Living Outloud: 2 Timothy

We trace Paul’s urgent counsel in 2 Timothy to our crowded, noisy moment, moving from warnings about counterfeit godliness to a clear plan for steadiness. We lay down the comment-section battles, take up the Word, and commit to patient, courageous witness.

• why 2 Timothy reads like a description of today 
• the marks of “last days” and how to respond 
• discerning loud spiritual voices against Scripture 
• guilt as a foothold and the path to freedom 
• separating from empty chatter to be useful 
• preaching the Word beyond the pulpit 
• enduring hardship with sober-minded courage 
• Scripture’s sufficiency to teach, correct and equip

Drop Mike a note through the link in the episode description and let us know if more Living Outloud episodes would be something you’d like to hear

Chapters

• 0:00 Framing the Focus: 2 Timothy
• 2:06 “Last Days” Mirror on Our World
• 4:33 Reading 2 Timothy 3:1–5 Aloud
• 6:46 Discernment Amid Religious Noise
• 10:01 Guilt as a Foothold and Its Dangers
• 13:51 Separate to Be Useful to the Master
• 16:31 Step Away from Empty Chatter
• 20:16 Engage Differently: Preach the Word

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:11

Welcome back to Living Out Loud. This is the portion of the Out Loud Bible Project podcast where we will take what we read previously in the week and talk about how we can actually do it. How do we actually live this out? Like do what the Bible says.

SPEAKER_01: 0:24

There's a novel idea, right?

SPEAKER_00: 0:27

Uh so Kelsey and Mike here with another Living Out Loud. Thanks for joining this conversation. We covered a lot this past week on the podcast. Three of Paul's letters. There was Titus, there was Philemon, and then his last letter that we have recorded to uh Timothy, the 2nd Timothy. And we're not gonna cover all of those today. That's just too much. And I think there's a lot of meat left on the bone here in 2 Timothy. So we're gonna just kind of camp in 2 Timothy for this conversation. So if you're sitting, you want to pull out a Bible, kind of follow along. We're gonna point out the verses that we're talking about, join the conversation. I think that'd be great.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02

These episodes are covering so much that every week I'm like, Mike, should we just do more Living Out Loud episodes so we can kind of break them, break up the conversation a little bit more? Uh if that's something that you'd be interested in having, go ahead and drop Mike a note uh just through the link in the episode description and let us know if more Living Out Loud episodes would be something you'd like to hear. Uh, because I'd like to go a little bit further than we're able to in just one episode a week.

SPEAKER_00: 1:28

Yeah, great. So in Second Timothy, we were reading this, we were talking about this more, and we were really struck by how relevant this seems.

SPEAKER_01: 1:36

Oh my goodness, doesn't Second Timothy just feel like it was written to us in 2025? Like, I I can't read this and not have a million thoughts of things going on currently, right now in our world, just flood to my mind. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is written for us. Yeah. This is written for today.

SPEAKER_00: 1:54

If you think the Bible is just kind of old and irrelevant, hopefully by listening to this podcast, you've maybe, you know, come away from that perspective. It's commonly thought that the Bible is just old and irrelevant and doesn't apply to today. But you read passages that talk about the last days, and this is not the only one, but like in the end times, in the end days, it'll be like this. And we're like, well, then I guess we're there. Yeah. And this is no exception. So with that in mind, let me just read 2 Timothy chapter 3, the first five verses of chapter 3.

SPEAKER_01: 2:21

And as he reads this, let's consider like how how much does this sound like people today?

SPEAKER_00: 2:27

Think about your news articles, think about your social media feed, think about people in church, think about people at work, think about I I probably don't have to tell you who to think about. I think they're just gonna come. Uh, but here's uh chapter three. This is the new living translation I'm reading from. You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They'll be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents and ungrateful. They'll consider nothing sacred, they'll be unloving and unforgiving, they'll slander others and have no self-control, they'll be cruel and hate what's good, they'll betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They'll act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that.

SPEAKER_01: 3:17

Oof. I mean, I I hear this and I just I think of so much of the political world right now. I think so much of the social media world right now, just so much dissension, so much anti-God, so much cruelty and abuse slung across aisles. The world's so evil. Um, and it always has been, but it just feels more so right now.

SPEAKER_00: 3:43

And I'm I'm a big proponent of let the Bible speak to you. Don't just when you read the Bible think about all the other people who that applies to and who needs to hear this. But just as much as we let the Bible be a mirror to us that we hold ourselves up to, and hey, if something in here pricks you, like, ooh, I do a little bit of that, then yeah, let God deal with that. But I think we can also let the Bible hold a mirror up to the world. And when Paul says, hey, in the end times it's gonna look like this, and it does, then we can trust that what Paul is has been saying and is about to say also applies to today.

SPEAKER_01: 4:12

Right, right. That's a good, that's a good word, Mike. I think that Paul was writing prophetically of the future times, and I and that's a good word that if if we can recognize our world in how he's described the future times, then we can recognize that there are things that we're responsible to do and not do surrounding that picture that he just painted.

SPEAKER_00: 4:33

And it wouldn't be a living out loud conversation if we didn't ask the question, okay, so what do we do about that? Right? We can't just be like, oh man, yeah, the world sucks. All right. See you next time on the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. Like, we're not gonna do that. We got to talk about what we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_01: 4:46

Uh I think we need to first and foremost be really wise and discerning in recognizing these things in the world as being ungodly. And I'm saying, like, not only unsaved or or political things, but even because verse five says they hold a form of godliness, but they deny its power, like there are people who are claiming to be church leaders. There are people claiming to be religious leaders, there are people claiming that the Bible says things that it does not say for the sake of fitting within our culture today. And we need to be really discerning and we need to know the Bible so that we can hold up what's being said by very loud people, we can hold that up to what is true in scripture. And we're kind of gonna get into that later in this conversation. But I just wanted to say we need to be really discerning that just because someone says that they're a Christ follower, just because someone says that they're a religious leader, just because someone is really loud or very popular does not mean that they're speaking truth. And if their doctrine and their philosophy and their ideology looks more like verses one through four, then we ought to not follow them and listen to what they have to say. Right. That includes pastors of like affirming churches. That includes people who are claiming to be Christians but wanting, you know, to make everything cultural right now around gender and sexual identity and all of that just to normalize it and make it sound like it is godly when it is clearly in scripture not.

SPEAKER_00: 6:17

So like And not all, but some social media religious influencers, right? Christian influencers.

SPEAKER_01: 6:23

Just because someone has a pastor or prophet in front of their name on social media does not mean that they are holding to the truths of scripture. They might be, like it says in verse going on with verse six of chapter three, many among them enter the households and captivate weak women weighed down with guilt of sin.

SPEAKER_00: 6:40

The they're not physically entering homes anymore. They are entering your home through your social media feed, through your Instagram reel, through little reels of them telling you, oh, well, if you feel this way, then here's what to do about that. And it's not necessarily godly just because it looks like some Christian platform. And I don't want to linger here too long, but in in my translation here it says these kinds of people are winning the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires. Can we just call out guilt as a foothold here that puts you in potential danger from being led astray? Paul is talking about women specifically. I think men or women, if you have guilt, if you just feel guilt about your sin, about your past, that is not of Jesus. Like the Holy Spirit will convict you of sin, but the guilt that starts to tell you what kind of person you are because of it, or that you should feel bad, or that you still owe somebody something after you've already asked forgiveness from God or others, that's guilt that is comes from Satan, and he will use that as a foothold to lead you astray.

SPEAKER_01: 7:43

And I think for women, I'll speak as the female in this conversation.

SPEAKER_00: 7:46

Oh, so I don't have to mansplain this.

SPEAKER_01: 7:48

Um but I think for women, the way Paul is describing them and what I can recognize is that when women, when we feel guilty, and I'm talking in generalities here, but when we feel guilty, we are more likely to seek out a teaching or a philosophy or a book or advice or something that will help us relieve that guilt. So we're just more likely to go find someone to help us feel like a better person. Somebody tell me something. Somebody tell me something to help me feel better. Someone tell me something to help me make sure that I'm still a good person or that I don't have to feel guilty about this. And so women are just more likely to be taken advantage of by teachers who will use that guilt in order to uh I'll tell you what you want to hear. Yeah, I'll tell you what you want to hear.

SPEAKER_00: 8:31

Um and I'll speak then on the other side for men too, dealing with guilt comes across as usually trying to numb it, trying to avoid that feeling, and separation, isolation, whether it's you know, getting drunk to try to numb it or just going and lone wolfing it so that you don't have to deal with the reality of it. Both the male and the female, again, general response to guilt puts you in grave danger. Either you are going to follow this wolf in sheep's clothing, or you're going to stand away from the rest of the crowd and be an easy target for the predator. Satan will take advantage of both both ways. He's got plenty of tactics, and it's easier when you feel guilty. Easier for him when you feel guilty. So if you do feel guilt about your past, about your sin, uh that's not of God. Go to God with it and let him reshape your view of yourself based on how he views you. Man, we're living these last days. This is what the world looks like and what the church looks like sometimes.

SPEAKER_01: 9:27

So, how do we live within it? How do we live within that? And there's there's so much to say about how we live in it, but I'm seeing this really overarching theme of uh things to avoid and things to engage with.

SPEAKER_00: 9:38

Aaron Powell He gives an illustration here in chapter two, uh, when he uh is in verse 20 through 21, talking about utensils made of gold and silver in a in a house, and then there's utensils made of wood and clay. And look, they're they're all have their purposes, but he calls Timothy to be a utensil for special use. If you keep yourself pure, you'll be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you'll be ready for the master to use you for every good work. There is this sense of like, okay, let's separate ourselves. Not so that you feel better than anyone, it's not because you're in some special club and more loved by God. That's not what he's talking about. But there's a, hey, the world has the way of doing things, and if you live that way, then you're not going to look any different than the world. And God has called his people to stand out and look different from the world and be useful for his kingdom purposes. That if you just look like the world or are part of the world, then frankly, that's not useful to him. Still loved, still have hope, still have the invitation to become more like him and be safe. Like, absolutely. But for special use by the king, that requires a a level of separation from the world. And we see Paul tag this multiple times through this letter. It's it's enough to call it a theme.

SPEAKER_01: 10:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:58

Right? We have multiple verses.

SPEAKER_01: 11:00

Verse two or chapter two, verse four. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life.

SPEAKER_00: 11:08

Yeah, you're a soldier of the king of heaven's armies. Like let's let's not get involved in the world.

SPEAKER_01: 11:14

Yeah. His goal is to please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Um, it's not in engaging with civilian affairs, but it is keeping the mission in mind, pleasing the one who enlisted you, please the commanding officer. Uh also, just in uh still in chapter two, verse 16, avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness. I'm reading from the NASB, by the way, so if that sounds different than what you're reading along with. Um, but just avoiding worldly and empty chatter. It just leads to ungodliness. Verse 23, refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. Like there's this sense of separating yourself from the comment section. The comment section. Separating yourself from the people wanting will get into these debates and these arguments and these vile slinging mud back and forth. People will get into this mud and mire, and it doesn't produce godliness. So separate yourself from that. Don't don't engage.

SPEAKER_00: 12:17

It doesn't produce godliness. You're not doing any favors by being in the comment section of social media or a blog or the news articles. Like, you're not winning anyone to Christ there. You're not helping other brothers and sisters in Christ to be encouraged in their faith, no matter what you say. Frankly, like this is not the battleground for you. Paul says, just don't get involved in these worthless conversations and arguments over the meaning of this and the meaning of that. Just don't do it. That's not where the battle is.

SPEAKER_01: 12:44

Quite frankly, I vulnerably, I was the other night unable to fall asleep. So I was just awake and I was working on something productive, and then I got sidetracked by social media, and then I'm just scrolling Facebook and I'm now I'm on YouTube and I'm watching these different videos and I'm watching these videos of these apologists arguing atheists, and like I I convinced myself that it was good for me to listen to because I'm like, oh yeah, I want to have a reason to believe what I believe. Like I want to be, I want to be equipped with the arguments to have in these.

SPEAKER_00: 13:13

I want my finger on the pulsar. What are people saying out there?

SPEAKER_01: 13:15

But ultimately, as I was listening to one of these in YouTube videos in particular, it just hit me. It is while Mike, you were preparing the uh out loud Bible experience for a church where you were presenting first and second Timothy and Titus. And so we were kind of really steeped in these books anyway. And it just hit me. It was like way too late in the night. And by that I mean it was like early morning. And I was just like, I'm engaging in foolish and useless chatter. Like that's what I'm doing right now. I am just letting myself get soaked and steeped in this godless chatter. Even people who are professed Christians and trying to like say good things, ultimately it's just circular chatter and nothing's getting answered. Nothing, no one's getting convinced. It's just everyone's fighting their own arguments on their own side. And it just I was really convicted that I'm like, oh, I justified coming to this so that I would be an informed person. And in reality, all I'm doing is steeping myself in worldly discussions that are wrapped up with Bible verses. So it makes sense. Right. Ooh.

SPEAKER_00: 14:20

So what do we do now? We've talked about Paul's clear point to avoid and disengage. Okay. Now what? It's one thing to disengage. I think we should. I think I think we all have something in mind that, like, you know what, I do need to disengage from that. I need to be uh I I need to just not play in that area of useless chatter. But Paul doesn't stop there because he's encouraging Timothy to then engage, but in a healthy, godly way, and it's gonna look a little bit different. He talks about in chapter four, preach the word of God. That's verse two. Be prepared whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. Okay, so this is not just for pastors.

SPEAKER_01: 15:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 15:06

Like, oh, we we hear the word preach, preach the word of God, oh well, that's a pastor thing to do. No, no, no. Preaching the word of God, I we say uh on the in out loud Bible world here, we say hear it, love it, live it. That comes from I remember my my dad would was my Sunday school teacher, and he would say, Hey, you gotta get into the word, then you gotta get the word into you, and then you gotta get the word out of you. And it's that getting the word out of you that is uh that is preaching the word. It's it's what you know to be true, what you know about the heart of God needs to come out of you in the way you act, in the way you speak, and you need to preach the gospel at all times with the way you live and what you say. It's not doesn't mean writing a sermon. It doesn't mean delivering uh a public speech. It just means that take the word, take what you know is true, and tell people about it.

SPEAKER_01: 15:54

Yeah. We have to be ready for what comes next. In verse three, the time will come when they will not endorse sound doctrine, they'll want to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desire. People will go listen to people. We in 2025 call it an echo chamber, right? Yeah. People will go find teachers that just already agree with them to help heighten what they already believe, but it's not true. They will turn away from truth, they will turn aside to myths. This is already happening. But he says in verse five, you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of the evangelist, fulfill your ministry, do the work of the evangelist. What is that work?

SPEAKER_00: 16:31

My translation says work at telling others the good news.

SPEAKER_01: 16:34

Tell people about Jesus. Tell people about Jesus, but do it patiently with instruction, as it said in verse two. Do it with patience, with kindness, with goodness. And I think that that we can really wrap up this conversation going back a chapter into chapter three and coming into verse 14. Would you read it in your translation?

SPEAKER_00: 16:54

It says, but you must remain faithful to the things you've been taught. You know they're true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You've been taught the holy scriptures from childhood, and they've given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God, and it's useful to teach us what's true and to make us realize what's wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we're wrong and teaches us to do what's right. God uses it to prepare and equip people to do every good work.

SPEAKER_01: 17:25

And so that goes back to what I referenced earlier when I was saying let's be really uh discerning in who we listen to and and hold up what is being taught to the word of God, because right here, the word of God is the thing that will teach, correct, rebuke, and and transform you, train you for righteousness, train you for all the good work. And we have to be committed to the truth of what the word of God says. We have to know it, we have to love it, and we have to let it get out of us and tell other people what is true. We have to hold on to the truth in these days, in these last days, when everything is going haywire, when myths and other false truths are being per like permeating our culture as true, when the darkness is being called light, we have to know what is true. We have to stand on the word of God. Like we have to, and we have to trust that the word of God is sufficient.

SPEAKER_00: 18:21

A progressive culture is going to try to convince you that because the Bible is old, that it is then irrelevant for today. Because it well, it didn't know the issues that we have to that we know today. It does it didn't know how technology would develop today. It didn't know how we as a society would advance today, and so we can't trust it to speak to us and be relevant today. But we have to know and believe that it is a living, active word that is true, and it's old, and we don't have to have new teachings because it already said everything it needed to say. We don't need more new teachings to help clarify and explain anything. We can rest on scripture and just let it do what it does. It's inspired by God. So do we trust God? It boils down to that. It's in it's inspired by God and let it do its work to teach, to instruct, to correct, to rebuke. Sometimes we just want the inspired word of God to just inspire us. And that's not its primary purpose.

SPEAKER_01: 19:20

And sometimes we just want to rebuke people, but we're not using the word of God to do it. We we aren't like basing our rebuke in the word of God, we're just basing it in emotion or opinion. And so we have to let the word of God do what it does, let it do the rebuking, let it do the reproving, let it rebuke us and reprove us and train us and encourage us. So that we and encourage others.

SPEAKER_00: 19:40

Like it says in chapter four, patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. It's not just the pastor's job, it's your job. And uh and that is that's a big mission. That's why Paul says to Timothy and goes to you too, don't give up.

unknown: 19:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:57

Don't be ashamed, don't be ashamed of the gospel. Don't be uh don't be afraid of suffering, because it may not be received well all the time. That's okay. It's worth it because it's true and it's good.

SPEAKER_01: 20:07

That's your thinking out loud thought for today.

SPEAKER_00: 20:10

Excellent. All right. Well, this is a good uh we will see you next time. We're gonna enter the book of Hebrews next week. Uh there's a lot there. It's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_01: 20:18

Mike, I can't do like four chapters of Hebrews in one sitting. We're gonna have to rich.

SPEAKER_00: 20:21

It's rich.

SPEAKER_01: 20:21

We're gonna have to have more of these conversations.

SPEAKER_00: 20:23

All right, we'll see you next time.