but be different. Don't use God or use people.  Love God and love people.  Give yourself to serving Christ and serving others.  That's how people will see Christ in you…" </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>2. PAUL'S NOT LETTING GO</b></div> <bR> <div> "You… know all about my… endurance (or perseverance)" (10g)</div> <bR> <div> Again, the Greek term used here throws a lot of light on what spiritual trait Paul is referring to.  The word is "hupomoné" and is also translated elsewhere with the word <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"patience"</FONT>.  It carries the idea of persevering under the weight of some particular weight or burden, which is the sense of the word "endurance."</div> <bR> <div> So Paul is telling Timothy here, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >"You've been with me for some time, Timothy.  You know me like few people do.  And you know I'm not a quitter.  I'm not the type who let's go because of difficulties. So, follow my example, Timothy."</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Have you realized in our day and age "letting go" and "quitting" has become something very popular and expected. Everybody's working his or her shoe's off in order to get more money. And yet a week doesn't go by that there's another multi-millionaire couple in Hollywood that has filed for divorce.  Whatever happened to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >" `Til death do us part"</FONT>?  Whatever happened to commitment? Christians get back to the Bible and Church and Prayer when all is going downhill, but as soon as God pulls them out of their mess, they go on living as if God didn't exist.</div> <bR> <div> So, what kind of message is the Church sending out to the world today?  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >"God is great, but not the Greatest. There are things more important than God and His will.  Like me, My work and My money."</FONT></div> <bR> <div> God is telling us here:  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >"If you want to really be a disciple of Christ to the end, pray, make the right choices and stick to them no matter what comes your way."</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>3. PAUL'S PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS</b></div> <bR> <div> "You… know all about my… persecutions and sufferings - what kind of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured." (11a)</div> <bR> <div> The word translated <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"persecutions"</FONT> here (diogmos) means "to put to flight".  A person is "persecuted" when he's hatefully or violently rejected, insulted, humiliated or threatened because of who he is, what he stands for or what he preaches.</div> <bR> <div> And Paul is reminding Timothy how he's no stranger to that type of treatment.  And he refers specifically to three instances: <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >Antioch, Iconium</FONT> and <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >Lystra</FONT> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >(v.11)</FONT>.  So let's have a quick look at some of these instances in the Book of Acts.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800800000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Antioch<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >; (Antakya, Turkey) </FONT>Acts 13:49-50</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800800000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Iconium<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >: (Konya, Turkey)  </FONT>14:5-6</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800800000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Lystra<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >: (Hatan Sarai, South Central Turkey)  </FONT>14:19</div> <bR> <div> Has anything like that ever happened to you?</div> <bR> <div> Here's the all-important question though: How would you react to such treatment?  Oh yes!  That's where you separate the boys from the men and the girls from real women, right?  This is when you see where your spiritual roots are planted.</div> <bR> <div> "The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time.  When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away." Matthew 13:20-21</div> <bR> <div> Well, Paul wasn't one of those, was he?  No. Paul was a true believer, not just a man who professed to be one.  So when the devil or a pagan world stared him in the face and struck him below the belt and to the ground he didn't get on some self-pity trip or start praying for his retirement, he got back up on his feet, shook the dust off his back and continued to plod on.</div> <bR> <div> And what a testimony he gives at the end of this verse:</div> <bR> <div> "Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them." (11b)</div> <bR> <div> And all true believers experience the same thing.  Listen to David: <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;  he delivers them from all their troubles… A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all…"  Psalm 34:17,19</FONT></div> <bR> <div> And Paul reminds Timothy that persecution and suffering is the lot of "every" true disciple of Christ.  Look at <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >v.12</FONT></div> <bR> <div> In other words, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >"Don't let it be a surprise; expect it!" </FONT> Come to think of it, that's what the Lord said, isn't it?  Turn to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >John 15:18-21</FONT></div> <bR> <div> "Self-centered Christians who serve the Lord half heartedly seldom have to pay a price for their faith.  They are of little threat to Satan's work because they are of little benefit to Christ's (work)"  <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" >MacArthur, 2 Timothy, p.133</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Now, does this mean that you're only a true and faithful believer if physically beaten, tortured or put in prison? No, of course not. What it does mean is that if you are faithful to Christ and preach the Gospel the way He wants us to, you can expect serious opposition.  You can expect true suffering. </div> <bR> <div> But why do people react so seriously to the message of the Gospel?</div> <bR> <div> Turn to: <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >John 3:19-20</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7019000008000.gif" HEIGHT="27" WIDTH="27" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Summary</b></div> <bR> <div> God is telling all His children to follow Paul's example if we are to remain firm and vibrant witnesses in these last days.</div> <bR> <div> -Love God and Love people more than yourself</div> <div> -Once you commit yourself, stick to it to the end no matter what.</div> <div> -Though you will suffer for your faith, always remember that the Lord will be there to rescue you from Satan's grip.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."  Psalm 19:14</div> <bR> <div> Amen and God Bless You All.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>