Let us turn to our Bibles to 1st Timothy chapter 4. 1st Timothy chapter 4. Let us listen attentively to the word of God. Verses 6-11. If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.
But reject profane and old wise fables and exercise yourself towards godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.
For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. These things command and teach. Let us pray.
So God, as we read these words, penned by Paul by the power of the Holy Spirit within him, that we may learn 2,000 years later of the importance of good ministers in the church of God. And to that end, Lord, may these be an encouragement for us and our leadership, and that it be a guiding direction for us, certainly, Lord, to persevere in these things. And in particular, God, that we would continue to pray for our leaders and the pastors, not just of our church, but of our churches and our presbytery and our denomination and of all Christian churches, wherever they may be, that your name would be magnified and the people of God instructed carefully and well out of your word, we pray, by our Lord and Savior, in his grace alone.
Amen. Although Paul already described ministerial qualifications in chapter 3, he once again emphasizes the primary role of ministers, teaching the truth and warning against error as well. That’s the other half of their job.
In the prior verses, in chapter 4 here, the apostle warned against error, but also gave instruction on the good use of creation. Now, in these verses, he’ll cover some more errors, but wants to motivate Timothy in the right direction by encouraging him to teach the truth and to warn of error as well as evidence of being a good minister of Jesus Christ. So let’s go carefully through the text here some more to understand what a good minister entails, what this looks like here.
Good Ministers Teach the Truth
A good minister teaches the truth, verse 6, if you, that is Timothy, instruct the brethren, his church, the members of the church there, in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ. Instructing the truth is the main point of pastors. Indeed, they rule, just like the ruling elders.
1 Timothy 5.17 we read, let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. Especially those who labor in word and doctrine. But they, of course, do more in this instruction here.
For 1 Corinthians 4.17 we read that this instruction by Timothy, instruction by the pastors, the teaching and preaching that we are called to do, is not just a little bit here and there, but everywhere and anywhere people will hear us. For this reason, Paul writes, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach everywhere and every church. The whole book of Acts displays the importance, the significance of preaching and of teaching the word of God.
Certainly miracles are there. In fact, they are all especially clustered in the beginning history of Acts, because Acts is chronological and goes through the early growth of the New Testament church. And in a similar fashion, in fact, you read earlier letters, such as 1 Corinthians, compared to later letters such as, oh, here we go, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, where there is virtually no talk of miracles, because the miracles eventually fade away but what stays the same is the need of the gospel preaching.
The whole counsel of God. And that is there in Acts. I preach through Acts, as you recall, if you were here, and the whole book there.
And I highlight, I would stop and remind us again and again that preaching and teaching is important. We need it. That’s how we avoid darkness.
That’s how we avoid sin. That’s how we instruct our conscience. And the pastors, that is, the great pastors, known as the apostles, preached and taught everywhere with boldness and truth.
And it affected those around them by God’s powerful Spirit. So this is a reminder, again, here in Timothy, as you write into Timothy, preaching and teaching is important. It says in chapter 1, watch out for false teachers.
You should be a true teacher. Chapter 3 gives us the qualification here again in 4. It says, you must continue to teach and instruct that people would not forget these things. Because we are feeble-minded at times and we struggle with these things.
They instruct any and all who will listen, that is, pastors, more so than the sacraments. 1 Corinthians 1.17 For Christ did not send me to baptize. This is the Apostle Paul.
He makes the claim that I have been appointed by Jesus Christ although I wasn’t there at the beginning like the rest of the apostles, right? He comes later. And yet Jesus certifies him on the road to Damascus. And a prophet recommends him.
He acknowledges him because no one else saw what Paul saw but him and his servants. And Paul, even though he was given this great commission which tells us explicitly to baptize the nations, he writes, Christ did not send me to baptize. What’s he saying here? Obviously he’s exaggerating to make an effect because things were so bad in the church of Corinth where they were so bothered by and being very prideful and arrogant about who baptized who.
I got baptized by this guy. I got baptized by Peter. Ha ha.
Well, I got baptized by Paul. And others even said I got baptized by Jesus. Or I am of Jesus, I think it was.
They had clans. They were very cliquish. And so Paul is hammering home the point.
I preached Jesus Christ and him crucified. But to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. Baptism has its place, but it’s secondary to preaching.
You, conceivably of course, can live a Christian life somehow, probably during times of great upheaval like war and not be baptized. But you can’t learn about baptism in Christ without what? The word of God, which is usually through preaching or someone talking to you or teaching you. Not another man’s foundation either when it comes to the instruction he has here.
If you instruct the brethren I’m still talking about instruction here or teaching that they would not forget. You have that there in the KJV if you’re using the KJV. Not another man’s foundation.
Romans 15.20. And so I have made, this is Paul again, made it my aim to preach the gospel. Not where Christ was named lest I should build on another man’s foundation. They are supposed to be in coordination with one another and not stumble over each other’s toes as it were.
And so although it is a great honor and an important calling to teach and preach the word of God, there are still limits and direction given in this preaching and teaching that he not just do it anywhere willy-nilly, but be careful not to go over another man’s work and his church and his ministry. And of course it’s the teaching and instruction not just to anybody, which is what Paul also did to the unbeliever, but here in particular the brethren. Christians.
This is in many ways their number one duty for that is their primary care like a father to a family. It is a local church that attaches the local people to a local pastor. It is a concrete accountability for both parties in this regard.
Now this is the third time, I’ve alluded to this before as well, that Paul reminds Timothy to teach, warn, exhort in various matters. Highlighting the importance of this function there in chapter 1 in fact. And it’s therefore all the more important I think today, at least with the Jews, they had some instruction, they had the Old Testament.
Today we only have that. I know we talk about, perhaps you’ve heard of the Bible belt. It’s becoming more like suspenders now.
It’s just fraying away and falling apart. Ignorance is growing everywhere unfortunately. And it’s these things.
If you instruct the brethren, the church of the living God, in these things you will be a good minister. That is what he covered before, probably immediately at the very least. That is creation, how it’s good.
It’s okay to eat meat. It’s good to be married. And it’s okay to interact with creation and to use these things if sanctified by word and prayer.
The pastors are nourished as well, you see here. So he describes it as you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ. Highlighting that being an instructor of the Lord and all His ways and the Word of God is a good thing for pastors to continue on.
But he does something here and describes something that perhaps you never thought about before. Nourished, that is, he himself, Timothy, will be nourished in the words of faith and the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. Pastors are nourished in their ministry.
Not nourishing you, but we are being nourished as we exercise our office. Ever thought about that? It’s not Olaf, the pastor, he’s up there feeding me the Word of God. He’s the under shepherd and I’m the sheep.
I’m a sheep too. The pastors are sheep too. And he needs to be fed.
He needs the Bible. He needs Christ. He needs His Word.
He needs the sacraments. These are also for us as well. They grow, in other words, as they teach others.
And of course, this is nothing unique. It’s not as though only pastors go through this. You’ve done this yourself.
Especially if you’ve homeschooled, but not uniquely. Because if you had kids, or if you’re on the job, if you have a neighbor and you have to instruct them in something, you find out sometimes, I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. I’ve got to get that book out.
And you learn a little more. Because the person’s asking questions you never thought about before perhaps. We know this happens.
You’ve done it and I’ve done it. When you were a teenager, probably when you were a kid, and certainly as an adult, at least once, somewhere, somehow. And that’s what I think the picture here is as well.
That we too, as pastors, teaching and preaching the Word of God exhorts ideally to ourselves as well. We pay attention to the text that we were supposedly prayed over and worked through. And in teaching you guys these things, we teach ourselves as well.
The pastor deals with, in this regard, many things. The basics of life. That is, the basics of biblical Christianity and truth and doctrine.
That nourishes us as well as practical things. As pastors are called when they instruct the brethren to deal with all kinds of matters that are related to the Word of God. And we found out in the prior verses that could include eating food.
Who would have thought the question about eating meat would be a theological question? But it turned into a theological question because apparently people made it a theological point of contention that they were special. They didn’t eat meat. They were somehow closer to God.
Whenever someone makes that claim, they are closer to God because they do X. They better be backed up by the Word of God. Because now you’re adding something to the second commandment and the first table of the law of God saying, this makes me more sanctified or holy as the Pharisees did. But whatever the case is, the pastors are nourished in these matters.
Whether current issues such as marriage and the like. Or long established matters of the Word of God, who Jesus is, what is sin, what is the covenant of works, grace and the like. So pastors grow and helps us mature as we instruct you.
Faith and good doctrine in particular of course, that they are nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. Describing I think the same thing in a two-fold way that the truth of the Word of faith, the words of faith, that is the Bible, and of good doctrine. Good doctrine comes from the Word of faith, the Bible itself.
Because our faith in Jesus Christ cannot come from general revelation or from the light of nature. I mentioned that in a sermon last week. You can’t find salvation in nature.
You can find all kinds of things to take care of your body and have even a decent civilization. But you can’t save your soul. And so the word here, the words of faith would be the Bible telling us what we must believe in, that is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
And this truth, these good doctrines, good instruction that Timothy here must and pastors must continue to teach people in all things is important indeed. Whatever these may be, all kinds of doctrine. I already mentioned a little bit before, it could be just application of doctrine.
It’s okay to eat these kinds of foods. You can eat all kinds of things as Peter found out an axe when the sheep was pulled down from heaven. And marriage or even singleness as we read in 1 Corinthians 7. Either state is before God.
Good Ministers Reject Lies
One is not more holy per se than the other. Good ministers reject lies, verses 7-9 but reject profane and old wise fables and exercise yourself towards godliness. Reject false teaching, not just teaching but even practices of course.
Because he says on the flip side, exercise, do, don’t just talk about godliness. Profane teaching and old wise fables. Broadly describing I think all kinds of things.
It’s not very specific here. Perhaps he’s basically saying a bunch of rubbish we would perhaps say today. It’s distracting, unedifying, teaching and practices.
And it’s doubly worse because as he describes it here, it’s profane. Now we have a similar or in fact it’s the same word profane used in 1 Timothy 6.20. So two chapters later in the same book. Oh Timothy, guard that what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.
So there’s no reason to think he’s talking about something different. He uses the word profane but now he talks about idle babblings instead of old wives tales. I take it to mean basically the same thing.
The old wives tales are babblings. They’re inconsequential. They’re unhelpful.
They’re even distracting and foolish as he says. They’re contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. And so there’s that word knowledge.
Perhaps hinting again at Gnosticism as I talked about before. So whatever the errors are that Paul is pushing against here, it at least includes what we read in the prior verses which is forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving. Those things are profane, old wives or babbling languages that contradict from the so-called knowledge.
Reject these teachings means what? The pastor is called, Timothy is called to reject such things. His rejection of them is not private. The idea here isn’t you Timothy are to reject these things yourself.
Don’t worry about the rest of the church. He’s writing to a pastor. The implication of course is if you’re going to reject it you need to warn the people about these false babbling profane teachings and lies.
That they too would what? Reject it as well. But of course if the pastor is not going to reject it, will he help you reject it? So at the very least he’s got to reject it. That’s a bare minimum.
But rejecting these lies and these profane and old wives fables and edifying things requires something of the pastor in double measure that the rest of us would like to have and need as well. The ability to say no. Not to cave in to peer pressure.
Several times in the book of Acts the preaching and teaching instruction of the apostles is described as boldness or what can be translated open. That is they weren’t fearful or afraid. This is how it is.
They’re just laying it on the line. Peter especially did that. He’s preaching to this large audience of Jews that all gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost.
They come from all corners of the Roman Empire for their special holy day and time of worship. And he tells them you crucified, you murdered, you killed Jesus. You know back then those crowds could turn on you and stone you.
We all know these stories. And he told them that anyway. That’s boldness.
That’s strength to what? Here to preach the truth. But on the flip side you need that boldness I think many times doubly so to reject lies. To reject peer pressure and the like.
We need this kind of preaching and teaching from our leaders when appropriate of course. I don’t believe pastors should be up here banging, you know, hammering down on every issue all the time. It depends on what you need to hear at times and what the text is of course.
But boldness is what they need. Pray for that brothers and sisters. That more truth and more warning as well would be bold in both cases.
Exercise in godliness verses 7 through 8. But reject profane and old wives’ fables and exercise yourself towards godliness. The implied contrast here is that old wives are unedifying or babbling as he says in chapter 6 things. Some things edifying and helpful use for the body of course is there.
It is good to do some exercise and the like. But here he wants to emphasize exercise yourself towards godliness. We need to work on sanctification.
Godliness is another word for holiness. Another word for sanctification. Another word for consecration.
All these different ways describe that we are called to be unique in this world at least morally speaking. In following God and His word. In many ways when we look the same we are going to have similar clothing.
We will have the same kind of house. That is fine. That is the society we find ourselves in.
Here it is godliness. It is a moral category that should not be confused with the outward actions as much as the heart especially. But sometimes the outward actions will stand out especially like not murdering people.
That is a good thing. And this is done by the power of the Holy Spirit within us. Paul does not say this.
Those words are not there. But obviously if we are to exercise ourselves towards godliness. To do and work out our salvation with fear and tremblings.
Because we have the Spirit of God within us. That is implied. He knows this.
And therefore we are able to do these things. And this exercising of godliness is for Timothy. For again a pastor who is supposed to live by example and show you in the world godliness.
What it means to be a Christian. To be a follower of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Not to get bogged down with foolish discussions.
In this particular case to reject profane unedifying discussions and things like that. Babbling things. But rather on the flip side exercise yourself towards godliness.
That which is edifying as Paul uses that word there in Corinthians. Helpful. It is not helpful to debate the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin as they supposedly did in the high medieval ages.
That is not edifying. And there may be things that are interesting and curious to know about. And we can talk about that as I guess the younger generation says offline.
You don’t want to hear me preach about it. You can ask me privately. What about this or that? I don’t know.
I never thought about it. That is interesting. Maybe we will never know.
But his ministry is supposed to deal with what we do know. Which is the Word of God especially. And Christ Jesus.
To preach and to teach and to instruct people in these things. And to exercise themselves in this godliness to be more like Jesus our Lord and Savior. And that means of course godliness is defined by something.
It is defined by God. It is goodness. It is the Ten Commandments.
It is the truth of God’s Word. Godliness both in doctrine and in practice. What we believe and what we do.
What we profess and how we act. This is important. This is what pastors are called.
This is what we must and should seek out for churches when we are in God’s providence having to change churches and the like. Are these pastors willing to instruct and indeed do instruct the truth. Reject profane and old wives tale and therefore warn the people of God of these dangers and the like.
And he continues in verse 8. For bodily exercise profits a little. But godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of all the life that is now and that which is to come. So now he wants to play off the word or the idea of exercise.
Reject profane and old wives fables and exercise yourself towards godliness. Ah bodily exercise profits a little. We kind of talk this way at times and we write this way and pick up the idea and we want to swing it around and go in a different direction.
And Paul is taking it and emphasizing the point of exercising or walking and living the Christian life. To emphasize the need to avoid profane babbling. Exercising is good.
I wish I did more of it when I was younger in fact. It is good for the body. Good for your health.
Unless of course you hurt yourself but then you got to hold back. But in general we all know this. Paul is pointing something out that even pagans know.
Exercise is good for the body. But he wants to put it in perspective. It profits.
It is good. It has healthful benefits for the rest of us. A little.
In comparison to godliness which is what? For all things because it is of the life that now is and of life to come. That is heaven. But our body is going to die and fade away and we are going to have a better body in the future.
So the exercise we do now is profitable but compared to the future when Christ returns to a new heaven and new earth it is a little thing. Don’t get lost in the little things. I didn’t say don’t do the little things.
They have their place compared to other things to be sure. But here he wants to emphasize again twice over to young Timothy because he is a young man. People had disdain over him for being a young pastor.
To stand firm and resist that peer pressure. The babbling and the finagling over words or false teachings and Jewish ideology apparently or Gnosticism. To stand firm in the gospel of our Lord and Savior and preach these things that profit and are helpful.
Godliness in particular is profitable for all things. No matter what we are in our Christian life, no matter what we do, it should all be done to the glory of God and done in a godly manner. That godly manner is primarily of your motivation because the outward form may look the same again.
Your neighbor may not be killing people. You may not be killing people. That’s good.
Yours is godly. His isn’t because he doesn’t do it for God’s glory. He doesn’t care.
He just doesn’t want to get caught or whatever his reasons are. So don’t always confuse godliness with outward actions but of course it may be that way when things get worse and worse in society. People not getting married.
People are murdering. They are killing their babies. People are lying.
So we ought to be godly and stand firm against such peer pressure around us and to carry on in our Christian walk. So Paul wants pastors to focus on these godly things so that the church of God may grow in Jesus Christ. It’s a faithful saying, verse 9. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.
Living and teaching about godliness is important. He said it twice in these verses, 7 and 8. He’s emphasizing it here in 9. This is a good thing. It’s universally accepted and worthy of all acceptance.
To be a Christian means to be godly. To take seriously the word of God and especially his law. Because Christ took it so seriously, what did he do? He obeyed it and then he died in our stead to uphold God’s majesty and his law.
He did not break the law of God. God himself, the Father, didn’t just ignore it and say, whatever, I’ll just save you guys in spite of you violating God’s law and doing whatever you want and without word and deed. I’ll just pretend the law didn’t exist.
I’ll grant on a curve. That’s not godliness. That’s not a God you want to worship.
Our God does not grant on a curve. Christ Jesus took all the punishment we deserved. There’s a faithful and true saying everywhere.
Antinomianism, that is to be against God’s law, is a terrible thing and it’s unfortunately taught, I think at least by example, in too many churches these days. It’s okay, you know, they’ll get married eventually. What? You heard that in prayer time, right? What? Going to this church, the church isn’t interested in this family, this couple, getting married when they should get married.
They had a kid out of wedlock. That’s terrible. Because they’re giving in to the pressures of society.
They’re not rejecting profane and old wives’ fables. In this case, I guess the old wives’ fable is, whatever, as long as you live together and you’re kind of committed to one another. No.
Godliness is important. Third point. Good ministers suffer for the truth.
Good Ministers Suffer for the Truth
Verses 10-11. They teach the truth. They warn against lies.
They reject such lies and half-truths. And they suffer for it. Verse 10 and following.
To this end, we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God. Not just trusting, it’s shorthand for, because we trust in Him, we teach these things, we reject these lies, and the like. They labor and suffer reproach.
In fulfilling the office of minister, Apostle Paul is saying, we both, you, Timothy, and myself, we have suffered these things. People have besmirched us, and the like. While working to protect the flock, they will be targets of derision and hate, reviling, taunting, and the like.
Be they the Jews for not being illegalists, or the pagans for not being polytheists. Whatever the case is. The same is true today.
They are, in other ways, suffering reproach and laboring under difficulties. They are derided and mocked, even within the church itself. It’s not a glamorous job.
They are ignored or forgotten. Whatever the case is, Paul says, this is true. We do these things because we trust in the living God Almighty.
Maker of heaven and earth. Because this is not a popularity contest. We don’t care if people hate us.
If we preach the truth. That’s the kind of pastor you want. But why would they ridicule the ministers? For trusting in the living God.
Trusting in Him. God Almighty. Of course, it’s not just for pastors.
You too ought to trust in the living God, instead of the dead Greek gods. The pagan gods. The polytheistic gods of these nations that brought them nothing but harm.
The first is just as applicable, and much of this is applicable to us. We too may be mocked and derided, or have been, for following Jesus and taking His word seriously. You go to church.
Don’t you have something better to do on Sunday? What? Why do you believe these lies and half-truths? Jesus is just a man. What kind of a Christian? Wait, you’re saying I’m not a Christian? You’re so unloving. Why are you guys so mean? Same kind of stuff.
Over and over again. They did it to the early church, as you know. And they mocked them.
And they did their Lord’s Supper. They had their baptisms. And they made lies about them.
They spread rumors around about them. They do the same thing today. They trust in a living God.
And it can be discouraging and hard to take for church officers when it gets especially bad because it’s public pressure now in a very broad fashion compared to most Christians, as it were, in the pew. You may have it in your neighborhood, yes. Co-workers, yes.
But as a public office, it would be all those people who ever hear you, on top of anybody else when you preach and teach and instruct people. And so I read this, and it’s the best to be read this way, as an encouragement for him. For to this end, all this instruction and teaching and rejecting wives’ tales leads to suffering and reproach because we trust in the living God.
We rely upon Him and not upon man. Not upon the things that men wish and want to do. And so the people mock us and they hate us and they try to tear us down.
But this living God is with us. He takes care of us, is the implication. And so when it talks about here, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men? Who is the who? It is the living God.
Especially of those who believe. And that would be Timothy and Paul and all the other church officers and all the Christians. They’re saying, this God is for you.
He is preserving you. He is saving you. He is watching over you.
That’s the idea there around the word Savior, which can be translated Deliverer, in fact, or even Preserver. It’s very broad there. And so, Savior of all men.
The word there for man is all mankind. Savior, this is the important part, is Deliverer or Preserver of Life, right? Because He’s the living God. There’s the adjective.
Not the almighty God, although He is that, but He’s stressing here, the living God who is the Savior, the living Savior who keeps and preserves the life of all creation. And so that we have a intensifier here. Especially, right? Especially those who believe.
Most of all, or above all, an intensifier. So we could, if I were to give a paraphrase, the Savior of all men, the Deliverer and Preserver of all men everywhere, especially those who believe. Because those who are preserved in mankind, not all of them believe and they’re not all therefore especially preserved or saved.
That’s the idea. We suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, Paul writes, who delivers men from all kinds of death and preserves them in life because He’s the living God, but especially delivers us, both body and soul. Their bodies may be preserved and saved by God day by day from destruction, but their souls are not.
The souls are those who believe, especially those who believe. That’s the idea. And it fits the context.
They despise us, they hate us for trusting in this God, but it’s this God who preserves us even if the world hates us. The point being, God will preserve us through our suffering, for if He takes care of the unbelieving world, and He does, with food and shelter, He saves them from the elements, He saves them from death. He will all the more take care of you and your soul.
And so the intensifier then is to intensify the idea of Savior, not just the body, all of creation, He preserves it as the Creator God, but of the soul, especially those who believe. And so we have similar ideas and usage of the word, especially there in Galatians 6.10, for example. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially the household of faith.
You do good to all. You do good, in particular, outward good. You take care of your family if they’re unbelievers, you’re helpful for your neighbor, but how are you especially, what, doing good to the household of faith? You’re doing spiritual good.
So there is a difference, although there’s a similarity. The idea is, you’re doing good in both cases, but one good here and here are double good. You take care of the bodily concerns in the church, the diaconate, but especially, especially the household of faith, you do spiritual good.
You instruct one another in the Word of God. You encourage one another. You warn one another from the devil and the like.
So you have another text, in other words, Galatians 6.10, showing us similarity and difference in the comparison and intensifier of the word, especially. That’s the point. Again, the command, verse 11, let these things command and teach.
These things command and teach. He exhorts Timothy here at the end of this section here, especially, to not lose sight of his duty and calling. Yet again, to what? Teach, teach, preach, instruct, whatever else you want to call it.
That’s what they’re called to do. What is a good minister? One called by the Spirit through the church, of course. One who faithfully discharges his duty by the power of God, specifically through instructing the flock of our Lord and Savior, teaching them all things that God has given them, both the truth to embrace and the errors to reject as well.
Pray, brothers and sisters, for pastors to stand firm to teach the whole counsel of God. Let us pray. We indeed ask Lord God Almighty to raise up more men, to strengthen those who have been in the ministry, both for a short time and a long time, God, to stand firm and to preach, to teach well our God and Savior, to reject, to warn against lies, and Lord, to depend upon you in spite of whatever happens around them, for they will certainly suffer one way or the other for standing upon the truth, God Almighty.
Help us, we pray, all of us, to be faithful and to follow you by your Spirit, we pray. Amen.