Sermons on 2 Timothy 1:13

… you to start thinking is, how can I become that kind of a friend to someone else? That's how to approach it. Well, let's begin in 2 Timothy 1, verse 13, where he says, Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, being the gospel, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phagellus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the household of, here it is, Onesiphorus, profitable. For he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. But when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day. And you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus. The first word that describes Onesiphorus is the word refreshing. …

See full text →

… and there should be no surprise there because the apostle Paul tells us that orthodoxy has a pattern to it in 2 Timothy 1.13. Sound doctrine is patterned. There's a pattern to sound doctrine, and AI is pattern recognition. AI is a dormant superpower. Available, free of charge, on your phone right now. To us comes the questions if to use it, how to use it, and when to use it. And none of us know the extent of possible uses because the horizon of what is possible keeps moving out further than we can actually experience. But for that past eight months, I have interviewed Christian leaders in the AI space, brothers and sisters in Christ, who are building all types of search bots that can scour Christian websites to offer you specific, interactive, theological Bible answers. I've seen the church's high school ministry, print square cards for students to take to school. On one side, it says, what is the meaning of life? And on the other side is a QR code that if you scan it, it drops you into a conversation with a bot that gives you an answer from the Bible that you can then interact with, all leading you towards the next youth group meeting and where they meet. …

See full text →

First, The saints are all of the same native country. Heaven is the native country of the church. They are born from above; their Father, of whom they are begotten, is in heaven. The principles that govern their hearts are drawn from heaven, since the Holy Ghost, whose immediate fruits those principles are, is from heaven. The word of God, which is the seed by which they are begotten, is from heaven. The Bible is a book, as it were, sent down from heaven. The saints in this world are not in their native country, but are pilgrims and strangers on the earth, they are near akin to the inhabitants of the heavenly world, and are properly of that society. Heb. xii. 22, 23. “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” Heaven is a country that much better suits their natures than this earth, because it is their native climate. When they are in heaven, they breathe their native air; in heaven is their inheritance. Heaven is the proper country of the church, where the greater part of the church is, and where they all will be, and where is their settled abode; from thence all that are now upon earth are derived, and thither they will return again. Though they are for a little while dwelling at a distance from their native country, yet they are of the same nation with those who now dwell there. …

See full text →