WebSDR – 2026-02-23 05:55

Summary

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### Bible Study Summary: 1 Corinthians 16:5-12

#### Personal Updates and Prayers
This Bible study begins with a series of personal updates and prayer requests from various members of the group. Steve, who is preparing to teach a seminary class in New Jersey, asks for prayers for safe journeys and wisdom in his teaching. Will, who is set to give a talk about ham radio to a CERT group, requests grace and skill in his presentation. Keith shares that his wife, Ronnie, is scheduled for carotid artery surgery, and the group prays for a successful surgery and recovery. Dave does not have any specific prayer requests for this morning.

#### Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 16:5-12

The passage from 1 Corinthians 16:5-12 provides a glimpse into Paul’s ministry planning and his approach to working with others in the church. Paul discusses his plans to visit Corinth and stay through the winter, indicating his commitment to the church there. He also mentions his intention to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, highlighting his strategic approach to ministry. Paul talks about sending Timothy to Corinth and asks the Corinthians to receive him well, emphasizing the importance of cooperation and teamwork within the church. Additionally, Paul mentions Apollos and his willingness to visit Corinth if the time is right, further illustrating his collaborative approach to ministry.

#### Themes and Discussion Points

**Strategic Planning and Flexibility**
Paul's ministry planning in this passage reveals a thoughtful approach to his work, while also acknowledging that his plans are subject to God's will. This theme underscores the importance of strategic planning in ministry, but also the need for flexibility. Ministry is not just about having a plan; it's about being open to God's leading, even if it means adjusting or changing plans. This can be a challenging balance, as it requires both foresight and adaptability.

**Cooperation and Teamwork**
Paul’s mention of sending Timothy to Corinth and his willingness to have Apollos visit if the time is right highlights the importance of cooperation and teamwork in ministry. Rather than competing with others, Paul sees the value in working together to support each other and the church. This cooperative spirit is essential for effective ministry, as it fosters a sense of unity and shared purpose among believers.

**Spiritual Warfare**
The passage also touches on the theme of spiritual warfare. Doing the work of the Lord involves perseverance in the face of adversaries. Satan's opposition is a sign of successful ministry, and while it can be challenging, victory is assured through faith and reliance on God. This theme encourages believers to persevere in their faith and not be discouraged by opposition.

**Pentecost and Adversaries**
Pentecost is mentioned as a time of celebration and opportunity for ministry. It serves as a reminder of the power of the Holy Spirit and the importance of using this time to further the work of the church. The mention of adversaries also reminds us that while opposition is part of the spiritual battle, victory is assured through faith and perseverance.

#### Discussion Questions
1. How can we balance strategic planning with flexibility in our own lives and ministries?
2. In what ways can we foster a spirit of cooperation and teamwork within our church communities?
3. How do we persevere in the face of opposition, and what does it mean to see opposition as a sign of successful ministry?
4. How can we use times of celebration, like Pentecost, to further the work of the church?

#### Prayer Requests
The group concludes with a series of prayer requests for various members and situations, including surgeries, sharing the gospel, safe travel, and healing. These prayers reflect the group's commitment to supporting each other and seeking God's guidance and protection in their lives.

#### Closing
The study ends with a prayer led by Al for all the mentioned prayer requests, followed by a reminder of the next meeting time and a light-hearted joke shared by Quebec Alpha Alpha 5 Yankee.

This Bible study not only provides insight into Paul’s ministry planning and approach to teamwork but also encourages believers to persevere in their faith and seek God's guidance in all aspects of their lives.
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Prompt: 876 tokens, 119.614 tokens-per-sec
Generation: 849 tokens, 16.557 tokens-per-sec
Peak memory: 19.364 GB

Transcript

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Yeah Al, appreciate your prayers for me. I'm going to be leaving And I want to be here on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. I'm going to be back in New Jersey teaching my seminary class. So if you could pray for me for safe journeys, I'll be flying out Wednesday night, late the 25th at 11 o'clock at night, have a red-eye flight over to New Jersey. I'll arrive there Thursday, and then I'll be teaching Thursday night, Friday night, and all day Saturday. I'll be flying home Saturday night. So appreciate your prayers for me that God would just give me wisdom and skill in teaching. A safe journey is back and forth. Scott in 7 and K will be handling the net those days. So appreciate him stepping in for me. So that's the big thing that's going on with me this week, and I'll appreciate you bringing that before the Lord. Over. God be with you. Thank you for that. This is WP7MAX, net control for the West Coast Follow Study, looking for check-ins for the West Coast Follow Study, please come down. Alright, so now we'd like to acknowledge Brian, KJ7PWM. Brian, see you there on the Utah SDR. And I'm not sure if I'll be able to hear you or not. Brian, come back to me. Okay, no copy on Brian, KJ7PWM, but Brian, I do have you checked in off the Utah SDR, appreciate you being there, brother. And, all right, just scanning through here, there's Mike W17, yeah, we got him checked in. Okay, I think we have everybody checked in that has shown up on the Utah SDR. And I think we've got everybody over here on the Half Moon Bay as well. K7NEB, there's Keith. Keith, I see you there, K7NEB, Sandpoint, Idaho. Keith, come back to me if you can. Go ahead. OK, no copy on Keith, K7NEB, but Keith, we got you checked in, see you there on the Hathaway Bay HDR, appreciate you being there. OK, any other check-ins this morning, please come now. Okay, Mike. Fox 7, that's your call line. Okay, there's Will. Q and Mike, 5, Foxtrot. Will, come back to me. Yeah, I guess I kind of have a prayer request. I'm going to be giving a talk this afternoon to a CERT group. That's a Citizens Merchant and Consumer Response Training Group, and on different types of radios. And some of it's interesting. Some of it deals with the regulations. One of the things that I found that's interesting is CBEers can now use single-side data, 12 watts, KM-puzzle. Alright, Will, QMIK5 Foxtrot is going to be giving a talk this afternoon to a certain group, that's Citizens Emergency Response Team, and so he's asking for prayer, he's going to be talking with them about ham radio, and so let's pray for Will QMIK5 Foxtrot, that God would just give him grace and skill as he makes that presentation. Okay, thank you for that, Will. Did I copy that okay? Go ahead. Yeah, I'm going to cover HAM, DMRF, MRF, and amateur radio, and mission networks too. And they won't be happy about some of the regulations, games like this. All right, so he's going to be talking with them about all sorts of communication modes. And so anyway, we need to pray that God will give Will the ability to teach these folks so that they can be more effective in their communication in their CERT program. Okay, that's C-E-R-T. All right, I did get a prayer request from Keith, WB7RKR, Al, KJ7QQH. This is from Keith, WB7RKR. He says, Ronnie, his wife, has a prayer need for tomorrow. She's having a carotid artery surgery. That's a big deal. The carotid artery is a major vein in the neck, and we need to pray for that surgery to go really, really well. Okay, copy there, Al. KJ7QQH. Good copy, Ronnie, go ahead and put it on the research read tomorrow, over. Thank you, so we got well KM5F and we've got WB7RKR, those two requests. Alright, WB7MX, looking for any final check-ins before we get started, please come down. KB7RKR. Okay, and there is Dave, KE7WKI. Dave, good copy, go ahead. Good morning to everyone. No prayer request this morning. You're waking up. Okay, Dave, copy. Good morning, everyone. No prayer request. Thank you for that, Dave. We got you checked in. Any other check-ins, go ahead. All right, we're going to get started. Hopefully the band will improve as time goes on. We're working with what we got. And so, I appreciate any relays. If you heard something, I didn't. So thank you for that in advance. All right, our passage today is the is in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, and we're going to go back over a little bit what we did yesterday, but we're going to proceed on down to verse 12. So our reading today is 1 Corinthians 16, verses 5 through 12. 1 Corinthians 16, 5 through 12. And in this section, Paul is talking about doing the work of the Lord and all that's involved in doing the work of the Lord. And we get a little perspective into the mind of Paul here. and how he thinks about doing the work of the ministry, some of the perspectives he has, some of the ways in which he operates. And I think there's some real good lessons here for us about how we do the work of the ministry and how we should be doing it. And so I think it's kind of a valuable section. So we're going to be looking at 1 Corinthians 16, 5 to 12. But before we read that section, we're going to open our time together in prayer. And so Beck, Alpha Alpha 5 Yankee, if you could open a prayer for us today, that would be great. Let us bow our heads. Stand by for one second. Let us bow our heads. Dear God in Heaven, we are gathered here today and like always we pray that we understand the scriptures we read and that we apply them to the remaining time that we have on this earth, may it be short or long, until we are with you. Thank you for your blessings that you have bestowed upon us with the sacrifice of your son for our sins, and pray that we remain in your presence in our thoughts and actions no matter what the strife we may have, great or small, and that we will always remember we bask in your love, grace, and mercy no matter how bad things might be, and that you are always there for us. We thank you for the prayers you have answered and ask for your blessing on this day as we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much for that. All right, well, I'm going to go ahead and read this section since I think everybody can pretty much hear me. So this is 1 Corinthians 16, beginning of verse 5, down through verse 12. All right, 1 Corinthians 16, verse 5, I'm reading out of the King James Version. It says, speaking here to the Corinthians, he says, Now I will come unto you when I shall pass through Macedonia, for I do pass through Macedonia. And it may be that I will abide yea and winter with you, that you may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go. For I will not see you now, by the way, but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permits. But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door ineffectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. Now if Timotheus come... See that he may be with you without fear, for he worketh the work of the Lord as I also do. Let no man therefore despise him, but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me, for I look for him with the brethren. As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren. But his will was not at all to come at this time. But he will come when he shall have convenient time. All right, that is our scripture reading, 1 Corinthians 16, 5-12. Any comments on this section, please email us your call sign. *Rain* Alpha. Alpha, please go ahead. Let me get the ball rolling here, Max. I find it interesting that he's... And a lot of what he's doing here... How can I put this? He's focusing on Corinth and staying there in the wintertime because there's lots of people in Corinth that really need to hear the gospel. And so he's wintering in Corinth because, if you think about it, You know, he's traveling around by boat. Well, it's wintertime, and a lot of that traveling is going to cease. And so he's putting himself in a position where there's a lot of work to do in Corinth. And so he's strategically putting himself there so he can be there for an extended period of time through the winter there, Max. - In seven and a half. Yeah, Scott, great observation. Thank you for bringing that out. And what we see Paul doing here is making plans, right? He's sitting there, and he's looking at his situation. He's looking at the needs. He's looking at his schedule. and he's He's sitting here and he's making plans about what he thinks he wants to do. But we also see him having this attitude that, well, this is all subject to the Lord's will, right? So as you said, he says there, like in verse 8, I'm going to stay here at Ephesus until Pentecost. But he also plans to come to be with them. So you're right. Travel in the wintertime is not very much fun when you're traveling by foot or maybe by horseback or by ship. And so things really slowed down in the winter. And so Paul is strategically planning. And I think the point here, Scott, is that here we are. We're trying to serve the Lord. And, you know, we don't just wake up in the morning and say, you know, I wonder what in the world I'm going to do today. Right. we make plans. We say, you know what? Tomorrow I'll be able to do this, and Thursday I'll be able to do that, and next month I hope to do this and that by way of ministry or service to the Lord or whatever. And we make plans. And I think it's important for us to strategize to be as effective and as useful as we possibly can in the work of the Lord. And it's like when you have a business, right? You have a business plan. Well, we need to have a ministry plan, don't we? And we need to plan for accomplishing ministry as to the where, and as to the who, and as to the when. And that's what we see Paul doing here, is strategically planning for how he can be most effective in his service for the Lord. So instead of just winging it, maybe we can get more done if we plan it out. All right, other comments, please come down. Papa Alpha, what's the follow-up? Follow-up? Go ahead there, Scott. Well, how I come off of this, maybe, Max, is I spent, I don't know, 25 years in pastoral ministry inside an organized church. And, oh, you have your moments, you know, but it isn't nothing like what I'm doing now. You know, it was all within a organized situation, and the people that you are ministering to, the bulk of those are already saved. And so you're just encouraging, managing, you know, teaching, trying to get the church family off milk, taking their roots deeper, you know, stretching themselves, stepping out. Well, that's different when God called me out of that situation and called me to the mission field. And he just didn't call me to a situation where, I mean, where he took me was, it's in the rough and tumble. You know, I go out now and get my nose bloodied. You know, I get names called at me. I get this. I get that. And it's a totally different ministry. But when somebody sees the light and turns and comes and accepts Jesus Christ into their heart, it's so rewarding. It's rewarding for the kingdom. It's rewarding for me. So this is kind of the world where Paul is coming from and the world where Paul is going. You know, let's take, for instance, what our brother Jim is doing this morning. You know, he could sit and drink coffee and eat apple ritters in his own home. And he does that from time to time, gives himself a little 48-hour sabbatical. But no, he's down there engaging with those that need to know the truth. And that's where we all need to be. We need to get outside the doors there, man. And some of the people. Yeah, Scott, I think you bring up a couple of really important points there. One of which is that different ministries involve different challenges. and require different kinds of strategic planning. Now, you know, you're right. If you're involved in pastoral ministry in a church, well, a lot of that is raising the kids, okay? And that is a long, slow process that takes a couple of decades. When you're out doing evangelism, you're, as it were, in the delivery room, right? And so you're creating, as it were, new babies in the kingdom, and that's exciting work. Spiritual obstetrics, right? Bringing new babies into the kingdom of God. And that's a little bit more of a messy process and has its own independent challenges. So if you have a ministry of evangelism, That's going to involve certain things that you've got to plan for, you've got to think about, you've got to strategize with reference to. It involves experiencing some things that you wouldn't experience in some other kind of ministry. You know, if you're involved in pastoral ministry, it's about preparing messages, and it's about counseling the sheep, and it's about going after the wandering ones, and it's about strengthening the ones that are walking. So, you know, just as a business needs a business plan and an army needs a battle plan, we need to have an evangelism plan. or an edification plan, or both, depending upon the ministries that we're called into. And so that's what you see our brother Jim in 7BKE doing that you mentioned, is he's strategizing a battle plan. Where can I go? Who can I talk to to be able to share the gospel? You know, pastors sitting there saying, okay, what passage do I need to preach on this week? And he's strategizing about that. What are the spiritual needs of the congregation? And he thinks all that stuff through. And so that's what I see you doing as you move from one ministry to the other, and that's what Paul is doing here as he's contemplating, what do I do next? And he thinks about the needs, he thinks about the circumstances, he thinks about travel, and all of that goes into it. The point I think we need to take away from this passage, one of the points, is that ministry requires thoughtful planning and ministry requires flexibility. You'll notice here, while he's making plans, he's not certain about how this planning is going to turn out. And so he says, for example, here in verse 6, and it may be that I will abide. And he says in verse 6, that you may bring me in my journey whithersoever I go. And then in verse 7, "I'll see you now and tarry with you in the future, notice if the Lord permits." So, yeah, you know, you go out every day, Scott, and you think, "Okay, I'm going to witness to this guy." Well, maybe the Lord will open that door, maybe He won't. But you have a plan, but that plan is flexible. And that plan is willing to, you're willing to change that as the Lord unfolds things. So I think this idea of, I'm going to go into Sechin City and buy and sell if the Lord wills, recognizing we make plans, but those plans are subject to God's providence. in God's sovereignty. All right, other comments, please come down. N6TNI. All right, Dan, N6TNI, you go right on ahead. Thank you, Pastor Max. One thing that kind of stood out to me was the fact that Paul, being that he was going to be so long in Ephesus, He was making other plans also in the fact that he was introducing his brother who was going to show up in Corinth, and he was asking them to receive him and not turn him away. So he was actually kind of backing up his ministry with sending somebody else to also help Corinth along with him being in Ephesus and 69. Dan, you make an excellent point there, and thank you for bringing that up. So we see Paul in doing the work of the Lord, it involves not only planning, you know, I'm going to go here and go there. It involves flexibility, if the Lord wills, but it also involves cooperation, doesn't it? He's working with other guys. He's working with Timothy. He's working with Apollos. And so Paul is not just thinking about himself. He's thinking about his fellow ministers of the Gospel. And Paul always worked very closely with other ministers, other Christians, in doing the work of the Lord. In a word, Dan, like you say, he's a team player. And he supports and he defends his fellow workers. And so here he is saying in verse 10, Now Timothy, come, see that he may be with you without fear, for he also works the work of the Lord as I also do. So apparently Timothy was a rather timid fellow. We see when Paul is writing to him in 1 Timothy, he says, God has not given us a spirit of fear. You know, he says, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. He says to him, You know, endure hardness as a good soldier. So Timothy apparently had a bit of a timid constitution. And Paul is saying, this man is a true minister of the gospel. He's my fellow servant. He does the work of the Lord. You guys treat him well. Show him respect. Listen to his teaching. He represents me, and he's walking right alongside me in the traces. And so Paul had no problems with giving a compliment to a fellow minister of the gospel and to giving him praise and to giving him encouragement and to holding his arms up in the work of the Lord. So you're right, Dan. This is a wonderful example for us. And that is we're not in competition with each other. We are holding each other up. We're pushing each other forward. We're encouraging each other in the work. And that's what Paul's doing here. Great comment, Dan, in 16. I appreciate that. All right, any other comments, please come out. AT6, okay. Jeff, AT6, okay, go ahead. If the master agrees, we'll have it. For the present, I'm staying right here in Athens. There's a huge door of opportunity for good work that's opened up, and there is also mushrooming opposition. So he's trying to encourage these people he's visiting here to say, you're important to me. And then in 12, you guys talked about Timothy, obviously. Good comment, Dan. In 12, about our friend Apollos, I've done my best to get him to pay you a visit but haven't talked to him yet. into it yet, which is indicating he's trying to get them to go there. He doesn't think it's the right time, but there will be a right time. Just love this encouragement that he's laying forth over. Yeah, copy that. And I think that, you know, you captured the essence of what's being communicated here. And, you know, what we see him doing there in verse 12 is respecting the liberty and the decisions of his fellow workers. Paul wasn't dictating, Timothy, you do this, and Apollos, you do that, like he was some kind of a general and like they had to obey him. But he's working cooperatively with these guys. And, you know, what we see there in verse 12 is that God doesn't lead every believer in the same way. I mean, ultimately, every servant of God answers only to God and to no one else. And Paul recognized that. Paul respected that. He didn't try to play God in his fellow worker's life and order them around and compel them to do what he wanted them to do. But rather, he grants them liberty of conscience to work where they wanted to work, to go where they wanted to go, to do what they wanted to do, whatever God's calling on their life happened to be. And, you know, Jeff, you have a ministry, and I have a ministry, and we're working together hand in glove. But you're not telling me what to do, and I'm not telling you what to do. I don't say, oh, Jeff, you know, God's will for you is to do X, Y, Z. That's between you and God. And so while we work together and while we support each other, we recognize that ultimately the decisions we make about the ministry we engage in is between us and God and no one else. And Paul respected that. And he was not lording it over his fellow servants, but rather he was working cooperatively with them. He goes to Apollos and he says, hey, I'd really like you to do this, and go and visit the folks at court. And Apollos is saying, you know, I don't feel like God's leading me that way right now. And Paul says, "Okay, well, you pray about it, and however God leads, that would be great. I think this is an open door for ministry. I think it's a great opportunity here. But brother, I'll support you whatever decision you make, and however you think God is leading you." And that's the spirit of cooperation that should exist between those who are serving God. I mean, God's got His mission field out there with the loggers. You've got your mission field there with the Bibles and the military. I've got mine teaching a seminary class and traveling around lecturing pastors on the You know, Jim in some BKE, he's running down there to the Living Center, and he's sharing the gospel at breakfast with folks. And, you know, that is so wonderful that each person can pursue the ministry that he believes God's called him to, the mission field God's called him to. We all respect that. We all support that. We're not here trying to tell each other what to do. So, Jeff, great comment. Really appreciate you bringing that out. All right, other comments. Thanks for coming out. Mark, KJ7PBT, go ahead. I believe that's what they are. The thing that strikes me here with this sentence is that Pentecost, for the Jews, was the Feast of Weeks, and we all knew it would be within that, within those various festivals, and observances would be the first see of Jesus, the first proof that they would be understanding and getting to God. those fruits of their harvest and it turns out that Pentecost is the first fruit of the Holy Spirit and that he has an amazing opportunity there, speaking of his background and his years long and also seeing by Jesus himself that he has an opportunity there to open up some things that they may not know about and it's interesting to me that then Paul wasn't involved Thank you. I'm not sure what he's talking about, but it seems to me that he's got an openings that he's excited about, but he also is in the same place that he'll speak to me all the time, where there's many adversaries in this, uh, the next season. The verses are really pointing back to what we saw earlier in the first chapter of Corinthians where he talks to the church of Corinthians about all of their different divisions. One says he's from Paul, the other one says he's from Apollos, the other one says he's from Peter, another one says they are based on Christ, and there's all these divisions. Yeah, Mark, thank you for making those points. Right, there were a lot of divisions and factions within the Church, and there could have been somebody that would say, well, I'm of Timothy, and somebody else going, well, I'm not. And so thank you for tying this exhortation to treat Timothy well back to the early chapters of 1 Corinthians, which shows that the amount of division and strife that were among them And he's saying, you know, don't involve Timothy in all that strife. We'll need one more faction, the Timothy faction, where we've already got the Paul faction and the Apollos faction and the Peter faction. So I think that's a really important point there, Mark. And, you know, the other thing is here, as you said, he said he's going to tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. Well, as you well said, Pentecost was a great feast. A lot of people traveled around during that time of year. And, you know, we have things like Fourth of July. You know, we have things like Memorial Day. We have various national holidays. People move around during those times. Well, that provides an opportunity for evangelism. And so Paul is saying, okay, this is Pentecost thing. This is an important date. important things are happening here. This has an impact on my opportunities for ministry. This has an impact on my ability for ministry. And so he's taking, you know, the timing into consideration. And, you know, I think that it's wise for us to say, "What is the world doing?" And then say, "How can I take advantage of what the world is doing in relationship to these various fairs, festivals, times of observation that I can use then to spread the gospel. And I know that like when there's a big game at the stadium, you know there's going to be 100,000 people show up at a football stadium for a football game There are churches that will go and stand out in the parking lot, and as the streams of people come, they pass out gospel traps. Or as they're leaving, they'll do that. And so they're taking advantage of a unique situation where people gather to be able to share the gospel in a way that they never could without it not happening. Great comments, Mark. Thank you for that. All right. Any other comments? Please come now. N6T and I for follow-up. Dan, go ahead. Yeah, you know, I was just thinking, though, everybody's made such great comments and stuff, but, you know, there was something that just kind of stirred out in the last minute, and that was that Paul must have really been very concerned about his fellow people there in Corinth, because he was really stuck in Ephesus. He had the Lord's work to be done, and he needed to be there. But he had so much compassion for Corinth that not only did he send Timothy there to try to help his brother over there, but he tried to get Apollo to come and back up Timothy, because he knew that Timothy... was not quite ready to take it on all himself, and I think he really was hoping that Apollo would go in and help Timothy between the two of them to basically be instead of Apollo, since Apollo was stuck in an Ephesus. So it really shows me how much that Paul cared about the people in Corinth, that he was really trying to back things up. Yeah, Dan, great comment, and totally agree. You know, what's interesting, Dan, is that whenever Jesus sent out the disciples or the apostles, he sent them out two by two, right? And when you see Paul going on these missionary journeys, he never goes out by himself. And so I think your point is entirely correct that, you know, Timothy going there by himself, that's a tough row. And so Paul wanted him to have some support, some encouragement, some help. And, you know, just like a husband and wife working together really helps strengthen each other. in the work that they do on the mission field or the church or wherever, in the same way when two fellow ministers work together, whether it's going door-to-door or whether it's witnessing an affair or whether you have a couple of elders in a church pastoring a church together. Dan, we need each other. You know, I'm so thankful for the way that you and Jeff work together there in the Bible ministry. And boy, that's a lot better than just for somebody to try to do that all by themselves. So the principle here of working together with other people so that you're not alone is one that is established throughout the scriptures, especially in the New Testament, as we see those sent out to do the work of the Lord. Dan, great comment. All right, any other comments, please? Come down. Papa Alpha. Papa Alpha. Scott, go ahead. It just occurred to me, and this, I don't know, this, you know, Pentecost is the 50 days after Easter, and that lands right on Memorial Weekend, so it's You know, I always thought, well, you go to the graves, and that's what Memorial Weekend is for. But I'm kind of wondering if this was lost in tradition, that if we go back farther in time, Memorial Weekend is actually remembering the birth of the church and about Pentecost. I don't know. I'm just throwing this out there, Max. But it just seems kind of... because Pentecost was brought up there in Chapter 8. So, and then I counted forward, and that's Memorial Weekend. I thought, well, that's interesting. 7:00 p.m. Yeah, Scott, I think it's just a coincidence that those two dates are together. They're really not related to each other. As Mark at KJ7PVT said, Pentecost is the celebration of firstfruits. It's the harvest. It's a time of great joy where the first crops are coming in, the first fruits of the crop are coming in, which of course is the promise of the crop yet to come, right? You've got an apple tree, right? And some apples come right before others do, or some, you know, you have this, you know, maybe the first blueberry that comes on the blueberry bush, that's the first fruit. And Pentecost was a celebration of that time of year, and it was giving God thanks for the very first indications of His blessing on the food supplies. Our Memorial Day was established, as you all well know, to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice in our wars. You know, War of Independence, Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, fill in the blank with the others. And so, yeah, they're really not anything close to each other in terms of meaning, even though they are perhaps on identical dates. I want to make a comment here. Did I check in Peter KJ7BA and Joe KF7UOQ? I don't think I did. I made a note here, you guys. I saw you a long time ago, and I said, oh, I've got to acknowledge Peter KJ7BA and Joe KF7UOQ. Sorry, you guys. I saw you a long time ago. I know you've been with us. Appreciate that. Okay, so back to the subject here. I'm going to look at verse 9 for a second, all right? Verse 9 says, for a great door in effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. You know, doing the work of the Lord involves a perseverance in spiritual warfare. Now, Paul had this tremendous opportunity, right? But he also faced great opposition. And any time you do the work of the Lord, there's going to be a lot of adversaries, Satan and his people, coming. who oppose that work and seek to discourage us from doing that work and seek to rise up and destroy that work. The point is there's no successful ministry that operates that doesn't have Satan doing everything he can to hinder it and to harm it. And so we're in a war. That's why we're told to put on the whole armor of God. You're going to get the fiery darts shot at you. And so if you're not getting fiery darts shot at you, you have to ask yourself, am I even on the battlefield? So the fact that Paul had these adversaries was a sign that he was invading the kingdom of darkness. He was capturing Satan's people, bringing them into the kingdom of light, seeing them grow up into the image of Christ. Satan hates that. So the fact that you have a lot of opposition in your ministry doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. It means you're doing something right. And so you are going to have great opportunities to serve the Lord, and you're going to have a lot of adversaries as you try to do that work. So don't be discouraged. Don't give up. Don't quit. The work of the Lord involves perseverance in the face of hostility. All right, other comments? Please come down. WB7 and EZL. Roger, good to hear your voice. Got you checked in. Do you have a comment for us? Go ahead. Well, I was here at the beginning, but you were skipping over me and, of course, a number of others. California was coming in fine, too. But, yeah, when I think of opposition, I always think of Christ talking to me. about the great controversy. He basically was saying the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come to give life and that more abundantly. So it comes from Christ. He recognizes it comes from the very beginning up in heaven. Always. Yeah, amen. And thank you for bringing up that concept of the great controversy, because really what we've got is the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light at war. That's the great controversy. And that began in Genesis 3 and verse 15, where, you know, God said to Adam and Eve that, you know, the seed of the woman is going to go to war against the seed of the serpent. And Christ is going to victor, but he's going to be wounded in the process. And so all of the Bible is the unfolding of this great conflict between Christ and Satan, And, you know, it was ultimately played out at the cross. We see Jesus consistently defeating Satan all throughout his ministry, right? And then in the Garden of Gethsemane, he says, this is his hour and the power of darkness. Satan's going to get his way here for a little bit, which, you know, he did when he bruised Christ's heel on the cross. But then, of course, Christ rose from the grave, crushing his head. And here we are, implementing that victory. Yet, nevertheless, Satan, even though he's defeated, he's not left the field of battle and continues to harass us and attack us. And so, Roger, well said. That is the great conflict. Some people call it the great controversy. Other people call it the great antithesis. But it's all the same idea. is that this idea of warfare. And that's what Paul's experiencing. Every one of us, they enter in to Christ's army. We fight that same battle against Satan and his helpers. And we have a certainty of victory, even though the conflict is difficult. Great comment, Roger. All right, other comments, please come down. Paul, go ahead. Yeah, I think there's a passage, I think it may be at Axe, when they were trying to go on a mission, and Paul explicitly says, and Satan, Satan, we're not roadblocks, we couldn't do it, or? Yeah, that's correct. I think that was when they were trying to, let's see, I think that's at Axe, 16, as I recall. Yeah, I don't know if it's not right here, but you're exactly right. It's there. And he says, we tried to go here, and the door was shut, and we tried to go there, and Satan hindered us. But nevertheless, they figured out from now, oh, God wants us to go over to Macedonia. So that was the Macedonian call there, as I recall, when that occurred. So, yes. You see that in the whole Armor of God thing in Ephesians 6, right? Great comment. Okay, wow, we're out of time. I kind of lost track of time here. So I think I'm looking over my SPRs here. I think we've got everybody checked in now. Oh, there's JR, K6LBP. Good morning, JR. We got you checked in as well. Okay. All right, thank you, guys, for being here. Thank you for your patience. There's Gene, K7GWR. Good morning, Gene. Good to have you with us as well. I'M NOT SURE. And yeah, I think we got everybody. But if I didn't, I love you. I'm just not able to keep up sometimes with the flow of the conversation that's going on here with all the people who show up. Okay, WB7MX here. We are looking for prayer requests at this point in time. I just wanna say, the work of the ministry involves planning, You know, I'm intending to do this. It involves flexibility. If the Lord wills, it involves perseverance. There's a lot of adversaries. It involves cooperation. I'm working with Timothy. I'm working with Apollos. So just some real good principles here in this passage about Apollos, the way in which he carries out the work of ministry. All right, any final prayer requests before Al leads us in prayer? Please come down if you're called tonight. Okay, hang on a second. I'm just reading a couple of text messages here. This is Keith, K7NEB. He says, "Traveling, so I can only listen on the SDR." Paul is nicely wrapping up here, noting that he, Timothy, and Apollo are parts of the body and their travel actions together, like his illustrations early in the book, and that the support administration he mentioned earlier as well, he will have to tap into for three months likely soon in winter. Right, so Keith is talking about the cooperation that's taking place there. Kevin, Check 10, KB7 FedEx, I've been listening for a while. Kevin, thank you for being there as well. Got you checked in. All right, any final prior requests, please come down. CDI Alright Al, KJ7QQH please close the perforcel I just heard that, David, CDI coming in CIL, I just wanted to bring up to you that Steve had mentioned this morning, he knows a couple in Mexico as well that are having issues there and trying to get out from this war that's going on there now. So there's quite a few on the net today that are experiencing health and pain and others. So that's a big issue today. We need to really hold that up and pray. Tito Kilo 7, Papa Delta, you're back in the air. Copy that. We have you on the list. We have to match anything up, O. No, go ahead, O. Very well then. Thank you, Pastor Max. That's everyone on the net. Good morning. This is KJ722H. Let's all come together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come together humble and grateful for all your many blessings. And we would just like to join together all of our voices as one to lift up our fellow hymn operators, brothers and sisters in Christ, to you and to our prayers and praises. We lift up our brother Darrell, WB7AOT, who's having his surgery today. And we ask that you be over him and the doctors for him. giving you the surgery and still have a good outcome and a good recovery. We lift up our brother Jim, WSFNBK, and he says he shares the gospel with his friends at the retirement home. And that you'll give them the wisdom words to reach those people so that they will have a better relationship with you. We just heard from David, KK7 PDI and his friends in NETA, who we need to lift them up in prayer for their safe travel returning to Mexico because of the strike. The war that has seemed to have risen up there between the cartels and the authorities and the government. Um, we, uh... ask that you protect the innocent and give safe passage to those that are trying to return home. Carol, KK7TPO has neighbors who are returning themselves, and we have to lift them up. And we lift them up and ask that you would protect them and also the flames that Steve mentioned too. We also have our only chapter, Max, who's going to be traveling to New Jersey this week on Thursday. Through Saturday, he'll be teaching. a class there. So for his flight may it be a safe one. Happy landings and a safe return for his teaching there. May it be fruitful and please ask that you get him the wisdom and the words to reach those people there on his topic. Also we'll take you to Mike Bostrop who will be talking to a CERT group which is a a group that deals with critical emergency incidents. And you'll be speaking with them on radios, procedures, regulations, methods. And we ask that they would be given good information to be able to serve their community. For T77RKR. Bridget's wife Ronnie is going to be going in for a forearm surgery tomorrow. We ask the ERT we can be over her and she'll have a good procedure and a good recovery from that. We also continue to pray for Keith's arm injury and that his bicep will be healed and also for Ronnie's Alzheimer's condition. Now as we turn north to our big lift, Our patrols are on a Monday portion. We've left up Roger WB-70BBL and his wife Amy will be going in on March 2nd for another continuation of the breast cancer surgery. And we ask that would be, would go well with them and they prepare for that. I'm going to tell it. and give her a complete removal of that cancer and she'll recover well from that. Jerry and I would like to do prayers for our son John who's continuing to battle cancer. It's a trait that his treatment has produced good results so far. One day he'll be cancer free. We also look up our neighbor's son Lucas who's suddenly lost his hearing and they did find a mass and they're praying that they're going to find a treatment We left out Max's friend, Rick Bolte, who's a believer in the malignant melanoma, now receiving immunotherapy treatment to stimulate the T-cells to fight the cancer. He's struggling with loss of appetite. He also needs to sell his business. We prayed for a buyer to come and purchase that, or at least have that situation. for Doc W6RLJ. We pray for his health issues of his wife, Marla, and we pray for him as he is currently planning for a network-organized medical mission that will be going to the South Pacific. He'll be here in just a couple of days, on February 25th. and he'll be there until March 14th. We prayed for his mission there, that his medical mission will go well and he'll be received well and cut these mafia issues. Also for Carol, KK7, TPO, Fred, Amy, a believer, with a recent breast cancer surgery, we pray for her recovery. Also for Joanne, That's what's on our hearts and minds today. But we thank you for your goodness, your mercy, and your grace to each one of us. Most of all, for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, for whom we pray all these things. Amen. This is KJ722H, back to Max and Max in Net Control. Thank you so much for that prayer. This is WB7MX, Net Control for the West Coast Model Study. I want to thank all the stations who checked in this morning and those who stood by to give us a clear operating frequency. We meet here seven days a week at 6 a.m. In order to read the scriptures, understand their meaning, message, and application, and then to pray for grace and mercy to be able to live out what we learn and for God to meet the needs of those that are in our circle of fellowship. I'll be returning this frequency now to regular amateur use. This is WB7MX. I'll be clear and standing by. Quebec Alpha Alpha 5 Yankee, are you there with our joke for today? Alright, well I don't hear a bet. So I'll give the joke for today. Did you hear about the kidnapping at school? Oh, you didn't? Well, he woke up. What a little guy. He must have been tired. Alright, it's somebody else's turn. How can we top that? Well, just about anything would top that, but I heard that the other day, so... I've been holding it back so I could use it when I needed it, so... Anyway... Somebody go ahead. Yeah, don't use your class movie teaching second, then you can use yours. You over. Yeah. Yeah. I don't tend to tell jokes during Bible studies or sermons or any of that. I'm more of a serious guy. But, you know, once you step back and it's just as well, there's certainly a place for humor. I enjoy a good laugh as much as anyone. So, yeah, boy, they better not be napping on throwing a racer at them or something, huh? There you go. You ready, Max? Yeah, Steve, go ahead. Steve, you're taking the red-eye out there. It's going to put you out there probably about the time New Jersey's starting to wake up, right? Yeah, so what the deal is, I'm leaving Portland at like 11 o'clock, and I'll arrive in Chicago at like 5 in the morning. you know, because we're flying against time, right? And then I've got a two-hour layover in Chicago, and then I'll take a plane to New Jersey, to Newark, and I'll be getting in there about 11 in the morning, East Coast time. So anyway, that'll give me time to get to my motel, and then I'll be teaching in the evening. So these seminary students are all guys with jobs and families and whatnot. So... They work during the day, so the way the seminary works is all the classes are in the evenings and the weekends. So I'll be teaching two sessions on Thursday night, two sessions on Friday night, and then five sessions on Saturday. And then when I finish up on Saturday, I'll go to the airport, get on the plane. and fly from Newark direct to Portland on the way back. And because I'm flying with time, you know, a five hour flight turns into a two hour flight in terms of time. So I'll be home, God willing, well, I'll be in Portland around 8:30 Saturday night. So anyway, I'm going to let the wife drive and so I don't run off the road after I go to sleep. Over. Yeah, I'll roger that. Well, if you remember, I was running back and forth between here and the East Coast for about six years. Yeah, I'll be praying for you that you can, you know, get a little bit of shut-eye and that you'll be your best when you get there and start in that teaching. You're going to be tired, but God will provide. He'll give you what you need. Yeah, amen. Well, His strength is made perfect in weakness, and so when we're at our weakest, that's when God steps up to the plate and supplies that supernatural strength, and that's what I'm leaning really heavy on that comment. that His strength is very perfect in my weakness. Because, you know, as you age, you get weak. And then as you're in stressful situations, that drains you even more. But God, you know, God will meet me. He always has. He will again. I'm not presumptuous. I just believe the promises. And I've got a long history of God helping. And so I'm just relying on that and trusting that I'll be a laborer together with God. and that God will grant the increase. So, yeah, every teacher leans on those promises. I know you do when you teach. And so it's good to know, Steve, that I'm not in this by myself, that the Lord is working with me, through me, in me, and in the people I'm ministering to. And all those supernatural transactions bring glory to God because if anything gets done, He is the one doing it. Over. Thank you. Amen. What other line are you going on? I think American on the way out there and Alaska on the way back. Do you have any recommendations on airlines? No, I sure don't. The only thing I would think about is what kind of airplane you'd go to. Yeah, I think it has wings and a tail or something like that. I hope it's a Boeing and it's not one of those from out there. What's the other one? Oh gosh, can't think of it right now. Made in over there in Europe somewhere. Airbus? Yeah, Airbus. Yeah, Airbus. Friends don't let their friends fly on Airbus. Copy that. Copy that, yeah. Yeah, no, I'm guessing it'll be a Boeing. I'm sure I can look it up. But anyway, we'll fly with wings as eagles. How about that, right? God will cause us to fly with wings as eagles. So in any event, Steve, thanks. Appreciate the prayers and the advice, and I'll stay off of any airbuses. Yeah, appreciate you telling me that. All right. Okay, we have a double there. Roger, WB7VZL, you go ahead. Yeah, you know, I like to fly airbus because there's more room in the back of the plane between seats. I'm just telling them that that makes a difference. Yeah, no copy of that. And that's why I always get an aisle seat, so I can stick my long legs out in the aisle. So, yeah, roominess matters a lot. It seems like they're sticking those seats closer and closer together. And, you know, that's my economy because I don't want to spend a fortune on flying. And so, yeah, that matters a lot. Thanks for that advice there, Roger. Yeah, and I just wanted to share when you were talking about jokes, the joke that really was applicable to Autumn. I told it to her. because she's famous for checking every box of eggs she buys. She's really -- where she's -- first of all, in particular, has to be organic and very careful about that. And she's so careful that she won't let me get her eggs, because she knows I don't do -- I don't check things. But the joke we heard just a few days ago, you know, why don't eggs tell jokes? Because they're afraid to crack up. They're afraid that they'll crack up. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, why don't eggs tell jokes? They're afraid they'll crack up. That's good. Yeah, well, you know, my wife does the same thing. She buys eggs at the store, which she hasn't in forever because we buy them from a local farmer. But back in the day when she used to buy them, she always opened the lid just to see if any of them were cracked. And on occasion they were, and, you know, you'd take that cracked egg out and put a good egg in and go from there. So I understand her concern because, you know, if you open it up and, And when you get home and there's a cracked egg, well, that's a loss. So, you know, good for Autumn. Glad that she's, you know, checking her merchandise before she pays for it. That's a good thing. Yeah, but it really -- between us going shopping, we basically -- just basically do the shopping. She has some subsidy. What is it, $43 million? $43 million Americans do, but to stay alive, but that's otherwise. were involved with investing in her during this probationary time especially. I found a verse I was looking for, and it wasn't in Acts. The one that I was thinking of is in 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 18, when they say, For we wanted to come to you, I, Paul, more than once, And yet Satan thwarted us. That's the one that I was thinking of. I said, I apologize. Over. Copy that. I see it right here. Yep. Wherefore, we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once again, but Satan hindered us. Yeah. Okay. Good. Thank you for that. I, you know, I knew of the verse. I just couldn't figure out, you know, where it was. So thanks for bringing that up. I really appreciate that. And it really dovetails right in with what Paul was saying, you know, the great and effectual doors open to us and there are many adversaries. And, you know, there's many passages here, you know, Colossians chapter 4, and he says in verse 3, With all praying for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bondage. So here's Paul in jail because he's been preaching the gospel, praying that God would open a door for the gospel. In other words, opposition didn't cause him to quit. You know, a lot of people, like, they start serving the Lord and things go poorly, right? Or they get, you know, abused or persecuted. And it's like, oh, well, if this is what serving God is like, then I'm not going to do this anymore. Well, that's not the attitude of faith. The attitude of faith is, oh, I'm in the battle, as you said, the great controversies. with Satan. And, you know, I'm on a battlefield, and, you know, let's fly both directions. But the good news is, is that the outcome of this war is absolutely certain, and that is Christ is going to defeat Satan, all his helpers, and Christ and his people are going to triumph. That verse there, Roger, in Revelation 17, 14. These shall make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb shall overcome them. For he is King of kings and Lord of lords. And they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. So Christ and his people are going to overcome all those. Satan and his helpers who make war with them. So that's the comfort that we have in the battle. The outcome is certain. Yeah, we're going to get bruised and wounded and bloodied and sometimes in prison and martyred. But being martyred is not a loss. It's just a promotion. I heard it said one time that you can't kill a Christian. All you can do is change his address. And I think that's really a comforting, encouraging statement. Back to you there, Roger. Is that accepted? Yeah, that is really, really good. And, of course, the wrap-up of the man-child in Revelation 12, you know, wraps up with those that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. And then in Revelation 19:10, it describes the testimony of Jesus as the Spirit of Prophecy. And so there is indication that the Holy Spirit does, as we were talking about, about spiritual gifts. And I don't know what level that might be, but those two texts combined do allow, of course, the prediction in Joel 2. that the Holy Spirit will give some sort of prophetic testimony. Not that Revelation isn't in itself, of course, but those are wonderful assurances of the remnant. Yeah, amen, amen. And that spirit of prophecy was given on the day of Pentecost, for sure. And, you know, we have it inscripturated in the Bible. And then, of course, you know, in the process of spiritual warfare, we're doing what the prophets did, which is preaching the word of God. And what are we preaching about? We're not preaching ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. So you're right. You know somebody is speaking for God when the testimony is about Jesus Christ and him crucified. So those are great promises. And, yeah, the way that... Do you realize, Roger, there are over 400 allusions to the Old Testament in the book of Revelation? The book of Revelation is saturated with references to the Old Testament. And that's how we...

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