2 Timothy 3:1  Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead.

2 Timothy 3:2  As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse,

2 Timothy 3:3  dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical,

2 Timothy 3:4  treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God.

2 Timothy 3:5  They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people.

2 Timothy 3:6  These are the kind of people who smooth-talk themselves into the homes of unstable and needy women and take advantage of them; women who, depressed by their sinfulness, take up with every new religious fad that calls itself "truth."

2 Timothy 3:7  They get exploited every time and never really learn.

2 Timothy 3:8  These men are like those old Egyptian frauds Jannes and Jambres, who challenged Moses. They were rejects from the faith, twisted in their thinking, defying truth itself.

2 Timothy 3:9  But nothing will come of these latest impostors. Everyone will see through them, just as people saw through that Egyptian hoax.

2 Timothy 3:10  You've been a good apprentice to me, a part of my teaching, my manner of life, direction, faith, steadiness, love, patience,

2 Timothy 3:11  troubles, sufferings--suffering along with me in all the grief I had to put up with in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. And you also well know that God rescued me!

2 Timothy 3:12  Anyone who wants to live all out for Christ is in for a lot of trouble; there's no getting around it.

2 Timothy 3:13  Unscrupulous con men will continue to exploit the faith. They're as deceived as the people they lead astray. As long as they are out there, things can only get worse.

2 Timothy 3:14  But don't let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers--

2 Timothy 3:15  why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother's milk! There's nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:16  Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another--showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way.

2 Timothy 3:17  Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.