Apostasy is Here!

What is Apostasy?

When i was young sitting in church half-listening to a sermon on something, my ears tuning in and out of the sermon i heard the word apostasy, and having no clue what this meant i started to dwell on it. The rest of the sermon all i could think about was this odd word, i just said it over and over in my head. I couldn’t ask anyone seeing as we were in the middle of the sermon. Around the end of the sermon it finally dawned on me. I understood the meaning of this word. I felt so smart, i felt like a prodigy that I sat down and figured out this large smart sounding word. After church me and my mom got in the car, and she asked me what i thought of the sermon. I responded “i don't know i wasn't listening, BUT I learned a new word. Apostasy.” Full of pride i said “do you know what an apostasy is? well its a new spaghetti dish!” I soon learned that it wasn’t Italian food but Much later on in life i learned the true meaning of Apostasy and the huge danger it presents to our world today. The Apostasy of our culture has caused nearly irreversible damage, and was Satan’s brilliant plan to throw God out of our lives. Millions of people are apostatizing without even knowing what their doing. Satan has found a perfect hold on them with lies and deceit. In this passage we will look at what Paul said to timothy about Apostasy and how to combat it.

Italian food? (Ah-Pasta-See)

Huge Danger to our Culture

Caused Nearly Irreversible Damage

Satan’s Brilliant Plan to throw God out of our Lives

Millions are Apostatizing Without even Knowing Why

Paul’s Authority With God and Jesus

Paul wrote this letter at the end of his life around 67-68 A.D. He was in Roman prison (Again), but his time he was being sent to be executed. Most of his friends and partners left him for fear of being persecuted like Paul. At this point Paul was lonely, abandoned, cold, beaten, tired, old, and still caring about others.

Lonely

Abandoned

Cold

Beaten

Tired

Old

Still Caring About Others!

One of the darkest times i ever went through was in 2018, I was still fairly new to Word of life i hadn’t developed any major friendships execpt for one. I was going through a depressed stage of my life i was so consumed with everything that was going wrong, i had no girlfriend, i didnt have really any friends. The friend i desired a deeper relationship with, had other friends to hang out with. It wasn’t his fault i just couldent get out of my head. I was lonely, abandoned, emotionally beaten, tired, and i only cared about myself. That lead me futher down the path to really.....dark places. Then God pulled me out and set me back on track. The difference between me and Paul is that he focused on other people and even at one of the hardest times of his life, he could rejoice because he wasn’t focusing on himself.

One of the last things Paul wanted to do was to reach out to the closest person he had to family. Timothy, Timothy was Paul’s spiritual son, and Paul wanted one of his last letters to go to timothy. In this letter Paul encourages, Charges, and warns timothy about a variety of things. In this passage Paul does all three of these, and they all have to do with apostasy.

Charges him

Encourages him

Warns him

The Charge

To Preach the Word

In the Presence of God and Jesus Christ

Who is the Judge of the Living and the Dead

By his Appearing and His Kingdom

He starts off this passage with charging Timothy to Preach the Word. Paul is not alone though he says, “In the presence of God and Jesus Christ”. He tell Timothy that this isn't just something that Paul is asking him to do as a friend or a father in spirit. This is something Paul is charging him with something that he is commanding him to do, but Paul doesn't do it in his power but he does in with the confidence of God and Jesus Christ. Paul then states that They are the judge of the living and the dead. That is meant both Physically and Spiritually. Obviously when we die God is going to judge us, and while we live our lives we are being judged, but how is that taken spiritually? Paul says that there will be living and dead spiritually, this isnt a new topic for Paul. In the beginning of “2 Timothy” Paul writes;

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is IN Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:1)

The Charge

To Preach the Word

In the Presence of God and Jesus Christ

Who is the Judge of the Living and the Dead

By his Appearing and His Kingdom

Paul states that life is found in Christ and those who accept his salvation. Which means those who aren't saved are spiritually dead. Paul points this out to show Timothy that those who die without becoming spiritually alive are going to be be judged on that, and that those who do accept are going to be judged as well. The last thing Paul says is that he charges timothy “by His appearing and His kingdom”. He reminds Timothy that there isnt alot of time before the Lord returns, and that Timothy needs to be quick to preach the Word. God will Judge those who are spiritually dead for not reaching out and seeking him, but he will also judge us the ones who are alive, who know the truth and never share it with anyone.

Paul’s first set of Charges

After Paul gives the reason behind why he has the authority to charge Timothy he goes into the charges themselves.

The Charges

Preach the Word

Be Ready In and Out of Season

Reprove, Rebuke, Exhort

DO all these things with Complete Patience and Teaching

The first thing that Paul charges Timothy with is to preach the word. This simple command is the most important command that has EVER been given to Christians. This was the Last command given to us by Jesus before he ascended, and if Jesus wanted us to know one last thing before he left i’m pretty sure its important.

Loving Fiancee

Fulfilling Job

Dream House

Perfect Kids

Beautiful Car

Tons of Cash

ANYTHING YOU WANT

If you had ^, BUT you never once preached the word. Your life would be deemed as meaningless. This is one command that unites every single believer anywhere on the planet. We ALL are called to preach the word. You may not become a teacher or preacher. You may be a custodian or plumber. All of these Jobs are equally called to share the gospel and preach the word. No one is exempt from this command for any reason.

The Charges

Preach the Word

Be Ready In and Out of Season

Reprove, Rebuke, Exhort

DO all these things with Complete Patience and Teaching

The Next thing Paul says is to be ready, in and out of seasons. “Seasons”are what were are going through in our daily lives. Paul says whether your in a good season or a bad season Be ready to preach the word. I’ve gone through many seasons in my life, the easiest way to look at it is like Hills and valleys. I’ve had moment where i’m rededicating my life to the Lord at word of life snowcamp, and i go home and have burning passion for the Lord and i want to tell anyone about it. Then i have times where i want nothing to do with God, i’m upset or depressed and i feel like God has abandoned me. No way would i share the Gospel in those times, but that’s exactly what Paul tells us to do. In or out of good time, or bad times. Always be ready to preach the word.

Rebuke ( To mildly disapprove of something that MAY be happening)

Reprove ( To Severely disapprove of something that IS happening)

Exhort ( To encourage and help one another)

Paul then uses these three unique words to show how we as Christians need to talk to each other. All three of these we should be using constantly with our siblings in Christ and unbelievers. The best example of these would be in our parents. Whether you’ve realized it or not you’ve experienced all three of these from you mom or dad. There are times when you steal food from the kitchen, or draw on mommy’s special tax forms. If you have siblings your mother doesn’t know who it is, but she’ll sit each and everyone of you down, and explain why it was not ok to steal food or draw on the taxes. That is rebuking, gently sitting someone down and explaining that if they are doing something that you are suspicious of how its not ok. Now you’ve decided it was a good idea to get into moms purse and start playing with some little plastic cards with numbers on them. You chew a few, bend some until they snap, and then your mom walks into the room, and a shadow passes over her face and her eyes turn to fire and you realize…this probably wasn’t a good idea. She yells and gets angry and punishes you. That is reproving. When you know someone has done something wrong and strictly deal with them. Now your playing little league baseball. It’s your turn to bat and you swing once, twice, and you strike out and lose the game. everyone in the dug-out is mad at you and as you hold back tears, your mom runs in and gives you a hug and tells you how good you did in spite of losing the game. That is Exhortation encouraging one another standing up for each other. even when you dont do an amazing job but they tried their hardest to come along side them and lift them up.

We as Christians focus too much on the first to types of speech. We need to be quick to encourage not quick to reprove. That is why Paul gives a stipulation to timothy, to do these things with full patience and teaching. This is very important as we talk to others. We need to make sure when we rebuke someone there is valid reason, and that your not just frustrated with them. When we encourage someone we need to make sure there is a reason for encouragement so we don’t approve of wrong behavior. We need to have wisdom and patience in the way we speak to others.

The Coming time of Apostasy

Will not Endure Sound Teaching

Having Itching Ears

Gather False Teachers to suit Their Own Passions

Will turn away from Listcening to the Truth (apostrepho)

Wander Off Into Myths

Paul starts to warn timothy about a coming time of great Apostasy. As we go through each of these points i want to compare them to the culture that we live in today. The first thing the Paul says to Timothy is there will be people who wont endure sound teaching. This is everywhere today millions of people are ignorant of the truth of the Bible, and are told that it is myth and wont accept it. Our culture is stubborn today in its beliefs, with other religions, atheists, and Christians. Unfortunately it appears that the least stubborn of those are the Christians. We who should be stubborn in our foundations of faith are being influenced by other religions and atheistic beliefs. We look at secular scientists believing such illogical and foolish ideas like evolution and that we are all made from stardust. They refuse that life was made intelligently when everything that exists works in such perfect unison how could it not be so. What the Bible teaches sounds like fiction, it does. From a non-christian point of view its hard to believe, until you pair it with all the geological, historical, and scientific evidence we have today to back up the bible. What the bible teaches is sound, yet they refuse to accept the truth and are influenced by Satan to hold to their false beliefs. The next thing Paul says is that they will have “itching ears” what does that mean? Well it means that people will look for something to believe in. Something to listen to. This goes along with all of these confounded theories in Science today. With evolution theories and big bang theory

and many more, people search for things to believe in. In a way atheism is a religion all of its own. They search for something to believe so they came up with a belief system just like religions to explain our lives and things around us. That’s why we see unreached tribes in South Africa having religion. EVERY SINGLE CULTURE on the planet has some kind of religion or belief system because man is made with itching ears and searches for the truth. The Next thing Paul says is that they will gather teachers to suit their own passions. This idea takes over our culture today. Everyone wants to be accepted so instead of changing to be accepted they change the world around them so that they fit. We see people in the world committing abortions and going through with sex changes and acting homo-sexually. All of these aren’t ok but they have found people on social media, or celebrities, somebody to back them up and agree with them so they listen to those people and ignore the truth. We see thousands of people feeding off of each other to try to prove why they feell what they’re doing is acceptable. The biggest example of this is Pornography, in no way should that be accepted everything about it is wrong and sinful. Yet because the majority does it, its deemed to be ok. Paul says that they will turn away from truth. Now this is really istresting becasue in greek this concept is pronounced Apstropheo which means to reject the idea of.

This is saying that people will reject the bible before even knowing what it is. That in our culture it is so relevant to see the Bible as a myth they reject truth before even knowing truth. People dont think for themselves and instead go with the community. They accept and reject things before they know what they are accepting or rejecting. People are so ignorant and blantantly refuse the thruth so much, that they rufuse the possiblility of refusing the truth. The amount of lies and satanic deciet we live in today inincredible and quite depressing, but don’t worry Jesus will set everything back on track. The Last thing Paul says is

Non-Realities

Video Games

V.R.

Books

Music

Movies

T.V. shows

They will wander off into myths. Now i love video games its easily my favorite thing to do with my free time and i grew up with it. With VR making a big at home appearance today its something iv’e always wanted. I could just sit and play video games for hours on end. With VR its gotten alot more fun....and alot more dangerous. We as a culture are indulging ourselves in non-realities. With books, movies, tv shows, music, games. Again i love Games and movies and do i think all are sinful and should be abandoned? No, but our culture has lost themselves in places that aren’t real. We are called to make sure that we don’t wander into myths. That we don’t make the false lives our realities Even emotionally some people delve into fake realities. Believing you can do anything, that no matter what happens you can be happy. IS A LIE. We as people cant do anything we wont be happy all the time. These beliefs are founded in reality, but out culture tells us that reality is relative and its killing us. We are such a depraved culture and it is inanely difficult to exist as a pure Christian in the world today. It doesn't end there though Paul gives timothy some more advice on how to deal with this apostacy.

Paul’s Second set of Charges

Paul proceeds to tell timothy about how he can live through, and even combat this apostacy that is coming.

Always be Sober-Minded

Endure Suffering

Do the Work of an Evangelist

So Paul says to Always be sober minded, which means a few things. It means to always have tempered emotions & self-control. When i was younger i would get into fights with my parents and i really just didn’t learn how to shut up. I would just keep screaming or saying disrespectful things. I guess i thought it would help…yeah it didn’t. All it did was make things worse for me and time after time i would just get into trouble more and more because i wasn't tempering my spirit. Its crucial in our time to have a sober-mind. There are too many “Topical Landmines” we could step on in just a normal conversation. The thing is its nearly impossible to Avoid these landmines, it would just be easier to not speak then try to avoid these, But where being sober-minded comes in is “When” you hit the landmines. We need to make sure when we get into arguments with people that we represent Christians and keep our selves tempered. Don’t fly off the handle and resort to yelling or being rude, instead stay peaceful and have self-control. The next thing Paul tells Timothy is to endure suffering. This is something every single believer is going to go through, none of us are exempt of this. We are told that we will suffer for the sake of Jesus, in

Matthew 24:9 it says "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.” Jesus went through the ultimate suffering for our sake, and he tells us that we will go through suffering as well. Christians today are always going through suffering both in and our of our country. In our country we see this massive hatred for Christians that is always getting worse. We see other religions, atheists, and homosexuals constantly giving problems and persecuting us. Its even gotten so bad that we bend and twist our beliefs to non-Christian practices so that we can be accept wholly by others. Paul asks Timothy to endure this, to not give in to the pain and persecution. Not to bend the rules and beliefs and to stand strong. We’re so caught up with trying to avoid persecution because we see it as evil, and yes in a sense it is evil. But Jesus said to accept it, we are going to suffer and instead of trying to avoid it by going to the extent of giving up your faith to accept it. Obviously don’t walk into Iran go up to someone with an Ak-47 and ask him if he knows Jesus. You’ll get persecuted.....but its not what God is calling us to do. When we are persecuted its an unavoidable one that God blesses us for. If we throw ourselves into persecution, we are just being stupid not sacrificing myself for Christ.

Always be Sober-Minded

Endure Suffering

Do the Work of an Evangelist

The last thing Paul tells Timothy to do is the work of an evangelist. This is wildly important to combat Apostasy. What is the work of the evangelist? well, If we preach the word and evangelize faithfully we can lessen the world wide apostasy. Its all about sharing the Word of God and letting him combat the spiritual problems in apostacy. If we bring God to the apostatized that God can do the rest, we just have to be willing to do the work of going and sharing.

What now?

We’ve gone through this entire passage and taken alot of information. Now there are only three things that i ask you to remember.

We Live in an Apostatized world

How we need to ask to properly respond

Fulfill our Ministry

Our World is worse off today than ever, everyone is depraved and full of sin. We all turn away from the truth and wander off into deceit and embrace Satan because he makes us feel good. We run from problems or others opinions because we don't like them. We murder innocent children and spit in Gods face saying he made us wrong. We kill, rape, and torture each other. All of these things are side-effects of rejecting God, of apostatizing. The entire world is infected by sin and its terminal. On a Global scale there is nothing we can do, that job is reserved for Jesus, But on a smaller scale, a country, a state, a town, even a personal relationship. We can make all the difference.

We Must be ready to combat apostasy always. We need to speak truth with determination, and confidence. We need to preach the Word with Haste, and passion, We need to Stand strong, not falter or back down. Keep our religion with unwavering faith knowing that we will suffer and go through persecution but we can handle it because its for the Lord. We need to talk with self-control and patience, we need to rebuke exhort and reprove our brother and sister to help them stay on track. We need to Work like an evangelist and just Preach the Word wherever we go. The best way to combat Apostasy is by preach, Satan was defeated when he tempted Jesus. Why? because hes Jesus right? No, because he used the Word. That is our greatest tool, weapon, and defense. Remember to use the Bible whenever you get the opportunity because if Satan could fight it who could?

The last command Paul gives Timothy, the end of this paragraph, is only 3 word, but these 3 words are one of the hardest commands that is given to us. Fulfill your Ministry. Your Ministry is your life. Fulfill our lives is what Paul is commanding us to do. Our ministry is sharing the Word Wherever, no matter what career we go into we still have a ministry to fulfill. Many only think this applies to pastors, or missionaries, but its not its literally anyone.

Teachers

Musicians

Coaches

Farmers

Preformers

Office Workers

Officers

Landscapers

Architects

Pastors

All have an EQUAL responsibility to fulfill their ministry, no matter what Job you have God is not excluded from it. God calls people to be plumbers and farmers, then he uses them and they fulfill their ministry. If we Got Every. Single. Thing. that we could ever want literally living the perfect life. but never once shared the word

Our lives are meaningless

But with Christ guiding us in this world of apostasy, With his word being first in our minds, Sharing the Gospel and fighting Satan

Our lives have the ultimate purpose: Christ’s purpose!

Lets pray!

(END)