Paul’s Final Letter And A Leadership Blueprint For Hard Times

Paul’s final words hit different when you read them like a leadership memo written from prison. We sit with 2 Timothy as Paul pours courage into Timothy, a younger leader carrying the weight of the church in Ephesus, and we ask what it looks like to lead when pressure is real, critics are loud, and the future feels uncertain. Along the way, we keep it honest and light with a steady dose of dad jokes, because good leadership conversations don’t have to be stiff to be serious.

We talk about why age doesn’t equal maturity, how great leaders spot potential early, and why encouragement is more than being “nice” when someone is stretched thin. We connect Paul’s four-generation handoff to modern succession planning and leadership development, then unpack the soldier, athlete, and farmer images as a framework for focus, discipline, and patience. If you’re leading a family, a small team, or a growing organization, these are skills that translate.

We also get practical about Scripture and integrity: handling the Word of God accurately, reading a Bible translation you can understand, and using study tools to go deeper without getting overwhelmed. We anchor the conversation in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and end with Paul’s call to finish strong: fight the good fight, finish the race, keep the faith. If this helps you, subscribe, share it with a leader you respect, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Oh now, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:28

Alrighty, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

SPEAKER_04 0:34

How you doing there, Dr. Pose? I'm good, Tim.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_04 0:39

Oh man, I am hanging in there. Hanging in there. A little rain this weekend. Yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Can you believe it's the middle of April already? It's crazy. It is gone by. So blinks. Blinks and you're gone.

SPEAKER_04 0:53

Kids are getting ready to get out of school here in a few weeks. I know they're so excited about being out of school. They are excited about being a good one. Like an extended weekend for three months. Yes. I am too.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Yeah, we had some good rain this weekend, and and um it was uh uh interesting weekend because I was supposed to uh participate. You know, I I I like triathlons. I like to participate in the Which we don't understand.

SPEAKER_04 1:20

We're trying to work through therapy with you.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Um and so someone said you can either compete in a triathlon or you can complete. Well, I'm in the complete category. Right. Just complete it. Just you know, just do it for fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:36

Where does watch fit in?

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Yeah, yeah. Just just go, just have fun, you know, that's okay. So, but because of the significant chance of severe weather and possible tornadoes over the weekend, the Tathlon was post-up your time or something, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:53

Well, you know how to do that. Yeah, they could have.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

I could have just really gone quick. Um, but it was postponed for a couple weeks. And so that's very unusual. Sometimes they just postpone it for an hour or two. Right. But this was postponed for three weeks. So next time, May 3rd is the date. And um, yeah, so that that was uh but because I didn't do the trustland, spent a lot of time in the garden this weekend, got some flowers down before the rain, and it looks fantastic. Yeah, it's really, really good.

SPEAKER_04 2:28

Yeah, it's on my list of things to do is start working out in the yard here pretty soon.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Yeah, it's that time. Spring is just beautiful in Texas.

SPEAKER_04 2:35

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Wildflowers and everything, it's just amazing. Yeah, 100%. 100%. So what are we talking about today?

SPEAKER_04 2:43

Well, a good name guy, right? You know, Timothy. Timothy! Timothy.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Imagine that. Timothy. Timothy. So when you were growing up, did your mother call you Tim or Timothy?

SPEAKER_04 2:54

I've heard it all. So I bet you have. I have I have friends that call me Tim, Timothy, Timmy, Timmy, you know. Time I you know, uh, you name it. I've heard it all, and I I I don't mind any of them. I like I like all of them. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

So before we get into Timothy, we all right. We need to um first turn off our phone.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Don't know if you heard that he he got a woke up.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Oh my gosh, I need to wake up. Um and uh so let's just do a couple of dad jokes. So let me just say dad jokes.

SPEAKER_04 3:29

What are dad jokes?

SPEAKER_00 3:30

I don't know. Some of this term, but let me just say for those of you who are hearing us for the very first time, thank you for uh, you know, bringing us into your life today for the next uh 30 minutes or so. And uh if if this is your very first time, thank you for joining us. Just wanted to say a little bit about our show. Um we've been doing this for about two and a half years, and uh what we do on a weekly basis is take a book from the Bible. Um we've started the this series from the book of Genesis back in August of 24. So it'll probably be through the end of this summer before we finish the book of Revelation. But we take a book, sometimes it's one week, like today. We'll do 2 Timothy. That'll take a week. But sometimes here in a couple weeks we're gonna start the book of Hebrews.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

Hebrews, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah, and so that's gonna take uh about three or four weeks to go through because it's so amazing and uh a lot of Old Testament tie-ins to the New Testament. Right. But we do that and um we talk about the Bible, but we also pull from the scriptures leadership principles that people can apply to their lives on a daily basis, whether you're just uh leading your family, um, whether you are leading a company of two or two thousand. Um and uh Tim here, he's uh home builder, custom home builder, but also a public speaker around the country and talks on leadership. So um, you know, we sit here, enjoy what we're doing, and uh then we throw in some dad jokes. Then we throw in some dad jokes.

SPEAKER_04 5:11

And I, you know, it's funny. I just I just googled the uh uh what a dad joke is. Oh yeah, yeah. What does it say? I don't I don't think I've ever thought about just Googling what a dad joke is. It says uh a dad joke is a clean and intentionally cheesy joke or pun, typically told by father figures to their children or peers. They are characterized by their simple wordplay and tendency to evoke a groan or eye roll rather than a hearty laugh. Okay, well, often described as so unfunny that they become funny. We are nailing this we are nailing it every week.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

So, just so our audience will know, my kids gave me a calendar for Christmas that has one dad joke every day. And I've got that right here. So I've got like 300 of those. And then looking on my phone, I save dad jokes on my phone, and I just updated that right before we came on the air. I have 320 dad jokes on my phone. So I've got uh, you know, about 650 dad jokes uh ready at any time. So we're just gonna start. What do you call a fish with no eyes?

SPEAKER_04 6:24

Oh, I've heard this one before.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

I bet you have. It's very, very common, especially in the ocean. What do you call a fish with no eyes?

SPEAKER_04 6:30

Oh, I'll let you say it.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

A fish.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

A fish. A fish.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

You know, this one I heard at swim practice the other day.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Okay, yeah. Parallel lines have so much in common. It's a shame they never meet. How are we doing on the groaning part?

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Are we doing good? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Okay, what do you call an explosive horse? This is a new one.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

I don't know. Just gotta stop.

SPEAKER_04 7:08

There's some explosive dogs at home, so I'm just leaving the explosive dogs. You call it napalm. Napalm. Hey, I was shopping this weekend and uh I was at a secondhand store and I saw a one-hand man there, and I I told him I didn't think they had what he was looking for.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Oh okay. What do you call a hen that counts its own eggs?

SPEAKER_04 7:38

A hen that counts his own eggs? I do not know.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Oh, this is a good one. A mathematician. All right.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

I like that one. That was a good one, right? Oh.

SPEAKER_04 7:52

Okay. What else? You got one more for you?

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Yes, I have one more, then we'll get to the Bible. Okay. I used to work at a fire hydrant factory. It was, you know.

SPEAKER_04 8:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

You couldn't park anywhere near the place.

SPEAKER_04 8:06

That's pretty funny. I like that one. Hey, uh, what's green and has wheels?

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Green and has wheels.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

A green wheeler?

SPEAKER_04 8:18

Nah. Just grass. I lied about the wheels. All right. All right.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 8:26

I need a groaner button. Yeah. Exactly right. I gotta, I I keep saying I'm gonna, I I gotta download the the gong, you know, from the gong show, right? So we've not done that yet.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Let's get into 2 Timothy because this is a very short book, four chapters, but it is very, very powerful. If you're not familiar with uh the book of Timothy, first and second Timothy, we did first Timothy last week, 2 Timothy this week. And most scholars believe, and I I believe it's true, that this was the last letter that Paul wrote. Now he's in prison, he knows the end of his life is very near. Uh Timothy, um, who was one of his followers, his disciples, um was assigned to be head of the church in Ephesus. Yes. And um Ephesus, Paul had been in Ephesus many times, uh spent a lot of time in Ephesus, and but Paul was a traveling evangelist. So he intentionally only stayed at certain places for a certain time. Ephesus was one of the places he stayed at the longest. Um but he was familiar with the people, he loved the people, he poured his heart into that church. He needed someone he could really trust to take over and be the kind of the overseer of that church. Um and we see in these letters, uh first and second Timothy, that we don't know Timothy's age, but we see that he was a younger person. And I think that says something very significant about Paul's insight into leadership, that he would put a younger person, okay, we don't know, it could be his 30s or 40s, into the leadership in such an important role. Um, I learned this a long time ago. Someone's chronicle chronological age does not equal their spiritual maturity. I've seen some very young people in their teens that are very spiritually mature, and I've seen some older people that are not. You think they might be because they've been, you know, around a long time, but they're not. And and so Paul had some insight, and I think one of the leadership principles, before we even get to any of the chapters, is that Paul saw something in Timothy that print Timothy probably didn't even see in himself. Yeah, and that was potential. Yeah, and and so he counted on that potential, and so we see here as we begin the book of 2 Timothy, he starts right off encouraging him. And Paul was such a phenomenal encourager. I think that was one of his greatest leadership characteristics. He was always encouraging people. Um now he would stand up to people, you know, when he thought they were wrong, but for the people that he chose to be leaders, he would encourage them, praise them, you know, just on and on and on. Because he knew leadership is tough. Being on the top of something, you know, being the leader, it's tough. And you come you come against all kinds of challenges and difficulties and stresses that other people don't even realize. And Paul knew that. So he put someone who he believed could handle it, even though Timothy was young. I think that says a lot for uh Paul, but I would challenge those of you who are listening, do not um neglect or discount a young person as being someone who has the real potential to be great leadership in your team.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

Yeah, 100%. And he even says it in there, you know, Paul reminds uh Timothy that fear is not to govern his ministry. So uh step up, you know, don't believe in yourself a lot, you know, and and that's one of the things that uh um you know we you have to have, you have to have that inner courage and and you have to have courage of your people as well.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

So yes, and so I I actually heard this uh yesterday in the sermon at the church we attend. Um and the pastor said, You need to let your faith overcome your circumstances, not your circumstances overcome your faith. Yeah. And it's like, wow, that's really powerful. And and so I believe that's what Paul was saying in between the lines. He knew that there's gonna be some people in in Ephesus that were gonna go against Timothy because of his age or inexperience or whatever. He said, No, you know, I see this faith that was in your grandmother, I see this faith that was in your mother, and now I know it's in you. Fan into flame that, and I'm behind you, even though I can't physically be with you. I'm behind you, I support you 110% all the way, and you can do this. And um, so he was just building him up, and I just think that's a great leadership.

SPEAKER_04 13:31

And and that leads into a story that you know uh it just sort of reminded me when you're talking about that. My I took my daughter this Saturday to uh we had the National Speaker Association, I'm part of the National Speaker Association, and and this is a room full of professional speakers and stuff. And she's been with me once before, my kids had. Uh, but she really wanted to go. I said I was going. She goes, Oh, I want to go to you. I'm like, not a problem. So we went. And uh she loved it. She wanted to meet everybody. She goes, Dad, I'm I'm going, I'm gonna go introduce myself to some people, right? And she was working the room, right? It was it was I'm like, all right, go. I'll be back. And um, and we had a speaker there, and his specialty is uh helping people write TEDxes and TED talks, and he's sort of specialty in getting them on to TEDx platforms and stuff. So we went through the the process of what needs to be included in your TEDx talk and all this stuff, and she's taking notes. I went and got a paper and pencil, and she's taking notes and everything. And and at the very end, he had like a little red carpet up in front, and uh he had two or three people get up there, and then she goes, I want to do this, Dad. So she raised her hand and and uh she volunteered, she was the last person, she was one of the four people now that went up and and this was this is some of the top speakers in the world, right? And this would be intimidating for adults, right? And she was up there and she did her soul speech right up in front of everybody and and got her big round of applause and uh she rocked it. So you talk about that youth and that confidence and stuff, you know, it would sort of spark that in my brain, you know. She did really good. I was really proud of her.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

So it's unfortunate that some people dismiss young people because they think they don't have the potential or the talent or experience, and uh I think they just need a chance. You know, they need a chance to show what they got, and you need to be encouraging them along the way, coaching them, encouraging them, kind of give them direction, um, make them accountable, supervise them, and it'd be amazing what can happen with some of those people. It just can be. Yeah. And uh you'll look back uh after a year or so and you go, Boy, that was a good choice. So I think that's the way Paul was approaching Timothy. I mean, Timothy had known Paul for a long time, but it's like it's being like uh a follower and then being put in a place of leadership. Yeah, um, that's like you, you know, someone that works the line, you know, at your factory, and then you elevate them because you see the potential of that, you see how they work with coworkers, and you say, I I want you to be now the supervisor, yeah, and I believe you can do a really good job. Um, that you know, that's what Paul is talking about here.

SPEAKER_04 16:13

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

So we see that.

SPEAKER_04 16:15

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

Yeah. So we get into 2 Timothy. And we already talked uh, you know, about fanning into flame. I think that is really good. Uh uh leadership can be uh, you know, intimidating, um, especially uh just facing problems. It just can be. And Paul was just, you know, um encourage him, don't be ashamed of it. Verse 8, don't be ashamed of your testimony um or of me. You know, some people are gonna be critical because you know, you you know me, and and because they're gonna slam you because you're connected to me, but don't let that bother you. Just keep doing your your job.

SPEAKER_04 17:00

Yeah. And you know, one of the things that they get into is and they talk about um, you know, um, has multiple leaders, you know. They they talk about uh one of the things I put notes down here, there's uh four generations in one verse, Paul, Timothy, faithful people, and then others beyond them. And and they sort of uh uh to my my brain it sort of leads into uh succession planning, you know. Yes. And how they're setting up for success for all the way down from uh the the biblical scholars now all the way down to the youth, like we started talking about. That's a succession plan that we all need to have in and plan is uh in place as a company, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Yes, and one of the things that Paul is very consistent in, and and not just here in 2 Timothy, but in several of the letters, he's talking about, you know, he was very knowledgeable of the fact that the faith is only one generation away from extinction. And he knew that himself. And I think the the closer he got to his own death, the more he emphasized that because he was in prison. He was in prison a lot for standing up for his faith. But he was saying, Okay, I can't do this anymore, I'm in prison. But Timothy, the faith doesn't stop with you. You need to find, as as he said, you need to find faithful people who then will teach others. And uh so you're always having a leadership uh strategy for the next generation and uh the next person, the next something. Uh you always got to be thinking. You don't think a month ahead, you th you might think 10, 15, 20 years ahead, who's gonna be next in line? Who you always be thinking that and you start training them because sometimes you you need someone to be in the position, you know, vice president or whatever for five, six years before they're ready to step up. Right. Some organizations have a lot of complexity, and you need to train them, you know, to do that. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:02

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Yeah. And I think what you're saying here also is is a good point about the succession plan because um here in the notes we have it says that good leaders do not just perform, they reproduce. Yeah. And and I like I was telling you before we started, there was a small booklet, I think it was back in the 90s, it was very popular. I don't remember the author, but I do remember the title because it was so powerful. It was called Born to Reproduce. Right. And it was talking about Christianity and the fact that you know we're born by the Spirit of God into a new life with Christ. Um, and I'll just stop here for a second. If if any of you are listening have not experienced that uh relationship with Jesus, reach out to us. I'd be more than glad to, you know, communicate with you in a way that you're comfortable with about what that means as far as far as have Jesus as your savior. So uh be more than glad to spend time uh talking to you about that, emailing you, texting, whatever it takes. Uh you ask the questions and we'll respond. But the book was called Born to Reproduce, and it talks about the very thing that we're talking about, that Paul's talking about right here in this in this book, and that is um the faith is one what one generation away from extinction. And so Christians are not just born to be of faith for themselves, they need to be always thinking about how can I help pass the faith on to the next generation. And so Paul's using that example basically um very clearly and saying, hey, it's not just the faith, you're not just passing on faith. You're you need to pass on leadership skills, you need to pass on leadership qualities, you need to pass on those kind of things so that there's always someone um in authority to perpetuate the faith.

SPEAKER_04 20:57

Yeah, and you know, uh uh to to add to that, um, Paul uses um three images, something about it. Um there was like a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer. Yes. Can you expand on that a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Well, the soldier, you know, um teaches focus. Focus, right? Focus. Uh an athlete uh teaches discipline, and a farmer teaches patience. And I think a good leader has all three of those. They have focus on their mission, they have discipline uh in their lives to make sure that happens. Um so many people spend so much of their day uh on their phone or doing the, you know, if you have a A B and the old, you know, Cubby thing, A, B, and C, they do the C stuff. Uh I heard the other day if you want to have a good day, look at all of your list of things to do. Do your hardest one before now the big rock. Do the big one first, yeah, and then everything else might get done, it might not. Get done. But if you put off the big thing till the end, sometimes it never happens. And then you'll have it the next day. So, so discipline and then patience. Yeah. Um, patience and humility, you know. And so I just think those are great characteristics that Paul outlines here for leadership principles. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:20

So that's awesome. Um, let's see what else we have in here on all my great notes here.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Well, you know, one of the things that Paul says here in uh Second Timothy 2 was about integrity, integrity, accuracy and integrity in handling the word of God. Um and and so think about a leader, and you you're you're now you're a new leader of a company, you might not own the company, but but you're a one a manager or whatever. You you're not free to reshape the mission of the company.

SPEAKER_04 22:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

You know, you're you're there to pass on the mission of the company, not to reshape it, redefine it. You're there to pass it on. And so um the same that's what Paul's saying as far as scripture. Scripture is scripture. Now think about it. He had a letter, but they also had the old testament. That the new testament hadn't been put together yet, um, hadn't been wasn't put together for quite a while. Um, but they relied on the Old Testament. So you don't take the scripture and manipulate it to say what you want. You look at the what it says over time, and and that's and you keep accurate record of that and have integrity with it. Let's take a little side side.

SPEAKER_04 23:36

Let's go. You mentioned that. Do some of the scholars when was the book accessible to a lot of people on the Old Testament, or was it very few, or you know what I'm saying? Because you just mentioned all of the that was around. So I mean, I and in theory, this was a long time, so there had to be manuscripts and stuff that were put together. But I'm just sort of curious how how that correlation is.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

It's been a long time since seminary, so I don't remember this. That's a great question, though. Um, but the old testament scrolls were not accessible to the common person. Okay. Okay. They were there in the synagogues. Okay. But the one thing about Jewish faith that is so amazing is that they would be young people before their bar mitzvah that would be reading and memorizing so much of the Old Testament. Um, Paul had such a brilliant mind. He had memorized, we don't know this for 100% accuracy, but I wouldn't doubt if he memorized the whole Old Testament. Because he was just a scholar, he grew up as a Pharisee. He he was trained by the best of the best to be a Pharisee. And so he knew the law backwards and forwards. He could quote scripture off the top of his head because he grew up with it from the from just being an infant. Um, and he was that way. Um, and he used that in a not good way. Uh at the beginning of his what we see in the book of Acts, chapter eight and nine. Um, he used the scripture to persecute Christians because he thought he was doing the will of God. Then he had this encounter in Acts chapter nine on the road to Damascus, totally changed his life around. He used the same scripture now to say just the opposite, but he he had such a knowledge of scripture that he could go into a synagogue, which he did on his travels. That was their way of thinking. He'd go into a synagogue, and he would, it was a visiting, you know, rabbi. And so he would be allowed to speak and he would talk about Jesus. Uh, he would take a scripture that they were reading, whatever it might be, and he would work it in and talk about Jesus. And just an amazing scholar. So this would be the thing that I would encourage people to do. The scripture says that we should always be ready to give our testimony. The more you know scripture, the more you know the Bible. You might not be able to quote the address, as my kids would say. You know, you might have to look it up. You know, what does where does this say of this? Okay, fine. But if you know it, when things happen, you can actually quote scripture. And it's better if you know the address, if you know the verse and you know, the chapter and the verse. Yeah, but don't let that hold you back. Because you can always take your phone and look it up now. Right, you know, you couldn't do that 20 years ago. You had to look at a concordance and that's for a while. You couldn't haul around a concordance with you. But now you have one on your phone. Uh-huh. And so uh, but the more you know scripture, the more I think you can defend the faith. And and so Paul was just an expert at that. And he's encouraging Timothy, have integrity with the word, you know, know the scripture. So when you hear a false teaching, you know, you will know it's false. And that's what I read about uh, I think it's the FBI or Secret Service that study currency. And how do they know a fake? Because they study the real thing. So when they see a fake, they know it's a fake. And that's what Paul is saying here. Hey, study the scripture, know it backwards and forwards. So when you know someone is speaking an untruth, you can call them out and say, no, that's not true. This is what the scripture says. So yeah, Paul's just trying to pass the integrity of the scripture. If we don't keep the scripture with integrity, it will be watered down. Oh, sure. In in one or two generations. Very easy. That's true with the with the vision and mission of any organization. If you don't keep reminding people what it is, how do you what are you doing now that fulfills the mission of this organization? It's going to be watered down, people are going to forget, they're going to do their own thing, and that's never healthy for an organization.

SPEAKER_04 27:50

And I think they get that in the uh Bible rewrites and stuff, right? A lot of purists are like, no, don't use that one. It's too watered down or too common language or whatever. I, you know, that's just my my comment of what I hear, you know, and just is, you know, sort of the thought out there in the world, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:07

Well, yes, but here's the thing. I would encourage if what people want to read the Bible, go to a Bible book store or a store that has Bibles. Go to one that has 20 or 30 different versions and or translation, and just read one that fits you. Okay? It could be the living Bible. It doesn't matter. Just read the Bible. Now, if you want to get in some serious study, you might need a different type of Bible. You might need a study Bible, you might need a concordance, you might need something else. I remember still one of the best classes, probably the best class I ever took in seminary, even though I had like six years of Greek, was translating the book of Romans from the Greek to the English. I learned so much that I just wouldn't have known from studying the original language. It was phenomenal. And some of that still sticks with me today, you know, a few years after graduation.

SPEAKER_04 29:06

One or two.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

But there are tools out there that are available for you to study. If you don't know the Hebrew or you don't know the original language, the Greek or Aramaic, okay. Don't sweat about it. You can find stuff online now that's very accessible, and you can dive deep as much as you want to. And I would say, hey, if you have any questions about any of that, uh give me you know, give me an email here on the website, you know, Biblical Leadership Show.com. Just write us, find the uh email on the website, write us, we'll respond, we'll get into a conversation about it. Um, when we get into the book of Hebrews in a couple weeks, there is in chapter six very uh interesting passage that's um significant difference of opinion uh from different denominations. Okay, let's have a discussion about chapter six. Is it once saved, always saved, or is it not? So that's been around for a long, long time. Well, let's have a discussion about it. Um and or if there's anything else about this, uh then let's have a discussion about it. So you can do a lot of research on yourself by yourself. Yeah. Um and so we get into, you know, we go chapter three, um, and uh I think one of the most significant verses in the entire Bible is in chapter three. Yeah, it's it's pretty significant, and and and and Paul says this in in verse chapter three, verse 16 to 17. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. That is so powerful. In fact, he's saying the Bible is true. The Bible is true. Um and and I think a lot of people get the teaching, reproof, correction, they and training. They get the focus on that. I really think the the last three words are the most important. Training in righteousness. Yeah. Now, so many times we see in the Old Testament, especially in the book of Leviticus, that God's saying, Hey, be holy as I am holy. And how are we going to do that? What's our standard? What's our model? What's our how do we live a holy and righteous life? Um, part of it is reading the scripture.

SPEAKER_04 31:29

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:30

So yeah, I saw a thing on that where they were all the uh from Old Testament to New Testament, how all the connections are. They're like 3,000 different connections and 30,000 is some silly. Yeah, it was crazy how much the architecture of the Bible set up. It's it's pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

So yeah, and we uh in a couple weeks when we get into the book of Hebrews, you could read that and not understand it very much at all unless you know the Old Testament. So we'll get into that. A lot of Old Testament imagery, a lot of Old Testament, it's not a coincidence. God doesn't do anything by you know randomly, he does it on a purpose. And um, and so we'll get into all that here in a couple weeks.

SPEAKER_04 32:15

I like it.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Okay. And so we get into uh chapter four here. And um Paul is just encouraging um he says this as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering. I I think what a great encouragement. Uh any leader who's gonna take their leadership seriously is gonna have is gonna have problems and stress. And and you're gonna sometimes you suffer it, but from your employees, they they mock you, they speak about you behind your back. Um, but if you truly believe it, just don't give in. Yeah. Now you can listen to them, you might change your mind. I I've had to do that, I've done it, and and the staff was right, okay. Um, but you you just want to not be uh influenced by gossip. Right. You know, it just no, that's not good. So that's what Paul is saying to Timothy. Yeah, yeah. And then he's saying, finish well. He does, finish strong. Um and and Paul said, What incredible, you know, last couple of words. He says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:34

Yeah, he's um he's he's foreshadowing some of the things that he thinks is coming in his life, I would have to assume, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Yes. And he's not claiming perfection, he's just declaring faithfulness. You know, I have been as faithful as I could be with God.

SPEAKER_04 33:50

Yeah, he stayed in the race, right? He finished, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:53

He finished.

SPEAKER_04 33:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

And um he didn't give up. He he went through a lot. Some of us can't even imagine what he went through as far as beatings and shipwrecks and stoning and uh you know, jail time, put in prison by himself in the dungeons for you know years. Uh and he didn't ever say, Hey, I'm gonna give up on God. No, because God never gives up on us. No matter how far we stray, God never gives up on us.

SPEAKER_04 34:24

The Lord doesn't abandon his servants.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

No, he does not. Yeah, and so and one last thing. Uh Paul says in the chat, we'll go back to chapter two. We need to be vessels of honor. I think what a powerful word that is. Um just vessels of honor. And inside and outside the office, our whole lives need to be lived uh with that in mind. And and so that you have a good reputation uh with your people, um, you have integrity with your people, what you say you actually do. Uh I just think that uh Paul is outlining that leadership is not just about skills, it's about character. And he's trying to make sure that Timothy understands that uh as he moves forward with uh the leadership of the Church of Ephesus.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

Right. Keep the faith.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Yeah, yeah. All right, okay, so uh wow, time for Jad jokes. Yes, and I know I've said this probably five times in the last couple of years, but you know, I'm reading a book about anti-gravity, and it's just impossible to put down.

SPEAKER_04 35:41

Oh, he's recycling some of the good ones, right?

SPEAKER_00 35:44

Yeah, I had to recycle that one. Here's a new one. Where do you find a cow with no legs?

SPEAKER_04 35:54

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

Right where you left it. Oh, that was actually pretty good. Okay, so what did the mountain climber name his son?

SPEAKER_04 36:05

Uh-oh. Um Cliff. I was going with pinnacle or something.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

So hey, can I tell you a kit a cat joke?

SPEAKER_04 36:18

Yeah. Just kidding. Oh, you're on a quick roll.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

Oh yeah. Have you heard about the new broom?

SPEAKER_01 36:33

No. I was trying to really think about this one.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

You should, because it's really sweeping the nation.

SPEAKER_04 36:40

Oh boy. Why is it a bad idea to eat a clock?

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Why is it what?

SPEAKER_04 36:46

A bad idea to eat a clock.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 36:50

It's just so time consuming.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

So time consuming. Oh my goodness. Okay. Here's here's maybe one last one before the last one. Okay. How do you make a piece of bread feel good?

SPEAKER_04 37:07

Uh toast it.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

You butter it up. You butter it up, right?

SPEAKER_04 37:13

Yeah, you butter it up. Yeah. I got one more in there, I got I know you. 313. 340, just right there, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:22

So I'm not really big into buying sweaters, but you know, this time of year, it's getting hot in Texas, and all that stuff's on sale. All the winter stuff's on sale. Yes, it is. So I was at the store the other day and I bought a sweater, I put it on, but it kept picking up static electricity. And so I took it back to the store and was hoping they would give me another one free of charge.

SPEAKER_03 37:54

All righty.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

All right, we'll stop right there.

SPEAKER_04 37:57

All right, guys. Uh like, share. Take us to somebody who likes to uh eye roll or groan as the definition of dead jokes out. Uh and uh like us, follow us, uh send us an email, whatever it might take. Hit us up, biblical leadership show.com. Other than that, Dr. B, hey, thank you for joining us. Make it a great day. Make it a great day. Bye.