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:heartbeat: 2 Timothy 2:15

An Unashamed Workman

14 Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.

15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness." 20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. 24 The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

2 Corinthians 13:5-7
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test. Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved.

Romans 14:16-19
Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

Romans 5:1-5
Results of Justification
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. [NASB all]

:heartbeat:Lots of love from
Your sister in Christ,
Willa

Willa Wrote:

[b]:heartbeat: 2 Timothy 2:15

An Unashamed Workman

14 Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.

15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.

Hi Willa,

What I find interesting is that the WT only quotes "Do your utmost to present yourself approved to God" from vastly different circumstances than its comments that say "Good preparation will help you to be poised and enthusiastic in the house-to-house ministry."

Timothy was faced with bigger problems than mere field ministry preparation. Paul was in prison in Rome and no doubt heard Cestius Gallus' plans to invade Jerusalem the next year. He had also just lamented "that all the men in Asia had turned away," naming "Phygelus and Hermogenes" as he later included Hymenaeus and Philetus.

Paul was probably feeling the end was closer than we think today when he said, "May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often brought me refreshment, and he did not become ashamed of my chains." (2 Timothy 1:15-18)

Love,

sw

:friends:Hey Wickster -
I sure understand what you're saying. That's why I don't read the society's comments until I've finished with my own research - and most times I don't bother to read them at all. I don't intend to make it about refuting them, just tryin' to stick to what the Word says!
In many cases they totally disregard the context of the scripture, as I feel they did with this one. The context has nothing to do with 'preparing' for 'field service', as you pointed out. In other instances they take a verse about Christ Jesus and turn back time to the OT examples, when there are plentiful supports in the NT. They still can't stand to make it too much about Jesus - I hold that against them.

The Jan. 14 text is an example - the commentary for Philippians 3:14 launches into the entire 144,000/other sheep doctrine. "Gaining everlasting life is possible only by putting faith in God's loving provision of salvation through Jesus Christ." Sounds good on the surface... but the truth is that we must have faith in Christ Jesus, not in an organisation that sees itself as the only modern-day 'provision of salvation' God has on earth. Too bad that we've had to learn to read between the lines where the wtbts is concerned.:(

Jan. 9 is another example - "Become reconciled with God" -2 Cor. 5:20, again the comments are about field ministry, while the context speaks of our reconciliation to God as only being through Christ - 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. I mean, they left off the whole beginning of that scripture about us being Christ's ambassadors, on behalf of Christ... Reading between the lines we know they're not pointing anyone in Jesus' direction - and only within him is the power of our reconciliation to his Father! Maybe I'm too cynical.:dontknow:

I use Biblegateway to cut&paste the verses - I like to use the NASB because it has a lot of references . Sometimes I see the same thing there, too - that only a word is referenced, having no context to the meaning behind the whole phrase. You hafta sort through that stuff, lol. But that's what Bible study really is, eh? I like it.:) A lot!:D

Love to you, dear brother.
WB

As I said once on another thread, there was a time I could speak much of my mind out loud, when we were given lots of latitude for personal research. Then they introduced something that was supposed to make it easier to manage the growing numbersâ€”the "Simplification Program." Yeah! But what it really did was encapsulize all freedom and thought, and drive it under a rule-making hierarchyâ€”the mind police, as I now call them. And they wasted no time taking you to task for any negative comment about 'new light' or the â€˜spirit directedâ€™ FDS.

While the majority were deluded, those who knowingly promoted this were evil, and resorted to all measure of controlâ€”including regular beatings of any who do not â€œtoe their party line.â€ So what happened? The spiritual men were the first to be thrust out, from the top down, leaving the present leaders with a new collective agreement to protect the top and prevent anarchy below ... with all the reasons what evils would result without rules. But now it comes time to weed the gardenâ€”or should I say, wheat the garden, since the real objective of the devil is to bring all of Godâ€™s children under his mind control.

Thatâ€™s the way I see the organization now. The evil slave is in control. The evil slave is doing the devilâ€™s work and will use all in his power to silence the lowly, truth-speaking, spiritual man.

Affectionately yours,

sw

Paradise Cafe Discussions - A Place For Bible Research And Christian Encouragement

Willa

smoldering wick

Willa

smoldering wick