January 22, 2025 • 42 mins
It's all about perspective! Join us as we explore how one's age can be a strength, not a weakness, with Timothy's inspiring journey. What do you think?
#ApostlePaul #FromTheBible #ChristianPodcasts #CheerUpPodcast #CheriSwalwell #KaraRHunt
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is the beautiful and
sun-shiny Sherri Swalwell.
How are you doing today, sherri?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I am doing great.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I am blessed to be alive.
Honestly, I right now the sunis out and considering um the
gloomy, cloudy, rainy weatherwe've had for about the past
week or two, it's just I don'tknow.
It's very uplifting to see thesun again.
You know it's just it is, andit's shining so, so bright, so
(01:05):
um, I like both days.
I like it when it's kind ofgloomy and cloudy, I like it
when the sun is out, but it'sjust something about when the
sun is out that kind of liftsyour spirits, right.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Amen, amen, it does A little bit happier.
So, like the cloudy days aremore cozy days and the sunshiny
days are more, let's go party,let's go you know I noticed that
I smile at strangers more andit's, it's so weird because I
think I've crossed over to theold, old lady Like I used to
(01:36):
think of my.
Well, I still think of myselfas like in my twenties or
thirties.
So like when people treat melike I'm an old person, I'm like
, wait a minute, I'm not old andI, I get it, I'm in the in the
50s.
So people see me as old, I'msure, but it's just so funny
because I'll be like, you know,when the sun's out I'm just like
(01:57):
extra happy and so I'll just besmiling in my car at nobody or
nothing in particular, and thenthen people will smile back.
But I'm starting to get the,the old person vibes and I'm
like but I'm not old, I'm notold, no.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Exactly Right.
Wait a minute, girlfriend.
You're not even a middle ageyet, right?
Because you know and I knowpeople are going to disagree
with me the Bible said I thinkwe're guaranteed that we're
supposed to be like 120 years,right?
So you're not even halfwaythere.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
That's right, that's right.
I'm going to tell that topeople when they look at me or
when they treat me like like Iwent to a coffee shop the other
day and, granted, I was actinglike an old person, all confused
, because I I had a, a card, sookay.
So I was at Bigby and I had acard that had the points on it,
(02:58):
and then I had these other giftcards and I didn't want to use
the gift cards, I just wanted toget my points and somehow I
lost the one I was looking forand I found two extra ones or
three extra ones.
It was a very confusing moment,but, kind of, looking at me,
like I was like this old personwho didn't know what she was
doing, and I'm thinking I doknow what I'm doing, I just
(03:19):
didn't know I had all thesecards.
But God is so good Because Iwell, I handed her one and I'm
like, can you tell me if I?
Because she's like, well, do youhave the app?
And so, of course, I soundedlike a stupid person or like an
old person who didn't know whatshe was doing with technology,
and I go yeah, I just downloadedthe app, but I don't have any
points connected to my app, sothat's not going to help me.
(03:39):
I said I have points on a cardand so she was like, okay, so
she was very patient, like therewas nothing wrong with her.
But I just I got the impressionthat she was like, okay, this
is an old person, they need tohold her hand, type of a thing.
And so I found a card and I'mlike could you just tell me if I
have any points on there?
It had a free drink, carol.
So I was like thank you, God,you found a card in my wallet
(04:01):
that I didn't even know I had,and I got a free drink bonus.
So people may think I'm old,but God, you got me.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
You got me.
I actually think anyone over 30thinks anyone 30 and under think
that we're old.
You know, it's just as a matterof fact.
I was talking to my youngestone day.
I was telling him somethingthat happened at Chick-fil-A.
(04:32):
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh it was.
It had been a bad rainstormthat had happened and while my
husband and I we had spent along day out and we were just
like it was getting late atnight and excuse me, and I was
like let's just grab someChick-fil-A before they close
and everything, and then let'sjust head home.
Well, it was still just enoughlight left in the sky to see
(04:55):
that after the storm, thisdouble rainbow, huge double
rainbow, appeared in the sky andeveryone was just taking
pictures of it and people weregetting out their cars, you know
, and everything else.
It was beautiful and everythingelse.
And I remember I think I wastelling my youngest one day.
I was telling him about thatand and I was like, yeah, but we
(05:17):
were in line.
I can't remember if the linewas slow or something and he
pretty much was like you know,it's frustrating when I'm in
line.
This is kind of like himtalking.
He kind of was saying it's kindof frustrating when I'm in line
at Chick-fil-A and people don'trealize things will go a lot
faster if they just use the app.
I'm like that's you youngpeople will use the app Like
(05:43):
regular people.
You know, we don't have, youknow, time to just do stuff like
that.
And he's like, yeah, just usethe app.
He's like you don't have towait.
He's like I think he was prettymuch just saying there's people
like you that slow their 1Lsdown.
Yeah, when you're sitting theretrying to figure out your order
, yeah, and he's going to listento this podcast.
(06:04):
He's going to listen to hispodcast.
So I hope I'm quoting him right, but I think it's like if you
ordered it on the app.
it goes a lot quicker.
You slow people down whenyou're talking to the person
trying to place your order, butdoesn't that seem like a young
person thing to do?
Oh, totally.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
And that was part of the whole old person thing, that
because I knew that I was takenforever in a day and I was
trying not to, and the more youtry to rush like, the more you
try to hurry it, just like Isaid, I lost the one gift card
to or, no, the points cardcompletely.
It's got to be somewhere in mycar.
(06:42):
I think I like fell down betweenthe two, and I'm trying really
hard to be, because you know Idon't want to offend the people,
or, or, or annoy people behindme, but finally I just gave up
and I'm just like you know whatI said to the lady I go, I know
I'm taking forever and I'mreally sorry, but I'm trying to
find this stupid card and so,yeah, I mean some days it just
is what it is.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, Cause she asked you if you had the app right.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Like you have it on your app and I'm like, well, I
have the app, which I got theapp like three days too late
Cause I was trying for my freebirthday drink and that didn't
work.
So I was like, oh yeah, it justdid not.
It was just not, but.
But I can't say that it wasn'ta good situation or a good
experience because I got a freedrink out of it, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And you found out you had more point cards than you
realize and more points.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Exactly, exactly so.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
God rewarded me, even if I annoyed everybody else in
my life the ultimate Us oldpeople and I know us old folks
with our paper cards and pointcards and everything else and
everyone else, and especially ifthey're 30 or younger, they're
just like can't you just use theapp?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I know.
And it's like first you have toknow how to use that thing
right, oh, exactly, and then ittakes up space on your phone and
then it makes your phone diedown faster because you have a
gazillion apps.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, I know Exactly I totally get it.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I get the same thing for my kids.
My kids tell me to use it too.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
You can order it ahead of time.
Why don't you just use the app?
But you're right, they drain myphone.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
They take up so much space.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, they take up so much storage space or whatever
it uses gigabyte space orwhatever it uses and it's just,
it slows everything down.
And then I have to get rid ofsome of my other favorite apps
which I don't like to do.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
So, yeah, I'm okay.
The other funny thing is I wasat another.
Um, okay, so I, I, I prefer, orI like to drink a lot of coffee
.
It's like that that if you, ifyou want to know anything about
sharing, she likes to drink hercoffee.
So I was at a different coffeeplace and I downloaded their app
.
I don't know why I did.
Oh, cause I could get a freedrink.
I'm all about the free.
(09:05):
So I downloaded their app, so Iwas trying to use it and I had
to go up to.
You're supposed to like, likeyour son said, if you order it
from the app, it goes so muchfaster.
Well, I tried to order it fromthe app and I couldn't get the
coupon to work that I needed towork.
So I had to go up to their,their walkup, and say can you
help me?
Because I ordered a drink andit's supposed to be free or
discounted or whatever, and Ican't.
(09:26):
So they had to like do the appfor me.
Yeah, I know, right Now I'mgiving out my phone to strangers
going.
Fix this please.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Can you show me, can you fix this, or are you
throwing it at the wall?
Because I remember myhairstylist and she's like, hey,
do you know?
We have a new app and you canmake appointments there.
You know, even you know,further out, you could do this.
It just does all these amazingthings.
And I was like, oh really, youknow, know.
She told me the name of the appand, um, and everything else.
(10:08):
And I'm like, oh, okay, cool.
So when I get home and I'm like, well, you know what, let me go
ahead and schedule my next fewappointments, um, everything
else.
And I'm like, let me try thisnifty new app.
I couldn't figure the suckerout.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I know well, you know .
The same thing is true fordoctor's appointments.
They want you to schedule themonline through their app thing
or whatever.
Yeah, there's no appointmentsavailable, but you call and they
get you right in.
Oh, yes, exactly, I don't getit.
(10:40):
What am I missing?
Right?
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Because I thought, for sure she had told me, maybe,
that she had a certain dateavailable or something.
But then when I went on the appit looked like she was booked
or something.
And I'm like, well, no.
And then I tried another dateand it still said she was booked
.
And I'm like, well, you knowwhat.
But you know what I did?
I don't know, that was probablytwo hours of my time, I, two
hours of my time.
I was able to call them, pickup the phone, make the
appointment in less than threeminutes.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yes, so please tell me how doing an app is so much
better.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I'm not getting it, I'm not getting it, and I could
just see all the younger peoplejust blinking their eyes right
now going that's because youguys don't know what you're
doing.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Well, right, right.
That's my whole point.
We don't know Exactly, we don'tknow what we're doing.
This segues so good into whowe're talking about today,
because we're talking aboutTimothy, and Timothy was seen as
too young and he didn't knowwhat he was doing.
(11:42):
And we're talking about howwe're considered too old and not
knowing what we're doing.
And we're talking about howwe're considered too old and not
knowing what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And isn't that the truth?
Because in so many cases,people are like well, you know
what, let's start over.
Hi to all of our new listenersout there and welcome to the
Cheer Up Podcast.
If this is your first timelistening, thank you, and we
enjoy you joining us thismorning and listening in.
(12:10):
And we are going to continuefor the past.
Oh my gosh seven months now,sherry, almost.
We have been talking aboutbiblical figures and we've done
so many different biblicalfigures and we've done so many
different biblical figures.
So you can just go to ourwebsite or on your favorite
podcast platform and just scrollthrough the ones from 2024, and
(12:35):
you'll be able to see all ofthe different biblical figures
that we've been talking aboutand basically what we have been
doing with.
That is just talking about whothey were, what they did, some
of the things that God did intheir lives and how what they
went through then is stillrelevant to today.
And that brings us to today'sbiblical figure, and that is
(12:57):
Timothy in the New TestamentTestament.
And, like Sherry said, it's sorelevant to today because, you
know, one of the things aboutTimothy is that they thought he
was too young to be able to justgo visiting the early churches
that day to be preaching thegospel, you know, and things
(13:18):
like that.
But it turns out he was not.
He was not too young.
And what have we learned fromother biblical figures?
Moses was not too old.
It does not matter what yourage are, it doesn't even matter
(13:38):
your gender, whether you're maleor female.
God can use you, he can use youand just a little bit of Paul's
companions.
And he was one of Paul'sconverts and when you kind of go
(14:11):
through the New Testament youkind of get that feeling that he
was, you know, one of Paul'sconverts.
But I believe that Timothy wasone of Paul's early converts
when he was in Lystra I mean,excuse me, by early converts I
mean early in Paul's ministry,from when he came from Saul to
(14:33):
Paul and when he really startedgetting moving newly in his
ministry that Timothy was one ofthe first ones in Lystra that
he was able to convert.
So yes, he's one of the bestknown of Paul's companions and
(14:55):
fellow laborer.
He was one of Paul's ownconverts.
And Paul, I love the way andwhen you read some of the, the,
the Paul's letters to Timothy,um, I just love the way he
always addresses Timothy, um, Ijust love that.
Um.
I can't even say friendship,because it seems like they were
(15:16):
way more than friends.
It was um.
Some people refer to it as likementor, and um yeah, you know
um thank you.
That's what I was getting readyto get at.
It seems like to me that, yes,he was a mentor to Timothy, but
he, but he treated him like ason.
I think Paul thought of Timothymore like a son than just one
(15:39):
of his you know what I'm sayingjust one of his companions yeah,
because of the way he, hegreets him, like in his letters
to him and everything else.
To me it was deeper than justlike a mentor, mentee
relationship.
I really believe he reallythought of Timothy as more of a
(15:59):
son, um, but not a lot of knownexcuse me, a lot, not a lot is
known um about Timothy Um, buthe was.
I, like I said you know, we, Ireally love the part where he
just um I think it's in a verse,epistle um of Timothy or in the
(16:21):
first letter of Timothy, wherehe just speaks to him so
tenderly, you know, and justtalks about how faithful and
true he always talked about hisgreat character as well.
Now I know, because he wasyoung and he was sending Timothy
places that he pretty much hadto give his stamp of approval,
right and just be like he's agreat guy, he's this and he's
(16:43):
that.
I've witnessed him do this.
He's a good guy.
You know, you guys can trusthim.
He may be young, he may have ababy face, but you know, trust
me, you know, but I always loved, I really liked the way that
Timothy Paul always kind ofencouraged him, timothy even to
other people and Timothy wasraised by his parents and
(17:05):
grandmother, who's you know.
And that part is described in 2Timothy 1-5, mainly about his
mother and grandmother.
And Paul talks about therewhere he says, when I called to
remembrance the genuine faiththat is in you, which dwelt
first in your grandmother Loisand your mother Eunice, and I am
(17:28):
persuaded, is in you, that partI really, really love because
it shows that, oh my gosh, talkabout leaving a legacy, right,
talk about leaving a legacy hewas living.
His mother and grandmother wereso well known in a faith that
(17:49):
Paul mentioned.
Still, you know, in his lettersto Timothy that Paul even knew
that they existed hisgrandmother Lois and his mother
Eunice.
Now, his father was said to bea Greek while his mother was a
Jew, but it's believed that whenPaul was evangelizing in her
city that Timothy's mother,eunice, was converted to
(18:12):
Christianity as a result of allof that, and that's kind of
mentioned by Paul in a book ofActs.
And what else is there about?
He was a major part of Paul'sministry and the interesting
thing about Timothy that Paulwas trying to, I guess, teach
(18:36):
him was because you got toremember, they were ministering
to a lot, a lot of unbelievers,a lot of unbelievers, and Paul
was just encouraging him andjust kind of teaching him ways
to share the gospel andpreparing him of some of the
(18:57):
things that could be said, someof the things that could be done
, some of the things that couldhappen when you were sharing the
gospel with people who weren'tinterested in hearing it.
Because I believe, if I'm notmistaken, sherri, like Timothy
had to minister to the churchesat Corinth, to the churches at
(19:18):
Corinth, which was bad.
They were bad, they were somepretty.
I mean some things.
Not, they were, but I mean thatthere were some really horrible
things going on, you know, inCorinth and things like that.
So I think Paul was just saying, hey, not just Corinth, but all
these other places, like we'regoing places where people don't
necessarily care to hear thegospel.
(19:38):
Let me kind of prepare you forwhat's going to happen there.
Let me kind of prepare you forwhat's going to happen there.
But then, after you know, in 2Timothy, not much is mentioned
after 2 Timothy about Timothy,so we don't know how his life
ended up.
Now we do know that rightbefore Paul was executed and I
(20:04):
think, oh, I should have wrotethat scripture down.
But I think that may be in 2Timothy, I can't remember if
that's in Timothy or not, butwhere Paul is, it's shortly
before he's about to be executedor whatnot.
And he's saying that he namesthree or four other disciples
(20:25):
that were with him, that kind ofabandoned him at the time.
And so who is he calling for?
He's calling for Timothy and heasks him to come, and please
come before winter if you canmake it.
So not a lot is really said onTimothy later about that, but
you know you can tell that hewas with Paul, like to the
(20:46):
bitter end, and I just reallyreally like that because you
know you're going to always havethose what we call today like
fair weather friends and whatnot, that you know they're with you
, they're with you, they're withyou.
And then they're gone and timesreally get hard and Paul
doesn't really go into detail.
One of them he does when hesays that, oh, the guys may
(21:12):
begin with a D and I can't.
He says, oh, he has abandonedme because he I think he said he
let the world infiltrate him orsomething this other disciple
you know that was with him orwhatnot, and everything else.
But he knows someone who willnot betray him and that is
Timothy and he calls for him tocome, and to come quickly, you
(21:33):
know, to kind of like, just kindof be there, support him, you
know, and everything elseshortly before he's.
You know he's executed, youknow he's executed.
And there's two things that Iwould just really like to talk
about with Timothy, and a littlebit about.
Paul is, in today's world,right, we face the same thing
(21:55):
that Timothy had to face.
Sometimes we may be called topreach the gospel to people who
don't want to hear it, and howdo we go about doing that?
And do we need a mentor or amother figure, a father figure,
(22:16):
to help us do that?
And I just think it will alwaysbe helpful when you do, because
the world can be a really,really dangerous place,
especially when you go to places, and not only do they not want
to hear the gospel, you could bekilled for sharing it.
Am I right, sherry?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Mm-hmm, yeah, and the other thing that I kind of
wanted to mention about justPaul and Timothy's relationship
was it kind of got me tothinking that I have a mentor
(22:59):
per se in the faith as I wasgrowing up, because I came to, I
knew the Lord at a very youngage and I was thinking, yeah, I
did.
Now, most of them were familymembers, is what I was initially
thinking.
Most of them were familymembers who just made sure I,
you know, I was able to get tochurch, I was baptized, you know
(23:22):
, I learned how to, how to, Iwas prayed over to receive the
baptism of the Holy Spirit, wentto I don't know how many
revivals and things like that,and just made sure that I had a
firm foundation of the word.
But then I got to realizing,and so I was younger, I was a
young child.
But then I remember when I wasabout 14 or 15, and so I was
(23:44):
younger, I was, you know, ayoung child.
But then I remember, when I wasabout 14 or 15, this couple, I
was friends with their daughters, with their daughters, mainly
their oldest daughter, and Iremember her parents were very
important and I'm glad the Lordhad brought this back to my
memory, in my faith as well, andthey were family members.
(24:04):
They were just I was friendswith their daughter.
We were about maybe 14, 15-ishand I was friends with their
daughter maybe not even at all,maybe more like 13, 14-ish, 12
to 14-ish and I was friends withtheir daughter and whatnot.
And they were avid church goersand they would come to my house
on Sunday mornings and they'relike, hey, you want to go to
(24:27):
church with Shonda?
And I'm like, yeah, you know,sure I do.
And boy am I so glad that I gotthat experience because, even
though I had family members whoalso did that, this was a
different kind of now.
These were different religionsright, my family was more
Pentecostal and Shonda's familywas more Baptist but I just
(24:48):
can't believe how blessed I was,so blessed by being able to get
the best of both religions andjust seeing how people were and
how just the different worshipservices went.
And the Lord taught me so much,even as a young child, in both
of those different scenarios andI was just so grateful for her
(25:09):
mom and dad never even blinkingan eye, and they're like you go
to church.
You haven't said anything but aword.
We'll be there on Sundaymorning, you know, and
everything else.
And so it's like there were somany people that the Lord put in
my life to just kind of guideme in that direction and just
having a deep relationship withhim or introducing me to a
(25:32):
deeper relationship with himwhen I was younger, that I just
can't thank them enough, youknow, for being that much a part
of my life.
And I've even tried to look upthat friend and her parents,
because I knew both of herparents' first names and last
names, and I have, and I've evenasked my sister, who has more
(25:52):
connections to our oldneighborhood, you know, do you
know what happened, you know, atthe Shondewinder University?
Like what happened to herparents, you know, and
everything, and so so far no onehas been able to locate them.
So I'm assuming they may havemoved out of state when their
youngest went to college.
But God is so good, they werejust so instrumental and I bet
they don't even know howinstrumental they were to me in
(26:14):
my life, just being there for me, mentoring me, giving me that
type of guidance, you know, andeverything like that.
So what about you, sherry?
Did you have those type ofspiritual mentors in your life
as you were growing up in thefaith.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Not so much.
Well, my youth pastor wasamazing.
He spoke into my life, and thena few of our volunteers that
helped with the youth group.
But my kids I have really madesure to make sure that I'm very
open to anybody who wants tospeak into my kids' lives.
(26:54):
That are believers and, you'reright, it makes such a
difference, like I am a firmbeliever, that I can say the
exact same message as somebodyelse and my kids will hear it
and receive it from them and notreceive it from me at certain
ages.
And I'm okay with that, likethat doesn't offend me, that
(27:17):
doesn't make me jealous, thatdoesn't bother me, you know
bother me.
I just want my kids to um, tohear God's word, to be loved on
by people who love God, to haveour values?
Um reinforced and encouraged ina fun way.
So, in my opinion, if I canhave somebody in my kids' lives
(27:41):
who will speak that into them, Ifeel so blessed, so blessed.
I think that there is such animportance of that and, like I
said, I have tried to pay itforward and do it myself.
Not not of a, okay, no, I needto find somebody to to do this
with.
But when God presentsopportunities for me to speak
into other kids lives, I want todo that.
(28:04):
I remember we had a and wedidn't even do this on purpose,
to be honest with you, like wedidn't sit down as a family and
say, okay, we're going to, youknow, pour into other people's
lives this season.
But I remember I wanted ouryoungest to go to Awana and it's
always more fun to go with afriend and our kids are six
(28:25):
years and nine years differentfrom him, so his next oldest
sibling is six years older thanhim, so she was out of Awana
when he was starting Awana, andso we would.
We just made it a point and Iwas like okay, who do you want
to invite this week?
And so he would invite either adifferent friend or a same
friend, didn't matter to us, andwe would have pancakes every
(28:48):
Tuesday night or Monday night, Ican't remember now which night
it was, but we would havepancakes because I'm like every
kid should love pancakes.
And we met so many of hisfriends who would then go with
us and then their parents wouldpick them up after, after Iana,
so we would take them to Awanaand then their parents would
pick them up and we we had somany pancakes to the point where
(29:09):
my kids are like we hatepancakes now, mom, we just hate
them.
That's okay, we don't have toeat them anymore.
But I mean, we did that, like Isaid, we didn't set out to do
it to like, oh, look at us, oranything.
We did it because it was oneway that we could bring Christ
into his friends lives.
(29:29):
And and it was easy, like whodoesn't like pancakes and who
doesn't like to play games, andoh, you're going to get a Bible
story and learn about God's wordat the same time.
Bonus.
So like, yeah, so it doesn'thave to be anything like you
don't.
I guess what I'm saying is youdon't even have to be the one to
speak the truth into the kidslives, except for your life
(29:55):
should speak it.
Like your life should be areflection of Christ, so you
should be right.
And you should be ready to speakit if they have questions or if
God is calling you to speak thetruth.
But you can just feed pancakesand send to the church group and
that is just as much of ablessing and a mentorship, as
(30:16):
you know, sitting down andteaching a Sunday school class.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Oh, it absolutely is, and obviously not a lot of
people have been able to havepeople speaking to their lives,
especially at a young age.
I think as we get older it's alittle bit easier.
But sometimes if you don't haveit at a young age, you're
blessed with it at an older age,and then sometimes you just
(30:42):
don't have it.
But you just brought up areally good point.
Sometimes we can be that person, we can be that mentor, we can
be that mentee, we can helpbring someone who has a heart
for learning more about Christand just helping them, just your
(31:03):
life, living your life, so thatthey could see it.
And then also, if they want toknow more, you're able to take
them to various groups, whetherit's youth group, youth ministry
or church or Sunday school, youknow, or something like that.
So sometimes we could be thatperson, we could be the one to
make sure they have a rightthere, or we could be the one
(31:24):
that make sure they have a rightthere, or we could be the one
that can be available when theyhave questions, and especially
when you're dealing with youngerkids, boy, they have some tough
questions, you know.
So it goes back to what you saywe need to be ready in season
and out of season and, as amatter of fact, as we wrap up
Timothy I believe that was oneof the scriptures excuse me,
(31:46):
that's in the scriptures of oneof the to the faith, and they're
like was Eve Adam's only wife,because I heard he had another
(32:11):
one.
So we need to be ready inseason and out of season.
So those are just the lessonsthat I think that Paul tried to
teach Timothy and that heembraced as he just shared the
word amongst the early churches,and how that still impacts the
(32:33):
things he learned, the things hewas taught, how that still
impacts our lives today.
We still may be excuse me, notstill we are called to minister
the gospel, to go forth andspread the word, and sometimes
we're going to have to spread itto people who don't want to
hear it.
You know, and we've learnedfrom Timothy and Paul how to be
able to do that, and we learnedabout a good relationship there,
(32:58):
a good godly relationship there, like a father-son relationship
of Paul pretty much just takingTimothy under his wings, and so
we never know when God is goingto bring someone like that
across our paths.
Whether you're older, they maybring someone younger that we
may need to just take up underour wing and minister to them,
(33:21):
as God has brought them into ourpath.
If you're young, if you'reyounger they may.
God may put someone in yourpath to be able to help you
along, you know, your Christianjourney or walk.
So everything that Timothy wentthrough in the New Testament it
may have been so many hundredsof centuries ago that is still
(33:42):
relevant to this day.
And that's kind of what I wantedto say, sherry.
What did you want to add beforewe wrap?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
up.
The only thing that, as youwere talking, the only thing
that I didn't really understandbefore, that you kind of brought
to my attention, was, I think,about when I was a kid and how
it seemed like back then even ifmy friends didn't go to church,
everyone seemed to at leastbelieve in God.
So it was.
It seems like it was a moregodly society, even if it even
(34:13):
if it was a fake godly society,you know, or even if it wasn't
exactly as godly as as everyoneseemed, but like people
respected god, people had an awefor god, even if they didn't
necessarily worship himthemselves, and that is such a
very different.
(34:34):
So I grew up with a differenttype of evangelism style,
because we were coming from, orstarting from, a different.
What's that called?
Base points or whatever?
What is that called?
I can't.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Denomination or no, or baseline.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
We were coming from a different baseline, because the
baseline was oh.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I see.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Okay, yes, okay.
Everybody respects God,everybody believes in God.
Well, I can't teach that to mykids today, because we're not at
the same baseline.
Our baseline has changed,unfortunately.
So I was thinking about thatwhen you were talking about
Timothy and how Paul had toinstruct him.
(35:17):
The people that you'reministering to, the people that
even are in your church, thatare your flock, they are coming
at this.
They're coming at God in arelationship with God, a new
relationship with God, in a verydifferent way, because they're
not.
They didn't grow up respectinghim necessarily.
(35:38):
They grew up with a differentmindset, and so it just reminded
me that you know, god will giveus the tools that we need.
God will give us the people inour lives to help us to be the
best that we can be, but that wehave to have a teachable spirit
and not be like, well, that'sthe way it was always done, like
(35:59):
that's the only way I know howto do it, so unless I can do it
this way, then forget it.
We need to have a teachablespirit.
And the other part that I thatI really love about Timothy is
that Timothy comes from a mixedmarriage.
He comes from a mixed cultural,religious marriage, and God
uses everybody, and I believewholeheartedly, 100%, that God
(36:26):
formed Timothy from a Roman orGreek and a Jew on purpose,
because he knew the plans thathe had for Timothy and Timothy
needed to be well-versed in bothcultures, and I just love that,
like I love.
So don't discount yourself forno matter what.
Like don't say well, I can't bea pastor because I grew up in
(36:47):
an atheist home, so what?
I can't be a teacher because Igrew up with engineers?
Who cares?
I can't be whatever because wetalked about this a couple weeks
ago.
Because we talked about this acouple of weeks ago, god is
going to give you theexperiences.
As long as you're open andasking him for his wisdom and
his guidance, he's going to giveyou the experiences that you
(37:08):
need in order to fulfill thepurpose that he has for you.
So look at it as an adventureand as a journey instead of
looking at it as a deficit,because I mean, that's exactly
what it is.
If we, if we, look at life asokay, god is using all of the
trials or whatever to prepare us, it's so much easier to come at
(37:28):
it from that mindset and ateachable spirit than to be well
, I can't do this because I'vealready started on a on a
deficit.
No, you haven't.
No, you haven't.
Look at your life from God'spoint of view and you'll see how
he's been preparing you allalong, and I think that that's
kind of one of the encouragingthings that Paul had to give to
Timothy, because Timothy, Ithink, saw his age as more of a
(37:52):
detriment and a deficit thananybody else did.
He needed to see it throughGod's eyes and he needed Paul to
see that, because there are somany.
Even just yesterday I I'm goingto talk personally I threw out
to Kara um on a text I somethingthat I was very discouraged
about.
I thought that I was gettingnegative news, or I took it as
(38:14):
negative news, and she switchedmy whole mindset around by
reminding me that it's just ourway, or our body's way, of
getting our attention, and itchanged my whole spirit.
I had been literally down andout all day going, okay, god,
I'm choosing to praise you, butI'm really not liking this.
I'm choosing to praise you, butI'm really not liking this.
(38:34):
I'm trying, I'm really trying,god.
And then one word from Kara andI was like he's right, I can
praise him because this is agood thing, this isn't a bad
thing.
So we all need those calls inour lives, we all need those
people, and Kara probablydoesn't even realize how
encouraging she was to meyesterday.
But you just don't know whatyour encouragement or what your
(39:00):
one word could do, and it couldchange a whole person's life.
So I just want to encouragepeople with that, because you
just don't know.
So I hope you enjoyed Timothy.
I know I sure did.
Timothy and Paul and Barnabasand Silas are people that I
could just talk about forever,because I think they just have
(39:22):
so much to teach us.
But we're going to let go ofTimothy for right now.
Hopefully you're excited abouthim and want to learn about him
yourself in the Bible, and nextweek we're going to be talking
about Silas and, first off, Ilove that name, silas.
I don't know why, but I just do.
I think Silas is a really coolname.
(39:45):
But in John 16, 33, jesus tellsus these things I have spoken to
you that in me you may havepeace In the world.
You will have tribulation, butbe of good cheer, I have
overcome the world.
There is just nothing morepeaceful and more encouraging to
me than knowing that Godalready has it all for us.
(40:09):
So if you are interested in, ifyou'd like to have prayer or a
praise and you want to share itwith us, head over to
spiritpodcasts at gmailcom andlet us know.
You can do that privately.
Or if you have a prayer requestor a praise that you want to
have other people share with youas well, then head over to the
(40:31):
Facebook group.
Cheer Up Podcast on Facebookand share it with the whole
group as we build our community.
Share it with the whole groupas we build our community.
I am just like I said, I'msuper excited about reading
about Silas or talking aboutSilas next week.
I asked Tara if I could doSilas because I just really,
really like him.
I like Timothy too.
Don't get me wrong, but I'mjust I don't know.
(40:54):
There's just something aboutthe story of Paul and Silas that
I can't wait to share with younext week.
Head over to Tara's website,tararhuntcom, if you want to
know the latest and the greatestthat's going on with her.
Head over to TerrySlawwellcomif you want to know what's new
with me.
Not much new has been going onwith me yet, but I am starting a
(41:18):
new series, or a new series uh,fiction series, so I'm super
excited about that.
So if you want to know anythingabout that, you can join my
facebook group, which you canfind through my website.
Um, because I usually giveupdates on fridays about, um,
what I'm writing, how I'mwriting and how it's going.
So, um, anyway, having said allthat, I hope you guys have a
(41:38):
great rest of your week.
I know we started back toschool this week, so we're back
to reality, unfortunately, but,on a good note, it's still
Kara's birthday month, so she'sstill celebrating.
So have a great rest of yourday, have a great rest of your
week and we will talk to younext week.
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is the beautiful and
sun-shiny Sherri Swalwell.
How are you doing today, sherri?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I am doing great.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I am blessed to be alive.
Honestly, I right now the sunis out and considering um the
gloomy, cloudy, rainy weatherwe've had for about the past
week or two, it's just I don'tknow.
It's very uplifting to see thesun again.
You know it's just it is, andit's shining so, so bright, so
(01:05):
um, I like both days.
I like it when it's kind ofgloomy and cloudy, I like it
when the sun is out, but it'sjust something about when the
sun is out that kind of liftsyour spirits, right.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Amen, amen, it does A little bit happier.
So, like the cloudy days aremore cozy days and the sunshiny
days are more, let's go party,let's go you know I noticed that
I smile at strangers more andit's, it's so weird because I
think I've crossed over to theold, old lady Like I used to
(01:36):
think of my.
Well, I still think of myselfas like in my twenties or
thirties.
So like when people treat melike I'm an old person, I'm like
, wait a minute, I'm not old andI, I get it, I'm in the in the
50s.
So people see me as old, I'msure, but it's just so funny
because I'll be like, you know,when the sun's out I'm just like
(01:57):
extra happy and so I'll just besmiling in my car at nobody or
nothing in particular, and thenthen people will smile back.
But I'm starting to get the,the old person vibes and I'm
like but I'm not old, I'm notold, no.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Exactly Right.
Wait a minute, girlfriend.
You're not even a middle ageyet, right?
Because you know and I knowpeople are going to disagree
with me the Bible said I thinkwe're guaranteed that we're
supposed to be like 120 years,right?
So you're not even halfwaythere.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
That's right, that's right.
I'm going to tell that topeople when they look at me or
when they treat me like like Iwent to a coffee shop the other
day and, granted, I was actinglike an old person, all confused
, because I I had a, a card, sookay.
So I was at Bigby and I had acard that had the points on it,
(02:58):
and then I had these other giftcards and I didn't want to use
the gift cards, I just wanted toget my points and somehow I
lost the one I was looking forand I found two extra ones or
three extra ones.
It was a very confusing moment,but, kind of, looking at me,
like I was like this old personwho didn't know what she was
doing, and I'm thinking I doknow what I'm doing, I just
(03:19):
didn't know I had all thesecards.
But God is so good Because Iwell, I handed her one and I'm
like, can you tell me if I?
Because she's like, well, do youhave the app?
And so, of course, I soundedlike a stupid person or like an
old person who didn't know whatshe was doing with technology,
and I go yeah, I just downloadedthe app, but I don't have any
points connected to my app, sothat's not going to help me.
(03:39):
I said I have points on a cardand so she was like, okay, so
she was very patient, like therewas nothing wrong with her.
But I just I got the impressionthat she was like, okay, this
is an old person, they need tohold her hand, type of a thing.
And so I found a card and I'mlike could you just tell me if I
have any points on there?
It had a free drink, carol.
So I was like thank you, God,you found a card in my wallet
(04:01):
that I didn't even know I had,and I got a free drink bonus.
So people may think I'm old,but God, you got me.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
You got me.
I actually think anyone over 30thinks anyone 30 and under think
that we're old.
You know, it's just as a matterof fact.
I was talking to my youngestone day.
I was telling him somethingthat happened at Chick-fil-A.
(04:32):
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh it was.
It had been a bad rainstormthat had happened and while my
husband and I we had spent along day out and we were just
like it was getting late atnight and excuse me, and I was
like let's just grab someChick-fil-A before they close
and everything, and then let'sjust head home.
Well, it was still just enoughlight left in the sky to see
(04:55):
that after the storm, thisdouble rainbow, huge double
rainbow, appeared in the sky andeveryone was just taking
pictures of it and people weregetting out their cars, you know
, and everything else.
It was beautiful and everythingelse.
And I remember I think I wastelling my youngest one day.
I was telling him about thatand and I was like, yeah, but we
(05:17):
were in line.
I can't remember if the linewas slow or something and he
pretty much was like you know,it's frustrating when I'm in
line.
This is kind of like himtalking.
He kind of was saying it's kindof frustrating when I'm in line
at Chick-fil-A and people don'trealize things will go a lot
faster if they just use the app.
I'm like that's you youngpeople will use the app Like
(05:43):
regular people.
You know, we don't have, youknow, time to just do stuff like
that.
And he's like, yeah, just usethe app.
He's like you don't have towait.
He's like I think he was prettymuch just saying there's people
like you that slow their 1Lsdown.
Yeah, when you're sitting theretrying to figure out your order
, yeah, and he's going to listento this podcast.
(06:04):
He's going to listen to hispodcast.
So I hope I'm quoting him right, but I think it's like if you
ordered it on the app.
it goes a lot quicker.
You slow people down whenyou're talking to the person
trying to place your order, butdoesn't that seem like a young
person thing to do?
Oh, totally.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
And that was part of the whole old person thing, that
because I knew that I was takenforever in a day and I was
trying not to, and the more youtry to rush like, the more you
try to hurry it, just like Isaid, I lost the one gift card
to or, no, the points cardcompletely.
It's got to be somewhere in mycar.
(06:42):
I think I like fell down betweenthe two, and I'm trying really
hard to be, because you know Idon't want to offend the people,
or, or, or annoy people behindme, but finally I just gave up
and I'm just like you know whatI said to the lady I go, I know
I'm taking forever and I'mreally sorry, but I'm trying to
find this stupid card and so,yeah, I mean some days it just
is what it is.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, Cause she asked you if you had the app right.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Like you have it on your app and I'm like, well, I
have the app, which I got theapp like three days too late
Cause I was trying for my freebirthday drink and that didn't
work.
So I was like, oh yeah, it justdid not.
It was just not, but.
But I can't say that it wasn'ta good situation or a good
experience because I got a freedrink out of it, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And you found out you had more point cards than you
realize and more points.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Exactly, exactly so.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
God rewarded me, even if I annoyed everybody else in
my life the ultimate Us oldpeople and I know us old folks
with our paper cards and pointcards and everything else and
everyone else, and especially ifthey're 30 or younger, they're
just like can't you just use theapp?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I know.
And it's like first you have toknow how to use that thing
right, oh, exactly, and then ittakes up space on your phone and
then it makes your phone diedown faster because you have a
gazillion apps.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, I know Exactly I totally get it.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I get the same thing for my kids.
My kids tell me to use it too.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
You can order it ahead of time.
Why don't you just use the app?
But you're right, they drain myphone.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
They take up so much space.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, they take up so much storage space or whatever
it uses gigabyte space orwhatever it uses and it's just,
it slows everything down.
And then I have to get rid ofsome of my other favorite apps
which I don't like to do.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
So, yeah, I'm okay.
The other funny thing is I wasat another.
Um, okay, so I, I, I prefer, orI like to drink a lot of coffee
.
It's like that that if you, ifyou want to know anything about
sharing, she likes to drink hercoffee.
So I was at a different coffeeplace and I downloaded their app
.
I don't know why I did.
Oh, cause I could get a freedrink.
I'm all about the free.
(09:05):
So I downloaded their app, so Iwas trying to use it and I had
to go up to.
You're supposed to like, likeyour son said, if you order it
from the app, it goes so muchfaster.
Well, I tried to order it fromthe app and I couldn't get the
coupon to work that I needed towork.
So I had to go up to their,their walkup, and say can you
help me?
Because I ordered a drink andit's supposed to be free or
discounted or whatever, and Ican't.
(09:26):
So they had to like do the appfor me.
Yeah, I know, right Now I'mgiving out my phone to strangers
going.
Fix this please.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Can you show me, can you fix this, or are you
throwing it at the wall?
Because I remember myhairstylist and she's like, hey,
do you know?
We have a new app and you canmake appointments there.
You know, even you know,further out, you could do this.
It just does all these amazingthings.
And I was like, oh really, youknow, know.
She told me the name of the appand, um, and everything else.
(10:08):
And I'm like, oh, okay, cool.
So when I get home and I'm like, well, you know what, let me go
ahead and schedule my next fewappointments, um, everything
else.
And I'm like, let me try thisnifty new app.
I couldn't figure the suckerout.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I know well, you know .
The same thing is true fordoctor's appointments.
They want you to schedule themonline through their app thing
or whatever.
Yeah, there's no appointmentsavailable, but you call and they
get you right in.
Oh, yes, exactly, I don't getit.
(10:40):
What am I missing?
Right?
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Because I thought, for sure she had told me, maybe,
that she had a certain dateavailable or something.
But then when I went on the appit looked like she was booked
or something.
And I'm like, well, no.
And then I tried another dateand it still said she was booked
.
And I'm like, well, you knowwhat.
But you know what I did?
I don't know, that was probablytwo hours of my time, I, two
hours of my time.
I was able to call them, pickup the phone, make the
appointment in less than threeminutes.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yes, so please tell me how doing an app is so much
better.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I'm not getting it, I'm not getting it, and I could
just see all the younger peoplejust blinking their eyes right
now going that's because youguys don't know what you're
doing.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Well, right, right.
That's my whole point.
We don't know Exactly, we don'tknow what we're doing.
This segues so good into whowe're talking about today,
because we're talking aboutTimothy, and Timothy was seen as
too young and he didn't knowwhat he was doing.
(11:42):
And we're talking about howwe're considered too old and not
knowing what we're doing.
And we're talking about howwe're considered too old and not
knowing what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And isn't that the truth?
Because in so many cases,people are like well, you know
what, let's start over.
Hi to all of our new listenersout there and welcome to the
Cheer Up Podcast.
If this is your first timelistening, thank you, and we
enjoy you joining us thismorning and listening in.
(12:10):
And we are going to continuefor the past.
Oh my gosh seven months now,sherry, almost.
We have been talking aboutbiblical figures and we've done
so many different biblicalfigures and we've done so many
different biblical figures.
So you can just go to ourwebsite or on your favorite
podcast platform and just scrollthrough the ones from 2024, and
(12:35):
you'll be able to see all ofthe different biblical figures
that we've been talking aboutand basically what we have been
doing with.
That is just talking about whothey were, what they did, some
of the things that God did intheir lives and how what they
went through then is stillrelevant to today.
And that brings us to today'sbiblical figure, and that is
(12:57):
Timothy in the New TestamentTestament.
And, like Sherry said, it's sorelevant to today because, you
know, one of the things aboutTimothy is that they thought he
was too young to be able to justgo visiting the early churches
that day to be preaching thegospel, you know, and things
(13:18):
like that.
But it turns out he was not.
He was not too young.
And what have we learned fromother biblical figures?
Moses was not too old.
It does not matter what yourage are, it doesn't even matter
(13:38):
your gender, whether you're maleor female.
God can use you, he can use youand just a little bit of Paul's
companions.
And he was one of Paul'sconverts and when you kind of go
(14:11):
through the New Testament youkind of get that feeling that he
was, you know, one of Paul'sconverts.
But I believe that Timothy wasone of Paul's early converts
when he was in Lystra I mean,excuse me, by early converts I
mean early in Paul's ministry,from when he came from Saul to
(14:33):
Paul and when he really startedgetting moving newly in his
ministry that Timothy was one ofthe first ones in Lystra that
he was able to convert.
So yes, he's one of the bestknown of Paul's companions and
(14:55):
fellow laborer.
He was one of Paul's ownconverts.
And Paul, I love the way andwhen you read some of the, the,
the Paul's letters to Timothy,um, I just love the way he
always addresses Timothy, um, Ijust love that.
Um.
I can't even say friendship,because it seems like they were
(15:16):
way more than friends.
It was um.
Some people refer to it as likementor, and um yeah, you know
um thank you.
That's what I was getting readyto get at.
It seems like to me that, yes,he was a mentor to Timothy, but
he, but he treated him like ason.
I think Paul thought of Timothymore like a son than just one
(15:39):
of his you know what I'm sayingjust one of his companions yeah,
because of the way he, hegreets him, like in his letters
to him and everything else.
To me it was deeper than justlike a mentor, mentee
relationship.
I really believe he reallythought of Timothy as more of a
(15:59):
son, um, but not a lot of knownexcuse me, a lot, not a lot is
known um about Timothy Um, buthe was.
I, like I said you know, we, Ireally love the part where he
just um I think it's in a verse,epistle um of Timothy or in the
(16:21):
first letter of Timothy, wherehe just speaks to him so
tenderly, you know, and justtalks about how faithful and
true he always talked about hisgreat character as well.
Now I know, because he wasyoung and he was sending Timothy
places that he pretty much hadto give his stamp of approval,
right and just be like he's agreat guy, he's this and he's
(16:43):
that.
I've witnessed him do this.
He's a good guy.
You know, you guys can trusthim.
He may be young, he may have ababy face, but you know, trust
me, you know, but I always loved, I really liked the way that
Timothy Paul always kind ofencouraged him, timothy even to
other people and Timothy wasraised by his parents and
(17:05):
grandmother, who's you know.
And that part is described in 2Timothy 1-5, mainly about his
mother and grandmother.
And Paul talks about therewhere he says, when I called to
remembrance the genuine faiththat is in you, which dwelt
first in your grandmother Loisand your mother Eunice, and I am
(17:28):
persuaded, is in you, that partI really, really love because
it shows that, oh my gosh, talkabout leaving a legacy, right,
talk about leaving a legacy hewas living.
His mother and grandmother wereso well known in a faith that
(17:49):
Paul mentioned.
Still, you know, in his lettersto Timothy that Paul even knew
that they existed hisgrandmother Lois and his mother
Eunice.
Now, his father was said to bea Greek while his mother was a
Jew, but it's believed that whenPaul was evangelizing in her
city that Timothy's mother,eunice, was converted to
(18:12):
Christianity as a result of allof that, and that's kind of
mentioned by Paul in a book ofActs.
And what else is there about?
He was a major part of Paul'sministry and the interesting
thing about Timothy that Paulwas trying to, I guess, teach
(18:36):
him was because you got toremember, they were ministering
to a lot, a lot of unbelievers,a lot of unbelievers, and Paul
was just encouraging him andjust kind of teaching him ways
to share the gospel andpreparing him of some of the
(18:57):
things that could be said, someof the things that could be done
, some of the things that couldhappen when you were sharing the
gospel with people who weren'tinterested in hearing it.
Because I believe, if I'm notmistaken, sherri, like Timothy
had to minister to the churchesat Corinth, to the churches at
(19:18):
Corinth, which was bad.
They were bad, they were somepretty.
I mean some things.
Not, they were, but I mean thatthere were some really horrible
things going on, you know, inCorinth and things like that.
So I think Paul was just saying, hey, not just Corinth, but all
these other places, like we'regoing places where people don't
necessarily care to hear thegospel.
(19:38):
Let me kind of prepare you forwhat's going to happen there.
Let me kind of prepare you forwhat's going to happen there.
But then, after you know, in 2Timothy, not much is mentioned
after 2 Timothy about Timothy,so we don't know how his life
ended up.
Now we do know that rightbefore Paul was executed and I
(20:04):
think, oh, I should have wrotethat scripture down.
But I think that may be in 2Timothy, I can't remember if
that's in Timothy or not, butwhere Paul is, it's shortly
before he's about to be executedor whatnot.
And he's saying that he namesthree or four other disciples
(20:25):
that were with him, that kind ofabandoned him at the time.
And so who is he calling for?
He's calling for Timothy and heasks him to come, and please
come before winter if you canmake it.
So not a lot is really said onTimothy later about that, but
you know you can tell that hewas with Paul, like to the
(20:46):
bitter end, and I just reallyreally like that because you
know you're going to always havethose what we call today like
fair weather friends and whatnot, that you know they're with you
, they're with you, they're withyou.
And then they're gone and timesreally get hard and Paul
doesn't really go into detail.
One of them he does when hesays that, oh, the guys may
(21:12):
begin with a D and I can't.
He says, oh, he has abandonedme because he I think he said he
let the world infiltrate him orsomething this other disciple
you know that was with him orwhatnot, and everything else.
But he knows someone who willnot betray him and that is
Timothy and he calls for him tocome, and to come quickly, you
(21:33):
know, to kind of like, just kindof be there, support him, you
know, and everything elseshortly before he's.
You know he's executed, youknow he's executed.
And there's two things that Iwould just really like to talk
about with Timothy, and a littlebit about.
Paul is, in today's world,right, we face the same thing
(21:55):
that Timothy had to face.
Sometimes we may be called topreach the gospel to people who
don't want to hear it, and howdo we go about doing that?
And do we need a mentor or amother figure, a father figure,
(22:16):
to help us do that?
And I just think it will alwaysbe helpful when you do, because
the world can be a really,really dangerous place,
especially when you go to places, and not only do they not want
to hear the gospel, you could bekilled for sharing it.
Am I right, sherry?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Mm-hmm, yeah, and the other thing that I kind of
wanted to mention about justPaul and Timothy's relationship
was it kind of got me tothinking that I have a mentor
(22:59):
per se in the faith as I wasgrowing up, because I came to, I
knew the Lord at a very youngage and I was thinking, yeah, I
did.
Now, most of them were familymembers, is what I was initially
thinking.
Most of them were familymembers who just made sure I,
you know, I was able to get tochurch, I was baptized, you know
(23:22):
, I learned how to, how to, Iwas prayed over to receive the
baptism of the Holy Spirit, wentto I don't know how many
revivals and things like that,and just made sure that I had a
firm foundation of the word.
But then I got to realizing,and so I was younger, I was a
young child.
But then I remember when I wasabout 14 or 15, and so I was
(23:44):
younger, I was, you know, ayoung child.
But then I remember, when I wasabout 14 or 15, this couple, I
was friends with their daughters, with their daughters, mainly
their oldest daughter, and Iremember her parents were very
important and I'm glad the Lordhad brought this back to my
memory, in my faith as well, andthey were family members.
(24:04):
They were just I was friendswith their daughter.
We were about maybe 14, 15-ishand I was friends with their
daughter maybe not even at all,maybe more like 13, 14-ish, 12
to 14-ish and I was friends withtheir daughter and whatnot.
And they were avid church goersand they would come to my house
on Sunday mornings and they'relike, hey, you want to go to
(24:27):
church with Shonda?
And I'm like, yeah, you know,sure I do.
And boy am I so glad that I gotthat experience because, even
though I had family members whoalso did that, this was a
different kind of now.
These were different religionsright, my family was more
Pentecostal and Shonda's familywas more Baptist but I just
(24:48):
can't believe how blessed I was,so blessed by being able to get
the best of both religions andjust seeing how people were and
how just the different worshipservices went.
And the Lord taught me so much,even as a young child, in both
of those different scenarios andI was just so grateful for her
(25:09):
mom and dad never even blinkingan eye, and they're like you go
to church.
You haven't said anything but aword.
We'll be there on Sundaymorning, you know, and
everything else.
And so it's like there were somany people that the Lord put in
my life to just kind of guideme in that direction and just
having a deep relationship withhim or introducing me to a
(25:32):
deeper relationship with himwhen I was younger, that I just
can't thank them enough, youknow, for being that much a part
of my life.
And I've even tried to look upthat friend and her parents,
because I knew both of herparents' first names and last
names, and I have, and I've evenasked my sister, who has more
(25:52):
connections to our oldneighborhood, you know, do you
know what happened, you know, atthe Shondewinder University?
Like what happened to herparents, you know, and
everything, and so so far no onehas been able to locate them.
So I'm assuming they may havemoved out of state when their
youngest went to college.
But God is so good, they werejust so instrumental and I bet
they don't even know howinstrumental they were to me in
(26:14):
my life, just being there for me, mentoring me, giving me that
type of guidance, you know, andeverything like that.
So what about you, sherry?
Did you have those type ofspiritual mentors in your life
as you were growing up in thefaith.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Not so much.
Well, my youth pastor wasamazing.
He spoke into my life, and thena few of our volunteers that
helped with the youth group.
But my kids I have really madesure to make sure that I'm very
open to anybody who wants tospeak into my kids' lives.
(26:54):
That are believers and, you'reright, it makes such a
difference, like I am a firmbeliever, that I can say the
exact same message as somebodyelse and my kids will hear it
and receive it from them and notreceive it from me at certain
ages.
And I'm okay with that, likethat doesn't offend me, that
(27:17):
doesn't make me jealous, thatdoesn't bother me, you know
bother me.
I just want my kids to um, tohear God's word, to be loved on
by people who love God, to haveour values?
Um reinforced and encouraged ina fun way.
So, in my opinion, if I canhave somebody in my kids' lives
(27:41):
who will speak that into them, Ifeel so blessed, so blessed.
I think that there is such animportance of that and, like I
said, I have tried to pay itforward and do it myself.
Not not of a, okay, no, I needto find somebody to to do this
with.
But when God presentsopportunities for me to speak
into other kids lives, I want todo that.
(28:04):
I remember we had a and wedidn't even do this on purpose,
to be honest with you, like wedidn't sit down as a family and
say, okay, we're going to, youknow, pour into other people's
lives this season.
But I remember I wanted ouryoungest to go to Awana and it's
always more fun to go with afriend and our kids are six
(28:25):
years and nine years differentfrom him, so his next oldest
sibling is six years older thanhim, so she was out of Awana
when he was starting Awana, andso we would.
We just made it a point and Iwas like okay, who do you want
to invite this week?
And so he would invite either adifferent friend or a same
friend, didn't matter to us, andwe would have pancakes every
(28:48):
Tuesday night or Monday night, Ican't remember now which night
it was, but we would havepancakes because I'm like every
kid should love pancakes.
And we met so many of hisfriends who would then go with
us and then their parents wouldpick them up after, after Iana,
so we would take them to Awanaand then their parents would
pick them up and we we had somany pancakes to the point where
(29:09):
my kids are like we hatepancakes now, mom, we just hate
them.
That's okay, we don't have toeat them anymore.
But I mean, we did that, like Isaid, we didn't set out to do
it to like, oh, look at us, oranything.
We did it because it was oneway that we could bring Christ
into his friends lives.
(29:29):
And and it was easy, like whodoesn't like pancakes and who
doesn't like to play games, andoh, you're going to get a Bible
story and learn about God's wordat the same time.
Bonus.
So like, yeah, so it doesn'thave to be anything like you
don't.
I guess what I'm saying is youdon't even have to be the one to
speak the truth into the kidslives, except for your life
(29:55):
should speak it.
Like your life should be areflection of Christ, so you
should be right.
And you should be ready to speakit if they have questions or if
God is calling you to speak thetruth.
But you can just feed pancakesand send to the church group and
that is just as much of ablessing and a mentorship, as
(30:16):
you know, sitting down andteaching a Sunday school class.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Oh, it absolutely is, and obviously not a lot of
people have been able to havepeople speaking to their lives,
especially at a young age.
I think as we get older it's alittle bit easier.
But sometimes if you don't haveit at a young age, you're
blessed with it at an older age,and then sometimes you just
(30:42):
don't have it.
But you just brought up areally good point.
Sometimes we can be that person, we can be that mentor, we can
be that mentee, we can helpbring someone who has a heart
for learning more about Christand just helping them, just your
(31:03):
life, living your life, so thatthey could see it.
And then also, if they want toknow more, you're able to take
them to various groups, whetherit's youth group, youth ministry
or church or Sunday school, youknow, or something like that.
So sometimes we could be thatperson, we could be the one to
make sure they have a rightthere, or we could be the one
(31:24):
that make sure they have a rightthere, or we could be the one
that can be available when theyhave questions, and especially
when you're dealing with youngerkids, boy, they have some tough
questions, you know.
So it goes back to what you saywe need to be ready in season
and out of season and, as amatter of fact, as we wrap up
Timothy I believe that was oneof the scriptures excuse me,
(31:46):
that's in the scriptures of oneof the to the faith, and they're
like was Eve Adam's only wife,because I heard he had another
(32:11):
one.
So we need to be ready inseason and out of season.
So those are just the lessonsthat I think that Paul tried to
teach Timothy and that heembraced as he just shared the
word amongst the early churches,and how that still impacts the
(32:33):
things he learned, the things hewas taught, how that still
impacts our lives today.
We still may be excuse me, notstill we are called to minister
the gospel, to go forth andspread the word, and sometimes
we're going to have to spread itto people who don't want to
hear it.
You know, and we've learnedfrom Timothy and Paul how to be
able to do that, and we learnedabout a good relationship there,
(32:58):
a good godly relationship there, like a father-son relationship
of Paul pretty much just takingTimothy under his wings, and so
we never know when God is goingto bring someone like that
across our paths.
Whether you're older, they maybring someone younger that we
may need to just take up underour wing and minister to them,
(33:21):
as God has brought them into ourpath.
If you're young, if you'reyounger they may.
God may put someone in yourpath to be able to help you
along, you know, your Christianjourney or walk.
So everything that Timothy wentthrough in the New Testament it
may have been so many hundredsof centuries ago that is still
(33:42):
relevant to this day.
And that's kind of what I wantedto say, sherry.
What did you want to add beforewe wrap?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
up.
The only thing that, as youwere talking, the only thing
that I didn't really understandbefore, that you kind of brought
to my attention, was, I think,about when I was a kid and how
it seemed like back then even ifmy friends didn't go to church,
everyone seemed to at leastbelieve in God.
So it was.
It seems like it was a moregodly society, even if it even
(34:13):
if it was a fake godly society,you know, or even if it wasn't
exactly as godly as as everyoneseemed, but like people
respected god, people had an awefor god, even if they didn't
necessarily worship himthemselves, and that is such a
very different.
(34:34):
So I grew up with a differenttype of evangelism style,
because we were coming from, orstarting from, a different.
What's that called?
Base points or whatever?
What is that called?
I can't.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Denomination or no, or baseline.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
We were coming from a different baseline, because the
baseline was oh.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I see.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Okay, yes, okay.
Everybody respects God,everybody believes in God.
Well, I can't teach that to mykids today, because we're not at
the same baseline.
Our baseline has changed,unfortunately.
So I was thinking about thatwhen you were talking about
Timothy and how Paul had toinstruct him.
(35:17):
The people that you'reministering to, the people that
even are in your church, thatare your flock, they are coming
at this.
They're coming at God in arelationship with God, a new
relationship with God, in a verydifferent way, because they're
not.
They didn't grow up respectinghim necessarily.
(35:38):
They grew up with a differentmindset, and so it just reminded
me that you know, god will giveus the tools that we need.
God will give us the people inour lives to help us to be the
best that we can be, but that wehave to have a teachable spirit
and not be like, well, that'sthe way it was always done, like
(35:59):
that's the only way I know howto do it, so unless I can do it
this way, then forget it.
We need to have a teachablespirit.
And the other part that I thatI really love about Timothy is
that Timothy comes from a mixedmarriage.
He comes from a mixed cultural,religious marriage, and God
uses everybody, and I believewholeheartedly, 100%, that God
(36:26):
formed Timothy from a Roman orGreek and a Jew on purpose,
because he knew the plans thathe had for Timothy and Timothy
needed to be well-versed in bothcultures, and I just love that,
like I love.
So don't discount yourself forno matter what.
Like don't say well, I can't bea pastor because I grew up in
(36:47):
an atheist home, so what?
I can't be a teacher because Igrew up with engineers?
Who cares?
I can't be whatever because wetalked about this a couple weeks
ago.
Because we talked about this acouple of weeks ago, god is
going to give you theexperiences.
As long as you're open andasking him for his wisdom and
his guidance, he's going to giveyou the experiences that you
(37:08):
need in order to fulfill thepurpose that he has for you.
So look at it as an adventureand as a journey instead of
looking at it as a deficit,because I mean, that's exactly
what it is.
If we, if we, look at life asokay, god is using all of the
trials or whatever to prepare us, it's so much easier to come at
(37:28):
it from that mindset and ateachable spirit than to be well
, I can't do this because I'vealready started on a on a
deficit.
No, you haven't.
No, you haven't.
Look at your life from God'spoint of view and you'll see how
he's been preparing you allalong, and I think that that's
kind of one of the encouragingthings that Paul had to give to
Timothy, because Timothy, Ithink, saw his age as more of a
(37:52):
detriment and a deficit thananybody else did.
He needed to see it throughGod's eyes and he needed Paul to
see that, because there are somany.
Even just yesterday I I'm goingto talk personally I threw out
to Kara um on a text I somethingthat I was very discouraged
about.
I thought that I was gettingnegative news, or I took it as
(38:14):
negative news, and she switchedmy whole mindset around by
reminding me that it's just ourway, or our body's way, of
getting our attention, and itchanged my whole spirit.
I had been literally down andout all day going, okay, god,
I'm choosing to praise you, butI'm really not liking this.
I'm choosing to praise you, butI'm really not liking this.
(38:34):
I'm trying, I'm really trying,god.
And then one word from Kara andI was like he's right, I can
praise him because this is agood thing, this isn't a bad
thing.
So we all need those calls inour lives, we all need those
people, and Kara probablydoesn't even realize how
encouraging she was to meyesterday.
But you just don't know whatyour encouragement or what your
(39:00):
one word could do, and it couldchange a whole person's life.
So I just want to encouragepeople with that, because you
just don't know.
So I hope you enjoyed Timothy.
I know I sure did.
Timothy and Paul and Barnabasand Silas are people that I
could just talk about forever,because I think they just have
(39:22):
so much to teach us.
But we're going to let go ofTimothy for right now.
Hopefully you're excited abouthim and want to learn about him
yourself in the Bible, and nextweek we're going to be talking
about Silas and, first off, Ilove that name, silas.
I don't know why, but I just do.
I think Silas is a really coolname.
(39:45):
But in John 16, 33, jesus tellsus these things I have spoken to
you that in me you may havepeace In the world.
You will have tribulation, butbe of good cheer, I have
overcome the world.
There is just nothing morepeaceful and more encouraging to
me than knowing that Godalready has it all for us.
(40:09):
So if you are interested in, ifyou'd like to have prayer or a
praise and you want to share itwith us, head over to
spiritpodcasts at gmailcom andlet us know.
You can do that privately.
Or if you have a prayer requestor a praise that you want to
have other people share with youas well, then head over to the
(40:31):
Facebook group.
Cheer Up Podcast on Facebookand share it with the whole
group as we build our community.
Share it with the whole groupas we build our community.
I am just like I said, I'msuper excited about reading
about Silas or talking aboutSilas next week.
I asked Tara if I could doSilas because I just really,
really like him.
I like Timothy too.
Don't get me wrong, but I'mjust I don't know.
(40:54):
There's just something aboutthe story of Paul and Silas that
I can't wait to share with younext week.
Head over to Tara's website,tararhuntcom, if you want to
know the latest and the greatestthat's going on with her.
Head over to TerrySlawwellcomif you want to know what's new
with me.
Not much new has been going onwith me yet, but I am starting a
(41:18):
new series, or a new series uh,fiction series, so I'm super
excited about that.
So if you want to know anythingabout that, you can join my
facebook group, which you canfind through my website.
Um, because I usually giveupdates on fridays about, um,
what I'm writing, how I'mwriting and how it's going.
So, um, anyway, having said allthat, I hope you guys have a
(41:38):
great rest of your week.
I know we started back toschool this week, so we're back
to reality, unfortunately, but,on a good note, it's still
Kara's birthday month, so she'sstill celebrating.
So have a great rest of yourday, have a great rest of your
week and we will talk to younext week.
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