Ted Budd: “I thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn) for hosting this very special hour. Now, the Apostle Paul, when he was…”

“I thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn) for hosting this very special hour. Now, the Apostle Paul, when he was in prison and was persecuted for his faith and was awaiting execution for it, he wrote to his young mentee, Timothy. He wrote in the original Koine Greek, which was the trade language of the day, and he penned these words: ``kyruxon ton logon.'' That is, again, Greek, but the English translation would be ``preach the word.'' It is 2 Timothy 4:2, and it is the motto of my alma mater, Dallas Theological Seminary. The verse goes on to say: ``be ready in season and out of season.'' There are moments when the Word of God is popular and people want to hear it. Now it seems there are increasingly frequent moments when it is unpopular and out of season to preach the Word. Friends, colleagues, Madam Speaker, social trends, they come and go, and as the prophet Isaiah and then again the Apostle Peter hundreds of years later tells us, ``The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord,'' the very one we honor this week and in this hour, the Word of God stands forever. Peter closes out that chapter by saying: ``And this Word is the good news that was preached to you.'' So as we approach this Christmas season, might we do something a little out of season in this day and age.…”