Steve Webb  0:00  
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching.

Steve Webb  0:12  
Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring! One Year Bible, and podcasting since 2004, I'm your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. Today is Epistle Sunday, and we'll read 2 Timothy 3 and 4. That'll close the book of 2 Timothy. The website is lifespringmedia.com, and I'll have contact information at the end of the show. Before we get started, let's have a word of prayer. Our heavenly Father, we ask your blessing on the reading of your word today and I ask, Lord, that you would teach us as we read. We thank you for this time together in Jesus' name, Amen. All right, let's begin. 

Steve Webb  0:51  
2 Timothy, chapter 3. But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also. Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Steve Webb  2:55  
2 Timothy, chapter 4. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching. At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus. Make every effort to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, also Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren. The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

Steve Webb  5:31
In the beginning of chapter 3, Paul said that in the last days, things would be difficult because of how evil people will be and he listed some of the characteristics that they'd have. Here's the list again: "lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power." You know, Beloved, one thing social media has done is allowed pretty much anybody with a computer or a smartphone to put their life on display for all to see. And back in the early days of social media, it used to surprise me what some people chose to post. It doesn't surprise me anymore, of course, but you know, we've all seen every one of those characteristics that Paul listed shown on social media. Let me quickly say that there are some wonderful people there as well who display the opposite traits, but I've got to admit that I really had no idea how many of the other kind there were in the world. And then the final four verses of chapter 3 really do encapsulate the reason I produce the Lifespring! One Year Bible. Here are those verses again. "You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." Paul told Timothy to continue with the things "you've learned and become convinced of." How do you do that? By continuing to be a student of Scripture. And most believers, I think, agree with that. But they have a hard time doing it. Me included. So this show helps me to stay in the Scriptures and I hope that it helps you, too. What are your thoughts? Do you have a question or a comment? Contact information will be at the end of the show. Tomorrow will be The Law Monday and we'll read Numbers 13 through 16.

Steve Webb  7:58  
We have an Associate Producer to thank today Travis Blevins sent in his monthly $20 donation. Thank you, Travis. God bless you. And Matt LeRoy sent in a $50 donation with this note, "Thank you so much for what you're doing to spread God's word. I finally caught up." Yay! "The Lord spoke to me when I asked what sort of value I should return to you for all the value I received from your podcast. And he led me to this donation. May God bless you and your family, Steve." Well, thank you, Matt, for your donation and for listening to God's leading. God bless you. And Matt sent a prayer request with his note which I'll share later in the prayer requests segment of today's show. Beloved, the Lifespring! One Year Bible, as you know, relies on your support, not advertising. Advertising equals censorship. And I will not let the Word of God be censored here on this show. So to pay the bills value-for-value is the only way this works. You decide if the show has value. And if it does, all I ask is for you to return a portion of that value back to me in the form of time, talent, or treasure. Pray about it, would you? And then go to

Jingle  9:05  
Lifespringmedia.com/support

Steve Webb  9:13  
Matt LeRoy sent in this prayer request, he said, "I pray that my wife and I could find a local church that both of us love. She was raised in a Catholic family and my family was, well, all over the place. The last church I remember attending was a Church of the Nazarene. After looking into the differences of denominations, I believe I'm leaning toward Baptist. However, my wife doesn't think she'll like a Baptist church. It's been many years since we regularly attended church. I think she prefers Catholicism over other denominations because that's what she was taught. But I want her to choose for herself with rational and reasoning as her main deciding factor instead of the whole that's-what-we've-always-done factor. Please pray for us that we can follow Christ together." Well, Matt, we'll certainly do that. And this is a prayer that I think the Lord will certainly answer. He does want you to be in church together. So I think we'll be praying according to God's will. All right, let's pray. Our heavenly Father, you are merciful and holy, you are the one true and only God, there is none other. We thank you, Lord, for loving us. And because of your love, you've made it possible for us to have a relationship with you and we praise you for that. And we thank you, Lord, for your Word and for equipping us to do the work you've called us to do. We pray that you would give us a thirst for your Word and that you would embed it in our hearts and our minds. Use it, Lord, to shape us into the people you want us to be. Help us, Lord, to meditate on it. Saturate us, Lord, with your Word. We pray now for Matt and his wife. And we thank you that they really want to find a church that they can love, Lord. Guide them to a church that will be good for both of them. Give them each a soft heart so that they'll think of each other as they search. Bless them in their desire to follow you as a couple. Father, I thank you for the Lifespring family, what a blessing they are to me, Lord. I pray that you would meet their needs in your perfect, loving way. Scripture says that you want to lavish good things on your people, Lord. Thank you for being such a loving father. Help us, Lord, to see your blessings and your work in our lives. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Our next time of prayer together here on the show will be Wednesday. If there's a praise we should know about, or if there's something you would like us to pray with you about. Contact information is coming up in just a moment.

Steve Webb  11:41  
Jason Paschall did today's show art. Thank you, Jason. And also thanks to Sister Denise, and Michael Haner, and Scott Snider, and Sister Brittaney - the team. Thanks to today's Associate Producer Travis Blevins and to Matt LeRoy for his generous gift. God bless you guys. If you have a comment, a question, a prayer request, or a praise report, call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. If you prefer, for prayer requests and praise reports, go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. You'll find an easy-to-fill-out form there. And if you want to remain anonymous, there's a little box you can tick on there to let me know that as well. For comments or questions, go to comment.lifespringmedia.com, or send a boostagram for any of those things. My email address is steve@lifespringmedia.com. Beloved, thank you so much for inviting me along today. Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

James Cooper  12:43  
All the programs in the Lifespring! Media family are made possible by the generous gifts of people like you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai