Paul cautioned Timothy, “…know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be LOVERS OF THEMSELVES, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, LOVERS OF PLEASURE RATHER THAN LOVERS OF GOD, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people TURN AWAY!” (2 Tim. 3:1-5) Those who have turned away from God and turned to pleasing themselves, doing only what feels good and thinking always and only of themselves, is a very real last days issue. Look at all of these “self” issues Paul mentions to Timothy.
One disturbing thing to me, as a former pastor, is that only about 5% of today’s churchgoers pay tithe. What will it take for us to wake up??? I have heard some people say it will take something like the coronavirus with 3,558,893 Cases and 247,973 deaths, worldwide and from April 1st to May 2nd from about 5,000 to as high as 8,429 people a day have died. WHAT MUST WE DO???
Timothy and us as well, we, “…must CONTINUE in the things which YOU HAVE LEARNED and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood YOU HAVE KNOWN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, which are able to MAKE YOU WISE for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that THE MAN OF GOD MAY BE COMPLETE, THOROUGHLY EQUIPPED FOR EVERY GOOD WORK.” (2 Tim. 3:14-17)
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham