Apply Within

Bob Davis: What a thrill when someone says to you, another believer, "I remember when you first got here, you didn't know anything, and I've just seen you grow." When you have somebody say that to you, don't go, "Oh, no." You know what you say? Thank you.

Thank you that you could see that because sometimes I can't see them myself, and I'm thinking, "I'm losing." Encourage somebody.

Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the Word of God with Pastor Bob Davis and North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we by the power of God's Holy Spirit apply his word within our own hearts, as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. As we begin First Timothy chapter 5, Paul instructs believers to care for one another with respect and to honor widows in need. Here's Pastor Bob.

I would say, I would say in my life, it is my life, but I would say that about you. You may not be a pastor. You may not see yourself as anything, but I think that it's Timothy's life. It's my life. It's your life.

You don't quit because you're failing. You'll never fail unless you quit. We don't quit. We go on and on and on. Even if I have to learn the same lessons 20 times and fall on my face, Jesus smiles and says, "You're falling in the right direction, Bob. Come on, get up. I got you. Let's keep going." We keep going. We don't quit.

And that's what he's this is Timothy's life. It's his calling. These are his gifts. It's his life. This is your life. You have gifts. You say, "I don't know what they are." Keep serving. Keep serving. That's how you find out what they are. Someone will tell you sooner or later, and someone will tell you what your gifts are.

Because people are just that way. Dr. McGee puts it in his own style. Remember this. There is no excuse for a minister not to study the Word of God. And remember, there's no excuse for any Christian not to study the Word of God. Give thyself wholly, completely, wholly, completely to it.

When you read it, even if it's only going to be five minutes, pay attention to what you're reading. If you've got a little bit longer time, pay attention to what you're reading. If you read it and it sticks in there, you'll begin to heed it. First, you got to read them, then you got to heed them because you never know when you're going to need them.

Remember in the Old Testament, first you got to read them, then you got to heed them. You never know when you're going to need them. The Word of God pops into your heart, I believe, into your head quite often during the day because you've been reading your Bibles. And a scripture will come up, you go, "Whoa, I didn't even know I remembered that one." You someone asked you a question, and you answer, you'll, "Whoa, that was not in my mind. That just popped into my pee brain." That's the Holy Spirit.

You give yourself wholly to it completely. We start now, and we read this. More instructions, not just for Pastor Bob, not just for Timothy, for me and you and every servant of the Lord. So quit trying to wiggle out of all this. Me and you too.

Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brothers. The elder women as mothers, the younger the younger women as sisters with all purity.

Paul reminds Timothy, and me, and you, all Christians, every servant of the Lord about how we should deal with our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. There's a way to treat people at church, and there's a way to not treat people at church.

There's a way that you do it. And Timothy has to learn it. I have to learn it. You have to learn it. How do you deal with brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ? Every one of them is different. Some of them are girls. Some of them are guys, and they're every one of them are different. And you saw, he had to tell us what the guys ought to wear, what the girls, in other words, he's not giving you all these things. He's given you some basics, respectful and stuff, and we we covered all that. But now, listen.

Listen to this. He starts off with the older gentlemen. I don't know what that means. I don't know what what older is. What's old? I don't know a number. I used to say in the back of my mind, 60 was old. When I passed that, it didn't really feel old anymore.

So I don't know what old is. My friend Ron Miller, you met him. He's 80 years old, and he's got more energy than all of you packed together. So what is old? It's hard to say. But you get the point.

Look at you, and there's other men around here, other women around here that are older than you. So if you want to know how to deal with uh the elders, the older men, he starts off with elders. And as we're we've already we've already have seen that there is a position called elder.

That's not what he's talking about now. Paul has already taught us about that, go back a chapter or so, and you'll see, well, chapter chapter 3 and etcetera. But you remember you we we talked all through that about the ladies, about the guys, about the the elders. Remember the the overseers of the church and we talked about that. Paul has already taught us about that those positions.

The Greek word is presbyteros, that's true. But it literally means the older. If you like, the elderly. The simple use today is a lot of people say, they don't say elder. What do they say? Senior. It sounds more polite. It still says old. Right? Your senior citizens.

And so that's a polite way to say it. But how do you treat them? How do you in the church, when you speak with them or you greet him at the door or if you're a greeter, you know, whatever you call those, or if you're working at the coffee shop or in the bookstore or you're just there meeting people, uh how do you how do you treat them? How do you what do you say and do?

The language here is not dealing with the leadership at this point. We've already learned that responsibility. The elder men means as opposed to younger men. So Paul reminds Timothy and every servant, "Do not rebuke the older men harshly."

That's what the language says. Rebuke that's a little bit harsh, right? Rebuke not an elder. Do not rebuke an older gentleman. Okay, I'm 900 and you're 903. I'm going to I'm going to respectfully talk to you that way.

And so should every other man. And so should every other woman, etcetera, as it all works together. So don't rebuke the older men harshly. And I I hope you would never would. What if he's out of line or wrong? You're going to talk to him. That's not a problem. It's not a problem. Instead, you treat the older men as he was your own father.

How would you talk to your dad? I would hope respectfully. You can joke with I can joke with my dad, but I respected my dad. Of course, he could kill me and make another one to look just like me. But you know, he was a military guy for 30 years, but I respected him. I was just he was like we as I grew, I was just like him, so we butted heads all the time.

And I said, "Mom, what what is it?" She goes, "You're doing great. You're just like him." I said, "I don't even want to ask what that means." But I liked my dad even when he threatened my life, you know. "You're not going to live. I'll make another one look." Right? You entreat them or treat them as you would your own father. That's what he says.

Treat him as a father figure with honor and respect. That's how you would treat him. Sometimes I have to talk to people if there's an issue or a problem. Most everybody else doesn't want to. And so they'll say, "Pastor Bob, you're going to have to talk to that girl." Pastor Bob, I said, "I'm a boy. You talk to them, you're a girl." "No, I can't. You got to do it, Pastor." Okay. "Pastor Bob, you got to talk to this guy. I think he's there's something wrong." And I said, "You want to talk to him?" "No, I better not. You do it."

Okay. How would you treat them? As a as as your own father with honor and respect, not with judgment, not with harshness or rough rebukes, you wouldn't do it. You'd say, "Let's talk about the situation. Let's figure this out."

But with gentle, what should I say? Gentle encouragement. The same as the older women. It's the same for the older women, right? The elder women, you treat them how? As mothers. You had a mother. Everybody did. You may not liked her. You may not have known her, but you had a mother. And uh I I grew up in this it's a Southern family. My mom comes from Middle Italy, but my dad comes from Nashville, so we're Southern.

I mean, they say, "Southern." But that's what we are. And so growing up in my house, you could call your dad anything you want. But you had to call your mother, "Mother," because she deserves that respect. And I didn't get to call her "Mom" till I was like 14. I said, "If I if I call you Mom, would you slap me?" She goes, "You're you're old enough now."

Mom, I was abused. That's what's wrong with this. Don't laugh. You're not going to treat the the older men with harshness. If you if they have to be talked talked to for some reason, you're going to do that with respect.

Same as with the older women, treat them as you would your very own mother. And you say, "I hated my mother." Stop it. You're born again now, and you would show her respect. You would always show her respect. Just like your dad, you would show respect to the people of God. You would show you would do that.

Treat them as you would your own mother. How would you do that? Well, I would say with respect, with dignity, and with love. That's how you would talk to the other ladies, the older ladies. So if you're 21 and there's somebody that's 20, they should speak to you with respect, etcetera and so forth. That doesn't mean you can't laugh. That doesn't mean you can't joke with one another, but you want to be careful with one another.

And the young ladies, you treat them as sisters. Uh with with in the language here, with innocence, respect and purity. And so, of course, you people say, "Well, you can't girls don't laugh." No, you can still smile, and you can still laugh. You'd do that with your sister, but you you have to grasp the concept. There's a respect.

There's a respect among us all. If the President of the United States walked in, we would show that man respect, not because we agree with anything, but that's what you would do. That is respectful.

And that's the way we are. Jesus was respectful to Pilate and to the the high priests, etcetera. Remember that? He spoke a a couple of times. They attacked him, and he told them the truth out loud, but he did it in love. So you see, there are ways to do all that. Now look at verse 3. We're killing this chapter. "Honor widows that are widows indeed." This is something that that plagues the church, especially today. It was a real problem when the Greeks uh came along in Jerusalem and so many people got saved. Now there were there were Greek uh older ladies, widows, and there were Jewish widows. And it was a problem as you recall.

What about the widows? What does he say? "Honor widows that are widows indeed." The church uh through the years has uh lost that. And uh they just say, "Well, that that lady's old, we better take care of her." Well, it's that's not what the church is called to do.

I know some ladies that are very old, and they're wealthy, and they really don't need the church help. There's some people that need the church's help, and that's who we're looking to and looking for. So he says, "How do you do it?" What about the widows? Paul teaches Timothy and all of us honor, esteem, highly with respect, widows. Honor the widows with respect. Highly esteem them.

They've been left alone. Widows. But they must be widows indeed. Is that what it says? "Honor widows that are widows indeed." Now, if if a lady has lost her husband, is she a widow? Yes. I mean, if he died. If he ran to Texas, that's another that's not a widow. That's she's probably happy. But, just kidding, just kidding, I'm sure she's miserable.

Widows, they need to be widows that are widows indeed. Now, that's an interesting statement. "Honor" here not only carries the idea of love and respect, but it also involves the thought of financial help. If you remember the early church, they had to pick out seven men to minister to the widows themselves. Some to the Jewish widows, some to the Greek widows because they thought they'd been were getting cheated. And the apostles said, "We need to take care of this." Read through the book of Acts. When you get some time, you'll learn all these fun things.

"Honor," when you honor those widows that are widows indeed, it carries the idea of love, respect, but also help, financial help. It's the church's responsibility, not the United States of America. Uh although the the they see, they've they've taken it sort of, they try to take it away from the church uh and so they can catch get more money for the government to help those widows indeed. But you that was the call for the church way before the United States was invented. It is our responsibility, and we here do our best to do it. But they have to be widows indeed. So he's going to explain that to us.

"Honor" means uh not only carries the idea of love and respect, but it involves financial assistance. The church has to help because they have no one else if they're a widow indeed. Take care of the widows that are widows indeed. God's word shows us a real widow. A real widow is one, or a widow indeed, let me put it that way. A real widow uh indeed is one who has no other means of support.

Meaning, her husband has passed away, and she has no children, no grandchildren, no family left, and the church willingly and should take care of her the rest of her life. That's what a widow indeed is. A real widow.

Now, they have no family left. She's all alone in the world. She has no living relatives to care for her. She is completely dependent on the Lord to take care of her for the rest of her days, and that is our responsibility. Goes she looks to the Lord. She's going to go to her church.

Or she or, well, let me turn that around. If we're doing this right, we need to go get go to her. She shouldn't have to come and ask as far as I'm concerned. But remember, I give away the farm. So, read this now.

"Honor widows that are widows indeed." Now verse 4. "But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite their parents. For that is good and acceptable before God."

"Now she that is a widow indeed and desolate trusts in God and continues in supplication and prayers night and day." So put it together. If a widow if the old girl widow. I you're not offended. It's okay. If a widow has relatives, their family, the believers in their family have the responsibility.

Not the church. Doesn't mean the church couldn't help, but it's up to the family. So the church is called to widows that are widows indeed. Now, we we help uh when we're able, we help who needs help. But our priority is especially for the widows that are widows indeed.

Now I know some widows, their their their husbands have died, and their kids hate them. Okay. So we always want to be careful. But watch this. If a widow has relatives, children or grandchildren, nephews, relatives of kind, they should be taking care of her. They should take her up. The church is not responsible for her because she has some form of family. Family should always jump in and help. Now we live in America, it's changed. Families don't like each other a lot anymore.

You you hurt my feelings when I was 12. Drop dead. You know that's love right there. And but the church is required. In other words, that's our call, the widows that are widows indeed. Have we have we helped other widows? Absolutely.

But not to take care of them the rest of their life, but to help. Everybody sometimes needs a little help. And so I I I'm I if if I'm if I question it in myself, I always tell Pastor Clayton, "Let's just do it." Is there money there? Yes. Then let's just do it. But there's some that the church is called to guarantee to take care of.

I I know some older ladies and and and they're just the nicest girls, and they are so wealthy uh that they would laugh. He would say, "Can we come over and cut your grass?" Absolutely not, because if you do, we're paying you because we can afford to buy a thousand lawnmowers. Okay, good. Well, I'm glad. Hey.

You know, you want to know where my birthday is? No, I'm kidding. You you get the point. You understand. And that's what he's saying. If the widow has no one, Paul writes, that means she's desolate. Meaning she is in true need. She is a widow indeed, and she is someone that the church would absolutely not have to be asked to help. The church should be on that. And and sometimes we don't know it, but as soon as we find out, that's our call.

She's a woman of prayer. I you've heard I joke about it. I love girls. I just do. I love them. And the older ladies as a young pastor, you know the ones that prayed for me were the ones that had the little blue hair. You know they'd go to the they'd go to the salon, and it was so white, they'd put color. It was like little blue hair, and I and the little blue-haired ladies would come up and say, "Pastor Bob." Yeah, I'm like 30 years old. You know, I'm just a baby, and they say, "How can we pray for you?" I say, "Ma'am, you're closer to God than anybody I know. Just just bring up my name and he'll tell you what the problem is." And that's what that's what so many of them do. And he's not saying all of them are in prayer day and night, but you know, you really want someone to pray for you, get get an older guy or older girl, and they'll remember to pray for you.

Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM. You can download today's message in its entirety at NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. That's NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is Apply Within 2281 West Celtis, Post Falls, Idaho 83854, or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again, 1-800-572-8851. Our mobile app is available for iPhone and Android. Download it to listen to full-length studies, watch the live stream of our services, or to find out more about church events. If you have been blessed by the teaching or have prayer requests that you would like to share with us, write, email, or call us as well. Please join with us every Monday through Friday as we study together verse-by-verse on Apply Within, sponsored by North Country Chapel. God bless you.