Titus 3
4 When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love,
5 he saved us,
not because of the righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy.
He washed away our sins,
giving us a new birth
and new life
through the Holy Spirit.
6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us
through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Psalm 139
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
18 I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!
19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
Get out of my life, you murderers!
20 They blaspheme you;
your enemies misuse your name.
21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
for your enemies are my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Titus 1
15 Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure.
But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving,
because their minds and consciences are corrupted.
16 Such people claim they know God,
but they deny him by the way they live.
They are detestable and disobedient,
worthless for doing anything good.
(hmmmmmm...)
John 8
1 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives,
2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple.
A crowd soon gathered,
and he sat down and taught them.
3 As he was speaking,
the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in the act of adultery.
They put her in front of the crowd.
4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
I'm not someone who is big into the eschaton, but these words of Paul are of note.
Btw, I googled Jannes & Jambres - it seems they were magicians in Egypt at the time of Moses who "withstood Moses before Pharoah" - whatever that means.
2 Timothy 3
1 You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times.
2 For people will love only themselves and their money.
They will be boastful and proud,
scoffing at God,
disobedient to their parents,
and ungrateful.
They will consider nothing sacred.
3 They will be unloving
and unforgiving;
they will slander others
and have no self-control.
They will be cruel
and hate what is good.
4 They will betray their friends,
be reckless,
be puffed up with pride,
and love pleasure
rather than God.
5 They will act religious,
but they will reject the power that could make them godly.
Stay away from people like that!
6 They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes
and win the confidence of vulnerable women
who are burdened with the guilt of sin
and controlled by various desires.
7 (Such women are forever following new teachings,
but they are never able to understand the truth.)
8 These teachers oppose the truth
just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses.
They have depraved minds
and a counterfeit faith.
9 But they won’t get away with this for long.
Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are,
just as with Jannes and Jambres.
Paul wrote this second letter to a man he considered his son, Timothy.
It was his final letter to Timothy.
Paul was in prison in Rome.
He was executed soon after writing this final letter.
2 Timothy
20 In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver,
and some are made of wood and clay.
The expensive utensils are used for special occasions,
and the cheap ones are for everyday use.
21 If you keep yourself pure,
you will be a special utensil for honorable use.
Your life will be clean,
and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.
22 Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts.
Instead,
pursue righteous living,
faithfulness,
love,
and peace.
Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.
Remember that Paul wrote this second letter to his son, Timothy, from prison in Rome.
Paul was finally executed during this last incarceration...
2 Timothy 1
9 For God saved us
and called us to live a holy life.
He did this,
not because we deserved it,
but because that was his plan
from before the beginning of time;
to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.
10 And now he has made all of this plain to us
by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior.
He broke the power of death
and illuminated the way to life
and immortality
through the Good News.
11 And God chose me to be a preacher,
an apostle,
and a teacher of this Good News.
12 That is why I am suffering here in prison.
But I am not ashamed of it,
for I know the one in whom I trust,
and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him
until the day of his return.
13 Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me;
a pattern shaped by the faith
and love
that you have in Christ Jesus.
14 Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us,
carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.
