Strengthening Family - Pt. 2

Ron Weinland

January 5, 2013

Today is the continuation of a new sermon series entitled, Strengthening Family with this being Part 2.  As we have been addressing in the last three series of sermons now, technology has had an incredible impact on mankind and there have been awesome and wonderful things produced because of technology, however, because of human nature technology has led mankind farther and farther away from the kind of life that God desires that people live.

So as we have already covered, the reality is that there are things pertaining to technology that cannot be allowed in the future because mankind cannot handle it.  There are things that have to be regulated, just as with other things in life, because, again, mankind can't deal with it properly, can't handle it properly.  Mankind as a whole cannot deal with technology without restraint.  Man needs restraint.  He needs guidelines, he needs laws.  And as we discussed already in these series of sermons, man's concept of freedom is not true freedom at all but it leads into captivity, into bondage...and so does technology if it's not used properly, and people are becoming enslaved to things that people in times past have never experienced.  We are experiencing things that people have never had to address in history and so we have to learn how to address some of these things because the reality is in the future there is going to be a ton of technology, a boom in technology in ways that we haven't even dreamed of, and we have to begin learning the right principles now, learning from the mistakes that have been made over the past hundred plus years, of the misuse of those things and how those things have also turned upside down many things in family structure and how it's had a slow and subtle affect in changes even dealing with family structure, and we need to understand those things and be aware of them so that we can, again, change a wrong course into a right course of events in the future.

In this series, 'Strengthening Family', we're discussing how family itself and right family values have been turned upside down in so many cases because of misuse of technology or subtle changes because of technology that have taken place, and some of those subtle changes, especially in the family structure, that have taken place over time has taken a long time to take place but we need to be aware of them because so many things are the exact opposite of what we should be doing when it comes to how you mold and fashion, how you grow in right family relationships.  The reality is that people are drifting farther and farther away from those right principles.

We have discussed how there has been a gradual change from an agrarian society to a kind of society that we have today and that doesn't mean that an agrarian society is better, because it isn't, it's just that there has been a change.  There has been a change and we need to understand that change, the good of it and the bad of it, to embrace the good and to change the bad so it doesn't continue on.

There is a movie that we saw a couple of weeks ago that I'm going to - I don't very often to do this.  I did this at one time having to do with some family relations, husband and wife relationships, I recommended a movie, and it was probably done by the same people...but I saw another movie here recently.  It's a 2011 drama, that's what it's listed as, a movie drama, but the title of it is 'Courageous'.  Subtly in there you will see things, you can see things - again, please understand there is a fairly strong hand of Protestantism in it, but we understand those things when we see them and we can wade through that but understand the right principles that are there of some of the things that are wrong and bad and why they're wrong and bad and how to change things for the better, to see how certain things have had an impact on society.. and I think this movie did a very good job in some of that.  It just corresponds to some of the things we're discussing in some of these series, so I recommend that movie, that if you want to watch something that has some moral principles to it, lessons that can be learned, this is a good one and hopefully those things can be learned.

So often we can watch things and see things in the world or see something like that, or even hearing sermons - we sometimes can think of other people, how things apply to them, but we don't see ourselves.  And as with sermons we always need to be asking God for help to be able to see ourselves, because that's where change begins.  All change in life has to begin with us individually, truly does.  Our response to God has to be right, we have to be making changes or we can't be a part of helping to promote proper change in the future because that has to do with teaching, whether it be directly or by example, and we need to know how to do that.  And if we don't understand it in ourselves then we can't be a right tool or instrument in God's hands for that which is better.

So again here, think about those things as you watch that...and I do highly recommend watching it.

We've started this sermon series by focusing on a very basic principle of human nature and family structure being one of sharing, with the way of work being the backbone of that structure.  It's something that can't be understated.  It's something we really need to grab hold of and understand in God's way, because God has set the example from the beginning of matters about work and family and the association there and of the matter of sharing and what these things are all about.

We're going to be covering matters of sharing later on as we begin to understand more the mind of God, as we look at things having to do with the very mind of God and what He desires for His creation - candidly, what He desires for Elohim, because that's what we're to become.  We're to grow in the very mind of God, the thinking of God, the Word of God, and this is so much about that in the sense of understanding family and family structure.  It doesn't just happen.  It doesn't just come about out of nothingness, there is a lot of work.  God has been working hard for a long time to bring us to where we are even now let alone for the work in the future.  There is a lot of work.  And so work is the backbone of structure of family, because it can't be instantly created!  It's not something that God can just create and it's there, because of the way we are, and we have to understand that.  It takes a lot of work and that work...

Sometimes when we think about work, people can think about working in the world or working at a job you don't like, but you know, God's kind of work is rewarding.  God's kind of work is fulfilling.  God's kind of work is enjoyable, it truly is. It's not like what's in the world. The world has taken out some of the reward of work, has taken away from - because of the process, because of the system, because of the structure. All that's going to change. We're going to work at changing those things. But again, with a right focus as a part of God's plan work becomes more meaningful. Work becomes more exciting, the kind of work we're talking about.

And I'm not just talking about holding down a job, I'm talking about work that you have to do in family.  Sometime when I counsel with people and talk to people and I mention work, I don't know that that concept is fully able to be grasped a hold of because we think, "Well, what kind of work are you talking about?" Then I mention certain things that have to be done and they are small things in life but it has to do with sharing, it has to do with the purpose of what you're building, and an ability to see what it is you're trying to accomplish. If we don't recognize what we're trying to build, what we're trying to accomplish then what do we know what to do? To 'do'? To 'work'? ...whatever word you want to give to it, we're talking about the same thing.

So again here, we have focused on God's purpose and His plan for Elohim and the work that's been involved over countless millennia.  We don't even know how to begin to understand that.  We can't grasp it.  We can't grasp time. The first that time began to be given any concept at all was at the very beginning of creation, and primarily as a tool for mankind to do many things, candidly, to regulate life, to be a part of the regulation of life that we have to yield to, and so much of that is still about work, what you do and what you don't do and how you do the things you do. Again, God set in structure in the very beginning there...starts out in Genesis showing us that He set apart a structure for man, a structure. We're to learn structure because it's to accomplish something. And so everything that God has done and purposed by design is to teach us great and mighty things.

So again, going back to this and thinking about it I think of what we focused upon last week when I mentioned the one verse that has so much more meaning to it than generally we read into it, or we read as we go across it, but that scripture in John 5:17 where Christ said, 'My Father works until now, and I work.'  It describes God!  ...constantly working, achieving, accomplishing!  Now, as far as things about the creation itself, He has a structure that He works with there as well, because even with the Sabbath there is more focus from God on the Sabbath than any other time, having to do with family, but it's still a form of work, just as with the Levitical system - their primary work was done around the Sabbath, the High Days of God, the Holy Days, the annual Sabbaths of God - so it is with the ministry, so much of that work, but it's a little different in that respect because it has to do with a time that is a matter of guiding and directing and instructing, and candidly, in the midst of all that, which is some of the most important of all, it affords fellowship...fellowship...in ways that the rest of the week doesn't afford within the Family of God, that's precious to God, and that takes time, it takes effort. There are things we have to do, just like we talked about at the Feast, about the importance of engaging one another, about the importance...  because we're all coming from different backgrounds and some tend to pull back more or have different things they're coming out of and some tend to be more outgoing in the sense of community or sharing thoughts and ideas (sometimes maybe too much so), so there is a balance in there for all of us to learn from in life.  And so we learn from each other, but it's a precious thing, this thing of spending time together, of fellowship, of learning about each other, of sharing experiences, especially when it comes to how God works with us in our life.

So again, we addressed some of this work that God has been doing in preparing for a time that we're at right now.  And you think of that, all the way up to the end of 6,000 years and where we are, preparing  for the work, the work that we're to be doing individually in our lives, the work in the structure of things we've been doing in God's Church as we've yielded to God's spirit leading and guiding and directing us, preparing for things that we don't fully grasp nor understand yet but strive to understand within the framework of what God has given to us, and we follow God's lead.  But He is preparing in a very powerful and a mighty way for the return, for the coming of His Son to this earth, for the establishment of His Kingdom, in ways that we don't even really grasp, far beyond our ability to understand, truly.  We're able to share in a part of that.

So again, we gave a partial concept of that, or we discussed a partial concept of that in which God has powerfully, patiently, lovingly worked to bring about His Family, to bring it to pass to this point in time.  A lot of work!  A lot of work!  And it was mentioned that...just this concept of time, and this is something that is so awesome in itself because there has been a lot of time, there's been a lot of time involved in planning and preparing and making ready for the time we're at now.  Again, our mind can't comprehend it.  And literal time, if you looked at it in earth time, in hours and days and years, of a concept of something that we can't really touch. We can barely try to grasp the concept let alone the reality of what God has been doing for millennia upon millennia upon millennia of time.

The naming of stars was mentioned, 1,000 stars per second if you were able to, if you looked at all the universe, the 20,000,000,000 (20 billion) years do so if you were able to name 1,000 per second.  But the reality is if we could name one per second, because the names would be so long, because with that many you know they're going to have long names, a lot of numbers, a lot of letters, something else in there involved to distinguish them, even that would be a task in itself, but if we were able to do that, that alone, a concept of something we can't begin to grasp.  We talked about the $16+ trillion dollars we have in the United States of debt, and you think, we don't even grasp that, and yet this concept here, if we were able to name one per second it would take 20 thousand trillion years to name them all, the reality if we were able to name one a second.

We can't grasp those things!  But to think upon that, of how Great God is and just to begin to grasp the work!  And it's all about His Family!  It's all about His Family and the future of that Family, of things that are going to be done that we have no knowledge of yet, God hasn't told us.  There have been people speculate about things, but I've found over time that speculation isn't so healthy, and that generally it's way off base, and then the excitement when God does show you something, of what is absolute that comes from Him, then the excitement is there because we see something with an understanding and a frame work that only God can reveal in His time.  So it'll become more and more exciting to us as time goes along - but it's all out there for a reason!

Everything that exists is for a purpose, and the primary purpose is His Family.  So I think of human life;  can we begin to grasp in a greater way what God wants us to learn in development of family on the earth, the importance of learning principles and truths and concepts of things, of patterns of things, of laws that regulate productivity and accomplishment?  Things don't just happen!  God created certain things, but the greater part of it has to do with the Family, which takes far more work when you talk about planning and what you're going to do and how you're going to accomplish it.  God wants us to learn those things, to be a part of it.  That's why He made us the way we are!  Even though we do it in a very small way there are things we begin to learn in this life that can be applied and magnified many times over in the future.  But the principles, the basic principles we're to be learning now.

That's why I marvel sometimes...  I think of people that talk about, "Well, I don't know how this job is going to teach me anything that God can use, or that job..."  Don't worry!  You're in God's Church, God will teach you!  Whatever it is you're working at there are lessons to be learned, that by engaging in various things that God is going to mold and fashion something within you as a result of what you're going through, but if you don't go through it what can He do?  If there are things we don't respond to how can God work with us and mold and fashion us in certain basic things that He says we should be doing?  So if we're doing various basic things then we can learn from it, but if we don't apply ourselves we can never learn the lessons.

It's like 'proving the oxen' again, if you don't go out in the field and you don't put them to work you're not going to prove them, you're not going to know what they're capable of doing.  So what is the value of that?  What is the purpose of that?  Why have them?  And so God teaches us lessons about His way of life.  He says, "Prove it!  Live this way of life!"  I think of tithing alone, of things you grow in through time.  You come to learn...  you know, God blesses and helps you.  I think of individuals who struggle with that sometimes and then things don't work out in their life and they don't realize it's because you're fighting against God!  If you'd yield to that then there are things He can help you with, but because of your disobedience you can't learn it, you can't receive the benefit of it, you can't receive the blessings from it.  And then later on in life as you mature even more you come to understand the greatest blessings of life have to do with what He gives you in this book, in His word, in the mind; that's where the riches are.  But that is a matter of obedience. It's a matter of trusting God. It's a matter of proving God's way and expanding those very basic principles that can be learned; indeed very basic, but that's how we start, that's how we learn.

Sometimes we rob ourselves and don't realize how much we rob ourselves as human beings.

So again, we focused on the command that God gave to keep the seventh day and to cease from our normal work on that day and we were given six other days, in sense, in order to accomplish our work.  And that's a basic guideline.  And so in beginning in life, in the beginning structure of life, especially as you begin a family and you're planning for various things, there is a greater load upon you to accomplish certain things at the beginning than there is later on, because the fruit and the productivity, or what you're able to reap of later on, because you don't have the same stresses upon you, because you're able to achieve and prepare and plan for retirement or whatever it might be in the future depends upon how you start this process and what you do throughout this process in life.  There are lessons to be learned from all that and we have a short time to learn it, seventy years as a whole for human beings, to go through an entire gamut of life to learn basic principles, when God's working with us, of things that will apply to eternity.  They truly will...and especially in the next 1,100 years.

So again, the point being in all this and what God showed in the very beginning about the structure of the seven day cycle is that God revealed to mankind the importance of work, the value, the importance of focus upon work as a part of life.  It's an essential part of life.  Now, God also revealed at the very beginning there is much more that we could have received if we had obeyed God, that was there, but to reap of it, to toil, the battles involved would be far less in life than what they are today, but because of sin we have brought greater toil and hardship upon us in the area of work. And so as a whole a lot of work is not enjoyable to people, because every time you go out to plant doesn't mean you're going to reap.  The weather may not be right because of man's sins.

We saw something here the other day here, called 'Infestation' or something on the animal channel - mice in Australia.  They had a plague in this one year.  They went out and they took a gamble, went ahead and tried to plant, and the mice were getting in the ground and taking the seed that was there even; it didn't work.  Yeah, some of you are shrugging and kind of shirking up there. When you see thousands and thousands of mice falling over each other on the ground and around a farm and everywhere you go and they're throughout your house and... inside and outside, everywhere you are, it kind of makes your skin crawl.  But that's a result of things we have in this life, in this world, whether it be infestation of things, of things that eat crops and so forth.  So you're not always guaranteed things and sometimes man has to work harder and sometimes man suffers more, but God didn't intend it that way from the beginning.  He showed that He would be there, but He knew what man would do...but anyway, another story, another purpose of another sermon.

Work, work-work-work, but especially when it's geared toward God's way of life it becomes more enjoyable, more fulfilling even in bad times, which I would consider the last 6,000 years to be bad times.  It hasn't been easy.  We have to do things that we don't like.  We have to be involved in things that we don't like in the world, but understanding God's plan we realize that we have to go through them to learn what we can now so that we can have a greater affect in the future, of lessons we can learn now, of things that can be more productive later on...to change this, to see man free from bondage, to see mankind begin to receive greater blessings because of obedience and doing things His way.

So again, we are to be productive in our families!  So much of what God has to say about crops even, I mentioned this, the fruit, He wants us to reap fruit, He wants us to be productive in life.  That's why the analogies of agriculture are used so much when it comes to the vineyards or to planting seeds in the field and how some reap certain fold, twenty fold, one hundred fold.  Again, it's about productivity, what you put into it is what you get out of it.  There is so much learned in life by that!  You're not going to get more out of it by putting less into it - these concept of things, we want more but we don't want to work to accomplish it or to achieve it or to plan to get it isn't God's way and it doesn't work!  It's working against laws that God has set into motion. There are laws that produce and there are laws... well, they'll produce either way; folly, nothing or something.

This is very important when it comes to learning structure and the backbone of what makes a family, what produces family and family life...and work is the backbone of it because the reality is it isn't given to us.  What would we learn if everything was handed to us, if we didn't have to go out and do anything, if we didn't have to go out and gather it, if we just come to the table and there is the food and we don't have to ever do anything - you don't have to make your bed, you don't have to wash your clothes, you don't have to clean yourself, you wake up in the morning and all of a sudden there is something that happens in the air and your body just all of a sudden is sanitized and cleansed and you just feel so refreshed, like you just stepped out of the shower!  ...and you go through these things in life.  If everything was done for you, what would you become?  Totally worthless!  Absolutely worthless, of no value to anyone!  As a matter of fact you become exceedingly selfish and expecting more, that God just give us more and more and more.  Our appetite would never be satisfied.  It would kind of be like what life is today for people, it's never satisfied, there is never real full satisfaction in life.

Things to pray about, things to think upon, things to meditate upon, to help us to better understand the very structure of things, of what God is doing and why He is doing it and what He teaches us.

So again, I think of what was shown there in the very beginning; we're to be productive in our families and to maintain and beautify what God has given us.  God gives us that charge, to keep - He addresses it as 'to dress and keep it'.  That's what those words mean.  When God gives something, the earth, whatever we have in life, He said to dress it and keep it, to value it.  That doesn't just happen; that takes work, it takes forethought. And the more you yield to that, because you see what God's giving in it, the more you receive, the more the benefit, the more the reward.

It's kind of like what I mentioned about smoking at one time.  Individuals who smoke a lot in their car, off by themselves, as a whole they smell of it and they themselves cannot smell it, unless it's a lot in the room at a particular time.  But they can't smell it on their clothes, it does something to the nose, it does something to the senses. It's like if you live close to a feedlot.  There are some cities that are close to feedlots.  I think of Lubbock, Texas, when the wind blows from the east - look out!  There were feedlots off to the east of Lubbock and we had a place where we used to meet and we had those old evaporative coolers, swamp coolers they called them, different... you know, the water drips down the side of these (some of you know what I'm talking about, some of you don't).  That's another problem with technology, we don't.... anyway, I can't go too far back.  But anyway, it was a system of keeping things a little cooler.  But when the wind is not good it comes right through the swamp cooler and is pumped right into a building.  There were times when we had Sabbath services that it wasn't real enjoyable in there, but the whole city was covered like that, with the smell of the stuff from cattle.

There are people though that work in that all the time and live around that all the time, they don't realize that when they leave there, and maybe they leave that area where they're working...  let's say they work at a feed lot, as an example, with pigs, or with cattle, or whatever, they don't realize, just like smoke, it's in their clothes, because their sinuses, their sense of smell in those things sometimes is just, it's gone with that particular smell, they get used to it.  And then they go into maybe a restaurant on the way home?  You don't want to be sitting anywhere close to them because it messes up the environment you're in.

So it is with life.  It's the mind.  Some things have to do with the very way you think.  That's why there are certain things to do with cleanliness in life, dressing and keeping something.  There may be things about dust that you see that others don't see...and you don't want to be imbalanced, there is balance in all these things as well, but it doesn't matter, in life, but your concept about cleanliness may be totally different, and generally is in life, than someone else's.  Take that step by step, farther and farther in life.  The reality is the more we dress and keep what God gives to us the more we appreciate these things that God has given, the more we can enjoy the world that God has given to us, whether it be the mowing of your lawn, whether it be having some flowers or whatever it might be, or shrubbery, you appreciate those things of God's creation.  That doesn't mean you have to have them, but if you do those things and if you keep them once they are there... you know some things you can just let them be there and they just go wild.  There is something about dressing and keeping things, manicuring or whatever it might be in life that is enjoyable...but if the mind doesn't have that, what is in the mind? I hope you understand the principles of what I'm showing here.

Unless you're doing or have done certain things to dress and keep it...  That's one thing I really appreciate when I have driven through Europe, the back roads, or even the main roads when you come across a farm, and it's so neat, it's so clean, and they build things to last.  They're beautiful!  Farms, cattle, horses, sheep, whatever it is, and it's beautiful.  Now, in contrast there are places in the United States you can go and travel and you come to something, because we have more property, more land, and there is a different mentality, there are times when people have... I think of this one show on TV...what is it when they go around this archeology, 'American Pickers'.  Have any of you ever seen that show?  They drive around, and the main thing they look for is junk!  They like to pick through junk to find old signs, old cars, old motorcycles, old bicycles, anything old so they can take it back.  Anyway, this is what they look for!  Well, you don't see that in Europe! Those pickers, if they went to Europe, would have a tough time, because they would drive a long, long time before they found something that was junky, to say, "Oh, there's a place we can go pick, we can go through their junk."  Because they don't have it.

I don't know that I've ever seen anything junky over there in all my driving in it ever, on farms.  It's so refreshing!  I appreciate it. I enjoy that. What do you think God thinks about that?  How do you think when God looks down upon His creation He sees people that value what they've been given, that they appreciate keeping something beautiful, keeping it pleasing?  Because when I see something like that driving through some places in the U.S. and I see all the junk out there I think...  I can understand why... was it Mrs. Johnson, she was the one that passed this thing about building fences around junkyards.  She was the one that pushed this because it was eyesores in junkyards and stuff where you have cars.  You have to deal with them somewhere so she was instrumental in instigating laws, in bringing about laws to have fences put around, these larger fences so they wouldn't be such an eyesore.

There are things to be learned about the very mind itself.  It's such a powerful blessing, awesome blessing, and a powerful thing that God has given to us, to be used in a powerful way to good, or in a powerful way to evil, and it has to do with the way we think. God wants us to think about things in the way that He's given us, to appreciate things that are there, to maintain, to keep up things that He's given to us, because it does something to the mind, it really does.  What you do with it, what you have, whether you value it. What will happen in the future when you're given more?  'He who is faithful in a little...' that's the principle.  If we don't understand how to value, to take care of something that's small in life, what is happening to a mind if it were to be given more power?  What happens to an individual if they're given more influence over others? ...with others? And so there are things here that God teaches us in human life that we're to grow in, that we can have multiplied many times over into the future.  But the principles we need to be learning now, that's what God's Church is about.

I spent a little more time on that than what I intended, but hopefully we grasp more fully here the preciousness, if you will, of the mind and how there is thinking going on and how we think is...that's what we are! And things that surround us in life reflects how we think, what we are. God wants us to understand this. This is awesome, this is powerful indeed, to understand where people are coming from and how they think and what they value and so forth in life.

So again, if we fail to do as God commands, if we fail to be productive, if we fail to plan ahead... planning is so much involved. God teaches us powerfully so, you've got to plan ahead! That's why this thing of waiting around right now for the Millennium to come is a bunch of garbage, in some respects, if you misuse it. Now, I understand there are some things that maybe we're waiting for that we want to see done then, that we are intending to accomplish then, but that doesn't stop you now! ...even with the little time  we have!  And I don't care if it's a little time or a lot of time...and maybe, what if God gives you more - so be it! You better learn these lessons and apply these things more deeply than ever before! Now, I hope and pray that doesn't happen for the sake of God's Church, candidly, but God's in charge and He knows exactly what He's doing with His Church, okay? So we yield ourselves to that process! So whether it be a short time or a long time, that doesn't change, as a whole, the way you are to live. We're always to plan ahead.

I've been thinking about that.  I thought, "What a contrast of something, how we live now compared to how we lived when my wife and I got married." At that time we were told to plan ahead ten years. That was basically the rule of thumb, keep planning ahead, and farther, but basically, especially a focus that ten years in advance here, planning, making sure that you have things planned ahead at least that far and farther, because of retirement and other things, and so you did plan ahead and things in the like, but especially a strong focus in ten years of what you're going to accomplish and what you wanted to do and how you wanted to do it. And then that changed in time, it became 5-10 years because, in other words, we realize that Christ is...that time is coming sooner and so some of the things we did were focused more in that regard. And I think of us now, we realize some of our plans are going to change when the Millennium gets here, but this concept of planning ahead in the basic things we're to learn in life, that doesn't change, it really doesn't, whether it be 5 years, 10 years, 5 months, 50 years. There are things you must plan ahead in life depending on where you are in life at any point in time.

That's why I've tried to encourage young people especially, plan ahead! You say, "Well, what do I study, because I probably won't use that in the future?" Well, most of what you go to college and learn you don't use anyway. That's a reality! But what you learn by doing it, by going through it, and by what is given in the mind, of things you will learn - you may not apply everything but the fact of learning and the broadening of your horizons, of your mind, of the thinking process there, you're going to not receive in any other way when it comes to something like that. Or of a voc-tech school, or something like that, whatever it is you do, to apply yourself to it and to learn. Maybe you won't use all those things, but the experience of what happens in your mind and what you receive from it, there are things you're going to receive there, especially as a matter of God's Church, that you're not going to receive anywhere else.

Same thing in any kind of occupation.  Maybe it isn't the  job you intend to have for the future, maybe it's the farthest thing from it! I'm talking about those things that are legal and right in life. But the principles of things you're going to learn about people, about interacting with people, things that even whether it be about the educational system, of how things work, on and on it goes. When it comes to God you know what? God can teach you things! Some things that He reveals to you that should never be done in the future. A lot of my training has been about things that are definitely not God's way, that have to be changed, and on and on it goes. Always lessons in life because God does the molding and fashioning in your mind, but you have to yield yourself to it, you have to be doing something for Him to do that. And in this world, and in the past 6,000 years, people have had to do things for God to work with them - it's not a matter of sitting back and letting God bring everything to you, and it won't be that way in the Millennium.

So, we need to plan ahead.  Planning, you'll learn from that, producing fruit, producing something, you'll learn from that, interacting with others, you will learn from that, and on and on it goes, lessons that can be learned in life by no other means.

And so we went through Proverbs 6:6 - just a reminder here, where God gave the example - Go to the ant, you 'sluggard',  again, that word means 'slothful', or 'sluggish', or 'lazy'.  It means 'to avoid, avoiding work'.  That's isn't the way God made us, to avoid things, to not be productive; on the contrary.  I'm not going to go through all this again, but the principles are there, and the reason they're mentioned there is because this can be a part of human life where God doesn't want us to be that.  This, in one respect, is the message to the Church of Laodicea.  It was, spiritually so, this is physical application that can be learned in Proverbs 6, and if it can't be learned physically there you're definitely never going to learn it spiritually.  You know, there are some things you learn physically, that if you don't learn that you can't learn the spiritual, because the principles, the foundation, the formation are the same.  Physical family, spiritual Family - what are we to learn?  What are we to do in it?  The principles and things that make it right and good are the very things that make it right and good in God's Church and then in God's Kingdom and on and on it goes.

Let's continue on today by looking at 2 Thessalonians now to see how much stronger God actually becomes in showing us the importance of planning ahead and seeking to be productive in life through work, because work is a major part of human life, it truly is.  It's an area where God will teach us and work with us and mold and fashion things in us.  I don't care what it is, I don't care where it is, there are things that God will work with us and teach us.

Going through this sermon now and looking at some of these things and recognizing where technology has take us in life and what it's been producing; it's been producing, when it comes to work, a lot of the technology we have today has been producing the opposite in the sense of an effect of what our human tendency is.  The spending of time in a way that is so easily to be taken in a way that gives total laxness and wasting of time, non-productive time, let's put it that way, this concept of mind almost of being entertained or whatever it is on a continuing basis in life.  It's available out there!  But again, when you begin life there are things that you learn in balance in life - you have to - how some of those things are used later on in life becomes another issue depending on what you have prepared and what you have planned for.  But all along the way there are always going to be lessons to be learned at whatever age you are, but please understand the power of technology that's being misused out there today.

Some have sent me some different jokes in some cases, I had some 'Dear Abby' things sent to me the other day, I read some of those about how this husband and wife, this husband is asking, a couple of them actually sending in a couple different times asking for help because they even go out to eat and the wife is texting people and then giggling, and the husband is wanting to have some kind of a conversation there and she's not even sharing what she's getting in the texts.  It's this private life!  Here she is, a wife of a husband, or vise versa, because it happens both ways, or it happens with both because they're both in their own little world and here they are texting their friends, other friends, and you think, well, who is supposed to be the closest friend in life you have besides the one that is sitting right there with you that you should be sharing with?  And yet they're asking, "Well, what should I do?  Should I address them?  Should we have certain time outs that we shouldn't be using those things?"  Absolutely!  But anyway, stupid, stupid questions...but it shows what the misuse technology can do.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 - Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;  This is powerful because it puts powerful authority in it.  This has to do with the ministry.  He's saying this authority is given in the ministry because it's in the name of...He's not here, we are, we are being led by Him, by Jesus Christ, by God Almighty. These things are being inspired within the Church, this is being given to the ministry, and so understand where this is coming from.  Sometimes in life, if we're not careful, when we hear things that are given to the us in the Church we can begin to think, "Well, now, that's the way he sees it."  I've had things like that happen to me over the last 30 some plus years being in the ministry, when I've had feedback, and somebody says, "This is what this person thinks..." or they'll even tell me, "That's your opinion."  They don't see God's spirit and how God works.

Now we command you, brethren, in the name; so, it's not only a suggestion, it's an exhortation.  This word has a lot of meaning, purpose to it, but it boils down truly to a command.  In other words, what is being told to the Church from God through the ministry as command, this is what you're to do, this is how you're to do it.  So these verses are starting  out with powerful authority, that's the point of this, of what I'm saying.

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, they didn't just say, "We command you..." they're showing where the authority comes from and the power of this to do this, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks 'disorderly'; now, this comes from a word that simply means, 'out of order, out of place'; there is a way of life that God has given us that is orderly.  His way of life is one that's indeed a matter of order, structure.  Family is a matter of order and structure and God is teaching us about those things.  And so He's saying here, in essence, when it comes to the Church, which is a Family, it's His Family, and someone is not walking in the way they should be walking, doing it in a different way, not in order.  It's just like marching.  We talk about marching around Jericho.  They did it in an orderly way!  God gave very distinct, very explicit, I guess is a better word, instruction of how to do it, where people were to march, of where they were to be lined up and everything else.  And so in life the structure of the Church is very much like that.  There is that which God gives and we're to go and do things in a certain way.  And so even here, like in marching, it's done in an orderly fashion.

And so He says, withdraw yourselves, that has to do with fellowship, that has to do with association.  He says, withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly, in other words, out of order, out of place, is not in unity, is not in harmony; and the word literally means 'being disorderly, unruly, undisciplined'.  God wants us to learn discipline in life.  And we'll always struggle with that as human beings.  Everyone is different in different things of life, and so there is much to be learned about learning discipline, primarily the doing of things God's way, that kind of discipline in life.

...and not after the tradition, in other words, that which has been handed down, is what it means here.  So there are things handed down within the Church.  There have been things handed down, obviously, in this book here since the beginning of time, but especially in the Church when you talk about the structure of the Church and things that were given to Peter, to John, to Paul and so forth, things that were written down and handed down into the Church of a way, of how we function as a Church, and then there are things that happened during Worldwide that God gave in order of various things depending of what was being done or how it was being done at a particular time, depending on what the focus of the work was and what we were doing at that particular time, and sometimes some of that changes.

But that's a matter of government within the Church depending on what God is doing at any moment in time, just like this matter of 'the gospel going out in the world as a witness unto all nations and then the end will come'.  Well, there are different Church groups or scattered groups who have felt like they had to continue doing what Mr. Armstrong did.  I think of the very beginning after the apostasy, it was like, well, we've got to have a telecast, we've got to have a 'Plain Truth', we've got to have 'Tomorrow's World'; it's like we've got to have these things because, why?  Because that hasn't been done yet, Mr. Armstrong hasn't fulfilled that yet so we've got to keep doing, not understanding, no, we went into the next verse, Matthew 24:15, talking about the abomination of desolation and destruction of the Temple and so forth.

So again here, there are things that are handed down.  There is a way to do things, just like I'm getting ready to send out an email here, an email through the EMC to all the ministry again reminding them of certain things about how to put things as far as recording of individuals who are coming into fellowship in an area that aren't always being put out there or seeing that they're put on the system, or baptisms and things about baptism that we need to focus upon - so things are done in an orderly unified manner.

So again here, things that are handed down, which you have received of us. For yourselves know how you ought to follow us: for we... and so he's getting very specific here and he's going to go into an area now of something that is a difficulty of a matter having to be addressed in the Church, but there are principles to learn through this as we go through this and we're going to focus on it then.  So he says, You know how you ought to follow us; in other words, whether it be those things that are taught or even by example, because Paul mentions this over and over again.  There are things he did at times that were unique in the Church because he would travel to areas and begin preaching and new people would come along.  And they're coming out of the world, they don't even know about Christ, they don't know anything about, sometimes, in this book at all.  The Gentiles, that's who he went to and he had to start from scratch, and so he started in many cases, teaching some of the most basic, some of the most simple things in the Church, and sometimes there were certain difficulties at certain areas, like Corinth.  They all had different personality because of a society that was there and Paul was constantly addressing different battles. And what was amazing in all this is God teaching so many things about human nature from so many, because there are so many differences that can be used through time in His Church.

He says, ...but you know yourself how you ought to follow us, for we have not behaved ourselves disorderly, in other words, the example is there of an orderly way to live, to walk, of what life should be like and so forth.  And so anyone that has been in the Church for a length of time should be an example to those who are new and coming along, that this is what we do and this is how we do it or this is the custom within the Church, because this is what we live, this is what we do and so people latch onto that very quickly as a whole, and especially then even more so in the responsibility there with the ministry, that that example be there.  Not of a wrong way!  What a horrible thing!

What did some people see in times past?  I think of this exact area specifically when I was here, and I think of people who came along and they learned that the ministry is way up here, and that they're way down here.  Even if you have a meal, you have to have a riser and you have to have a special table with china.  All the rest of the people didn't have china.  That really reflects God's way, doesn't it?  No, that's hideous!  That is perverted!  That is sick! And this is the very thing Paul is talking about here. There are things that should be there, that should be taught, yes, but in soundness of mind and things that are right and true that come from God, and there are things that should never be set as an example because it teaches the wrong thing then.  And people learned wrong things.  They learned to desire wrong things in many cases.  So we've learned through that.

Paul goes on to say here, for yourselves know that you ought to follow us: for we have not behaved ourselves disorderly, in other words there is an orderly manner in which we walk, there is that which is a pattern that you're to follow, that you're to see in your life.  So again, the importance here of teaching that things are done in order and in a certain way that requires thought and planning and execution of it, the work.  So he says ... among you.  'We haven't walked disorderly among you.'

Neither did we eat, and so he's getting very specific now because he's talking about a problem that existed in this area as he's addressing this with the Thessalonians.  And so he's addressing a problem here of something he felt compelled to do for example toward them so that they could learn from it because there were things they needed to learn early on here that they were not accustomed to.  They didn't have an established Church, they didn't have others being able to teach them.  Paul was starting afresh here – of course this is 2nd Thessalonians so this is a little farther into it, so this is something that popped up, but this is still fairly new as far as a Church is concerned, not a long history of things like we have today from Worldwide and on through PKG and so forth.

Neither did we eat any man's bread for nothing; in other words, to no purpose, but worked with labor, so he's going back and addressing something from the very beginning, 1st Thessalonians, from the time that he began to work with them, he said, this is what we did.  So now he's writing this letter telling them about this problem that exists there and saying, this is what we did among you from the very beginning, we set this example, in other words, that you're to follow, that when it came to eating, meals and whatever, he said, we took nothing from you to no purpose, but worked with 'labor'. The word literally means 'labor', yes, but it also means 'toil'...and travail, it goes on to say here, this word meaning 'hardship' in the Greek, this one here just literally meaning 'hardship'.  In other words, it wasn't easy, what they were doing, what they were involved in at that particular time, and it says here, night and day, so that we would not be chargeable/a burden, in other words 'owing'.  So they were literally working through the day and into the night but also in teaching.  But he's not talking about teaching  here, he's talking about literal work in order to earn money, in order to pay for, or whatever here in that respect, the food that they were being given and lodging and so forth.

He says ...night and day, so that we would not be 'chargeable', the word meaning, 'a burden' or 'owing' to any of you: see, there was no indebtedness in any fashion or form so you could learn something here.  That's what he's saying.  We did something amongst you that was fully different.

Not because we did not have power, or authority, in what he's saying here, because he had authority to receive tithes, to not labor with them, amongst them, but they had a problem and so he did this as an example, but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us. "This is how you do it."  He wasn't going to be there for a long time, working with them for a long period of time, and so they needed to get the point early on, hopefully by this example, so that as he went to other locations, like Corinth, or wherever, in his travels, that they...  Because they didn't have what we have today, they didn't have communication, they didn't have quickness of travel and so forth or ministers that were just able to be put in different areas quickly.  It didn't work that way, it took time.

Verse 10 - For even when we were with you, this we commanded, so not only did we strive to set the example so you could learn from it, but we also commanded you that if any would not work neither should he eat.  Don't give them anything.  That's what he's saying!  He's saying if there is a Body here, a Church, and there are things you're doing... they even had different times when they had famine in some areas and they had to address some of that, so they had to work much harder, and especially when it came to just receiving the food and acquiring the food and so forth.  And so he's talking about some of these things having to do with just a work ethic here and he makes a statement, 'if any would not work, neither should they eat.'  In other words, don't give them food!  Some say, "That's hard!  You mean you would let someone go without some food?  You mean you wouldn't give them a part of what you have at your table just because they didn't go out in the fields with you or didn't go out and do this with you.." ...or like Paul did at Corinth when he was working as a tentmaker?  It took time for Churches to become established, for them to learn various truths and principles, and this was the manner in which God chose to work through Paul to teach them.

For even when we were with you, this we commanded, that if any should not work neither should they eat. For we hear that there are some who walk disorderly, in other words, that don't want to work!  That's what he's addressing here, who walked out of order, who are undisciplined among you, not working at all!  They want to be taken care of, they want to be provided for, or whatever, but they're not producing themselves.  And he says... but are busybodies. In other words...and technology has really added to this, technology has made this much worse today, the ease of this ability here of communicating with others, of being involved with others all over the world if you know them, and constantly being in contact with others and so busy with the cell phone and text messages and email, etc...etc... etc...  and busy, busy, busy, and not doing anything at all, in the sense of being productive, if you understand what I'm saying.

So we have to be careful of that in life because it's happening, it's happening to a generation that's coming along, more and more these things are being learned in the world as a pattern of life, and it's not a right pattern to follow.  On the contrary, it takes away from the ability to plan and plan ahead and then put those plans into action and begin working toward goals. And that does something to the mind, if we don't learn those attributes of God... they are the attributes, the mind, the being of God!  We can deceive ourselves into thinking we're living Godly.  No!  There are things we must do!  There are things we must live so that God can mold His mind, His being in our minds...and work, doing, accomplishing, planning, producing fruit is a major portion of this.  It is a major portion.  That's why I've referred to it as the backbone of family; it doesn't just happen.

An individual here that Paul is addressing, individuals or whatever who are not doing this, the food doesn't just happen, somebody had to do it.  You're going to have somebody else do it for you?  Is that what you're going to do?  What are you going to do?  You're not going to plan ahead?  You're not going to think ahead?  You're not going to provide?  You're not going to seek to provide?

For we hear that there are some who walk disorderly, in other words, out of order, undisciplined among you, not working at all but are 'busybodies'. Again, this Greek word that means 'to waste one's labor about a thing'.  In other words, doing things that are fully non-productive but just wasting time.  Now, there are times, obviously, of life that are without work, but that's in God's way, in God's Family that is to be in balance.  The greater portion is productivity, is work, it truly is, and especially in the early part of life - 20's, 30's, 40's, into the 50's, and then even God addresses some things about later on in life as things begin to change in life, an ability, one's health and so forth, because you've planned and prepared for those things that you don't have to have the same amount of time spent to do some things as you did in the beginning because you planned ahead!  That's a part of reaping of what you've worked for.  It's a part of God's way.

And so again here, verse 12 - Now those who are such, and so it becomes stronger.  I was really kind of surprised it went through this, because we have been through this for a long time and I remember sermons long, long time ago when people would maybe quote some of the verses, especially the one we just read there, about if you don't work neither do you eat; it's a principle.  But the extra of what God has to say here is far more powerful than what I remember those sermons having been in times past, and it's because God is showing us here the importance of all this in a more powerful way, of what a new world must be like and what technology has been doing to turn things upside down or to weaken things like it did in Laodicea.

Laodicea, in large part, is a product of technology, if you can grasp that!  Because it's different than other times in God's Church!  What made it so different?  I'll guarantee you, I know technology had a major part in it.  Think about it if you don't know that already.  Think about it.  Technology had a major role in it and man's misuse of it to where people can become idle, lax, slothful, lazy, whatever.  It can tend to that in wrong ways.  We can't let that happen in the future.  We have to understand it now so we know how to teach in the future.

Now those who are such we command and exhort/encourage, as the word means here, by our Lord Jesus Christ, again, showing the authority and where this is coming from, that with 'quietness', that word means 'stillness', in other word comes from a Greek word for 'tranquil', just by definition, 'free from disturbance, free from anxiety, tension, restlessness', and so forth.  In other words being at peace in what you do.  You know there is a peace and a... you get rid of a lot of these other things in life when it's a matter of God's purpose and you see God in the picture and what God is...  it's an opportunity to learn and to grow that God will mold and fashion things in you that you're not going to receive any other way but by engaging in it more and more, in that respect, even of things we don't like.  We learn from that.

A lot of things I saw in the ministry I did not like; God has blessed me to be able to change a lot of that, to be a part of the change.  But if I didn't see it and didn't understand it, if I were a part of it I could never be a part of something different, and so God was molding and fashioning something within, giving that.  It was something that God gave for a purpose.  So when God does it, when God is working with you, how awesome is that?  ...of what He can mold and fashion in the mind.  But it's not easy how you get there, so there are things in this world sometimes...  I think about people, we have different kinds of jobs and so forth out there, we see things that are done that are wrong.  I just had a quick glance around the room, I think about one individual who had to deal with corrupt things in a business that an associate had done.  You try to do things in a right way and there is extra friction there because you see how wrong and how people misuse things and don't do things properly in the world.  But you learn from that!

Now, it's not fun being in that environment, but you're still able to provide, provide for your family, you're even able to even provide for the Church by what you're doing, which is God's way as well, and you're able to learn lessons of what things need to be changed in the world and why things are so wrong and you have opportunity to grow in character.  Because sometimes people give into some of those pulls and pressures and participate in things that are wrong because they don't stand up to it.  And so we can learn from those things, and God will work with us - that's what's different about us and the world - the difference is God, God in us, God working with us.  He will teach us things that you can't learn by just reading this book or listening to sermons!

I can preach until I'm blue in the face!  I could give a sermon everyday and you could have to listen everyday or every night and yet without the experiences in life we're not going to learn the deeper things of how these are applied and what it means.  It's living it that makes it come alive!  And that's what Paul is telling the Thessalonians here just in this one area of life alone.

So he says, verse 12 - Now, those who are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread.  In other words be at peace!  Do what you're supposed to do and eat your own bread. Don't be on the 'dole', don't look for somebody else to do it for you. That's even a trend in society more and more, expecting something from others and expecting others to bail us out or whatever it might be in life...in other words basically saying here, as some translations put it: 'Settle down and work!' 'Be at peace!  Settle down! Don't be going against the grain here, don't be walking disorderly, don't be fighting, don't be resisting God, settle down and do what God says and you'll be blessed for it!'

Verse 13 - But now/but you, that's awkward starting it.  Better translated, Now brethren, because it's driving the point home, do not be weary, in other words, don't grow weary, never tire in doing well...in other words, doing what is good, what is right.  Don't become weary of that; don't resist, settle down, yield to what God says and learn from it! Yield to the process!  Do what is good!  Don't become weary at doing what is right, of doing what is good, of what God teaches.  Human nature tends to resist, it's the way we are.

Verse 14 - And if any man will obey, meaning to listen, obey indeed, attend to, our word by this epistle... now if they will not, he says, 'note', that means 'mark as a sign', as with a sign...mark that person and have no company, no 'association' - 'to mix together', what it means in the Greek, with him, that he may be ashamed. This is strong!  This is truly strong, isn't it?  So again here, all the more important that we yield to a process that God has given us as a part of the Church and to recognize the value, the importance of good, of right work ethic, just in jobs, in responsibilities of life, in family, of that which helps to build and take care of and support family - clothing, food, etc...etc... a roof over a house, whatever it is.  Those don't just happen in life!  They're not owed to us by God!  On the contrary, it's by the planning for them, by the working for them, and what we put into it is indeed what we will get out of it. What you sow is what you reap.  Powerful lesson of life!  What you sow is what you reap! And God wants us to reap, He wants us to reap a great deal, all that we can. So it depends on what we put into it...and that goes with every facet of life.  It begins physically and as we learn those things we begin to learn them spiritually and we begin to be able to apply them spiritually in our life as well.

Yet, it says, do not count them, him/her, doesn't matter which, as an enemy, but admonish, in other words, exhort them as a brother. So again here, that desire to teach, to instruct, and if need  be, candidly it comes down to being this strong, that someone can not be in fellowship any longer for not doing the things they should be doing. That's how strong this is when it comes to understanding the importance of work.

And so again, a lot of the catalyst for this part of this sermon series is because of where we are in time and because of what technology has brought to us, and candidly, where God has brought us to at time, and because of things that I've heard around the world more so in recent time, that this is becoming more of a problem and it cannot be a problem in God's Church. You are not to just wait for Jesus Christ to return. You need to plan ahead. May 27th should have taught that in a very powerful way. We don't always fully know how God is going to do things and what He's going to accomplish, but even if that becomes obvious in the next few weeks, that it's begun, that it's started and this is coming very quickly, you're still to be doing, you're still to be working, you're still to be planning ahead, which means work and productivity in life, it truly does!

Let's continue on to 1 Timothy 5. So that's why I've tried to encourage in the past year and a half especially, maybe even the last two years now, of encouraging young people not to put their plans on hold. I understand there are some things perhaps in family...that's your choice, of things you might put on hold, but as a whole that should not become an excuse either to not do anything, to not be thinking ahead, to not be receiving extra education and schooling or whatever it might be, of things you can learn through that process. Some things that you will be able to use, some things you may not be able to use, but what God will teach you you will always be able to use if you're working. So whether it be seeking an education, whether it be a matter of something that's vocational, as an ability, a talent, or whether it be something that has to do with something else of education, that's all fine and well...or some kind of employment. I don't care what it is, we should be doing something out here as a whole, planning ahead, doing and working, because it's not good that the mind be idle! And that's what happens! And it especially isn't good if it's idle with computers and technology and other things that numbs it even more. Sometimes we don't realize what that can do to the mind!

Now, if we have certain principles we've already learned and you're of a retired age, please understand, you have planned and prepared already, you've gone through this process...and there are still things you can learn and will understand, but please understand, I'm not addressing just one situation. We're talking about a whole gamut of things here from beginning to end in life and that changes as you go along through life.

1 Timothy 5:8 - just want to read this verse here.  I didn't realize, again, until looking at some of this, how much more powerful this is than what it appears to be on the surface. But if any will not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he/she has denied the faith and is worse than an 'infidel'. A Greek word that simply means, 'non-believer, unbeliever'.  This is powerful!  It says, if one does not provide, and we're going to read what it's talking about here in context as well, because this has to do with planning and working to provide in family and so forth, but in how that's done in a very specific way we're going to look at it here in a moment.  But it's a principle that applies across the board!  And it says, and if any will not do this they're worse than someone who's not called out here. Now, to be out there not called, to be in ignorance is one thing, that's just to live in sin without the truth. To be worse than that?!  Pretty strong, isn't it?  Pretty strong!

Let's go back and catch the context of what is being covered here. 1 Timothy 5:1 - becomes far more meaningful if you see the context. Do not rebuke, a word that means simply here, don't use harsh words, don't speak harshly to, an elder, speaking of an older man, not some of ordination. It's talking about age, but entreat/appeal to him as a father; in other words...  sadly in today's world sometimes that's lost, it was a different society, a different time back then as a whole compared to what it is today because we have the society, the world has become so dysfunctional, so messed up that sometimes we can come into God's Church and not grasp what this means because we haven't had that kind of a right relationship. But we should understand what it means, what it's supposed to be like, in other words, that respectful way, there should be a respect there.  That's what it's talking about.  It's just something that should be understood.  There should be a respect that's involved, and a lot of other things I'm not going to get into because that'll become a sermon in itself, of how you treat someone older.

...and the younger men as brothers; and so it's showing here someone who is older, there is a certain way you should communicate with them, especially when things are tense or something isn't going right. That's what it's talking about basically here, when there is disagreement or whatever it might be, there is a certain way that you should talk to someone. It's not just talking about casual conversation, obviously, this is being addressed for a particular reason here because there is some problem, and it says, and to the younger as brothers; in other words, someone who is younger.

Oftentimes what do people do?  In society and in the world oftentimes people don't show respect to anyone who is older, and so we should!  That's what he's saying here, there are certain ways you should talk to someone older and we have lost that as a society.  Some societies have it in a very good way, in a strong way; I think of some oriental societies, especially where they honor those who are older in a way that as a whole in our society we never learned, it's not taught in the same ways.  There are some things taught in the South in the United States that are not taught in the North, 'yes ma'am', 'yes sir'.  You know, young children grow up that way, 'yes ma'am', 'yes sir'.  You are around that, you hear that, they're taught that there is a certain way you speak to someone who is older, and that does something to the mind in how you think about them then, how you treat them.

There is a way in the South that... I think of the South more than the North, it doesn't tend to have it as much, but chivalry, is that the right way of expressing it(?) of men toward women even, that is oftentimes shown more or taught more, or has been through times past than in the North.

...and to the younger as brothers; in other words, just because you're older than someone else, that's what it's saying, and you're talking to someone younger, doesn't mean you should talk down to them, because that's a tendency of human nature too.  It's not a matter of talking down or they can't understand or you're not going to waste the time - no, there should be a connection there, it should be done out of what? Out of love.  Because they're a brother, how do we see them, someone who is younger? Do we have patience with them because we realize that they don't, aren't able to see or grasp or do the same things we're able to do because they're not there yet. And I'm talking about most relationships in amongst the Church, amongst brethren within the Church.

Verse 2 - The older women as mothers; the elder women, so it's just using 'elder', it's not a matter of ordination here so don't get confused.  It's just talking about someone who is older ...and the older women as mothers, so there is that...again, sad we don't... when I think about this I think, man, we don't even have this in society in many cases so people don't learn it, but that goes back to family, what is taught, what is learned.  ...and the older as mothers, so there is that respect again and a uniqueness of a relationship and a bond and how a child should, and especially in a right society, as a better society, does look to mothers.  So someone who is older, who is not a part of your family, you should treat them the same way you do your mother, that's what you're saying...as you would your own mother.

...and the younger as sisters, in other words, a close family.  We are a close Family, and so he's teaching this within the Church, he's telling Timothy that this is how to work with people and as a whole this is what you teach in the Church of how people are to work with each other, this is what the Church is to be like.  And he says, and younger as sisters with all 'purity'. In other words, 'in innocence', in other words, how you look upon them, in innocence, a younger sister, young sister, whatever it is, and so be patient with them and work with them accordingly to where they are in life.

And then it goes on to say, Honor widows who are widows indeed. And so it makes a distinction here, there are different kinds of widows and different situations and even in the Church we've used different terms in times past that haven't always been on target of what it's talking about.

Verse 4 - But if any widow has children, and... my translation, King James, says 'nephews', it's not the word for nephews, it's 'grandchildren'.  So it's saying here, But if any have children or grandchildren, let them, who?  The children and the grandchildren learn first to show 'piety', it's a word that simply means 'godliness or genuineness of their religion'.  I don't like the word 'pious', some of the things that go along with that in thinking sometimes, but this is basically what it's saying, it's showing here that there is a godly manner in which people should be dealt with in family, a genuineness of what your religion should show and reflect, of God's way of life toward someone. So it says here, if any person out here is a widow and she has children, in other words her husband has died and she has children or grandchildren, let them, let the children learn something here through this process here, or focus upon this, upon what they're supposed to be reflecting upon what they are being a part of the Church, show godliness at home, and to requite, or to recompense, to repay their parents: In other words, if for no other reason than to understand you have a duty. Now, how much more if... we shouldn't have to be told that in life, but if someone needs help, it's what it's talking about here, someone is in need of help and something has happened in life, whatever hard times, whatever has come, so there is nothing able to be saved up here to help them, they are in need of help.  And it says here, first of all let the children or the grandchildren then, because there may not be children there, they may have died, something may have happened, whatever it is here, or they're not doing their responsibility but then the grandchildren, hopefully there is someone there in the family that will!  Hopefully there is someone there that is going to treat their own family properly!  Your own mother?  Your own grandmother?  And that's what he's saying here.

So first of all it says here, if for no other reason, in essence, than to recognize you have some kind of a duty, that your parents spent their lifetime on you, shouldn't you give back something in life? I mean, should anyone even have to be told such a thing?  But the reality is in life, yeah.  In the world of selfishness and people not getting along and dysfunction and etc...etc... some of those things have to be said.

...for that is good and acceptable before God. Now she who is a widow indeed, and so again here, this is a difference in how to judge this, it's a matter of judging something.  So if, in other words here, they are this way. Now, if, in other words, they are a widow indeed, that's basically what it's saying here, and desolate, left alone in other words, and that means without help, they need help. It's showing here that there are different situations in people's lives, there are different things that happen in people's lives and there are different times even when people come in the Church, are able to plan ahead, or not able to plan ahead and different battles of life, and so everyone has to be looked at differently and uniquely so. And so it says here ...and desolate, who trusts in God, basically is what it's talking about here, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. In other words it's a way that they express... it's an expression used at that time like we use expressions sometimes.  It doesn't mean that they're just praying night and day, this is all we know, they're spiritual because they're just praying all the time.  That's not what it's talking about.  It's an expression that shows here basically, it's a way of saying something here, that it's clear that they look to God as a way of life, spiritually alert, they're spiritually alert, they're spiritually on the ball in that respect, this is their life and this is clear. Because I look back in time through the history of the Church and I realize not everyone who received help was this way, but they still received help because they came to Sabbath services and went through the routine of some things and later on it came out, yeah, they weren't here for the right reasons.  But anyway, it's better to do something to help, even when sometimes somebody maybe doesn't deserve it.  It's better to err on that side is what I'm talking about.

I'm just talking about things that have happened in the Church in times past, and some who clearly never should have been given help and some who had to be cut back in help because it got to a point where it was like certain things were expected.  It's like, "It's owed to me and it's owed to me in a big way." But anyway... human nature, it's an amazing thing sometimes to work with.  And then people who are at the opposite end of that, who will go above and beyond, who do things that... it's just a very humbling experience.  So we see all kinds of things, that's how we learn, God gives us an arena, and we had that in Worldwide especially, being so large, this huge arena of God's Church of many things to learn from, and that's good.

So it says, who trusts in God and continues, in other words it's clear this is their way of life.

Verse 6 - not the word 'but', but going on and saying...Now, in other words, If she lives in pleasure, again, some of this is very awkwardly translated.  It's talking about being physically focused, in other words.  It's giving a contrast, if and if... if the individual is very clear that this is their way of life, this, the Church is their life and it's clear by how they live, by how they speak and everything else, what comes out of them...and there is that distinction.  We learn from that, we understand that.  There are things we can grow in and sometimes... anyway.  Because this is about everybody, we're talking about human nature, we're talking about everything that has ever existed in the environs of God's Church. If she lives physically, in other words, is focused inwardly, not really focused spiritually, because that's the contrast being made here. If they live in pleasure/physically oriented, not spiritually alert, they are dead, in other words, spiritually dead while she lives. Making a contrast here, someone is alive with God's spirit or they're not. Either this is their way of life or it's not, and you have to use this in judgment then in working with different situations in the Church. He's telling Timothy this.  And he says that this is  instruction to be given to the Church.

And so it goes on in verse 7 - And/so/indeed these things, or in other words, this, what he's just been talking about, give in charge, in other words, instruct, command, charge the Church that they may be 'blameless' - in other words, this word here means 'without reproach, without blame, without shame'.  In other words, there is a way to do things in God's Church when it comes to this very area alone!  Now, I don't know what happened in this particular area where Timothy was that Paul had to be addressing these things, but whether it be because of the Roman government, because they were persecuted mightily, whether it had to do with some of that and some of the hardships associated with that, people who were killed. There are things that people have gone through in times past that we don't have anything like that. We have that which is mental in nature in the sense of battles that are there, but we have so much, and when you talk about Manasseh, when you talk about Ephraim, when you talk about a time in life when we're very blessed and we have so much in a time of technology and a time when we're reaping the height of - but we see the deterioration of that now taking pace - of what God promised to Ephraim and Manasseh, because that's what we're talking about, we live through things that are so much different from what people had to live through in the beginning of the Church in times past. And you want to talk about different governments and things, of what people experienced, and hardships of life? It sometimes is hard for us to relate to some of those because they're so different, truly are, as it would be difficult for them to relate to us in this time period. "Technology?! Lights, air conditioning, garage door openers, television...what are you talking about?  Cars?  Airplanes?"

So it's going on here and showing here, give charge, give instruction - in other words, show the Church so that people don't do something that's shameful, so that they can understand there is a right way of dealing with things and so that, in other words, there is not sin in their life, because sin is a matter of shame and a person should be ashamed. I like two other translations that sum this verse up here, because some of these are very awkward in what it says here.

New Living Translation: Give these instructions to the Church so that no one will be open to criticism.

Because of sin, basically, is what it is.  Another translation says:

Phillips Translation: You should therefore make the following rules for the widows to avoid abuses.

So that things are done in an orderly way.  There is a right way of dealing with things that people in the Church need to understand responsibility and how to deal with some of this as well.  So this is the context of the verse we read earlier that we're coming to now.

But if any will not provide for his own, especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, the way of life that God says we're to live, let alone something that should be normal and understood, but now the truth and the way God says to live and what should be a part of the mind, and is worse, and this word here 'worse' comes from a Greek word that means 'bad, evil', worse, bad and evil indeed than an infidel, see...  How much worse in life, just living your own life selfishly without God in the world, but we understand they're ignorant of that, but what does man do without God, and to be worse than that?  That's pretty strong, what it's saying here. That's the point.

So it goes on to say here, Now, let a widow be taken into the number under sixty years of age having been the wife of one man, very awkward in how it's translated here and they've taken whole phrases here and translated them from Greek words that I've heard people debate about at different times here, that this could have to do with questions about divorce and remarriage, but I don't believe that at all here, what's being shown in context and what the words mean.  Also here, very much so by the words, can have to do with faithfulness or example in the marriage, in the way they lived their life in the marriage.  And so again here, it's a matter of looking upon that, recognizing that.  So in other words, it goes back to this thing of what they were discussing before, is this way of life evident in a person's life, has it been?  In other words, look back in their life.  How are you going to know?  Because you've seen them, you've known them in the Church, this is how they've lived their life all along, this is how they've lived toward their family and so forth, and this is the way they conducted themselves in their marriage, they lived the away God said to live.  And so again, special consideration to be given, God says, when judging such matters. And that's what he's talking about here.

So all this in verse 8 is in context to a widow, how to deal with someone who is in need in the Church.  But my point as we go through this - how much more in your own house, that where you're told to leave father and mother...  If we don't provide in our own house, because this is how we've always understood this verse, which is true in every principle in part, though this is being applied specifically about a specific matter having to do with one's household, their own mother or their own grandmother and the responsibility to care for them, and then if they're not there certain things that the Church is supposed to do and take care of and how to do that. That's what's being shown here. How much more in one's own family? How much more for your own children? How much more toward your own husband or toward your own wife into the plans you have for your future?

Here is something that's neglected too often in the world - mothers, a widow in this particular case, or as people get older and sometimes what takes place in life. And so there is a basic responsibility, a way of thinking that God says we should have and we should consider to make sure that there is care, that there is sufficient help, and when there is not, then there is a need to step in to do our part.  But how much more in one's own literal family, and that's something, because candidly, the admonition is much stronger, would be much, much stronger for one's own direct family than it is for that which is in relation to you, yes, your own parent or your own grandparent or whatever it might be and the responsibility to care for, but it's far more important, far more meaningful before God on a continuing basis all the time, regardless, that this be a way of life. In other words, this should be normal. Sadly, it's not, and the history of the Church is this has not been normal.

I think of a situation, I'm just going to tell you a little bit of a story.  There are so many I could tell you, of things of times past.  I remember a long time ago an individual who wanted to...he came into the Church, him and his family, and he wanted to live this down to earth life, he wanted to get back to nature and so he moved out to a farm area.  I think he's the one that had the motorcycle too one time didn't he?  At first he joined the Amish, I think it was, hid his motorcycle in the garage, in a barn, put a tarp over it because you can't have the motorcycle.  So he wasn't quite genuine there.  But he wanted to get back to nature so he's going to go back to it to where he could plow the earth and follow behind horses. He did that! Got horses and a plow so he could plow the earth and get back to nature and do everything as natural in life as could be, because this is the way it's going to be in the Millennium type of thing and we're going to be following behind horses and less use of technology.  This man helped design the electronic system in the X-15.  I don't know if any of you remember history, the X-15, the speed.  They dropped from a jet in the atmosphere and then this thing took off and it was a matter of traveling faster into space and so forth or around the earth. Anyway, the tests that were taking place then.

But anyway, incredible ability at that time with technology and the use of computers and so forth; that was the breaking stages, because I'm going back many years here, a long time ago, before the apostasy, well before the apostasy, okay, way before the 90's, this was back in the late 80's, okay?  So anyway, he had left all this ability behind in order to get back to nature, and his concept was to have as many children... to go back to this idea, kind of like the Catholics, of... and there is nothing wrong with that if you can provide for your family.  And so he had, I think, at that point eleven children. He didn't know how to farm, he didn’t know how to raise anything, but he was determined to learn this and leave technology behind and get back to nature.  Their lifestyle was one of squalor, dirt floors in part of the house, which is fine - there are a lot of people who had dirt floors - but in the United States in the late 80's when you helped design an X-15 and that's what you provide for your family?  To where the children were filthy, undernourished, not given the kind of food they should have, and his goal was to continue having children because this is a blessing from God, "Because children are a blessing from God so we're going to have more and more children."  And I told him, "No, they're not always a blessing.  You have more children, you're taking more away.  The way you are now and what you're providing for your family now is becoming a curse because you're not doing things and you're not providing for your family the way you could and should be providing for them, and so you're going to bring other children..." which they did, "...into your family, you need Church assistance and Church help..." which we gave for a time as we worked with them to help, hopefully, help him to come to understand a need to use the talent and ability he had to be able to be able to provide clothing and proper food for his family, so they weren't sickly, so that they weren't malnourished and whatever.  It was pathetic!

But again, I don't even know why I went into this example, but it shows how far human nature sometimes goes and a desire here to, when you have to have certain things you judge by within the Church of how to deal with various matters that come along, how to judge them.  But I think, what a horrible thing, didn't provide for his family?  He was worse than a non-believer because he had the ability, and he did later on, because he was put out for a time, was able to be reinstated in another area where he did finally go back to a chain of an area that was communications system through computers.  He went back and started using his computer ability to help in the technology of that time to bring together many stores functioning together, accounting, record keeping, everything else.  Anyway, he was able to do that. But from what I understand he didn't keep at that for very long, just didn't like to work in the world. Learned to get out my violin. It really was sickening because you felt for the children. And when a parent can't feel for their own children, when you know you can give them more and your mind is so polluted, so scarred that you can't see the difference in being able to provide for them to where they are well nourished and well clothed when you have the ability, but you would rather do something else and expect the Church to provide for you, because that's what happened again. Needed a lot to take care of twelve, thirteen children, whatever it was by that point in time - which is fine if it's deserved. And so who suffers? Well, it's just like the world, the children.

But his mind became so polluted, his wife's mind became so distorted...you can't think right.  If you don't do things God's way, if you don't receive instruction and guidance God gives, the mind just becomes more unsound, and that's what happened. I witnessed that in that example there and I could give you many other examples of things that have happened, but that was one to an extreme.

And so this kind of condemnation that we're talking about here is far greater upon him, worse than an infidel, worse than a non-believer, be better if you'd never been called than to have this and to have such condemnation upon yourself to not take care of your own.

So anyway, it goes on through the story here about widows and how to provide and so forth and what should be done as far as judging in the Church.  But these are principles that can be multiplied and expounded upon which is here for that purpose, not just in this part of the family but throughout families. So it talks about those who are... I'm just going to give the rest of this because there is more that can be learned.

So it says, Don't let a widow under the age of sixty be taken into...under the age of sixty, in other words having this example of faithfulness in the Church and in marriage and everything else.  So it even gave a guideline here, even there, that there is a purpose here that when a person gets to a certain point that there is that which is expected. Do you know what the expectation is?  Work, productivity. In other words, if a person is twenty-five years old and becomes a widow or is thirty-five years old and becomes a widow, or is forty-five years old and becomes a widow... the point being is here there is that which still can be done in life, to be a part, to be productive, to provide, and that part should be expected - to supplement that if need be?  Absolutely, but that's what's required.  So that's why the guideline is given here like this.  So it's showing that even here things change in life because of age or health and those things have to be taken into consideration.  So this is just a guideline, because even this changes because of matters like that.

And so it goes on to say here, Well reported of for good works; if she has brought up, in other words, reared children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed... so it's expounding upon what it said already.  If she showed that this is her way of life, and so it's been reflected in her life that she has been involved in helping the Church, serving the Church, being a part of the Church, and back then a matter of taking care of strangers and so forth.  Totally different society, but that was a way of life, of helping people if they're traveling, or whatever it might be, and were in need.  ...washed the saints' feet, in other words it shows this is an expression too, if you understand it.  What does that mean to you?  Humility, serving others. That's what it's talking about. Did they humble themselves in serving others. It doesn't mean they were going around washing people's feet in the Church, it means they were living the Passover, they were living a part of Passover in their attitude toward others in the Church. ...if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. In other words, spiritually alert, very obvious in their life they are very much deserving of help and indeed they're living this way of life, and so indeed God wants them taken care of, without question, without hesitation, if there is no family or if family refuses.

And so that's what the guidelines are here to Timothy, of how to take care of some of these matters and what to charge the Church.

Going on in verse 11 - But refuse... and the reason we're going through this is to show here that there is an expectation that if a person is able there are things they're supposed to do.  And please understand here, we're talking about a totally different society at that time that was not like it is today in the sense of ability to go out and work. Today the ability to go out and work for men and women is different than what it was back then. We're talking about an agrarian type society, not as commercialized, in that sense, there were other kinds of jobs and so forth but the ability to go out and apply for some things and do is not like it is today. There is a big difference, if you understand what I'm saying, in the way society and communities were structured and the size of them and the like. Very agrarian in that sense, geared toward those things, family life, things that people did as families - just showing principles - there are principles upon principle here that are so powerful, so meaningful as to family, family life, Family within the Church, how to judge matters, on and on it goes, and the importance of work, the importance of productivity.

And so it's going on here then in verse 11 - But refuse the younger widows, for when they have begun to 'wax wanton against Christ', they will marry; Very bad translation, really awkward and almost sick in the way some have translated it as far as the protestant world is concerned.  It goes on to say, Having damnation/judgment, in other words, because they have cast off their first faith. Again, this is horribly translated and this is the only place that the Greek word, the phrase actually 'wax wanton against'...it's... I don't know where they drug that one out, but anyway, it's the only place where it's used, but you have to do a little digging here to even grasp what's being said here in these verses because it's really distorted.

Rather than going into a long explanation of the words or what other translations have also fouled up about this here is the thrust of the context of what Paul wrote:  But refuse, the context to give Church help, assistance, to younger widows, for unless they have begun by sensual desire to live against Christ, that's what it's saying.  In other words, turning their focus away from this way of life, unless they have begun to do that, that's something that's obvious then, if this isn't their way of life, they've already begun to live something, it's a part of their being drawn more toward the world than they are toward the Church...those things we've seen throughout the Church, those of you who have been around for a long time, we've seen from one end of the pendulum to the other of things that have happened in God's Church - young and old alike, different kinds of situations.

And so here it's talking about certain situations about those who are younger.  It says, they will want/wish/desire to remarry, unless they've already started going into the world and the world is becoming more a part of them, in time...and that was more of a part of society at that time, that is a normal, natural wish if someone is in their twenties and becomes a widow, in their thirties and becomes a widow, or even older and becomes a widow, oftentimes the desire, which is...   and he's talking about a fine and natural desire. It's fine to remarry, and in that society, in that time especially, things were much different than they are today, but especially if you look at the type of society that existed at that time, of a normal and a right and a good desire.

Nevertheless, it goes on to say here, Now, with the thought of, what's going on here, with the thought of them turning against God's way, it goes on and says, having or receiving judgment, because they have cast off their first faith. It says here there are different things involved here.  When someone is younger, he's addressing certain things here, unless they're just turning away from the Church because they're becoming more physically oriented in the sense of the physical becoming more important to them than the spiritual.  This is the contrast he's making, the difference between being pulled toward the world, wanting to be out in the world, really not caring about the Church now, unless that is already starting to take place, in most cases this is what will happen if someone is younger. In time, in most cases, they're going to remarry, which is right and good. Is that the only thing there? Obviously not, especially if we look at today's society, it's still a matter of work and productivity, whether they do or don't, or whether it happens or not, Paul isn't addressing that, but he's saying often times that will be the course in time.  But the point that they're not to be given help is because they're able to work, they're able to be productive, they're able to do things, they're not to be given help. If someone isn't willing to provide, if someone isn't willing to work, it's the same principle, doesn't matter whether it's male or female, neither should they eat!

And I think of today's society in today's world, because of the way the world...  You know, there was a time in God's Church where women were almost made to feel guilty if they went outside the home to work.  They weren't almost made to feel guilty, they were made to feel guilty.  It was as though it were sin.  Is it a better environment if a woman is able to stay at home, if the need be, if indeed young children and so forth to work with, to be able to be there for? Yes, that's a good thing. That's why there are going to be a lot of things in the future that are going to be changed. Does that mean women are always just going to be in the home and not doing anything else? No, not at all. There are ways to deal with and take care of things in the world and time spent as families. If you understand the family structure, if you understand time spent together in the day, when you're able to spend time together in what you do...you know, to go off to school, to be off to school, there is time to do something else. Is there that much to do in the home? You have to judge that yourself, everybody is different. Is it on a farm? Where is it at? What are you doing? How...?  Those all have to be judged separately. Is it in a community somewhere where you can have that many hours in a day, whatever it be, to be productive, then that's a good thing. If it be a matter the kids are off to school and nothing is being done and time to waste and especially with technology, how is that time being used and your mind is becoming dull, that's not good! That isn't healthy for a young person!

You say, is that healthy for an older person?  Well, as time goes along your ability to learn the lessons you've learned, of how to manage life, of to be in control of certain things in your life, what you're able to do should indeed have changed. There is maturity that comes through experience. And so again here, certain things being addressed that are to be addressed in today's word as well, and the point being in all this, it's a matter of productivity and work and what you're doing. Because when two people marry you know what? In that society, you know what they did? They worked!  That's what you do, whether in marriage or out of marriage, you work, to plan ahead, to eat, you work, to have a roof over your head, you work.

It's a matter of productivity of life and that's kind of like in the New Testament when you get to the Sabbath - do you have to keep repeating the importance of keeping the Sabbath or is it something you should have gotten already by the Old Testament? See, that's where the protestant world goes off base, because it's like, well, because the Sabbath isn't mentioned and so forth... There are some things that don't have to be said by the time you get to this point. And there are some things about work, sadly, that shouldn't have to be said, about the way life should be, but sadly we're having to address them because human nature is human nature and some trends take place at different times and that's how we learn, and we have to realize that we're going to change things in a new age, in a new world, and yet work and productivity is going to be the backbone of it all...and people are going to learn how to do it together. Today, in today's society, I said there was a time when women were made to almost feel guilty in those things, when in reality what was happening was a change in the world through technology and through even how people provided for themselves and the ability to make ends meet, candidly came to the point to plan ahead and properly prepare ahead and plan for your family and provide for your family required that both work! ...that both have jobs!

Now, how to regulate family now becomes even more important, about time spent in time sharing, which we're going to get into in the next sermon here. Those things become even more important, what you do in the mornings and what you do in the evenings and what you do on the weekends, or whatever time you have that you're together, not going off into your own world, which tends to be the case today where people don't spend much time together. Then the value of the time you have together becomes all the more important...but so it was back then in an agrarian society. The only thing that was different back then was that they tended to do so many things together, at different times. Now, at times they didn't do it together, there were certain jobs allocated to different ones and how they did it and so forth. But as a family unit and things that worked together and functioned as a family, they didn't have school systems like we have today, they didn't have... Society wasn't established like it is today, so today there is a mixture of some things that are good, some things that are fine and some things that are just really wrong...and all that we get to look at and begin to think about now; what is good, what is healthy, how can it be changed, how can we use it better, how can we use technology better, how was certain structure set up. But I can tell you one thing that is going to be an absolute that we should glean out of scriptures like this all the way through - work, being productive, planning ahead, is something God expects of every human being, that we learn from the process of doing these things, of being a part of these things, of something He can mold and fashion in us that if we're not a part of that we'll never learn, we can never have molded into us and we'll rob ourselves and we will not grow spiritually in the way that God intends us to.

So it says here, having/receiving judgment, and so it's talking about that there are differences here you have to judge in with those who are younger, there are things to be judged there, and there are some who are going...it doesn't matter who it is in life, because of changes that take place in life sometimes go back in the world, but if they're part of the Church and this is their way of life then there is a way for them to deal with it.

Verse 13 - And withal, basically it's summing up everything, but if they are given the assistance they will learn to be idle, inactive, lazy. He's saying here that if someone isn't focused properly when they  have the ability to do, the ability to function out here, the ability to be a part of providing for whatever it is for themselves, if the ability is there, the point being is they should do it.  Otherwise, what happens?  I can tell you from experience what happens; I've seen it happen in God's Church because of how third tithe was used back in the sixties and seventies and part of the eighties, in large part of the eighties actually, in the United States. And those who were younger who had the ability began to become idle, began to even have a change in mind where they became...they were expecting help, expecting more than what they were even being given. Always wanting more, always desiring more and never doing anything in return, not even serving the Church. Think, what can you learn from that? If you have the ability to go out there and work should you be working? Absolutely. We made an error in some of that back then at that point in time.

So this is what Paul was telling Timothy about here. People who are able to work should work! And withal that they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, not only inactive, in other words, but tattlers, gossips: In other words, if we don't learn to be productive in life, if we're not using the mind, if we're not planning ahead, if we're not working to provide for ourselves, let alone our family, this is what it's showing here - are you willing to even provide for yourself or not? It says here, and not only that you become a gossip, also a busybody, to me, as I was going through, I thought about technology, and I thought, that is a powerful tool that's enabled that many, many times over, because it's talking about becoming involved more in other people's lives than your own, beginning to have communication with others and talking about others and talking about situations that sometime people shouldn't be involved in, or involved in relationships and stuff that they shouldn't be involved in.  Just on and on it goes, because there is so much time on people's hands.  So there is a danger with the misuse of technology in those things as well. Letting the mind become idle is a bad thing, and by the time one is older they understand that, they have learned those things, they've gone through those things already as a whole.

So again here, it says, speaking/conversing about things that they should not.  Speaking about, conversing about...  I've seen this in the Church.  So we have to be careful how things are done, that they're done in order, in an orderly fashion exactly the way God says so we can learn from it.

Verse 14 - And I will therefore that the younger women marry, in other words, not be hindered from getting on with their life as they could otherwise be enabled, bear children, guide the house, giving no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. Again, we're talking about a specific kind of society at that time and a desire that most would want to have, to get on with their life.  It would be their desire, someone in their twenties, and thirties, or forties - can't go into the forties and still have children and so forth as a whole sometimes, but again, to guide the house, sometimes people look at this and think, oh that's saying that you should just be at home, doing your stuff at home. Well, it's talking about if you're married, and whether you're married or not married you have to guide your house, you have to guide your life and what you do in your life, and this is a part of what it's talking about, the ability to manage your life. You know, I think of Proverbs when it talks about... sometimes because it's been made syrupy  you want to choke at it; Proverbs woman. The protestant world sometimes has so abused things that are said there but it's talking about people who have ability, people who use their mind, people who are industrious. It talks about going out and buying a field, the ability to deal with financial matters regardless of how big they are, things that sometimes husbands and wives in life don't even share, when both should share in those things so both have the ability of doing those things, of things you learn together, whatever it be.

So there are a lot of misconceptions here about men and women, but again, even more so today because of the way society is today, which in some ways is a very good thing...and we'll get into that in the next sermon here. But anyway, it just shows that it's all about productivity.

For some have already turned aside after Satan/his ways. If any man or woman who believes, is in the faith, they have widows, in other word, in their family, let them relieve/give support to them, that's what it's talking about, and not let/leave it to the Church to be charged; so that it may relieve those who truly are widows.  And so again here, it was a right balance and a use of whatever God gives, to use it in the best way and showing that there is responsibility in families to take care of things within their families. How much more so for self, or for your mate and your own family if you don't do those things? I hope you understand that that's much worse.

So again, we'll pick up there again next week and continue on. But again, so many lessons to be learned here about structure and what God gives to us and how we learn from those things.

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