The Protection of Discernment

Fire Update

Have talked with Clack/State Emergency and FEMA. On their lists.

Parking Lot currently available (most evacuees seem placed at this point). Will continue to evaluate and adjust as conditions change.

rollinghills.org/fire

Facebook group page connecting needs with resources on person to person basis

Partnering with Food Pantry // Grab and Go food // Drop off any time (barrel) // Need toiletries and personal items (details on FB Page)

Divine Threads (clothing) // Hopes Table (Meal) // CLC (showers/bathroom)

Thank you thank you thank you!

Read Psalm 61:1-5 and Isaiah 61:1-4

Pray!!!

Today we’re continuing in our 2 Timothy Series and we get to chapter 3. In this chapter, the author, Paul get’s pretty real as he describes three realities:

▶️ Three Realities (but with happy ending)

There are Terrible Times.

There are terrible peopleThere is terrible deception, but

God wins!

Terrible Times - How should we respond

▶️ 2 Tim. 3:11 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.

“Last Days” language is used often throughout the Bible. Some of you perked up a little when you heard “last days.” There is now, and always has been a fascination with the end times. The events that will lead up to God’s return, final judgment and eternal reign in a new heaven new earth. It’s exciting to think about. We like to look at headlines, local and global events that might be signs that things the Bible talks about are happening now. Vigilance is good. Jesus told a parable about 10 virgins at a wedding feast that was all about being ready for his immanent return.

But while vigilance is commanded by Jesus, end times fixation is not. Our historical memory is often only as long as the first page in a Google search. We need a longer view of history.

For example:

Tertullian in the 2nd Century wrote this: “What terrible wars, both foreign and domestic! What pestilences, famines…and quakings of the earth has history recorded!” // Pope Gregory in 6th century: Of all the signs described by our Lord as presaging the end of the world, some we see already accomplished…For now we see that nation arises against nation and that they press and weigh upon the land in our times as never before in the annals of the past. Earthquakes overwhelm countless cities, as we often hear from other parts of the world. Pestilence we endure without interruption. Black Plague Giovanni Boccaccio quote: “These profligates abandoned all work and drifted from house to house, drinking, stealing, fornicating. People behaved as though their days were numbered and treated their belongings and their own persons with abandon. Hence most houses had become common property, and any passing stranger could make himself at home…In the face of so much affliction and misery, all respect for the laws of God and man had virtually broken down…”Vandals sacking Rome in 410 // Spanish Inquisition in 1200s AD // Reestablishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 // Egypt/Israel Treaty and subsequent Assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981 // Israel PLO Treaty and subsequent Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 // Year 999, Year 1999 // Rise of Soviet Union // Fall of Soviet Union // 9/11 // The year 2020!!! Global Pandemic, Locusts plagues in Africa, recent UAE and Bahrain treaties with Israel allied against Iran. There’s stuff to make your eyebrows raise a bit, but the point is:

[Time slide with reading]

▶️ Be Ready Not Paranoid.

From the 1st century until now, every generation has believed that they were living in the last days…and in a sense they’re all right. From Jesus ascension until His return, we are living, Biblically in the last days. Paul himself believes this as he writes the passage we’re studying today. It’s so obvious, it’s easy to miss. After describing to Timothy what kind of people exist in the last days, he tells Timothy the very practical advice to avoid them, which of course implies that Paul believes they are in the last days. There are other passages throughout the NT where the Biblical authors are clearly teaching that the times they were living in (and the times we’re living in now are the last days). This means that the Bible’s instructions to the believers of the New Testament churches are the best instructions we can follow today as a church.

We can’t let our eschatology (end times belief) compromise our missiology (church’s mission). It’s easy to believe that every dire new headline is another step in the one-way trip toward the inevitable accumulation of evil that precedes the Day of the Lord. This can make us start to feel like we need to abandon the church’s mission and head for the hills. But we have a clear mission in the Bible until that Day comes: Go into all the world and make disciples! The gates of hell will not prevail! The church is not a fortress on the defense, we’re an advancing force!

Terrible People - How should we respond?

▶️ 2 Tim. 3:2-5.

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.

So after telling Timothy to expect hard times, he gives a laundry list of 19 things to expect from hard people. We could do a separate message on everyone of these (wouldn’t that be fun) but I just want to camp on the first one, because it is the source of all the others: lovers of themselves. Throughout the BIble, and especially in Genesis, we see the literary pattern connected to sin. It’s the sin pattern of see

▶️See>>Take (based on lack of trust)

Whenever humans try to define what is good and then take it for themselves on their terms, we find sin. Gen 3, Eve saw that the fruit was good and took, Gen 6, the sons of god saw the daughters of men were beautiful and took them, the Egyptians said that Abrams wife Sarai was beautiful and took her. The antidote to the sin pattern is the faith pattern:

▶️Hear>>Follow (Based on total trust)

This is most clearly shown in the arrival of Abraham, when God calls him to leave his home and go to a new land. That is our call today still. We listen to the voice of the Lord and we follow. We don’t try to define what is good and take it on our own terms. We listen to God’s voice and trust Him.

Terrible Deception - How should we respond?

▶️ 2 Tim. 3:6-7.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

What’s going on here? Christianity brought liberty, value, significance, influence and empowerment to women that was totally revolutionary to both Jewish and Greek culture. As image bearers of God, women who were before not allowed to appear in public gatherings, never allowed to see, hear or ask questions, not allowed to appear alone on streets, were now given the opportunity to speak, teach, prophesy, heal, and participate in the gifts that God's gives to the Church through the Holy Spirit. This new freedom and empowerment was dropped into the lives of people who had grown up in a society that had given them no prior experience with this. And with this new freedom, they were vulnerable to abusers like these false teachers. So, these verse are Paul's explanation of what was happening in Ephesian church to vulnerable women who were being targeted by these deep fake teachers. False teachers who were peddling the gnostic ideas would target women (usually wealthier women) and tell them that they could help give them special gifts and spiritual abilities or help release them from guilt or shame. After being groomed by these abusers, women would sometimes end up giving them all their money and leaving their families. This is actually really similar to the kind of grooming we see abusers use on their potential targets today. (Story about visiting Prague). This isn't a warning against women or any people group, being empowered in accordance with the Bible. It is a call for communities of faith to be filled with discerning protectors. Men, women, young, old. Shepherds who watch for the wolves. The Application is for all of us. Be aware of your spiritual health and your vulnerability to deceit. Have an accountable faith community filled with wisdom and discernment that is slow to jump onto bandwagons and fan-boy followings. Avoid being overly impressionable!

▶️Freedom and empowerment of all God's people flourishes in environments of protective Biblical wisdom.

Always learning is important. Revisiting and critiquing your own conclusions is wise, but we do need to arrive at certain solid truths. Essentials that we hold in unity.

▶️“Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid!”

Good news: God Wins

▶️ 2 Tim. 3:9.

But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

Paul ends here comparing these people to the magicians in Pharaoh’s court that opposed Moses. They initially appeared powerful, matching Moses, step for step, but eventually it was clear that they could not compete with the great I Am.

And who is this great I am? The one who said to Moses “I have seen the misery of my people…I have heard them crying out…and I am concerned for their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them.”

This is the same God who came to us as Jesus–The final, passover lamb. The one who willingly gave his life on a cross, His body given up, His blood poured out so that our sins could truly be forgiven. Forever wiped away by His sacrificial love. By the work of Jesus at the cross, God’s judgment can pass over us, and in its place, we find His grace, mercy, and loving acceptance.

In a moment we are going to receive communion together as a church. Communion is a time when we remember the bread as Jesus’ body given for us and we remember his blood poured out for us as we take the cup. This is an act of remembrance and great hope for people who have given their lives to Jesus by trusting in Him alone for freedom from the brokenness, hurt and loss that comes from the overwhelming weight of sin. Today if you have never given your life over to Him, if you have never come to the altar of His grace and love, then you are missing out on the greatest gift you can ever receive. You be forgiven and born into a new life today. If you want that, then as we all pray today, please pray these words with me.

Invitation Prayer

Set up Communion