Study – How To Overcome Challenges Apostles As Our Examples

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Short Summary
The study explored the distinction between Christ’s apostles and disciples, emphasizing that apostles were specially chosen, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and entrusted with leadership and teaching roles, while disciples are followers and learners. It highlighted the complementary pairing of apostles sent out two by two, illustrating how differing strengths and weaknesses were balanced to form effective teams. Additionally, the study discussed challenges faced by apostles like Peter, Paul, and John, including overcoming personal failings, external opposition, and cultural barriers, and it addressed practical ways to overcome pride, anger, and weariness through humility, forgiveness, mutual support, and reliance on God’s promises.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Study on Apostles, Disciples, and Overcoming Spiritual Challenges

Introduction and Study Format
The study began with a brief introduction emphasizing practical lessons to aid in completing an outline. The facilitator arranged the participation order by rows and emphasized finishing on time to allow fellowship. Various participants contributed insights on apostles and disciples.

Distinction Between Apostles and Disciples
– Apostles were eyewitnesses to Christ’s ministry and chosen for leadership, endowed with special spiritual gifts and responsibilities (including passing on gifts of the Holy Spirit).
– Disciples are followers and learners of Christ, generally broader in number and not necessarily sent with a special commission.
– Apostles were “sent ones” (Greek: apostolos), specifically chosen by Jesus and the Heavenly Father (Matthew 28:16-19). They were entrusted with the keys of the Kingdom and ushered in the Holy Spirit’s power.
– Not all disciples are apostles, but all apostles are disciples.
– The 12 apostles included Matthias, who replaced Judas, and Paul, who was specially chosen post-resurrection. Barnabas was called an apostle in Acts 14:14 as a representative sent by the Antioch Church but was not an apostle “of the Lamb” (i.e., directly chosen by Christ).
– Pentecost primarily involved the 12 apostles receiving the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, which they alone could pass on by laying on of hands.

Biblical References Highlighted
– Matthew 28:16-19 — The Great Commission, highlighting apostles as sent to teach all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
– John 20:21 — Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on the disciples and commissions them as the Father sent Him.
– Acts 2:42 — The early Church devoted to the apostles’ doctrine as the foundational truth.
– Revelation 21:14 — Reference to the twelve apostles of the Lamb as pillars of New Jerusalem.
– 1 Corinthians 15:9 — Apostle Paul’s humility, calling himself the least because he persecuted the church.
– 1 John 2:22 — John’s warning against Antichrists denying Jesus’ incarnation.

Pairing of Apostles Two by Two (Reprint 2261)
– Jesus sent out the apostles in pairs, each pairing balancing complementary traits and weaknesses to form “one full man out of two half men.”
– Examples: Peter (bold, impetuous) with Andrew (careful, cautious); James and John (elderly and young); Philip (slow-witted) with Bartholomew (quick-witted); Thomas (doubting) with Matthew (hero of faith); others similarly paired.
– This method addressed human “halfness”—our tendency to see only part of the truth and to depreciate qualities opposite to our own.
– Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 supports this, showing benefits of mutual support, encouragement, and strength; “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (with Christ as the third element).
– Lessons include learning to work with brethren who differ in personality and opinions, appreciating complementary strengths, and fostering humility and unity.

Personal Testimonies on Pairings
– Several participants shared experiences of being paired or working closely with brethren having different backgrounds, personalities, or views, which proved spiritually beneficial and growth-promoting.
– Examples included overcoming intimidation, learning to listen to differing perspectives, and realizing the Lord’s wisdom in arranging such partnerships.

Challenges Faced by Apostles Paul, Peter, and John
Paul:
– Overcame his past as a persecutor of Christians, undergoing a paradigm shift on the road to Damascus.
– Endured physical hardships: shipwrecks, imprisonments, stonings, and a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
– Had to gain acceptance among other apostles and the early Church, overcoming doubts about his apostleship (Galatians 2).
Peter:
– Overcame impulsiveness and denial of Jesus (John 18:15-27), learning deeper agape love and humility.
– Became a leader at Pentecost, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
– Had to adapt from being a reluctant leader to a steadfast shepherd (1 Peter 5:1-4).
– Overcame prejudice against Gentiles, accepting the gospel’s expansion (Acts 10).
John:
– Overcame fiery temperament (“sons of thunder,” Mark 3:17) and misunderstanding of Christ’s mission.
– Lived to an old age with challenges such as exile on Patmos (Revelation 1:9) and opposition from Gnostic heresies denying Christ’s incarnation (1 John 2:22).
– Focused on compassion and love in his writings.
– All three apostles faced opposition from Judaizers, Gnostics, Nicolaitans, and others seeking to undermine early Christian doctrine.
– Forgiveness and reconciliation were important themes, as seen in Paul’s relationship with John Mark and Peter’s acceptance of Paul.

Overcoming Spiritual Challenges: Pride, Anger, and Weariness
Pride:
– Pride is a root sin, one of the seven things God hates (Proverbs 16:5).
– Overcoming pride requires humility, self-examination, and recognizing that all we have is received from God (1 Corinthians 4:7).
– Philippians 2:3 encourages counting others more significant than oneself.
– Romans 12:3 advises having a sober estimate of one’s abilities by faith.
– Pride is linked to Satan’s downfall (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:12-19).
Anger:
– Anger may sometimes be righteous indignation (e.g., Jesus cleansing the temple), but often stems from pride and selfishness.
– Forgiveness is key to overcoming anger (Matthew 6:14).
– Controlling anger preserves energy and prevents weariness.
Weariness:
– Weariness can be overcome by relying on God’s promises, prayer, rest, and spiritual encouragement.
– 1 Peter 1:4 speaks of precious promises that sustain believers.
– Mutual support within the body of Christ helps prevent weariness.
– Practical steps include praying when struggling with pride or anger, serving others to overcome selfishness, and relying on the Spirit for strength.

Key Scriptures Cited
– Matthew 28:16-19 (Great Commission)
– John 20:21 (Jesus sends disciples)
– Acts 2:42 (Apostolic doctrine foundation)
– Revelation 21:14 (Twelve apostles as pillars)
– Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (Two are better than one)
– Philippians 2:3 (Humility)
– Romans 12:3 (Sober self-assessment)
– 1 Corinthians 15:9 (Paul’s humility)
– 1 John 2:22 (Warning against Antichrists)
– Proverbs 16:5 (Pride abomination)
– Luke 17:10 (We are unworthy servants)
– Matthew 6:14 (Forgiveness)
– 2 Timothy 1:6-7 (Kindle the gift, spirit of power, love, and self-control)

Conclusion and Closing Reflections
– The study emphasized apostles as examples of overcoming human weaknesses through God’s grace and the Spirit’s power.
– Participants acknowledged the ongoing personal struggle with pride, anger, and weariness, encouraging mutual support, humility, prayer, and reliance on God’s promises.
– The Lord’s method of pairing apostles two by two was seen as insightful for building complementary teams and fostering spiritual growth.
– The importance of forgiveness and viewing challenges as opportunities for growth “for us, not to us” was underscored.
– The study ended with a reminder that everyone has weaknesses and strengths and that unity in diversity forms the strength of the body of Christ.

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the major themes, scriptural references, participant insights, and practical spiritual lessons from the study discussion.

Transcript

And in terms of practical lessons that you can share with us will be very useful in helping us complete our outline. So that’s about all I’m going to say for the time being, and those of you who have been here before know how I elite studies, and so since Brother Keith is warmed up from his last study, I’m going to call him in first he looks at me and then we’re going to go to the left and then we’re going to go each row, and the one thing I do is I’m a timekeeper and I know that fellowship is very, very important.

And so I intend to finish on time. I’m not going to go over so that you’ll have lots of time to fellowship during the lunch hour. So, Brother Keith, I hope that you have gathered your thoughts. Brother Ken, I’m sorry, Brother Ken, forgive me. I know you too well to call you other names than what you should have.

Thank you, Brother Homer. What I can come up with now is apostles were eyewitnesses to Christ and were Christ through his ministry. I know that some of the disciples were also, but they also were would differentiate with, with the gifts that they have, and I’ll leave my comment at that, thank you.

Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. Next person.

Oh, I, I go right across. You’ll get your turn, Brother David. Sister Karen, any comments?

Well, I was going to say that all of them were disciples, but the apostles were specifically chosen and mentored for leadership positions, and they were the ones that were given the keys and ushered in the Holy Spirit and it’s ability to use it. Thank you.

I think about the Apostle Paul because when he introduces a lot of his books and his writings, his letters, he has to set up his apostleship. He has to make it known how he was chosen to add to what he was. The brother just before me was saying, I know your name, I just can’t remember it.

Brother David, I told you it would get to you.

And indeed it has. Thank you. The word apostle means set forth or one set forth. So as Brother Jeff mentioned, they were especially chosen for specific functions in the organization of the infant Church, the Infant Ecclesia in the first century. So they had this additional responsibility.

They also had the Holy Spirit in ways that others did not. As has been mentioned, they could pass on gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is interesting that we can consider and I think your question had to do with the apostles specifically chosen by Jesus, of which there were 12 Paul replacing Judas. But there’s an interesting application of the word apostle to Barnabas. In Acts, chapter 14, verse 14, it says when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard it.

Now, most of us might scratch our head a little bit and say Barnabas was an apostle. Well, the distinction here is that he was an apostle of the church of Antioch. Both he and Paul were sent forth the meaning of the word apostle as representatives of the Antioch Church, and so that’s how he could be called an apostle as well. He was not, however, an apostle of the Lamb.

So he would not have had all of the privileges and responsibilities and accountabilities that the other apostles would have had over. Thank you, brother Homer. I’m looking at this. Matthew 28:16.

As Brother David said, apostle is one that was sent, and verse 19 says, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. So the apostles were ones that were sent forth, chosen by our Lord, by the heavenly Father, given to our Lord, and they went about teaching and, and admonishing the people, and whereas disciples are all those who follow Christ over.

The distinction I would make is, you know, you, you’re at the school of Christ, you’re disciple, you, you learn, you’re a student, and then you know the Lord gives you opportunities to serve and to, to teach. So that’s a special appointment when you know, you made a consecration and you’ve proven that you’re engaged on that road for his service. Thank you.

Well, I think Keith mentioned this, but I believe that at Pentecost, the miraculous manifestation was primarily upon the 12 apostles. That’s debated, but we know that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were only passed on through the laying on of the hands of the apostles is what I believe. So the 12, I think, is a very special. Although we know that a Baker’s Dozen is 13. So maybe Matthias was part of them.

I don’t know. So to that, Brother Paul, I noted your comment about 13 before, so I’m not surprised. It is Friday the 13th, brethren.

Yeah. This is an interesting question because it reminds me of one of our weeknight studies. I believe that anyone who is a follower of Christ is a disciple, and I believe that 12 were disciples before our Lord’s resurrection. However, and I know that In Luke chapter 10, it talks about the disciples.

Disciples? How our Lord gathered 70 disciples. So I believe anyone who was a follower of Christ before his resurrection was a disciple. However, I think I agree with what Brother Paul said. I believe that the twelve were apostles on Pentecost everybody else, even ourselves, are disciples.

Thank you.

I believe a disciple is a follower and learner of Jesus, while an apostle is basically sent out to spread the Gospel.

Thank you.

So In John the 20th chapter, it says verse 21. Then said Jesus to them, peace be unto you, as my Father has sent me, even so send thy you, and when he had said this, he breathed on them and said unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. So what I would say then is that that was a precursor to those ones that would then be not just disciples, but that would then be the apostles, and he breathed on 12 of them.

We know that one of them was, was, was drawn away, however, who at the Son of perdition. So I only think at that time there were. There were 11. Oh yeah. With your daughter Kathy.

All apostles are disciples, but not all disciples are apostles, and I think it’s fairly clear in the Scripture that There were only 12, 11 in the upper room, like Sister Sonia had said when they were waiting for the Pentecostal blessing, then replaced by Paul, and of course we have the scripture in Revelation that talks about the twelve apostles of the Lamb. But specifically, these are the ones that Jesus went and hand selected, and of course we know that he later attributes that to his Father, the ones you have given me.

So these were the apostles were hand selected, just like Paul was too. Matthias was brought out and we know he wasn’t hand selected by the Lord. That was not his intended selection, but Paul was, and of course no one in the the entire church, not one single individual, would have selected Saul of Tarsus to fill Judas seat, as it were, over.

Oh, the question was differentiate between Christ’s disciples and his apostles. So if you have a comment here, encouraged to make it, I think it’s all been said. I mean, I heard that there are many disciples, but only 12 apostles. I think I heard that when I came in. Thank you.

Okay. I. I have to remind those who are at the side, if you want to do double duty, you can. If you don’t, that’s okay. So I don’t want to exclude anybody coming to you next.

Thank you. Yeah, I think you can be both. No one’s taking away from the fact that there are 12 pillars in New Jerusalem. You know, they’re the founding authors of, you know, primarily the New Testament. But by the definition of apostles, just messenger or one who is sent.

And the verse that Sister Sonia just read about, I was sent for this reason, and so send I you for, you know, a messenger for a mission purpose in the disciples sense. Yeah, we’re all students, you know, mentioned about, student of the school of Christ, all these phrases. But in the sense of apostle, I think we’re all called to be a messenger, and that’s what the, what the word alludes to. So I don’t see how you can’t be both.

Thank you.

Another comment? Yes, please.

I was going to say, too, it’s not just, you know, the baptism of the Holy Spirit because Cornelius received that, but we’re not told whatever happened of that, you know, but we’re also not told that he was sent out to do anything. So I think that’s one of the differences.

Thank you very much. So I’ll just add a couple more comments, and of course, I do believe, for example, in Acts 2:42, Acts 2:42, I won’t read it, but I think that they were the foundation, in other words, our understanding of what is truth, that what they spoke doctrine was a foundation for what we ought to believe. You know, the Scriptures that we have should be what we speak. Scriptures also speak about those who are false apostles.

So we don’t want to be in that kind of category, and if you are divinely inspired, and I do believe it’s interesting, I think even the Old Testament prophets were divinely inspired as those who are, whoever the 12 are. I don’t think, as has been pointed out, that Matthias was divinely inspired. They cast lots and they selected him. He obviously they thought it was.

They took it upon themselves to select someone else. But the Scriptures tell us that in the Old Testament that someone else is going to take his bishopric. So evidently God had designed, even in Old Testament times, for us to look back prophetically to see that, you know, certainly Judas. I don’t think that any of us believes that Judas is an apostle. It was interesting because sometimes brethren want to discuss.

We like to discuss things that are. What should I say? I don’t want to say controversial, but there are different ways of viewing it. For example, we’ve had lots of discussions as to whether Judas is going to come back or not. Because brethren say, well, you know, the Holy Spirit was not given at that point in time.

On the other hand, he’s also called the son of perdition, and you can define what perdition is for yourself. As the Master said, I have lost none that thou gavest unto me save save one. So what does it mean that he’s lost? That’s good food for thought, as we have the temporal provision as well.

So thank you very much, brethren. So we’re going to go on to question number two, and we’re going to start here. Maybe somebody would read it for us because can you read it in this row? Any volunteers? Can you see it from there?

Oh, okay. We have a volunteer. Thank you. Oh, do you want to read it? All right.

Question number two. For what profitable lessons might we glean from the following excerpt? The 12 apostles are mentioned by Matthew, apparently in the order of their sending forth two by two. As someone has said, one of the ways Jesus took to overcome the imperfections of his followers and to better prepare them to do a work which required perfection was by his grouping of the apostles, whose imperfections were perhaps like our own, of the nature of halfness. We too frequently see one side of a truth and not the other.

We too frequently feel the greatness of some quality to such an extent that we depreciate some other quality which seems contrary but is really complementary. Our Lord seems to have acted with careful reference to this in sending out his apostles two by two in the order indicated, Peter the bold, impetuous man, is joined with Andrew the Apostle, chosen by the Scotch as their national patron. As far seeing careful and cautious, James and John were paired, the former elderly and the latter young. Philip the slow witted, was paired with Bartholomew or Nathaniel, the quick witted. Thomas, the doubting, skeptical intellect, was joined with Matthew, one of the heroes of faith.

James, the son of Alphaeus, the advocate of works, was united to Jude, a man of doctrine. Simon the Zealot, a man of enthusiasm and independence, was linked with Judas Iscariot, the conservative economist. So the master made one full man out of two half men in each case. Reprint 2261 thank you. So as you contemplate what you might say, I always smile when I read that Judas was known as the conservative economist, whatever that means to you.

So anybody in this row would like to take a crack at expressing what insights or lessons we might glean from that reprint extract.

So if I ever get invited again, I’m going to tell them to be sure that you print my handouts.

Well, I kind of appreciate how the Lord paired the two with each and with characteristics that would whatever the weakness of one, the Lord paired it with somebody who had strengthened so that they could work together as one team. That’s my comment. Thank you, Mr. Robin. Well, we all have a place in the body, and the hand can’t say to the foot, I have no need of you, and the eye can’t say to the ear, I have no need of you.

So we all have Strengths and weaknesses, and by coming together, that’s when we can. You know, I don’t even think we’re half men at this point. Stage of the devolvement of human nature. I think we’re.

You know, it takes 40 of us in this room to kind of come up to build one. So we all need each other. There’s no doubt about it. Over. Yeah, I have to say that is such an important concept that each of us needs to internalize.

And I don’t have the reprint number. I think it’s somewhere around 11:57. But the title of it is An Allegory. An allegory, and if you read that, it gives a thought in terms of someone who had a dream and that individual thought that he had much of the qualities necessary to become part of the body of Christ.

And in a careful analysis of what part of zeal or bigotry or other negative characteristics he had, you know, it’s surprising you would wonder if any of us will ever make our calling. Election. Sure. Because if we do honest introspection, then there needs to be work, ongoing work that we put on the fruit and the graces of the Spirit. So we’re going to work ourselves.

We’re coming to you, Brother Paul, soon. Anyone listen? Yes.

Yeah. I really appreciate this excerpt. I don’t remember having read that before, and that’s very beautiful, and I was thinking too, about the. In Corinthians where it’s talking about marriage, or maybe it’s not in Corinthians, but the two shall become one.

And we know that that does not literally mean that, but that two should be so perfectly paired that they think and act as one, and whatever one is deficient in the other can make up for that deficiency. Thank you. Next row, unless you’re all passing.

I’m also reminded of the. The preach that two or three are required to prove a thing or, you know, testify to something. So when he sends out two, in their culture, here are two people testifying of the truth of the same thing. Two witnesses. Thank you very much.

Appreciate that.

I’m thinking of the TV series the Chosen because they make a point of this in one of the seasons where they send them out two by two and they make a whole point about how they’re the pairings, how different they were, and they learn to work together. So that’s a lesson for us. Sometimes we’re paired with others that, you know, are quite different than us. But we’re all one body. We need to learn to work with each other.

And encourage each other into love and good works. Thank you.

Just from a personal experience, I learned that the way the Lord pairs us, it’s the best and just personal testimony. During the pandemic, we had a Romanian meeting. We moved it online, and one of the sisters wrote to me one day and she said, sarah, can you remember this thought? And she was asking me, but I was very intimidated by this sister because she’s a fast thinker and she knows a lot.

And I just. I was surprised by her letter because she chose me to ask that question and I wanted to pass it on. I asked Claudia, my sister, I said, claudia, can you please reply to her? Because I don’t feel worthy to write to this sister, and she said, no, she wrote to you.

So I. I kind of avoided it three times. But then she wrote to me again and I replied to her, and this turned into a summer long, maybe even more than one summer correspondence between us, and it was one of the biggest blessings of my life.

And I wouldn’t have chosen this sister as my paper, or how it’s called, but the Lord made it such a blessing. It made us open up and just being so free to each other and getting to know each other and just being an encouragement for each other, and I wouldn’t have chosen her, but the Lord did, and sometimes we have to say not sometimes we have to say yes when the Lord is putting us in this situation because he knows us better. Thank you, Brother Homer.

I have a scripture that I think bears upon this, and by the way, I hadn’t seen that reprint article before. I was very delighted to see brother Russell’s insight into the psychology of teams working together. It was quite beautiful. Ecclesiastes 4, starting in verse 9, two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor.

For if they fall, the one shall lift up his fellow. A woe to him that is alone when he falleth, hath not another to lift him up again? If two lie together, can they have warmth? How can one be warm alone? And if a man prevail against him that is alone, two shall withstand him.

And a three fold cord is not quickly broken. I really like how it breaks it down into four different aspects of the advantages of 2. A good return for their labor. This is mutual effort. When we work together toward a common goal, not only we enjoy the fellowship one with another, especially in spiritual things, but we produce one will lift up his companion mutual support.

As these two by two went out, if something should happen, if somebody slipped or something like that there’s somebody there to help support him. They have heat. Mutual encouragement. We encourage one another. Certainly them being sent out could have some discouraging experiences along the way, but having two of them there, they would reinforce each other.

And lastly, mutual strength that two shall withstand him, and then it ends by saying, a threefold cord is not easily broken, and I like Proverbs 15:22, in the multitude of counselors, they are established. So this idea that Jesus had of putting two together was remarkable in his insight and the way that there was development for his disciples as they were walking along with each other, especially different personality types and different strengths and skills. Over.

Thank you.

I appreciate this article too, this excerpt, and I appreciate it because I myself am somewhat reserved and quiet and I would need a lot of encouragement and help if I were being sent out in Paris. But I also appreciate that as it says, we too frequently see one side of a truth and not the other. We frequently feel the greatness of some quality to such an extent that we deprecate some other quality which seems contrary but is really complementary. So I appreciate that we see things differently, but we’re still part of the body, still part of being sent forth to preach the gospel. Over.

Thank you, Brother Randy. I’ll just take five seconds to say, you know, when you used to work in Rutherford, New Jersey, you were involved in things that touched the globe because you were involved in the work, preparing it and sending it out. So thank you for your service. Sister JULIET In Philippians 2, 3, we read that in humility count others more significant than yourselves. You know, it’s only when we put ourselves aside and, you know, try to see each other’s strength, then we can build each other up.

And that’s part of being, you know, complementary to become a team. Because that’s what the body of Christ is.

That’s a thing. Thank you, and we cannot, I’m sorry, we could not be self sufficient. That’s, I think, the whole spirit of Christ. There’s no one that is better than others.

It’s, we rely on each other. That’s our strength. Thank you. Thank you. I was just gonna add, well, as a quick disclaimer, I don’t.

I’m always when I read stuff like this with like character traits of, you know, like, how do we really know? Philip was slow witted. I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m a little skeptical of that kind of thing.

But I think the lessons kind can still be drawn out, and I appreciated all the other examples from Scripture that were already brought up, marriage and the body of Christ. There’s the scripture about iron sharpening iron, and I think it can be applied beyond when we are like assigned to work with someone and just in our interactions with the brethren in general, when some people are more difficult to work with or just get on your nerves and. But they are also being used by the Lord and they have their strengths to bring to the table.

And all together we all have a role to play, and that can be a very difficult thing to apply, but is hugely important. Thank you, Sister Gabriel, I’m going to make one short comment to you also. I guess it was around 2012 when you were at the Pan Africa Convention in Ghana and you were sitting next to a brother from the Congo. His name is Brother Uchodone.

And you sacrificed to translate to him what was going on because he was not fluent in English. So thank you for your service. Brother Ben, I do want to just comment a little bit more on a couple things. One of them is just a continuation of my dad’s comment, but I do think that within the body of Christ, you have skin and you have bones. One of them is going to be quite rigid.

It does not move, but it is absolutely necessary, and then you have the skin and that one is a lot more pliable. There is the requirement of both in order for everything to work. Now, in this case where we talk about the two, and from this excerpt, I do think that it is a little bit lacking. I do believe that there are not two.

I think there are actually three, and going back to my dad’s comment where it says the threefold is not easily broken, I think that third one is here it is Christ. I think you have the two, and their purpose is right there. My mind goes to the apostles on the road to Emmaus, when they were talking with Jesus and this was after his resurrection, they did not recognize him, but he was there the whole time and they talked about it. They said, didn’t our hearts burn within us?

And I think that when you have this kind of scenario, Christ is always with you, and that is that third part that is sometimes hidden that you don’t realize, and that’s what makes the pairing plus Christ in any experience, one that is not easily broken. Thank you, Brother Paul. I’m going to give you the last word because I said it would come to you.

And I’ll just mention in case, because we’re going to move on to the next question, but after you speak. But in case anyone wanted to comment upon Something on this question. Feel free to use your time to do that. Brother Paul. So Ben reminded me of the scripture, what every joint supplies.

A joint is so you can have mobility and you can move forward, and I know what it’s like to have a bad joint. I have a new hip, and without that, and I know David can sympathize with it, without that new hip, I probably wouldn’t be here today now. But I want to quote a scripture to you brethren, and I want you to tell me the next verse, because this is a really important scripture and all of you can quote this scripture, but I want you to also be able to quote the next scripture. Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst, what is the next scripture?

So I will defer and let someone else. I will just say it real quick. But Lord, how often do I need to forgive? Up to seven times the process of forgiveness happens with taking one or two with you. So that out of the mouth of two or three, every fact, every word that divides can be healed.

And that is such an important process. Thank you. Question number three says, what were some specific challenges that as apostles Paul, Peter and John had to overcome? I only took those three because you can find more about their writings than anybody else, and some you do have no record of their writings.

So we’re going to have about 10 minutes for this if you’d like to share. So I want to comment on the last one because you said I could.

I really like that allegory or the writing. That’s the first time I’ve seen that. But like, I think as our human nature, imperfect human nature, we tend to want to spend time with people that have similar strengths and weaknesses to us, and when we’ve been hurt before, it’s even harder to come out of that. But like with the Christian love and humility, it’s so important because it not only.

I mean, we can accomplish so much more. It helps us grow too, when we can appreciate, have the humility to appreciate somebody different than us and work with them. Thank you.

I too am on that last question, and I appreciate the Stein’s comments, and he mentioned that he thought there was a third one there, and I think so too, even when they were sent out, because remember he breathed on them and said, receive ye my spirit, so they didn’t go alone, and so that’s what made that threefold cord not easily broken.

Thank you.

Yeah, I do want to talk about that second question. I like that question.

I appreciate how Brother Russell identified How each of the brethren, each of the disciples were paired based upon their strengths. But I want to say one thing. It was hard for me to read each partner from where I’m sitting and their strength. But I’m wondering whether or not Brother Russell got his thoughts based upon Matthew chapter 10, because it seems as though they are paired the same way as Brother Russell wrote in the article. Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, I do have a comment on the question that you’re asking about, because when we were driving down here, we were looking at these questions and we came to this one, and I was like, oh, well, two of them are easy and one of them is very not, and I thought, okay, Paul had to live with what he had done before he became an apostle, and he never fully overcame that. He even got to the point of being so depressed that he couldn’t go anywhere or do anything, and yet he ended up being, to us, the one that wrote the most of the New Testament.

God gave him the strength, and his brethren, he says this repeatedly. If it wasn’t for this one or that one, he would just have been gone, gone, and that’s always been very, very meaningful to me as a person, and then Peter, of course, had to go from being the one who had all the answers before it got to his brain to someone who grew to be rather old and says, having done all stands.

So he really changed his personality to become obedient to the will of God above all things. Now, John was the harder one for me to figure out. John was probably one of the youngest of the apostles. At the beginning, he lived the longest. He became a messenger to the church of the gospel age.

And for him, maybe what he had to overcome was that he wasn’t taken as seriously by the brethren in his midst for a while. But also I think what he learned was how to live by compassion. Because when he was an old man in third John, and I don’t know exactly the scripture, you know, he says, little children, my little children, keep yourself from idols, and this. This was such a profound thing as we see the deterioration as the gospel age church developed.

So that would be my comment. Yeah, thank you. I want to extend this period of time because we’re talking about the apostles, and the assignment says, you know, apostles as our examples. So we’re going to take some more time so that you can get more in.

We’re going to go to the back and we’ll probably get to you coming back, Sister Carrie. So I appreciate Sister Joyce’s comments. One of the things I was going to go into with some of the maybe more minor personal issues that they had. We know that they were always fighting on who’s the greatest so that we can throw Peter and John into that mix. But one of the things with Paul too, he had to overcome to was St.

John Mark. One of the issues he had with John Mark is that I don’t want him coming. He took off. But then we see later he is with John Mark.

I had read something about John one time. When Paul eventually did come and meet the apostles, John wasn’t there, but it was right after the time where James was killed, and so he had a process, the death of his brother, and though Paul wasn’t directly involved in it, he was part of that machine that was killing everyone, and so he was just as guilty.

He could have done it even though he didn’t. But. So there’s a lot of that forgiving Paul and what he was doing. Not just Paul forgiving himself, but the brethren forgiving him over.

So two things. One, on the third question, Peter, Paul and John, as has already been mentioned by many, I really liked, and I think it came out at last year’s study weekend, and I know it wasn’t an original thought to the brother. I forgot who brought it out. Maybe it was brother Ken.

Not sure. Or it might have been you, brother Homer. But that up until 50 to 100 years ago, the world was agrarian, you know, it was. Everything was, and so everywhere Peter would have gone for the rest of his life, he would hear roosters crowing.

And just to think that that would be like. I mean, that’s such a. When you think about it, he didn’t say, Jesus didn’t say, well, before midnight or before this, or before he said, before the cock crows, you’re gonna deny me three times, and so I’ve always, ever since I heard that, that just pops into my head at random, that every time a rooster would crow that it would remind Peter, potentially anyway, of his denial, and that would always, I think, be a humiliating thing that would keep him grounded from being.

You know, sometimes we take ourselves too seriously, especially with his ministry. The other thing, John, which would be John Zebedee, of course, he was the last apostle to die, but his brother was the first. He was James, and so that was brought out about what Peter. Peter’s captivity came shortly after John was put to death.

I’m sorry, James was put to death. But back to the other thing on the two by twos. I just want to share an experience, hopefully as briefly As I can make it. In our class, in our little ecclesia in Huntsville or Tennessee Valley, we have a very eclectic mix of brethren from radically different locations, backgrounds. There are very few who are native to this area.

We’re all kind of imports from other areas, and something that’s been very, very valuable to me, when I use it, sometimes I forget about it, and I’m going to call out Sister Sonia because she’s literally as close as a brother can be to a sister. You know, we’re very close. Same thing with Stanley.

I don’t want to leave him out. But the interesting thing about Sony is after the flesh, we are total opposites. We would not get along in the world. We would be on the opposite sides of the fence of almost every single issue, politically, socially, economically. Everything about us is so completely different.

And we do bump heads and we do roll our eyes at each other sometimes with some of the things we say to each other and without really thinking about it. But it always pulls me back to know that I’ve got a sister in this class who, if I see something and I have an opinion, my natural flesh or perhaps proclivity or whatever gravitates towards something. The Lord puts Sony in front of me and says, yeah, but she’s standing on the other side. So now what do you think? And then it’s just like, okay, you need to, you know, get out.

Get out of that mode. That’s it. So Sony’s like kind of my, my. A little bit of a mental traffic cop when the flesh starts getting a little too much influence. So.

So I really appreciate that with the brethren that we do, the Lord puts. Instead of looking at brethren, like, askew or rolling our eyes at them when we disagree or whatever, maybe the Lord’s saying, hey, wait a minute. Maybe you should start listening more because this brother or sister is there to offer you, you know, to give you input that I’m trying to direct you with rather than. So anyway, I just thought that that experience for me has been really invaluable, and it’s helped me overcome some things, honestly, that I think I would have been saddled with if the Lord hadn’t put Soni in my path, and I’m absolutely sure she would say exactly the same thing.

So we won’t. So I have to interrupt again, so I thank you for that. You know, last night when we were picked up from the airport, what happened was that Sister Sonia drove the sisters back to Boas. She drove Sister Scathy and Sister Karen back to Boaz, and I was riding with Brother Stanley.

And you know, if you’re not there, you don’t know what conversations take place. So I’m going to go back and talk about. I don’t know if I want to call you the Tennessee Valley 5 or the Boaz 5, and of course, Sister Renee is not here, but Sister Renee also was in Ghana in 2019. In 2021, 2023 and 2024.

She was not here in 2025, and you were in Ghana, and the rest of you were in Ghana, not 2019, but 2021 through 2024. So why am I telling you this? Brother Stanley told me, Brother Homer, because I told him what the date was.

I’m not going to tell you what the date was. I said, the next Pan African Convention. I’ll give you a hint. I’ll give you a hint. The memorial is Tuesday, March 31st.

Okay, and we, Lord willing, we head for Ghana the next day because we always try to do witnessing on Good Friday in Ghana. So he said, Brother Homer, Sister Sonia and I plan to be there, okay? Lord willing. So I’m not going to ask you and Sister Karen or Sister Renee if you’re going to be there.

And I don’t want you to feel guilty if you’re not.

But it is what it is. Anyone else? Sister Kathy?

Yes. I would have said the challenges of all the apostles would be Stoics, Nicolaitans, Judaizing Christians, Gnostics. They had many, many problems because there was any adversary like us. But also would say that with Peter’s denial. But I think more his dissimilar, you know, from the Gentiles and the Jews, you know, separating that was a challenge.

But he was publicly spoken by Paul of, and he corrected that as we see in Peter where he phrases Paul for his Scriptures. I was also going to say and of course Paul, you know when it says about Stephen, when it says that lay it not to their charge. Well, clearly it was laid to Paul’s charge from. If you read all that happened to him.

He’s stoned and left for dead and all the different things that he suffered because you know, of repentance also, and he’s in prison for two different times before Nero kills him.

John John had the privilege of taking care of Jesus mother for however long she lived. It seems like the elder lady in. In the third in the epistle of John, one of the epistles, maybe the first one. It could be still Jesus mother, I don’t know, doesn’t say Scriptures are silent. So there are many things that they went through.

I also like the fact that brethren did bring out that where two or more are together, Jesus is in the midst and we can count on that. So. But I often wondered what about if it’s just me alone is what’s going to happen. But anyway, that’s another day. Okay.

Do you want to make a comment here? Thank you.

I just saw him come in. Michael, would you like to say something or not? Well, I think Kathy took some of my thoughts, but the, you know, Peter, Paul and John, they’ve all been mentioned. You know, more specifically, I guess the most difficult thing would be the Judaizing Christians and the need to talk to the Galatians and to convince them, you know, that the law had been nailed to the cross and there had to be some pushback on that. I’m sure it wasn’t just an overnight decision on the part of the Judaizing Christians to, oh, yeah, obviously, well, we’re wrong type of thing.

So I would think Paul particularly experienced difficulties maybe perhaps because of, you know, his past sins. We don’t know. We know he had a thorn in the flesh, which sometimes are referred to as bad eyesight or stigmatism or something. But perhaps it might have been his role in the Sanhedrin, who knows? But John lived on quite long and had to endure.

The government officials actually who put him on the island ostracized him and put him in a position where he might not have thought he could do any good. But ultimately the Lord appeared to him. So at that point, I’ll just say that’s all I can say. Thank you. So we’ll come back up in the front in case anybody wants to say anything about Peter, John, Paul, we’ll start here.

Yes.

Paul overcame shipwrecks, imprisonments, stonings, and I think he also overcame pride in the way he was humbled on the road to Damascus and that it was given him a thorn in the flesh, and he had to learn that Christ was sufficient for him, and so I think that is part of Paul’s learning, and Peter had to learn how to love. Peter understood filial love, but he did not understand agape love.

And I think. I think what Peter had to learn was the new commandment that you love one another as I have loved you, and that greater love hath no man than he lay down his life for his brethren, and, you know, Peter had to come to know that, and through coming to know that, he had to overcome that propensity to reach out on his own. But to follow Christ and to feed the sheep.

John was one of the sons of thunder, and John called down, you know, when the Samaritans didn’t accept Jesus, he said, shall we call down fire and thunder? Oh, let me get up here. Sounds better, huh? Fire and thunder.

And that was wrong. He didn’t know what Jesus had come for, and so he had to overcome that, and there’s also the thought that, you know, when John, John had to overcome being in Patmos, in a prison, on an island, and you know, John always said, the apostle that Jesus loved. There’s a change in the way he introduces himself in the revelation.

He just says, hi, John. Yeah, I’m going to tell you that there are going to be probably some who are going to want to talk to you and tell you that John was not the apostle, was not the disciple Jesus loved. But I’m not going there with you.

Pass along.

I don’t have a comment. Next row.

I have a thought that kind of combines the two. One of the things in regard to Paul and Paul and Peter is they.

When I see the Scriptures, when Paul comes back, I know Barnabas introduces him, but it’s really. He stays for 15 days with. With Peter, and then who is the one in Galatians 2 when Paul does it to this faith and Peter accepts it. I think because both of them had experiences that humbled them, they actually created a bond between them in the sense that Peter always had his denial and made him humble.

Paul always had that he was a persecutor, and in that those two were able to interact in a way that was very profitable. That’s all my comment. Thank you. Anybody in the next row that hasn’t commented about the apostles?

Oh, yes, my comments are just general and I don’t want to be repetitious, but I mean, Paul had to overcome physical challenges after his experience on the road to Damascus, and also he had never met Jesus in person except for that one blinding light. Peter and John both had to overcome their prejudice against the Gentiles because during our Lord’s ministry, he was the only one at least recorded. He spoke to the Samaritan woman, but except for that, they restricted their witnessing to the Jews, and then John also had the experience of being alone so long with no peer group at the end of his life.

Just to add on, Paul, you know, he had to overcome the view that he had the authority of apostle, you know, especially with the Corinthians. But.

And when dealing with the Judaizers, you know, they would come and say, well, he’s not even an apostle, you know, and he had to overcome that, and he was trying to go to the Gentiles, who may not have had been rooted in Judaism, and try to straddle the two worlds. He had the knowledge of the law, but helped them understand the Gospel of Christ and how it related back.

And then I was just thinking about Peter. You know, when he got the dream for the sheet came down, it had to happen three times. That’s interesting. You know, he denied three times, and so.

But when he. I always call him the reluctant leader in my mind, because he was bold and he would do what leadership needed. But he always, you know, he was reluctant to take the reins except on Pentecost, and I think that was the power of the Holy Spirit because he had been directed by Christ, you know, him and the rest of the apostles. I’m giving you the keys because of what you said.

And so I think he took that to heart, and then when he saw the sheet, went and baptized Cornelius. You know, he’s the one that went back and pleaded the case to the other apostles. So, and then John.

One thing I think about John, he wrote his gospel last, and I like John’s Gospel because he covers a lot of details and facts that the other three gospels don’t, and in some cases, I mean, some might think, well, it kind of contradicts it, but he was just giving us more detail, so we didn’t make assumptions on. On some of the things, and I think that might have been difficult, too, because, you know, he obviously would respect the other apostles, but he felt the need to write down what he recalls and some things that weren’t covered in the other Gospels.

And I often wonder if that’s why Jesus used him for revelation, because he knew he would get details and get exactly what he experienced. Thank you. Anyone else?

I think we have two more hands, so Sister Sell. Okay. It was kind of mentioned, but I just wanted to say from my experiences, coming from a different culture that was very rigid in Romania under communism and coming to a democratic country, I had to learn to put my. Myself aside and to understand people from their standpoint, and I think when I think about all three of them, they had to go through that because they were coming from this rigid set of rules of Judaism and try to put themselves.

They had to learn to put themselves aside and try to understand where the others are coming from. Thank you. I think I saw brother Randy’s hand and maybe a couple. Oh, some more hands. Okay.

So, Brother Randy, Sister Julianne, Brother, I primarily wanted to mention something about John.

He had to deal with Gnostics who were denying that Jesus was the Christ, that he was come in the flesh, and he had to deal with that, and we find him addressing that in First John, the second chapter, verse 22, he talks about the Antichrist, or those who were teaching against Jesus coming in the flesh, verse 22 of John 2, 1st John 2. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ, he is Antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son and, and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God, and that is that spirit of Antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come and even now already is in it in the world.

Thank you, Sister Julianne. I think Brother David, maybe Sister Gabriel and Brother Ben, I think, and we. Oh, okay. So Sister Juliana, there’s a reprint where Brother Russell explains more about the book of Nehemiah, and in Nehemiah 5, chapter 5 and chapter 6, when Nehemiah returns, he has all those enemies.

And brother Russell describes them as enemies from within and enemies from without, and when we see the work of the apostle and all the challenges they had to go through and not only establishing the churches, but then having to go back and re. Encourage and reaffirm what they know, and in second Timothy, first chapter, verse six and seven, this is how he had to encourage Paul, had to encourage Timothy. For this reason, I remind you to kindle anew the gift of God which is in you by the laying on your own hands.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of self control, and he had to constantly remind them of those things. That’s really one of the burden to establishing, you know, the early churches. Thank you. Thank you, Brother David.

There we go. Okay. Brother Homer. I appreciate the Apostle Paul’s conversion because many of us who weren’t raised in the truth had similar experiences. You’ve heard of the expression a paradigm shift.

Everything you think that is true about the world, all of your reality is suddenly ripped out from underneath you. You find out that what you believed and thought was not. So when the Apostle Paul met Jesus, he was not an evil man. Yes, he was killing Christians, but he was doing that because he felt that this was heresy and under the law, that’s what you did to heretics. I think he had a clean conscience.

He could not have been an evil man or the Lord never would have called him. But he was a man with a Lot of zeal and a lot of ignorance, and that paradigm shift. When Jesus said to him, saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It just ripped everything that Paul thought.

Kathy and I came out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. We had a view of the world. There’s a sister here. I forget your name. Willow’s mom.

You know, she did the same thing, right? Ethel. Ethel. Okay, Sister, it’s not Ethel.

Okay, thank you. We’re looking forward to spending some time with her. But, you know, you have a view of how God is doing things in the world, and this is Jehovah’s organization, and we’re all pulling, and all of a sudden it ain’t true, and I understand how the Apostle Paul said it, and I appreciated Sister Joyce’s comments that this really bothered him. In 1 Corinthians 15:9, he says, For I am the least of the apostles, that I am not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.

It weighed heavily upon him when he realized that he had done wrong, and I have a personal opinion. You know, I think the Lord told him several times, paul, I forgave you. Get over it, and he wasn’t.

So Paul gave him an experience, I think that helped him get over it. You stoned Stephen. I’m going to have you stoned, too. I think very powerful that Paul had the experience that he brought to Stephen. The Lord permitted it.

Says they supposed he was dead. Maybe he was dead and he was raised from that. But in any case, I think Paul could proceed at that point forward with a clean conscience. So when you talk about obstacles, I just love the Apostle Paul because I can identify, and if I can make one more comment.

I was very taken by Brother Benton’s comment about his relationship with Sister Sonia, and there’s powerful lessons in there about us understanding how others think about things and that our perspective is not always right. In fact, it’s frequently wrong. I was promoted to be manufacturing manager of an engineering department, and my boss said, all right, you have to choose a staff.

Who are you going to choose? Well, I’m choosing all these people that I know, detail oriented. Finally, he says, you need to choose a pain in the neck. I said, what? You need to choose somebody on your staff that always has a different opinion that is always telling you you’re wrong.

And I said, what’s the point of that? He says, it’ll protect you from making wrong choices. You may disagree with him and ignore him nine times, but on that one tenth, he’s going to have something that’s going to save you from a difficult situation. I think that’s how we should view one another. We need one another, and we need sometimes that difference of opinion to pull us back, to make us think a little bit more about where we stand and what we’re saying.

Over. Thank you, Sister Gabriel, are you speaking or you’re not? Okay, so I’m going to move on. We have three more questions. Question four, how might we overcome inclinations towards pride?

I think question five, how might we overcome inclinations toward anger? And number six, how might we overcome anger, inclinations toward weariness? Those are three distinct questions, and we’re going to go through them and we’re going to end on time. So I’ll begin the next row. Sister Gabriel, do you want to address question four or not?

The easiest question to say is, look, I have no pride.

I don’t have anything right off the top of my head. That’s all right. Moving on.

So you could combine these two questions very easily. I think God hates pride, and he only gives grace to the humble, and pride is one of the, of course, seven things that God hates.

But a lot of commentators put pride as the root of all other sins, and that’s why I think it’s first in the seven sins, because God can deal with a lot of different sins. But pride is probably the, The. I don’t know, the. The most difficult.

Arrogance and pride, and so I’ll end there. My wife will have more on this. Okay. But I’m going to ask the question how to, how to overcome it?

Yeah, these are bad things. How do we overcome it? That’s what we got to do.

So who are you to lay a charge to God’s elect? And what do you have that you have not received? I think that’s the best, most succinct way for us to deal with pride, and when we were driving here and we went. Got to this question, I was like, how do we deal toward inclinations of pride?

Look in the mirror, you know, and take a sober assessment of yourself and see how important all of the other brethren in your life are, and how many times that, you know, if you do speak out on your own and not under. On God’s word, how the Lord brings you, brings you to task for that. In my personal life, because God has been with me, I feel, since I was a small child, and I know there’s a few others here that could say that as well. I remember things that I was like, I will never do this.

Well, within a few Months or a year. God put that experience that made me do whatever it was, from playing a certain musical instrument to assisting in a certain way at school when I was a child, all the way to things when I became an adult. Various things that I took a stand out of, my own personal sense of pride, and God just tore me down. I’m actually going through an experience right now where I really don’t want to be doing something and God is going to bring me through it. That would be my comment about pride.

Thank you. Next row.

I am a member of our Wednesday sisters meeting, and the first Wednesday of the month, I lead what’s called an expressions meeting, and what I do is I think of a topic and I ask sisters questions on that topic, and eventually I’m going to ask some questions on both experts, anger and pride. Now, I’m not going to touch pride right now, but one of the questions that I will eventually ask them, is there anything wrong with having anger?

I mean, I’m thinking of the Lord who had righteous indignation, especially when the money changers were gambling in the temple, and so that would be part of my thought. Thank you. Thank you. Last row again.

How do you overcome it?

I always found I liked this scripture when I first started reading the Bible because I felt like reflecting on it helped with that. But in Luke 17:10, it says, in this way, you also, when you do all the things which I are commanded of you say, say, we’re unworthy slaves. We have done only that which we ought to have done. Thank you. Ms.

Rowe. Anybody? Ah, we’re going to get to you. Brother Randy. Brother Michael.

Well, the first thing I think of when I hear pride, I think of the Satan because his pride exalted him above, you know, to the upper levels beside Jehovah in his mind, and we were told in the scriptures that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall, and if we can realize that any part of our prideful thoughts are really linked to that spirit, we should try to resist the adversary and he’ll flee from us. We’re told that. So is linking the commission of pride to Satan should scare us to death really over?

Thank you. Anybody in the back row? Brother Brendan?

Yeah. Two things. One might have. I don’t know if it has more to do with the. The previous one or not, but I think something that is somewhat injurious to us or can be, I’ll say, unhelpful, especially when we’re going through our own trials, is to look at the Apostles as supermen, like there was something innately unique or special about them where they were not affected by the same things we are.

And I would think that between the 12 apostles that at least one of them had endured or gone through exactly the situation you might be in at any given time, and they probably had doubts and fears in times of weaker faith or a lack of trust or all these things. I just can’t see that they were machines that just went through life, always doing God’s bidding, you know, at every time and never having like a down moment or so. I. We should look at them more like us than being impossible standards of achievement that we can never arrive at.

That I think would be number one. The other one on how do we overcome inclination toward pride. Well, you know, I won’t tell you all about my humility, so so. But with regard to pride, pride’s really insidious and sometimes we can have it and not know it. That’s the interesting thing.

And some it’s we are. I used to love brother Frank Shalhou. Used to, and I think he was quoting another brother that he loves, learned from when he was young and came into the truth.

He would say, we are all walking bundles of contradiction, and it is amazing, and I can only say for myself, but I have to think I’m not alone, that one day you can be flying high in pride and the next day you can think you’re the worst person that’s ever walked the face of the earth, and I mean it literally can change from moment to moment and day to day, and the same thing, I’ll say with anger.

You know, a lot of people like to point out, well, righteous indignation, that’s a form. Righteous indignation is a tool of Satan that he can use quite often to get us to think that our anger is righteous and is holy and is proper. But we can see. I’ll just give one example. The two sons of thunder, James and John Zebedee, when the Samaritans came and they spat at Jesus and what was their righteous indignation response?

Just give us the word and we’ll call down fire from heaven and burn those suckers right now, and Jesus must. I can only imagine the look on Jesus face when he turned and looked at them after they said that, that it must have done something to them. Because I think the chosen actually represents it pretty well. But the TV show, so those are, you know, I’ll say if we’ve been in the way any appreciable amount of time Pride and anger.

I’m sure we still have. We still battle them for sure, probably until our dying day. But I think they’ve taken more, I’ll say even possibly more dangerous positions in our life, if you want to call it that. Because the simple days of being prideful and angry, we might have gotten past that, that. But I.

But. So we’re. Anyway, I’d love to hear more thoughts on it. Thank you. You’ve transitioned to question number five, how to overcome anger.

We’re up here.

Yeah. Inclinations towards pride, I think, and inclin. Yeah, that word. Towards anger and towards weariness.

Well, maybe we should get enough rest if we’re angry and we’re weary and we should, you know, take time to be with our Lord in situations where we go off alone and we’re not so stressed with everything that’s going on in the world and putting our mind on heavenly things. I think that incorporates a lot of praying. I think that what we need to do is to pray when we find ourselves in prideful situations, and through that praying and that supplication really express to God how bad that makes us feel and how one more time I did this, that, and I stepped out here in this way, and I think that the other way to get over that is through self service to our brother, get out of self, wash the brethren’s feet in different ways and to realize that of ourselves, we are nothing.

And that gets back right to the One is a number that represents absolute unity. Two is a number where there can be either absolute disagreement or agreement. But when there’s a cord that’s wrapped three times with a purpose, that purpose being Christ, that’s when three can be a complete number, can represent a complete number. So we can always stay under the grace of Christ, and I think weariness is to always go back to the promises and abide in God’s Word, because there’s many promises that dispel the.

Thank you. Any comments over here, brother?

Is it okay if I say something about pride and anger? I can talk about anger. So I got Matthew 6:14. If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. So you just have to forgive like Christ.

And forgiveness is the ultimate way to break free from anger, and then with pride I have serving others, and then I have Mark 9:3:5. Anyone who wants to be first must be very last and the servant of all, and I think if you’re serving others, you’re not thinking about yourself.

And yeah, you kind of put yourself in their place and then you don’t think about yourself. So I think that, and then.

And then also just being able to be correctable when it comes to pride. So you have to be able to get feedback, and I got Proverbs 27, Six wounds from a friend can be trusted. But enemies. But an enemy.

Multiple kisses. So just be humble and to be able to take feedback from other people. That’s it. Over. Thank you.

Next row, we’re going to go to weariness. I don’t want you to be tired, so we’re going to weariness for weary. Yes. Yeah, Weariness. I’ll just say claim the.

The precious promises, if you really claim them, because it says in 1st Peter 1:4 that that will help you get divine nature. Thank you. Sorry, I have to go back to anger. Just for a minute. Because anger is an emotion that expends an enormous amount of energy.

And if we can control that anger, we have excess energy to use somewhere else, and that can help us. Excuse me. Overcome weariness. Thank you.

Well, I was going to. My thoughts were that anger comes from pride. It’s a symptom of pride. So is embarrassment. So how do you overcome something?

You have to identify it, know it’s there, like anger. I can feel it. It like bubbles up. Pride is harder because usually you don’t see it till after it’s shown its ugly face, and then you might have embarrassment.

And when you’re fighting all of those things all the time rather than trying to overcome them, that’s when you get to weariness because you’re fighting it and you’re not giving it to the Lord.

Thank you. Next row, we’re going to have maybe about two more comments. I’m going to go back to the pride one. We should not only ask the Lord for help in avoiding pride, but actively look for his dealings with us each day in our experiences because he’s giving us those experiences to learn the lessons that we need. But there’s also the opposite of pride as well.

We can have such a low self esteem, we think we’re good for absolutely nothing, and that was what I really struggled with when I was younger. Why would the Lord even use me? Because I’m nothing, and so I had to learn.

And I think we all need to learn a common, honest self evaluation, and also remember the Philippians passage where Paul says we should work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. But the next verse says, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to do his good. Pleasure. Thank you.

So I’m going to make a closing remark. Okay. Sister Robin forgot about us. I’m sorry. Just a few comments.

Forgive, forgive, forgive. You’re forgiven, no doubt. Just a few comments on all of these. For pride. Romans 12:3.

And this is in the Phillips translation. It’s says, don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given you all. So when we’re looking at ourselves in the mirror and the light we’re looking at ourselves in is the light of faith or the light of Christ, that should help get rid of pride, the inclinations toward anger. I’m reminded of Jonah. He was angry.

He didn’t want to go to Nineveh. Then he went to Nineveh, and he was angry because God didn’t destroy it. Then he was angry because the gourd God provided died. So we don’t want to be like that.

And one of the things Tony Robbins, you know, famous motivational speaker, says these things happen for you, not to you. So when you think of it in that context, that all, whatever happens is of the Lord, we know that all things work, work out for the benefit of his people, that these things are happening for me, then we can start to learn to better overcome the challenges in the weariness. I’m trying to still work on that one. Over. Thank you.

So my closing remark is as follows. We often talk about the precious promises. So my question is, are the precious promises only those who will tell you about the reward that you’ll get if you do the right thing? Or are such promises such as, I’ll give you one illustration, Proverbs 16, 5. I’m using the ESV.

It says, Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured he will not go unpunished. Is that a promise? Is it precious to you? Because if it’s precious to you, you will heed the import and not do it.

So Brother Brandon, I told him my closing hymn was 267 at the beginning. It’s a little longer than Doxology, but I’m done.

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