Paul's Sixth Charge to Timothy
This is a charge to be 'aware' of the true nature of the body of Christ.  There is a heretical basket of teachings floating around regarding the perversions of the true body of Christ.  This must not be ignored within the church family, the home family or for the 'new believer'!
I Timothy 3:14-16
These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
In case Paul doesn't get to Timothy for a while, Paul writes to him to instruct him how to behave in the house of God.  Note that God does the same thing with us.  While we wait for the Lord to come and rapture us out of here, He writes to us so that we also will know how to behave in the house of God.

These writings give us confidence in God during our walk with Him!

I John 5:13,14  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
God instructs us regarding our fellowship with Him which will give us true joy!
I John 1:4  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

These writings give us life!

John 20:31   But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

According to those writings, when we have that belief, we become the house of God!

John 14:23   Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Romans 8:9,10  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
I Corinthians 3:9   For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
I Peter 2:5   Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Take Heed on How You Build!

I Corinthians 3:9,10  For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
As we notice in I Corinthians 3:12-15, we ourselves may do much of the building thereupon.  We must remember, however, that we must first get knowledge before we can begin to receive understanding which eventually leads to wisdom as we build upon our foundation, which is Jesus Christ.  At first, we are just babes - needing to be fed milk - knowledge - basic reading of the Book.

My own testimony here is that when I first got involved in a Bible Believers Baptist church, I found myself following a man - the pastor.

After those years, I found myself following the church - the Baptist church - the direction that the church was going, etc.

I eventually found myself following a Book - the King James Bible, not a pastor and not a church plan.  I realized that only by the The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. Ps:119:130:

My fire was lit, and then the next most important part of my building took place.  Ephesians 4:11-15  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12: For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15: But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

I was influenced by many pastors, teachers & evangelists in the years since I became actively involved in a Bible Believing Church.  I was not aiming for anything - I just wanted to be involved IN a ministry of some kind.  I did everything from being a camp cook, camp maintenance man, summer custodial slave, bus driver, song leader, piano player and organist, music teacher, band & chorus director, English teacher, private school principal, P.E. instructor teaching the guru goombas in 108 degree Las Vegas sunshine - I was even church secretary for a few months.

Over these last years, I understand more today how these men were part of my building process - a process that wasn't always fun to be building.  These men did their part in feeding their flock and became ensamples to me - both in good areas and unfortunately, but so true and necessary, in some bad areas, as well. I Peter 5:2,3 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

With grace amongst the hardness, I was influenced to this day by these men. II Timothy 2:1-3 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Hearing these things may help you understand your pastor a little bit more, tonight.  Maybe, in my earlier years, if I would have had some of this understanding, I may not have handled some of my building process like I chose to build.  Just as in my physical building skills today, I was not much better at building my spiritual building, either.

These names are either pastors, evangelists or missionaries.  The complete names have left off of some so as for them not to find me and want to continue teaching me more things!  Others are big time enough of names that they would understand and appreciate how the Lord used them in whatever fashion.
Mike M - taught me not to follow a man!  My first bible-believing preacher was like a god to me with his knowledge of the Bible until I found in his library all sorts of helps, etc.  I was brought back to earth by this pastor.
Kurt K - taught me how a selfish wife can ruin a man's ministry.
George G - taught me not to follow a 'church' plan or church 'direction'.  Loyalty to an organization should take a back seat to biblical truth and God's direction.
Nick F - taught me that the schooling should not run the church.  The tail should not wag the dog, etc.
Now, I admit - I should have been more obedient to my spiritual authorities and should have had more grace with others in those days, but then again, a pastor could have sat me down and shown me some things that I was having difficulty with - right out of the Bible, amen?  I did not know how to seriously crack open the Book, yet!

So today, from all of this, I have learned how important grace is to a young believer - a new believer - and even an old believer who has never seriously cracked the book open.  Even to those who know their bible well, grace is equally important as they eventually learn to apply the book they know so well, amen?

Rex Harrison Jack Chick Peter S. Ruckman John Marshall Buddy Carghill Dr. Tabb Dr. Jack Hyles Dr. G. S.


Dave Peacock

Jim M Pastor Brush Rod P Larry W Randy G Lee M Miscellaneous Missionaries Robert Sheffy Georgi Vins & Popov & other Russian pastors in prison
A few things I have learned from 25 years from the brethren...

Preaching doesn't seem to work - or stick, if they are not reading personally themselves!

People don't really want you to tell them what spiritual ailment they have anymore than we want a medical doctor to diagnose a physical disease!

People will listen to you complain, whine, criticize, challenge, and beat the brethren verbally even when they know they are wrong in doing so.

Teens can only rise spiritually as high as the level of their parents or as high as their parents will allow them to reach or strive for as the teens develop a desire to learn to live for the Lord!

Most brethren don't want me on their roof with a hammer - or anyplace with a hammer or saw, for that matter!

People will still not talk to their pastor any more than I was willing to talk to mine when I had some concerns.  We all know the answer is in the book, we just don't want to hear the answer.

Women can destroy a church, a ministry and a home, but the men allow it!

Meek and mild women are as hard to find as mild-mannered men in phone booths!

Most men have no problem making their wives blaspheme the word of God!

Women who love the Lord and want to serve Him according to the Book are truly a gem and actually are a threat to other women!

It is dangerous for a pastor to mess with the little cubs when momma bear is nearby!

Children run the show in most families and parents feel helpless over it all!

When God gets the eyes, ears, feet hands and heart, He gets more of the checkbook!

There are fathers out there who have brought their 'little girls' up to want to marry a man and be his help according to the Scriptures.

A praying wife is the best kind of wife you can have!

The brethren still look at the man behind the pulpit as much as the man behind the pulpit looks at the brethren!

Some brethren need to hear the same stuff preached over and over to finally get it because they don't study it out themselves and burn it into their own heart.

Teaching is necessary along with preaching and preaching is necessary along with teaching!

Our fellowship quality is based on our own personal Bible reading!  (I John 1:7)

A good solid, truthful, honest, humble, loyal Bible reading 'trying to be a Bible-Believer' man is as valuable and hard to find as a virtuous woman today!  And when you find them, you have the greatest gem out of the world.

But do you see?  God taught me these things through the Brethren - through the Pastors and Evanglists and Missionaries - all because I finally chose one day to GET INTO MY KING JAMES BIBLE!

Try it - you will be amazed at what God can do!
After all, He does live there, you know!

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