Correct, Rebuke, Encourage

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction.  For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.  But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

– 2 Timothy 4:2-5

Can you believe that this word in the Bible prophesies about a time when no one will put up with sound doctrine, which is the Word of God?!  I truly believe it, because it is happening NOW!  Not many people in the world today want to hear the Truth straight from the Word of God or listen to the Lord speak to them through the Holy Spirit!  Instead, there are many who take snippets of scripture out of context from the Word of God and twist it around to make it suit what they believe.  Additionally, people have gone so far as to gather around themselves many people who believe the same things so they will never question what they believe or ever think that they are wrong!  Over time this has resulted in many people who have turned their ears away from the truth and have turned aside to outright myths!  There is no longer any tolerance for sound doctrine!  Most people today, when confronted by the truth from the Word of God feel no shame at all for their behavior or their beliefs, but actually have the audacity to try to pull out scripture to defend their own bad conduct and beliefs!  And that is complete hyprocisy!!  Other times when people are confronted by the truth from the Word of God they fly off the handle at you like you are scolding them, yet they refuse to acknowledge that you are only repeating what the Word of God actually says!  And what that immediately tells me is that person is definitely not listening to the Lord, they are reveling in their waywardness, and I need to stay away from them!  You see, the Word of God calls on true believers in Jesus (Yeshua) to be ready in season and out of season to preach the Word of God as well as to correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and careful instruction!  Yet how are true believers in Jesus (Yeshua) able to correct and rebuke if people do not want to listen?!!  Only those hearts the Lord has opened will be able to receive true correction, everyone else will shut their ears to the truth and will refuse to hear!  This is why true believers in Jesus (Yeshua) must be grounded in the truth and not swayed from it even when facing harsh persecution for what they believe!  And now more than ever the Lord is calling on his children to take a stand, to continuously do the work of an evangelist in season and out of season, and to discharge ALL the duties of their ministry so that the truth will be reached to all hearts around the world!  So keep your head in all situations, do the work of an evanglist, discharge all the duties of your ministry… Correct!  Rebuke!  Encourage!