Cliffe Knechtle

But once again,

It ties into who or what is going to be the foundation of your life.

And at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes it real clear.

You hear my teachings and don't put them into practice.

You're like a fool who built his house on sand.

You hear my teachings and put them into practice.

You're like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

All you got to do is you got to start reading the Bible carefully.

I would encourage you to read 1 Timothy.

Young man Timothy, pastoring a church in Ephesus.

Okay, what was the cultural milieu of Ephesus?

Diana of the Ephesians, a goddess was worshiped.

When you went to the temple of Diana of the Ephesians, it was ruled by some women who were virgins, essentially.

And they had the power, those women.

Then under them were some men who were celibate.

They were eunuchs.

And then under them were some prostitutes, a lot of prostitutes.

And so Timothy is trying to figure out how on earth do I build the church of Jesus Christ in this kind of messed up culture?

And so it's absolutely fascinating to watch the apostle Paul be very in tune

with a culture that his protege, Timothy, is ministering in, and begin to remind Timothy of the basics.