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Restoration Ministry

Restoration 2006: Prepare Me

Ron du Preez

Virtuous Valentine: The Love of Your Life

Communicating In Code: The Secret of the Scrolls

Trip Into the Trinity: Figuring the Unfathomable

Eric Walsh

Bible Study Hour

A Ransom for a Rebel: Bloody Business of the Beasts

Living it Up for the Lord: It’s Crazy to Cling to Cancer

Belonging and Be Living: Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Miracle Makeover: A Lifetime Warranty

The Quarantine Guarantee: The Rest of the Story

James Kyle

Let Your Lawyer Run Your Life: Acquittal is Assured

Griping Over God’s Gifts: A Prophet or a Loss

Interview with Leonard Brand

Secrets of Centenarians: Living Long in Luxury

Interview with Gary Frasier

Interview with Marge Jetton

The Medium is the Message: A Grave Turn of Events

The Ultimate Thanksgiving: Family Friends Forever

Richard Walton

Interview with Leslie Pollard

Cardiology of Commitment: The Heart of the Matter

Bible Ethics Question and Answer Session

All over the Roman Empire and Nero was upset.

He didn't like that there was a new movement going on in Rome.

There was this birth of a new religion called Christianity and so he was angry because according to the way that the Roman emperors existed, they were supposed to be worshipped as God.

And now there was this new group of people who were stealing worship and honor from the emperor.

So he had begun to throw these Christians into prison, and especially the Christian leaders.

And the way history tells it, there was a terrible fire in Rome.

And what Nero did was he blamed the Christians for this fire.

As an old man, the Apostle Paul was arrested and thrown into a dungeon and there he was kept where Nero thought he would be safe from any tampering that Paul might want to do.

No more speaking, no more preaching, Paul would be locked away.

And so in order to try and get Paul to rescind his beliefs publicly in front of the dignitaries from all over the Empire, Nero drags Paul in front of this court.

Roman soldiers whisper to Paul, unless you recant what you believe, unless you take back your belief in this Jesus Christ, unless you step away from it, old man you will surely die.

I think you can see in your mind as Paul makes his way slowly up the stairs to whatever podium might have been in that hall.

As he stands before it and the dignitaries are almost on the edge of their seats.

They've heard so much about the miracle working of Paul and of Jesus Christ and they're they're curious as to what this man, this old and feeble man, might say.

And so as he stands there at this podium they expect that he will rescind, he'll retract everything he's ever said, but many of the great historians of the Christian era, and 1 of my favorite Bible commentaries says that Paul stands there and preaches 1 of the most powerful sermons he ever preached.

So powerful is the sermon that that as Paul preaches this word, even some of the dignitaries who have come to see him recant what he believes and to retract his statements many of them are moved by the Holy Spirit and begin to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Even some of the hardened Roman soldiers our hearts are softened by the word of Paul and Nero and his dignitaries who are still angry at the Christian world become only more furious now.

And with the word that Paul has spoken according to the soldiers he has sealed his fate He is going to be put to death.

They take him back through those streets and back towards that dungeon and throw him down into that dungeon.

And I can imagine that as he is laying there some kind-hearted soldier sneaks in and asks him, you know, you're in trouble, you might die soon, is there anything you want before you die?

And I can just hear Paul not asking for a fancy meal or not asking for entertainment or any pleasure but I can almost hear him asking for just a pen and and and paper to write on and Paul knowing that his time on earth is short laying on the floor of a dirty Roman dungeon with all of the foul smell and foul sounds that go on in there, Paul begins to take pen to paper and begins to write his last letter.

I call it a message to the last generation.

Paul begins to write because he understands that if he is taken off of the scene he must pass on certain pieces of a valuable truth on to the next generation of Christian leaders and so Paul now with earnest fire and passion begins to pen to Timothy who represents the next generation who in Paul's mind might well be the last generation.

So ironically as Paul is writing to Timothy, he's writing to us.

Because Paul wrote this letter for those who would be on the planet just before Jesus would come.

So he starts in 2nd Timothy in chapter 1 he says Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus.

To Timothy my dear my dearly beloved 1 son grace mercy and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And look at verse 3, he says, I thank God.

Here is Paul in a dungeon, dirty floors and foul smells.

He doesn't start by complaining about his condition.

Instead he begins by claiming the promises of God.

Oh what kind of Christians would we be if when life reared its ugly moments and and when all of the difficulties that come upon us were to come upon us into our lives rather than being complainers and murmurers.

Imagine if even in the most difficult situations we claimed God's promises.

Imagine if in that situation we we began to thank God for our difficulties.

He says, whom I have served from my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day.

It says in verse 5, when I call to remembrance the unfamed faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice and I am persuaded that is in thee also.

I want to submit to you that many of us who have been raised knowing about Jesus, who have a knowledge of God and were raised going to church and back away, we run away sometimes, we try so hard to avoid God, what we don't understand is that we then break this legacy chain.

And if it wasn't as Paul says, he was praying for Timothy, if it wasn't for the fact that someone was praying for many of us, where would we be today?

I can tell you that I didn't grow up on the good side of anybody's tracks.

My mother was a single mother and my father was very absent.

And I can tell you that there were times when, as a teenager, in various stages of rebellion, I would decide to go somewhere with my friends and and I can remember times when I stuck off and went to rap concerts and and my mother had no idea she would never have allowed such a thing and and I stuck off and went and I can remember times when when when guns were pulled out and people began to fire recklessly into the crowd and anybody could have been hit by the bullets.

Yet never when gangs were chasing me, when I would get into the worst types of trouble.

Never was I even scratched, even though others around me sometimes were killed.

And I'm telling you that that happened because I had a grandmother and a mother and aunts and church family who were praying for me.

I submit to you that there are those who are in open rebellion against God, whom if we the church or who believe don't pray for them, if we are not lifting them up in prayer, if we are not calling on God's name for them we do not give them opportunity for protection did you know that when you pray for someone you open a channel an avenue like a door is opened through which God can now work in that person's life?

Did you know that if you neglect to pray for those who you know are in rebellion or who have fallen away or who are going through a severe trouble like in our times like divorce or there are many who are wrestling even with homosexuality and and with promiscuity and with drug addiction.

I want to submit to you that that it is our, not simply our duty and responsibility, it is our privilege and honor to lift their names up in prayer.

Never forget the legacy of faith, that heritage of holiness, those members of your family that wanted you to be first and foremost raised to be a Christian more than to be wealthy or famous.

Paul goes on in verse 7 of chapter 1 and writes 1 of my favorite Bible verses, 1 that I quote very often even in practice as I see patients.

Paul says in verse 7, he says, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

I submit to you that this is a very dangerous time to be on planet Earth for so many different reasons.

If you're 1 who travels into the developing world and around the world, you know that crime rates in some countries are astronomical.

And even here in our own area right here in San Bernardino County, go back and check the murder rate, How many have been killed since just January 1st?

We are under the threat of international terrorists now.

Every now and then, CNN gives us these words that Bush releases that the terrorists had planned to blow up the highest tower downtown Los Angeles.

And so we have this fear coming from all sides.

Will there be a terrible earthquake or hurricane?

And we live in a time when people are so anxious and afraid of even their own shadows.

So that the sales of Prozac and all of the other SSRI drugs are going through the roof as people turn to pharmaceuticals to try and calm their nerves.

But I submit to you that God has not given us a spirit of fear.

God has not called you out of the darkness of this world to walk in trembling and fear.

God has called you out of the darkness of this world to understand that he has dispatched special angels and given them charge over you.

That not even your foot would hit the stone David says we don't have to live in fear you don't have to constantly walk around worrying that that some terrible thing is going to happen instead like Paul you've got to put your trust in God.

So if you're living in fear, if you're worried about about what is going on around you, then then you're really not living in the Spirit of God.

But he's given us power and love and a sound mind.

I pray God that we accept the sound mind.

You know, I speak a lot to young people and I don't know if many of you are aware of the drug problem that is really running through our nation.

This is a problem that reaches the suburbia.

It reaches to all of the aspects and angles, all of the small towns of the United States.

Crystal methamphetamines now is running rampant in our communities here just locally, but if you look across the country, 1 of the drugs that has become very accepted and acceptable is marijuana.

Young people are smoking marijuana at astronomical rates and and their studies that I've read this is that the the marijuana that is smoked today is something 6 and 7 and sometimes 10 times stronger than the marijuana that was smoked in the sixties and seventies because you've got these guys not genetically engineering marijuana So we have a drug epidemic that is homegrown and and I'm going to Birmingham next week to do a whole weekend on the effects of hip-hop music and rap music on our youth and and I can tell you that the rap artists are being used as the pawns of Satan to encourage young people to smoke marijuana and to drink alcohol and to have reckless abandon for their lives.

1 of my favorite texts is Solomon says wine is a mocker strong drink is raging whosoever is deceived thereof is unwise and as Christians it is wise to keep your mind focused and working sharp and well because you see salvation is an intellectual process that's why in Isaiah 1 and verse 18 the Bible says come let us reason together though your sins be a scarlet they'll be as white as snow that's why in Ephesians 6 Paul says take on the helmet of salvation.

So the devil knows that if he can get you to be high enough or drunk enough or messed up enough not just drunk with alcohol or drugs but just drunk off of the allurements of the world if he can get you all mixed up so that you lose your focus he can mess with your ability to accept salvation.

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Series

Restoration 2006: Prepare Me

Bible Study Hour

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

The Persecuted Angel

27m

Strength in Times of Darkness

56m

The Only Crown that Matters

43m

GYC 2010 Plenary Sessions

Keep Your Crown

52m

God is Love?

19-The Mark of the Beast

1h

Revelation Today Crusade

20. The Final Prophecy

48m

Beyond Questions

What’s Next?

29m

Eric Walsh: Road Map to Heaven

Focusing on the Finish Line

21m

ASI 2010 Plenary Meetings

Expounding the Faith

1h 30m

Injustice for One, Justice for All

45m

Christ Over Crisis: The Next Disappointment Pt.2

56m

The End of Time

04 After the End, What Next?

59m

Sound Doctrine