PART 9: Know This–At the End of Time There Will Be A Reduction In Spiritual Power Because A Gospel Will Be Preached That Is Easy & Not Full of Miraculous Power! 2 Timothy 3:1-4

“Unloving” (astorgo) means devoid of affection or HARDENED toward others or in situations with others.

Unloving as a concept is when things like over-analyzing; over-thinking; over-critiquing; over-disciplining take over. “The greatest of these is LOVE” is meant to help us attend to the need to be balanced. OVER-DOING is imbalanced and causes an atmosphere of impatience.

Impatience is manifest in short temperedness; hardness on yourself or others; not affirming others; taking others for granted; not being appreciative.

Bottom line: TREAT OTHERS AS IF THEY ARE GOD’S MOST PRICELESS AND PRECIOUS TREASURE CREATED IN HIS IMAGE.

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PART 8: Know This–At the End of Time There Will Be A Reduction In Spiritual Power Because A Gospel Will Be Preached That Is Easy & Not Full of Miraculous Power! 2 Timothy 3:1-4

“Unholy” (anoisioi) means to be profane or wicked.

There are many ways to be profane, not just using curse words. An attitude or action can often be profane. Behavior towards others can be wicked if you mean to harm someone. Harming another can be physical or emotional/mental.

Retaliation is often justified by those who accuse, but in God’s World it is wicked AND profane. Jesus teaching was to “return good for every action of evil against you.”

PART 6: Know This–At the End of Time There Will Be A Reduction In Spiritual Power Because A Gospel Will Be Preached That Is Easy & Not Full of Miraculous Power! 2 Timothy 3:1-4

“Ungrateful” (acharistos) means unpleasing; ungrateful.

ENTITLED is a modern attitude that is present in our culture. The idea that someone is “entitled” is the idea that “they deserve it–JUST BECAUSE–(THEY DESERVE IT). The more one feels entitled, generally speaking, the more and more the feeling of deserving something grows. The more entitlement grows, the less spiritual power because humility is missing.

Self-empowered is another way to express ungratefulness in an atittude.

“Privileged” is another.

The expectation of others needing to please me, appease me, or bless me rounds out the spirit of the ungrateful.

PART 6: Know This–At the End of Time There Will Be A Reduction In Spiritual Power Because A Gospel Will Be Preached That Is Easy & Not Full of Miraculous Power! 2 Timothy 3:1-4

“Disobedient to Parents” (apeitheis) means UNPERSUADABLE.

This concept that reduces the spiritual power of the miraculous as part of the Advancement of the Gospel (Godliness) comes in many forms, including:

BEING UNTEACHABLE.

REMAINING UNREACHABLE.

DISTRACTED AND BEING PRONE TO DISTRACTION.

NOT ENGAGED IN LISTENING OR CARING TO LISTEN TO OTHERS.

NOT LEARNING FROM OR CARING TO LEARN FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF OTHERS.

PART 5: Know This–At the End of Time There Will Be A Reduction In Spiritual Power Because A Gospel Will Be Preached That Is Easy & Not Full of Miraculous Power! 2 Timothy 3:1-4

Abusive (blasphemos) means slanderous; cutting; impious.

Cutting people down or diminishing their contribution in any way takes its toll on the spiritual climate. The whole purpose of the Good News of Christ (or GODLINESS referred to in the 2 Timothy 3 passage) is to create a climate where people can thrive, grow, and develop. When people are cut down, torn apart, or criticized behind their back, there is a full reduction in spiritual power.

The same reduction of spiritual power occurs when people are NOT valued. When you are not actively affirming and giving people value, you are in effect “devaluing” them.

Cutting people down/devaluing them flows many different ways from making fun of others, mocking others, or making others feel small in any way.

PART 4: Know This–At the End of Time There Will Be A Reduction In Spiritual Power Because A Gospel Will Be Preached That Is Easy & Not Full of Miraculous Power! 2 Timothy 3:1-4

“Arrogant” (hyperephanoi) means appearing above others. When a person, church, or organization thinks they simply “do it better” than anyone else, it is arrogance. This kind of arrogance reduces spiritual power causing a dangerous spiritual climate for anyone close by.

The kind of spiritual salvation that gets preached has no true miraculous or supernatural power becomes there is no room for it when people feel like they do it better–Or: they know it better–Or: they believe they are better. This kind of attitude comes across as–“we don’t need your help, you need our help.” (Except in terms of money, then they ALWAYS need your help).

PART 3: Know This–At the End of Time There Will Be A Reduction In Spiritual Power Because A Gospel Will Be Preached That Is Easy & Not Full of Miraculous Power! 2 Timothy 3:1-4

“Boastful” (alazones) means a braggart; an attention getter; a profile raiser. When a person, church, or organization is raising its own profile (or drawing attention to themselves), IT IS NOT THE LIVING GOD WHO IS BEING GLORIFIED (lifted up). The reduction of spiritual power that makes it dangerous for people to navigate comes as Ministers and Ministries seek to make things about themselves, about their organization, about raising up their profile, about showing off their good works.

A common “boastful practice” in the culture today is to photograph or video one’s good deeds and show off the results in the name of “celebrating together.” Often God’s name is thrown in, but it is clearly the profile of the organization that is being celebrated. Simply the glorification of the flesh as in, “look what we did.”

When attention getting/profile raising is active in a culture, it consumes the space the miraculous power of God would be filling.

PART 2: Know This–At the End of Time There Will Be A Reduction In Spiritual Power Because A Gospel Will Be Preached That Is Easy & Not Full of Miraculous Power! 2 Timothy 3:1-4

“Lovers of Money” (philartrai) Covetous, money grubbing, money loving, status seeking lifestyle. At the End of Time people will think more of their money than eternal destiny or even human relationships. Money will be the center of most problem issues in marriages, jobs, relationships, friendships, communities, states, and nations.

Money is only a tool that is used to Advance the Gospel. In the process of Advancing the Gospel, God provides for my daily needs to be met. Doors of opportunity open and I walk through. The Love of Money ruins God’s process and direction. The Love of Money changes my belief in the supernatural power of God into a “self-made” thinking in myself. I replace the need for God with my own skill set.

Self-made thinking denies the power of God or even the need for God in my life. When you begin to believe that you are the reason for your own destiny, you begin to cut God out of your life or make Him a “secondary” to your own intellect.

As people begin to believe their resources were of their own making, their own risk taking, their own hard work, their attention and focus comes away from the power of God and goes on the power of money. Eventually their confidence becomes in what money can do, NOT WHAT GOD CAN DO. It is spiritually dangerous and greatly weakening when a person takes the supernatural power of God out of the equation of life.

Not only should money be treated like a simple tool, it should also be seen as just a resource (among many, many other resources) that God uses to Advance the Gospel. Further, everything I have or ever will have comes from and belongs completely to God. When you turn everything over to God and consciously belief that you are only a temporary custodian of God’s gifts, you will return the supernatural power back to the Gospel the way God intends.

PART 1: Know This–At the End of Time There Will Be A Reduction In Spiritual Power Because A Gospel Will Be Preached That Is Easy & Not Full of Miraculous Power! 2 Timothy 3:1-4

“For men will be lovers of themselves” (philauto) SELFISH. Because people will be selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed, and self-concerned, the Power of God will be diminished in their lives. When you lack the belief in the super natural power of God, you won’t acknowledge the super natural power of God, and if you never acknowledge God working and moving your eyes will not be open to see God. In this case, because your eyes are primarily upon YOU.

“Do unto others the way you would have do unto you, sums up all the law and the prophets.” –Jesus (from His Sermon on the Mount)–at the End of Time, according to Paul’s letter to Timothy, the spirit of the age will be the opposite of this “Golden Rule.” People will do only unto themselves what they want.

Selfish people always put themselves first, never really seeing the needs of others. When they do notice the needs of others, they still think their own needs are more important. “Neediness” is often the fruit of the selfish life.

We need to fight against all forms of selfishness, by humbling ourselves–making myself smaller and others LARGER. Jesus teaching on following after Him was to “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow.” Deny yourself. I have to die, so that Jesus can live in/through me. Dying to self is dying to selfishness. God first, Others second, Me third. Restore the supernatural power of God in your life, in your home, in your world by dying to you and living in him!

Know This! Introduction

My long time friend and Bible Teacher, Doug Miller, shared a passage with me recently. Even though I have written a book on I & II Timothy, (II Timothy 3: 1-4) really gripped me as he read it. “But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self control, brutal, without love of good, traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of Godliness but denying it’s power. HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THESE PEOPLE.”

Immediately I went to work on the exegesis of the passage and it has really held on to my heart. The context is layered. “Know this, in the final period of time”, (chalepoi) A REDUCING OF SPIRITUAL POWER WILL REDUCE YOUR STRENGTH AND MAKE THE NAVIGATION OF YOUR LIFE DANGEROUS.

What causes this loss of power putting us into a spiritual danger zone? The answer comes at the end of verse 4: “having a form of Godliness but denying it’s power.”

First, Godliness is (eusibius) meaning the virgin birth, sinless life, death, resurrection, ascending into Heaven, the Holy Spirit descending on the Day of Pentecost AND MY INVOLVEMENT IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF THESE TRUTHS.

Second, an essential part of Godliness is the belief that God works in a supernatural and miraculous sphere and function. BOTTOM LINE–at the end of time preachers and teachers will find it easier to boil down salvation to a quick fix way to feel better while not introducing people to the supernatural power of the miraculous. Not doing so will weaken us, making life dangerous to navigate.