 Okay. Good morning, everyone. Good to see you all in class. Before we begin class, can somebody lead us in prayer, please? Kanan, can you lead us in prayer? Okay, let's pray. Father, we thank you for, and yet another day that you've added into our lives. We thank you, God, for the gift of life. We thank you for your word. Your word is truth. Your word is life. Your word is a light to our feet, God. And we thank you that your light, your word guides us and leads us into all truth. Your word encourages us. It strengthens us. It builds us, God. Thank you for giving us your word, God. We thank you. We praise you. We pray that even as we have this precious words of life that we would, God, we would meditate on it, God, that it will become part of our very being, that our whole being will be filled with your word, our minds will be renewed by your word, God. That we will be people who will live by your word, but the truths of your word, we will walk in your truth, God, so that we can live triumphant and victorious and prosperous lives, God. Overcoming every challenge by your word, by speaking your word, God, that we will see the supernatural in our natural by declaring your word over every circumstance, God. We thank you. We pray that even as we look into your word this morning, that O God, you will speak to us, that you will reveal your truths to us and minister to us, Holy Spirit, we pray. We thank you. We bless you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, so last week we looked at chapter, which are the chapters that we looked at? No problem, Kanan. I understand sometimes there'll be connectivity issues or there'll be a lot of noise around, no, perfectly fine. So what is the chapters we looked at last week? Which book are we studying? You can type your answers in the chat section. Timothy, okay, which Timothy? First Timothy, second Timothy, are we studying? Are we ready for answers? No answers. Which Timothy are we studying? First Timothy or second Timothy? Okay, we're studying First Timothy. I don't know if anyone is in class. No answers. Okay, we're studying First Timothy now. Which chapter did we look at last week? Which chapters did we look at last week? Hi, Kiran. Welcome to class. I'm just asking them which chapters we studied last week from First Timothy. Chapters. I'm waiting for someone to answer. Okay, we studied no answers. Chapters 2 and 3. I hope all of you are there with me in class, because I'm just seeing your images there, but I hope you are there because I'm not getting any answers as well. Okay, we looked at First Timothy Chapters 2 and 3. In Chapter 2, we just saw Paul telling Timothy to encourage men and women to pray for everyone, especially for leaders, and he's also telling them how to pray, what is the attitude to have when they pray, and he's saying that the reason why they need to pray is so that they can live peaceful and quiet lives and live in all godliness and reverence towards God. So we saw that in Chapter 2. What is the key takeaway for Chapter 2? It's what I just mentioned. We need to pray for everyone, all people, everywhere, and also for kings, those in authority, so that we can live quite peaceful lives in all godliness. Okay, then we went on to Chapter 3. Any idea what we studied in Chapter 3? In Chapter 3, what does Paul tell Timothy? Or what is he listing out in Chapter 2? Okay, he's talking about the leadership. Thank you, spiritual leadership, and he's basically listing out the qualities or the qualifications that a deacon, that a bishop should have, or basically those who are providing spiritual leadership in the church. Okay, so that's what he's talking about in Chapter 3. Okay, and then he talks about the proper conduct in the house of God, and he ends with that. Okay, he ends with a hymn. Now we'll move on to Chapter 4. Okay, so I would request all of you to open your Bibles to 1 Timothy, Chapter 4, and can somebody read Verses 1 to 5 please? 1 Timothy, Chapter 4, Verses 1 to 5. Now the spirit explicitly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirit and doctrines of demons. Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own consequences. Hypocrisy? Hypocrisy. Having their own consigns scared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is cool and nothing is not be repused if it is received with thanksgiving or it is satisfied by the word of God and prayer. Okay, thank you Prince. So now Paul is once again reminding or warning Timothy about the work of deceiving spirits and demons that promote all kind of wrong teaching and ideas that draw people away from their faith away from the truth of the doctrines or the truth of God's word or the truth of what they have been taught. So Paul is strictly telling Timothy to be alert. He's telling him to be alert which means to be aware, to be warned and identify such people don't be wavered but be alert about who is around you what teachings they're bringing and what is happening. Okay, so we know that these false teachers and false doctrines and false teachings were present at the churches of Ephesus and as I mentioned in the introduction this was not people who were basically from outside of course there was a lot of Gnosticism that was very prevalent during Paul's time so there was false teaching that was outside the church but there were also false teachers who were believers so-called Christians were part of the church who were just spreading out some Jewish fables Jewish fables means Jewish stories which are not true that not part of the Old Testament that they were just bringing up Jewish genealogies that they were adding on to the genealogies and so Paul is saying be alert be aware of these kind of people and so he's saying that these men and women who are empowered by the deceiving spirits and demonic powers are promoting such teachings because in verse 1 he says giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons so who is giving heed that there are few men women who are listening to these false teachings and people who are teaching these are empowered by deceiving spirits and demonic powers they are promoting such teachings and then he says that these people speaking lies in hypocrisy verse 2 have their own conscience sneered with a hot iron so speaking lies in hypocrisy is describing those who depart from the faith or those who are part of the faith who go away from the faith they are the ones who are willingly embracing every kind of false teaching just to justify their sin they know they are sinning that they are going away from the faith but to justify their sin and their pride they are bringing about these false teachings it also refers to those who claim to teach the Bible while they are just using it to promote their own personal ideas so these teachers who are teaching these false teachings they are actually a part of the church and also some of them are leaders some of them are teaching God's word so they are just claiming as if they are teaching what is in God's word but they are teaching all of these false teachings to support their own ideas and agendas so they are speaking lies in hypocrisy being hypocrites that means they are showing themselves to be teaching God's word but yet they are speaking lies they are speaking things that are empowered by the deceiving spirits and by demons because they want to cover up their own sin and their own pride and Paul says they have their own conscience sneered the conscience is our inner voice that is wrong so when we do something that is wrong our conscience immediately tells us what you said was wrong what you did was wrong what you watched is wrong or what you thought was wrong so our conscience is something that blows the whistle when we do something that is wrong so to say blows the whistle so these people's conscience at one point of time that what they are listening to what they are teaching what they are adhering to is not right is not according to God's word is not according to the doctrines that are in God's word or have been taught to them but yet they go ahead and they depart from the truth and now their conscience is sneered as an iron which means when you put hot iron on your shirt or your dress or whatever you are going to wear and it is so hot that it catches and it just tears the cloth or your dress or your shirt that you are ironing so it is the same way when we depart from the truth and we don't listen to our conscience our conscience is dead in that area for example some people can constantly be using bad word for every sentence that they speak that is not necessary have to be when they are angry or when they are fighting with somebody or when they are disappointed about something even if they are just normally talking about normal day to day things in a very casual way you will see them just using some some bad words or some filthy words and so we see that their conscience is sneered in that area or sneered in that area so to see their conscience is dead in that area that means they don't just feel anything about using those words for some of us for some of them who constantly are smoking they begin from morning they go through the day they become like chimney pots just smoking and smoking their conscience is so dead to that addiction or to that problem of smoking or for those who are drinking or those who are taking drugs I work with drug addicts and they used to come to our center where we used to have therapy sessions for them where we used to do some medical treatment for them and young boys just wearing their jeans but when they pull up their jeans their legs are this fat like elephants leg because they're injecting there and it's caught puss and it's caught gangrene they know that they have to ampute or that means they have to cut off that part of that leg but still they continue injecting they're taking the same drugs the same leg why because their conscience is so dead to that part of them even if it's terrorists who just go shooting they just shoot randomly they don't see whether it's a pregnant woman a small child or baby why because their conscience is is so dead to that area so it's like you know when your nerve endings of your any part of your body when they are dead you cannot feel the touch or you cannot feel that's not sensitive so the nerve ending of this part of my finger is dead if I put my hand in very very hot hot water or hot vessel I won't feel the pain because the nerve endings there are dead so he's saying that these people you know they're so dead to the truth they've gone away they've not listened to their conscience where their conscience was telling them our conscience will tell us couple of times but when we don't listen our conscience becomes dead to that part of us and so we continue doing those things and you know other people say can't that person even realize or understand what they're doing is wrong they won't be able to because their conscience is dead so these people's conscience are dead to the truth and so they go about teaching all of these false teaching and living as if you know they are good believers, good Christians living according to the truth of God's word and Paul is saying that such people will not lead us to God because then they will not be able to perceive the truth and will not be able to say right from wrong okay and then he goes on to say that in verse 3, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth so these kind of people who are bringing about these false teachings these false teachers those who are empowered by deceiving spirits and Satan they forbid people to marry and they want them to abstain from certain kinds of food so they're trying to bring about some legalistic teaching or legalistic way of life you know that the Jews followed why because they have departed from the faith and they bring in their own man-made rules and they say that this is justified these rules are justified in God's sight and they tell the people that if you want to be more holy before God then you shouldn't marry and you shouldn't eat certain kind of food okay but Paul instead lets us know that those who know the truth or believe the truth can eat any kind of food all we do is sanctify it and cleanse it with the word of God and prayer so that's what Paul is saying in verse 4 he's saying for every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer so Paul is saying you can eat any kind of food all we need to do is you know have it sanctified and cleanse and how do you do it the word of God and true prayer and that is why we say grace before we say a prayer before we eat okay and we look at how Paul is talking again here about conscience he's been talking about conscience from chapter 1 and he again repeats this and he talk about it in the rest of his episode 2 Timothy okay and we also know that it's okay for people to marry it's not something that's against God or it's not something as unholy because we see that the institution of married was instituted by God in Genesis okay and he says if you instruct the brethren in these things you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus so that he goes on to verse 6 because somebody can read verse 6 please okay if you explain these things to the brothers and sister Timothy you will be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus one who is nourished by the visit of faith and the good teaching you have followed thank you so Paul goes on to tell Timothy that in the view of all of this demonic activity in promoting wrong doctrines to deceive people and to draw people away from the faith now Timothy's role and the role of all the spiritual leaders remember in chapter 3 he endless about the spiritual leaders and the qualifications so he's saying that you know all of the spiritual leaders are to instruct the believers and nourish them in the words of faith and sound doctrines so instruct that means teach keep on teaching them preach to them you know tell them what God's word talks about these various things and he says when you do that you will be a good minister so as believers we need to nourish people or feed people or teach people the words of faith and good doctrine because it is so important it is so vital for believers to know the truth especially in the times that we are living now and the best way to overcome false teachings and errors that are there is to keep talking about the false teachers or their false teaching or saying you know this and that about them but is to establish the people in the truth so sometimes we waste that time in just telling people you know these are false teachers that are happening around the world this is a false teaching so people get more interested they want to go listen and then sometimes they get so deeper into it and if they are not strong in God it can you know get them to see or say it can twist and turn the truth for them and they can get you know swayed away or caught up in those teachings so instead of talking about all the false teachers and all the errors that are there in the present world Paul is telling Timothy teach people about the truth so we need to also teach people about the truth establish them in the truth so when they are you know confronted with false teachings they will know the truth in God's word and they will be able to overcome the false teaching so a good minister Paul say here first of all is one who is established in the truth himself or herself so before we minister to people we need to be established in the truth of God's word which means we have to read our Bibles we have to meditate we have to you know get a clear good understanding of the scripture interpreted in the right way you know and we need to be strong in our faith in our doctrines and not only be strong in them but also follow them in the way that we live in our own life when we do that we will be able to instruct and nourish other people in the truth so we need to do first and then teach we need to follow what we are learning or studying and then we can instruct others because when we do it we will be able to better able to explain to others and we can also nourish others okay we will move on to verses 7 to 9 so can somebody read verses 7 to 9 please shall I read ma'am yes go ahead Kiran what reject reject pro phone old webs fables and exercise yourself towards godliness for bodily exercise profit are little but godly godliness is profitable for all things having promise of the life that now is and of the which is to come this is a faithful saying and worthy worthy of all acceptance thank you so here Paul is going on to tell Timothy that reject okay reject lies reject those things that are not truth why reject it because it's not going to help anyone okay he goes on to tell him later on that you know don't talk about it it's not really worth talking about all of these things because it's going to end up in just you know it's not going to help anybody but just teach the word of god because that is going to strengthen build encourage and you know put people deeper into the truth of of god's word that does not help anybody he says reject profane and old wife fables okay so the priority must be to teach god's word and not the words of man all the stories that are being passed on people are teaching so Paul is costing Timothy to focus on teaching god's word and not on the things that are coming from man so the greatest effort we must we must put in is to teach god's word and not just focus on what people around us are saying and then he goes on to tell Timothy exercise yourself towards godliness that means train yourself towards godliness or train yourself towards holiness we know that godliness and holiness and growth in spiritual things you know doesn't come automatically but it comes through training it's a process okay and we know that training is not generally easy it requires a lot of discipline it requires a lot of hard work sacrifice you know so he's here actually talking about you know bodily exercise profits a little but godliness is profitable for all things so here basically Paul is talking about an athlete okay an athlete who you know exercises who focuses on what he has to do disciplining his body by eating right sleeping the right time you know doing the right kind of exercises watching the right kind of entertainment and you know he's why is he doing it so that he can win a race so you know get a medal so Paul is telling similarly just like an athlete does so much you know he's focused on what he has to do you know he's training he's disciplining himself in every way even the area of food his entertainment you know he's exercising he says the same way you know we need to train ourselves in godliness just like you know when we bodily godliness when we train our body when we exercise our body it profits us how does it profits us it keeps us energetic it keeps us fit you know it keeps us going and it gives us a good you know life ahead of us so when the people of the world do so much you know just to train themselves to win a medal or just to keep fit or to keep strong so that they have a long life then you know how much more we need to train in the area of godliness or holiness or in the spiritual things of god because Paul is saying here that you know that godliness training in godliness profits us not only in this world that means we don't only receive the blessings we don't only live in the blessings or see the blessings here now in the present but it also is something that we receive in eternity in the world to come we will reap the blessings so similarly to as we develop and grow and train our bodies we also need to develop and grow in godliness we must be willing to train ourselves even though training can be very difficult strenuous requires a lot of sacrifice it's a discipline and a hard work but we need to do it because it has benefits both in this life and the life too come and when Paul says that this is the truth that is worthy of all acceptance which means you know all of us should embrace this and we all need to readily accept it what do we need to accept readily accept is that that our spirit man can grow from one level to another you know and the same way we can grow from being in one level of godliness to a higher level of godliness holiness as well so what helps us to train in this area of godliness and holiness or in the spiritual in our spiritual growth or what helps us to train our spirit man it is when we read God's word because God's word builds us up not only reading it but also meditating on it so that we can grow in it also praying you know we know that Jesus prayed you know throughout the night so the spiritual disciplines of reading God's word meditating on God's word and also you know praying will help us grow and as I said training is not going to be easy but you know we need to make a conscious effort we have to put away old habits grow into new habits and all of this is going to benefit us in the life to come we'll move on to verses 10 to 11 so can somebody read first Timothy chapter 4 verses 10 to 11 please can somebody else read first Timothy chapter 4 verses 10 to 11 for these and both level and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the savior of all men specially of those who believe these things commanded and teach okay thank you so he's saying you know standing up for the truth teaching the truth teaching the truth in the midst of false teachers who are there in the church and also you know those who are leaders so called church leaders are also you know have gone away from the truth and are teaching this false teaching it's not going to be easy Timothy it's going to be very very difficult but Paul is telling Timothy you know you need to stand up for the truth you know you know you can you will suffer for standing up for the truth but you need to focus on God okay so he says for this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the savior of all men specially for those who believe so as ministers of God you know we are laboring and what is our labor labor is to teach and preach the word of God the truth in God's word establish God's people in the words of faith and sound doctrine and you know not only preach it to others but also you know we meditate on it we also exercise that in our lives and as we labor towards this we will suffer reproach that means people will speak bad about us you know they will look down upon us they will look down upon us but you know he assures Timothy you know who are you trusting in your trust is not in man but your trust is in the living God who is your savior and in verse 11 he says these things command and teach so he's encouraging Timothy to command and teach to command means to instruct clearly okay to instruct give clear instructions about what is the right doctrine and command also is not just instruction but it also requires obedience to God's word so even as people are listening to what Timothy is teaching them they should not just be listening but they are also required to obey God's word just as Timothy you know he before he teaches he also has to meditate on it and he also has to make that part of his obedience by living a life that is holy and according to God's word so command is to instruct and also it requires obedience to God's word that is being taught and he says say these things you know boldly don't mince the truth don't try to cover it up don't try to compromise the truth so that people will follow you so that your people will like you you know you'll receive favor and you know he says don't do that you know just speak the truth as it is very clearly and live the truth so that when people see you living the truth they will learn themselves and they will follow in your footsteps we'll move on to verse 12 so can somebody read verse 12 please don't let anyone look down on you Timothy because you're young but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love in faith and in purity thank you so here he says don't let anyone look down on you Timothy because you're young now we need to understand that Timothy was just in his 30s and there were leaders already there at the church of Ephesus you know nine years before Paul had come there he had appointed leaders so there were people who were older to Timothy who were there people who were already leaders in the church recognized leaders now if Timothy has to go and tell them this is what Paul is saying this is what we need to do he's teaching the right doctrine he's not accepting the false doctrine that some of these teachers were saying it's not going to be very easy for him so he's saying that Paul is telling Timothy that you know though Timothy was young he's encouraging him he says be an example to the believers how can you be an example by not only preaching but also you know living out the truth or the word of God through your very life, through your lifestyle so as leaders he should as a leader he should set the standard and he should be the role model when he does that then those who are looking up to him will not mock him or will not look down on him and say that he's young he's immature he cannot do anything the same way you know we might be young we might be young and doing ministry but you know we should not give people a chance to point a finger at us be it in our teaching in our doctrines or mostly through the way that we live okay because people are watching our lives the way we walk talk things that we do our attitudes our reactions so he says be an example in word that means in speech how you speak how you respond yes people might irritate you people might say things that are negative people may argue fight with you but how you speak is very important so set an example in word in conduct conduct means the manner of life behavior how he lives his life in love you know loving people irrespective of who they are what they are doing whether they are good to you bad to you okay spirit the kind of person you know the nature the character the very core being of who you really are you know let it radiate the the fruit of the spirit then faith means you know faith in God and purity is about holy living so even as Paul is enlisting these things for timidity it's also something that is the word of God it's the truth it's revealed to Paul and so it's for us as well that we need to set an example to others not only to believers but also to our neighbors who are non-believers you know set an example in word in conduct in love spirit in faith in purity okay so it's not just about what we teach how we teach but it's about how we live so he's saying live right before God and man that's something that he's already spoken off in the previous chapters and he's reiterating here to timidity who is a young person and who is leading the churches at Ephesus verse 13 can somebody read verse 13 please till I come give attention to reading to asceticism to doctrine okay thank you Dave so verse 13 says till I come give attention to reading to exhortation to doctrine so he's saying you know pay attention to reading that means read the scripture public reading of scripture let people hear the scriptures being read to them we're not sure you know they had bibles in their hands in those days I don't think they had the early church had bibles they had these scrolls scripts but we are very privileged so you know they had to listen to the reading of the scripture so he says read the scriptures in public exhortation means preach you know when you preach don't condemn don't put down don't mock false teachers false teachings but preach to encourage to inspire to comfort people from scriptures and also to confront the truth in God's word against the false teaching that is happening and talking about doctrine doctrines are basic you know truths or topics like sin salvation grace and all of those are called doctrines so teach about the doctrines in the various doctrines in scripture okay so these are the three things that must happen in the church that Timothy was overseeing at Ephesus and this is something that we need to also do in our local church we need to read God's word preach preach not to condemn to put down to laugh to mock people but preach to encourage inspire and comfort people from scriptures because of the difficult times that we are in the difficulties people are going through and people will just fall in love with God in his word okay we'll move on to verse 14 can somebody read that please verse 14 do not neglect to your gift this was given you through a prophetic message when the body of builders laid their hands on you thank you so says Paul encouraging Timothy not to neglect the gift that is in him that means the spiritual things that have been imparted to him the gifts that the gifts the spirit imparted to him is saying don't neglect it that means use it exercise it otherwise they will remain dormant okay so it's so important for us also you know people mentors men of God women of God have imparted spiritual things to us we have also been baptized in the holy spirit so don't you know let those gifts be dormant use it go ahead and use it don't let anything hinder you don't let unbelief don't let what people will say people will love what if it doesn't come when you prophesied the word of knowledge word of wisdom what if I say things and it's not truth what if I pray for healing and people are not healed but just go ahead and exercise your gifts that have been imparted to you and when you do you know you will just flow in them and you will see the holy spirit working mightily in you we'll move on to verse 15 can somebody read verse 15 please meditate on these things give yourself internally to them that your progress may be evidence to all thank you so in verse 15 Paul is encouraging Timothy meditate which means to seriously ponder about these things think about these things keep on thinking about it act on it okay give himself entirely to do these things means act go ahead do what is required to do and if he does these things then you know he will see growth and progress which will not only be seen by him but will also be seen by the others in the church so people can will know and see Timothy as a leader of God the authoritative figure there and also false teachers and false teaching that are happening will you know just be out of the church and false teachers will come again to the sooth so he says do all of this you know preach teach you yourself meditate on God's word you yourself live out God's word in all godliness train yourself in godliness and holiness so that when others see it you know they will be able to you know see the progress and growth and they will fall in line with God's word and his truth and they will live lives that are holy and godly in his sight the last verse verse 16 can somebody read that please take heed to yourself and to the doctrine continue in them for in doing this you will say both yourself and those who hear you okay so the final word and that's something that is very very important here Paul is telling Timothy to watch over his own life and what he teaches okay so don't get caught up in all these false teachings be very careful watch over your own life okay and as spiritual leaders you know we need this opportunity to be self governing with the and you need to have the holy spirit and we also need you know to watch over ourselves our lives the way we are living our lives what we are doing where we are going what we are watching people that they're associating with because all of these things can draw us away from God so we need to watch our life our doctrine we also need to watch what we are preaching and teaching and you know we need to we can do this with the help of the holy spirit but just you know as leaders we can sometimes take on this responsibility of watching over the flock of God or the sheep that God is entrusted to our care and sometimes we neglect our own spiritual lives Paul is reminding Timothy that even though you have a lot of responsibilities a lot of things to do a lot of challenging situations people to handle you watch over your life first what you are preaching teaching and how you're living your life and when you do that you know there will be growth and progress and so hence we see that we need to protect ourselves and when we protect ourselves we'll also protect those who we are teaching who listening to us who is entrusted to our care the flock under our care we will be protecting them as well okay so the key take away for this chapter is chapter 4 is verse 12 be an example to the believers okay so just like Paul is telling Timothy as a spiritual leader you need to set an example in life in doctrine in conduct in speech in purity holiness so that no one will despise you the same way as leaders we need to set an example in life in conduct in love in spirit in faith and in purity so those who watch us will listen or hear us will listen to us and we'll see as leaders from God's place over them okay any questions we have one minute before our break anyone has any questions any doubts no okay if not we will go for our break and we'll come back after our break okay thank you