0:00
Good morning, everybody. How are you? Good. It's good to see y'all this morning. Why don't you stand with me and we will take time to be holy.
0:09
We'll stand up and we will sing through. Take Time to be Holy. Hymn number six fifty six. It's good to see y'all. So, yes.
0:32
Take time to be holy speak off with the Lord Abide in him always and feed on his word. Make friends with God's children. Help those who are weak for getting enough blessing to seek take time to be holy the world rushes on spend much time in secret with Jesus alone by looking to Jesus like him thou shalt be thy friends and thy conduct his likeness shall see take time to be holy let him be thy guide and run not before him whatever be tied in joy or in sorrow still follow thy lord looking to Jesus still trust in his word take time to be holy be calm in thy soul each thought and each motive beneath his control thus led by his spirit to fountains of love soon shall be for service above Amen.
2:49
I was going to say, did y'all know that song? There are some of you that look like, I hadn't heard that song before in my whole life. I just got back from Georgia. If my accent is working overtime today, that's just what happened. So, Amazing Grace.
3:02
Let's sing that. Hymn number three forty three.
3:10
Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind but now I see 'twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believe dangerous toils and snares I have already come. Tis grace hath brought. Be safe thus far and grace will lead me home.
4:34
When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun
4:48
we've no less days to
4:53
sing God's praise then when first
5:02
Amen. Y'all can have a seat. A few announcements this morning. For one, starting off, the last week, I was not here and I was not here because and it was not previously announced because I went home for my grandmother's funeral. And so singing Amazing Grace, her name was Grace McDaniel, and it's hard for me to sing any song or hear anything about Grace without thinking of her and especially right now.
5:24
But she passed away on Thursday before last Sunday. And in between that evening, we got tickets, but only three tickets available were out of Bozeman. So Tanya and Pascal and I, after a wedding that Tanya was coordinating on Friday night, drove to Bozeman to fly to Dallas, to fly to Atlanta to get there. And then a friend picked us up and took us straight into the visitation. In the South we still do visitations, you know.
5:51
And so we walked in, poor Pascal, the introvert, we walked into the funeral home visitation with 200 and something people in attendance at the time, and they were just coming in and going by droves, and Pascal was like a deer in headlights with so many, but we went straight into that. And then I opened up the little folder with the praying hands at the funeral home and found out that I was preaching the funeral the next day. So thank you for the grace of being able to just go. We have a nice deep bench here, and Carl filled in for me, and I appreciate that. And it we've jostled things around, and they've made it just made it happen.
6:28
So thank you all for understanding and for your prayers, and a lot of y'all sending words of encouragement, condolences. She lived a very full, long, loving life and I should probably come up during the sermon today several times and maybe for the next few weeks, we'll see but that's the first thing that I want to mention. We also have Monday nights at First B. It's happening tomorrow night. 06:00, meal, music, and a message down the hall.
6:50
Carl is in the book of James. Where are you in James right now? Okay. Very good. So James, four and five parts of it about not boasting about tomorrow.
7:04
Meal, music, and a mess, and it is supposed to happen tomorrow. I'm not boasting. It just is happening. Alright. So that happens at the same time as Awana.
7:12
Awana being the kids program where we're pouring scripture into the minds of the kids to reach their hearts and Awana is pretty awesome. It's good. It happens at Monday nights, 05:45 to 07:30. So, same time down at this end of the hall. If you have kids and you want to drop em off and come on down, you're welcome at Monday nights.
7:29
There was a congregational meeting today. We'll let you know the results next week, how that goes. I think, I know that we approved the budget and I think we approved the elders, but we'll let you know next week to be sure. That happened in between. There's a men's winter retreat, formerly known as the men's snowmobile retreat, because about half the people do ride snowmobiles and half don't.
7:49
So the men's winter retreat is happening January twenty fifth through the twenty seventh up in Island Park, Idaho, Old Faithful Christian Ranch. I think it's a $100 for adults and 50 for kids. So if boys are gonna go with the adults up there, then that would be good. January twenty fifth to twenty seventh. Arriving times, Kyle Knutson mentioned in the first service this morning, he said there are a couple of times where they'll have a cat track that'll come out and pick you up and take you back in, so you don't have to walk the two and a half miles to get to the lodge.
8:23
There are two times that they'll pick them up on the twenty fifth, I think. It's a men's winter retreat. Community Bible study. Casey, are you here to make that announcement? Casey McCooey?
8:34
Yeah. Here you go. It's
8:37
on.
8:37
Is it? Okay. So we have been on a break since the holidays, but we are getting back into engaging God's word. We're doing a study on Hebrews, and we'll be going this Wednesday until spring break. And the times are 09:30 in the morning or 06:30 at night.
8:59
So the great thing about this study is we just go through scripture and dissect scripture and learn more about God's word. It is an interdenominational Bible study, so you can invite anybody from any church in the valley. They are welcome to come. The vision of, CBS is transformed lives through the word of God. Excuse me.
9:23
I think the most fun about the study is that, we get together and a couple men from our church do a lecture on the study, and it is you know, they spend a lot of time in God's word preparing for everybody, and they do a little lecture on the homework that we've done throughout the week. It's just really fun to be in God's word with, men and women together. Couples have been coming. It's just super fun, and if you need childcare, that is available as well. But just wanna encourage you, we're starting up this Wednesday, January 16 and all the information's in your bulletin.
9:58
Thank you very much. Precept study is on Thursdays. It will be 09:00 in the morning. Bring your colored pencils, sharpen em up, and get ready. It's a good study.
10:09
This time it is on the book of acts. So Jesus's witnesses empowered by his Holy Spirit. Looks like a really good one. So if you have questions about that, you can ask Jane Kranenburg right there. There is a connect hour.
10:22
It's still happening between services. We are making the connection between the services of the services really. So we remain one church that is existing in two person. No, sorry. There are two two congregations.
10:36
Really three if you count Monday night. So, but we are all getting together and connecting between the services. That happens and if you would, would y'all stand up and just greet one another? Find somebody you might not have said how to do yet this morning.
10:53
Cock of ages cleft for me let me hide myself in me myself let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure Save from wrath and make me pure. The labor of my hands can fulfill thy lost demands could my zeal no respite know could my tears forever flow all for sin could not atone thou must save and thou nothing in my hand I bring simply to the cross I cling make it come to the full dress helpless look to thee for grace when mine eyes shall close in death when I rise to worlds unknown see thee on thy judgment throne rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.
12:55
Oh, how he loves you and me. Hymn number three forty nine. Hymn number three forty nine. Nice chorus.
13:32
Jesus to Calvary oh how he loves you how he loves
14:13
Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I'm going invite the frontline team. Come forward. Would you pray with me?
14:21
God, I do pray that you would take these offerings, lord. Tithes and offerings that we place in these plates, our a portion of the resources which you've entrusted to us. I pray lord that you would take this and that you would do with it the way that you would, however you would. Lord, I pray that you would begin the work here in each heart and soul that's in this room, lord, in the act, the very act of giving but lord that it would continue forth from there that we would bless this community and lord, we would bless this state, region, country, hemisphere, and lord to the uttermost parts. I pray that you'd be preparing hearts right now.
15:04
For the word that will be shared through this little obedient offering. In Jesus name, lord, I pray that you would take what we put in these plates and that you would do your kingdom's work. God, I I know that you are the beginning and the end and I know that you said you will build your church. We trust you to do that and let's just say it so. In Jesus name, lord, would you prepare hearts in Africa and Israel?
15:31
I think of the two trips that this church is sending out apostles to go to soon, lord and I pray that you'd be tilling up and making the soil fertile for the word to be planted in. Jesus name, I pray that you would do your will and your way through these zones. Amen.
15:55
To be here worship bathroom music. Amen? I love to sing this. It's such a beautiful song. It talks about Jesus.
16:05
Amen? I will sing two verses in English and one verse in Romanian language. Thank you for your patience on that. My voice is not that good, but I'm I'm worshiping God. Amen?
16:21
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus since I found in him a friend so strong in through. I would tell you how he changed my life completely. He did something that no other friend could do. More and more, I understand his will supply. But I'll never know just why he came to save me.
18:31
If someday I see his blessed face abide. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. Thank you for allowing me. Thank you for allowing me to put the Gypsy flavor in the sun.
19:13
Thank you. Appreciate it. So I let's get back to there we go. Oh, it's gonna be a short sermon. So we're up to second Timothy one five through two three.
19:34
Actually, it's really gonna start with verse 12 is where we're starting today. But since I missed last week, every time I miss a week, which I don't usually do very often, I have on average preach 48 messages a year since I've been here. But it feels like sometimes we're awake for whatever reason. But with Mimi's funeral last week and being there, I always feel nervous when I get back up if I missed a week because I I like the continuous application over time. The concept of walking through scripture and steadily advancing is really important to me.
20:09
I feel like the only thing that really works as far as sanctification is concerned is continuous application of the principles of scripture over time. So we've been exposing this congregation, whoever shows up, we've been exposing them to God's word in a chronological study going forward. We're up to about between '64 and sixty seven AD, depending on who you listen to. Sixty four to sixty five AD most likely. This is the time where Paul has written, he's gone all over Asia Minor and all over Italy.
20:45
He's gone all over the place around the Mediterranean and he's been spreading and planting churches for a long time but this, he is in prison in Rome. It's his second at least Roman imprisonment and he is there and he's writing a very personal letter to Timothy. Now we know in first Timothy, he was entrusting the leadership of the church at Ephesus to Timothy, that he was gonna be an elder of the church, an overseer. And this is a very, very personal letter. We've said that last time but if y'all don't mind, I'm going to start at the beginning and start over just kind of ramp up to what we're studying today starting in verse 12 and I probably will interject things from time to time about my grandmother.
21:31
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. He recognized that out at the very outset that Jesus is the one who sent him out. He said, you will be my witness to the Gentiles. Paul was sent out by Christ Jesus by the will of God. Was it Paul's will?
21:47
He was actually seeking to put Christians in prison, followers of the way in prison. He recognized that Jesus stopped him and when he saw the light, he saw it by the will of God and according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, he says, according to the promise of life, even as he is nearing his own death, he is in prison in Rome he's an older man at this time. He's cold and he knows winter time is coming. Towards the end of the book, he asked Timothy to bring him his cloak, bring me bring me a coat. He's considering his circumstances and he says, I'm writing this letter though according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus.
22:27
I'm looking forward to what Peter would call an incorruptible hope and he's writing to Timothy, to Timothy, my beloved son. He's called him his true son in the faith. So, he's not his biological son but he is his true son in the faith. Going back home for me, I see, I saw, you know, it was my grandmother's funeral and I saw her and we'll get to that in a minute too. But I saw a lot of, you know, not just my mom and my dad who are my parents and I'm their true son, but I saw a lot of people who are really big and influence in my life and my formative years and so, there are a lot of people that would say, oh, you're my beloved son, you know?
23:10
Grace, mercy, and peace. Grace, unmerited favor given to you though you do not deserve it. Getting something good, you don't deserve his grace. Mercy. Mercy is not getting something bad that you do deserve and peace.
23:25
From God, the father, and Christ Jesus, our lord. I thank God. This is Paul writing to Timothy. Put yourself in that prison cell as he's writing. I thank God.
23:38
Whom I serve and I'm still serving. I am serving with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did. His forefathers had been looking forward to Messiah for a long, long, long time, right? They had been promised that a Messiah would come all the way since the days of Moses. They've been hearing about this prophet, this one that would come that would make things right.
23:58
I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did. They were looking forward to the Messiah and and Paul was looking back at Jesus. Just like we have to look back at Jesus. Whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did is I constantly remember you, Timothy, in my prayers both night and day. I think of you a lot.
24:22
I'm longing to see you. I'm longing to see you even as I recall your tears. I know that it's not been easy. When I think back and I look back towards Georgia from here, I think, my mama. My mama's been taking care of my grandma.
24:35
Since May she's been taking care of her at least twelve hours a day every day, sometimes more than that. Sharing responsibility with aunts and uncles and other people, but she was the primary caregiver. And when I think about it, I was like, I just want to be there to give my mom a hug. Longing to see you and recalling your tears, knowing that tears were always close any time that I would talk to her. But not just that, it's so that I may be filled with joy too.
25:00
Paul is saying that so that I may be filled with joy just upon seeing you. You're my true son of the faith and I can't wait to see you. I'm looking forward to it. I'm mindful of the sincere faith that is within you. I know that what it is that you believed is good and I know that it's a saving faith and I'm confident of it.
25:18
He's encouraging it. I'm mindful of the sincere faith within you. That faith which first dwelt in your grandmother, Lois. And in your mother, Eunice. So, again, we just happen to be right on this when I go in.
25:32
This was one of the passages that I used in preaching her funeral. It's like, that very strong faith that she got at an early age. She was a Christian since she was a little girl. Grown up dirt tour, dirt, you know, on the mount. Which first dwelt in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice.
25:51
My mom also is a believer. My mother was in a car wreck in 1968 right after she got married to my dad and she was broken pretty bad, bad femur break and my grandmother took care of my mom. Now my grandmother was my dad's mom, but my mother had body cast on for eight months. Before she was out of the body cast, my dad was in Vietnam after having been drafted. Was a pretty personal situation there.
26:24
My grandmother and my mother together. So my mom was taken care of by her brand new mother-in-law for the first eight months or so of their marriage. And body cast is no pleasant place to be. And then for the very last part of my grandmother's life, for the last eight, nine months, my mother has been her primary giver really for the last ten years. But anyway, Paul and me, looking at this and thinking of that close familial bond and familial relationship, there are a lot of things that I learned from both grandmother and mother that you learn from the cradle that Paul is encouraging Timothy about.
27:01
I'm mindful of that sincere faith within you. I'm sure that it's in you as well. There's no doubt in my mind about it. Now he's writing to encourage him, but he also says, for this this reason now, I remind you. Kindle afresh the gift of God that is in you.
27:16
You've got a gift from God and you need to be using it for the upbuilding of his body and I would say to you, we just heard this in first Peter four, just as each one of you has been given a gift, you should be using it to up build the body of Christ as showing the various gift. If it's serving, you should serve with the strength God gives. If it's speaking, you should do so as if you're speaking the very oracles of God. For this reason, Timothy, I remind you, kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you and it's in you. We laid hands on you.
27:44
Remember in your ordination ceremony, we know that you were the guy to do this job. His particular job was to be an overseer in Ephesus. For God has not given us and he says us, he's grouping him together every time he gets an opportunity. You and I are on the same team, Paul says to Timothy. God has not given us a spirit of timidity or reticence or cowardice.
28:08
We don't shrink back. We're not going to shrink back from the work that is ahead of us. Even in prison, he's writing this. God has not given us a spirit of timidity, reticence, cowardice, fear, but he has given us a spirit of power, dunamis, like dynamite. It's the ability to do, not just the authority to do it.
28:28
He's given us the authority too, but he's given us power, the actual ability to be able to do and of love, agape, unconditional, godly love, which truly seeks the best of the other, the highest good for the other. God has not given us a spirit of timidity that would shrink back, but of power and of love and of the new American standard says discipline. If you look back at the KJV or the New King James, it says of a sound mind. And so little quick bit about my grandmother too. I've told y'all for several months now that she has been fading, was the term that I used.
29:04
But what had primarily been fading is the soundness of her mind. To see somebody start to go into dementia or senility or Alzheimer's or sundowner's dementia is what she had where she wasn't good in the evenings up until after breakfast in the mornings, and she was good for a few hours. And so Tanya and I were able to make a trip in October, combined it with a wedding in Ohio, but we made a trip to be able to go see her. And the soundness of her mind while we were there, in those hours we were there, was really good. And she was able to express love and we were able to express thankfulness and thanksgiving and joy and we're able to be together.
29:42
God has not given us a spirit of timidity that we would shrink back. My mom actually would play four of my grandmother's sermons from here because we can do that now, right? She'd play em and she was listening and she was very encouraging about going forward and keeping on going forward. The sound mind though is what started to fade and so, that was a difficult place. Therefore, don't be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord.
30:09
So, because God has given us power and love and discipline or a sound mind. Therefore, Timothy, don't be ashamed of the testimony of our lord. Don't be ashamed of it or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel. If you are going to be a soldier of the cross, you're going to hit resistance. You just will because it is the way that it is.
30:33
Join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and he's called us and he's called us with a holy calling not according to our works because it's not by our works that we're saved. It is by grace through faith. It's not of works so that no one can boast, not according to works but according to his own purpose and his own grace. He gave us grace and he expects us to extend it to others. It was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity but now, now it has been revealed in the appearing of our savior Christ Jesus.
31:06
He who abolished death. Now, for an 88 year old woman who has believed in Jesus since she was a little girl. There was there were not a lot of tears in that funeral because they knew who she trusted. And knew that he had abolished death. So, she had transfigured from death into life and immortality through the light of Jesus Christ's gospel and Paul says right there, for which that gospel is what The reason why I was appointed as a proclaimer, a preacher, one who would proclaim the grace of God through Jesus Christ.
31:42
Jesus lived a perfect life, had no sin debt of his own, and was able to give his life as a ransom for anyone who would put their trust in him and accept it. Paul proclaimed that continually. The grace of God through the merciful gift of Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus himself sent him out as an apostle, one who is sent out and as a teacher. Now, Paul had been studying from the time he was knee high to a grasshopper.
32:10
He had been studying up under Gamaliel and various other rabbis and teachers and he knew how to take apart the scriptures and put them back together and help people understand them and apply them to their life. So preacher, apostle, and teacher. So this is where we made it two weeks ago. For this reason, I also suffer these things. But I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed in, and I'm able, I'm convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
32:40
Now look at that sentence and see that this reason I also suffer. That's suffering in there and I know whom I have believed in. I've got it. I got this message. He got it.
32:52
In his case, he got it directly from Christ Jesus. I know whom I have believed in and I am convinced that he is able to guard that which I've entrusted to him until that day. So, that's where we ended last time. It's where we're really starting off this time. We've ramped up to it.
33:09
The next verse, after saying that he trusts and he knows and he believes and he's convinced and he's entrusting to God. After he says that, the very next verse, he turns to Timothy and he has a series of imperatives. And these imperatives are commands. They're commands of what Timothy is to do. With all this information I've shared for you for this last couple paragraphs here, this is what you do with it.
33:34
Retain the standard. Hold on to, in some translations. RSV says, hold on to. The standard of the sound words which you have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That retain is an imperative.
33:48
So, retain what? The standard of sound words. Paul's gospel was Jesus's gospel. All of Pauline theology is grounded in our Lord's tradition, okay? So, when Jesus gives him, this is, you must be born again.
34:05
When Jesus gives him a, it has to be by grace. There's not anything else. That's what Paul preached everywhere that he went. That Jesus was the fulfillment of all of the prophecies of the Old Testament for Messiah and he would always point that out when he was going from town to town on his missionary journeys. When he'd start, he'd always start in the synagogues.
34:26
If he didn't find anybody in the synagogues or if they resisted, he would go to the Gentiles. If he found a prayer group, he'd go there. Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me. All other religion has some element of works based. Merit and effort and Paul is saying, that is not the way it is.
34:50
That's not the way that God is. That's not the way that God operates. He operates by his good pleasure and his grace and you must accept it on those terms or what you have done is fall into another counterfeit religion Does that make sense? Alright, so retain the standard of sound words which you've heard from me. Timothy, you were with me for crying out loud.
35:14
You've been with me since my second missionary journey, and you've been all over the place, and you've heard me do this over and over and over again. Hold on to that which you know to be true. I know you're encountering some resistance. I know you've encountered resistance in Ephesus. I know it's hard work, and you know that I know it's hard work.
35:32
Retain it in the faith and the love which are in Christ Jesus. It is the faith. It is the faith, not your faith. It's not subjective. It's not where you put what you believe.
35:42
It is the actual faith which entails God's grace through Jesus Christ. That is the faith. In the faith and in agape again, love which are in Christ Jesus. So, that imperative. I think that that is for us today.
35:59
Retain the sound words. If you're a believer in Jesus, you had to accept it by grace alone. That's it. There is not another way of doing it. Nothing in my hand I bring is what the song just said.
36:11
Retain that. Know that it's not by your own works or merit. Retain the standard of those sound words. Next thing, verse 14 starts off with guard, another imperative right there. Guard what?
36:24
Guard and he says, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. This is not humanly possible. You have to be submitted to the will of God and the spirit of God but guard the treasure which has been entrusted to you. I believe that he's talking about the gospel itself right there. The treasure that had been entrusted to Timothy was the gospel of grace.
36:46
I think that because the next verse he leans that direction or the next, not the next verse but a few verses later. Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in both of us. I know that you are a believer. I know that your faith is sincere. I know that God indwells those who put their trust in Christ with his spirit.
37:02
So guard the treasure which has been entrusted to you. So now we got two imperatives. And these are things that we can practice today. Retain the sound words of the grace of God and guard it because people will either try to add to it a legalistic. Well, of course, can't be a Christian if you do x y z, or of course, you can't be a Christian if you wear this, or you do this, or you don't do that.
37:24
Legalistic stuff, people will try to add to it. He's saying, resist that, retain the good old gospel way, Guard that so that you don't add to it. He's also saying, guard holiness. Paul always preached salvation by belief, by faith alone but he also always preached holiness And so he doesn't want him to get off into the ditch of license either. And so guard the sound words that you are to be holy.
37:53
Retain, guard. Now there's a big bracket right there. I'll put the big bracket up because this is a personal letter. And so he said now, retain and guard. He's gonna say three more imperatives.
38:05
But this little part in the middle is a very personal example of people that Timothy knew, and knew well, probably served alongside them. Paul says to him, You are aware, Timothy, of a fact that all of those who are in Asia turned away from me. The ones that we had, and I think he may be hyperbolically speaking, like not every single person in Asia had turned against him. But he's saying all of them, maybe all of them who had been right there in Rome with him. It's hard to just keep saying the same thing, right?
38:36
And so people are constantly trying to add to or take away from the gospel. They're constantly trying to add either legalistic stuff or go beyond the liberty in Christ and outright license and sin. What Paul says to Timothy is, you're aware of the fact that all of those who are in Asia now, they turned away from me and among those are Phygellus and Homogenes. Now Phygellus and Homogenes, you might think, who are they? Hermogenes actually means one who is born of Mercury.
39:05
So he had a Gentile background, probably a Greek background, looking to his childhood. He probably was raised on a pantheon of gods, Hermes, Mercury being the one that he was named after. Phygelus, I don't have a whole lot on him, but I will say this, you see a whole lot more kids born named Timothy nowadays than you do Phygelus, right? So These two guys had turned against him although they had worked with him in the past. Does that make sense?
39:36
These are folks who Paul believed to be with them and on their side and he says, they turned against me. Now, that's a hard thing about ministry is that from time to time, there are some separations that happen. Paul saying, retain the sound words. Don't trust in the people necessarily but we trust in the gospel. Keep it with the gospel.
39:58
Now, he goes on to say, the Lord grant mercy. He's been saying grace, grace, grace in different places but he says, mercy right here. Mercy is not getting something bad that you do deserve. So, what Paul is praying for for Onesiphorus, the Lord grant mercy to the whole household of Onesiphorus. So, at some point in the past, Onesiphorus had done something which Paul thought was deserving of punishment but what he was praying for in the present at that time he wrote this letter, lord, grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus.
40:32
For he often refreshed me and he was not ashamed of my chains. He came to visit me in prison. In fact, he says in the next verse, but when he was in Rome, Onesipras, when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched me out. He looked for me and he found me and he refreshed me and he was thankful because even if they'd work together and things were great and then Onesipras had kind of been led astray and did something against him. He had turned the corner again and to come back to Paul.
40:58
It's a very personal thing. On a Cyprus, he says, the Lord grant to him to find mercy. So, we know that when you pray, first John one nine, right? When you pray, if you're confessing your sins, God is faithful and just to be forgiving your sins. He'll cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
41:16
This is a mechanism we have to go to God and say, God, forgive me and know that he does. He says that he will. He's God. He can be trusted and so when you pray, he can he will cleanse you. He says that he will.
41:28
It's interesting that he said he was praying for mercy and then he said, may the Lord grant to Onesiphorus to find the mercy from God. How many of you have ever prayed for forgiveness but you still dwell on it, you still dwell on it, and you still sit there and you feel like, oh, how could I've ever done that? I'm so ashamed and you've got an enemy, the accuser that's constantly reminding you of the things where you've fallen short. What Paul is praying for is that Onesiphorus would not think back and go, oh, what a terrible, terrible person, terrible Christian I am. I can't believe I did so and so.
42:00
He's praying that he would find the mercy of God. That he would internalize the fact that he has been fully forgiven. His sins been thrown as far as east is from the west and remembered no more. In the lake of forgetfulness, the sea of forgetfulness, remembered no more. May the Lord grant to Necipros to find mercy from the Lord on that day and then Paul says something interesting because he's speaking directly to Timothy and Timothy knew what he's talking about.
42:26
We don't And you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus. Now you can read that glass half empty or glass half full. It could be good or bad. It doesn't it doesn't give any clue whatsoever. It's completely neutral in the Greek.
42:40
You know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus. It could have been that he served to tear things down and make life harder for both Paul and Timothy. Maybe easier for Phygelic and Hermogenes for all we know. But it also could have been that he was a steadfast servant, soldier of the cross, and did what he should have done. We don't know.
43:01
Not for us to know. That's why I put the brackets around it. It's a personal note to Timothy but I want you to know that it is grounded in truth. It's grounded in time and place. All of the imperatives I think are something that we can dwell on, think about, and pray that God will allow us the strength to live in, retain it, guard it, and then we go outside of that bracket back into from these imperatives to the next one.
43:28
Is you therefore, Timothy, my son, true son in the faith, the one I love, the guy who's coming up up under me, I'm older than you and I'm about to go. Quite honestly, I feel like death is cloaks. He says that a couple of times. He says, bring me my coat. I'm getting cold.
43:46
He's patching up relationships. Mark would be really valuable to me. He says that towards the end of this letter. You therefore, my son, you, Timothy, be strong. Be strong in what?
43:56
In the grace that is in Christ Jesus. So, Paul's gospel was Jesus's gospel that it was God's grace available through Christ. The grace, the name, my grandmother's name like I said. It's also a good acrostic. God's riches at Christ expense.
44:15
God's riches at Christ expense. You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace. Be ready. You've received it and you should be willing to share it. That is in Christ Jesus.
44:26
So, that's the third of the imperatives. Retain the fact that it is by the grace of God that you can be saved. Guard that. Don't let legalism or license crowd it out and be strong in it. Be willing to stand on the good old gospel way and defend the grace of God.
44:48
The things that you heard from me in the presence of many witnesses. Now, Timothy would have been with him for many years and traveling about in many circumstances getting to a new town starting in the synagogue. Timothy would have heard him present to a lot of Old Testament scholars. He would have heard him presenting to the folks like at Mars Hill where they're philosophers, Greeks. He would have heard lots of different witnesses and what Paul had to say to all of them.
45:18
The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses. Not just his ordination speech, okay? It's not just that. He says, entrust these things that you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses. Entrust these things to faithful men.
45:37
That's more than one. So, it could be two but there's not a specific thing. I've heard lots of different theories of church multiplication and some of them say, Jesus had 11 faithful guys and he had three interior guys, Jesus had Peter, James, and John. Paul doesn't specify how many. He just says that whatever it is that you know, the salvation that you have, the grace that you understand.
46:05
Be ready to share that with faithful men. More than one, it grows if you just have two, it would grow. Entrusted the faithful man and faithful men who would be able to teach others also. As he approaches the end of his life, he does not want for all of his work to have been in vain. He wants for it to keep on growing.
46:25
Trust in Christ, trust in the spirit within. This is our fourth imperative. Retain the sound words. Guard them. That which has been entrusted to you.
46:35
Be strong in the grace from Christ Jesus and entrust what you know from me and entrust it to other faithful men so that we may see this thing spread in advance. And then the last line today and the last imperative of the passage is this, suffer suffer hardship with me. Anything that is worth doing as far as Paul was concerned was worth putting up with something. Jesus said that in this world, you will have troubles. You will have trials, you'll have tribulations, but take heart because I've overcome the world.
47:11
You're going to run into opposition. In the first service, I I was thinking through, you in your normal work a day life are going to run into opposition if you seek to live your life for Christ. Suffer hardship with me. Now, this is from second Corinthians 11. It's part of a list.
47:35
It's part of a list. Paul is making a a rhetorical argument because the people seem to be looking for something clever and new. And they seem to be it's like, well, Corinthians was pretty hard group of people, quite honestly. And so they seem to be walking away from the grace of God and wanting to either be by works or something new and mystical, where they're speaking in tongues, all that sort of stuff. They're trying to add to or take away, and Paul says, you're so easily influenced by these people that come in from the outside.
48:06
He said, when I was there, you know, these folks that are trying to influence you and drag you back into legalism are the folks that are trying to influence you and say, doesn't matter what you do, how you do it. He said, are they Hebrews? Well, am too. And he says, are they are they dedicated? I am too.
48:24
And then he gets to this part. He he does mention that he usually does not boast, but he says, I'm gonna speak like a madman here. I'm just gonna give you the list, what I've been through. In far more labors, I have been at this work for a long time, in far more labors, in far more imprisonments. He has been imprisoned multiple times.
48:45
He has been beaten times without number, he says, where he was just taken and beaten, often in danger of death, threatened for sure. Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes because it was illegal to do 40. Okay? So five different times they gave him 39 lashes. It is comical.
49:06
I agree. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Wow, Paul.
49:15
Don't you know when to stop? He's saying, I'm not going to stop. It's worth it. The grace of God is available. It's available in one way, in one place and that's at the cross of Christ and I'm going to keep on preaching this.
49:26
Three times, I was beaten with rods once I was stoned. Three times, I was ship wrecked. Night in a day, I've spent in the deep just treading water. I have been on frequent journeys. Amen.
49:38
Read Acts. I've been in danger from rivers. We don't even have that one listed in the New Testament. I've been in danger from robbers. We don't have that one listed.
49:47
There's a lot more that wasn't written, right? I've been in dangers from my countrymen. That's the Jewish people. I've been in danger from the Gentiles. That's everybody else.
49:57
I've been in dangers in the city and we saw him at one point had to be lowered over a wall to get away. We saw another time where he threw out a theological argument, start a riot so he wouldn't be killed. Dangers from my countrymen, danger from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness. He was snake bit, literally snake bitten. And then worshiped right after that, which he tore his clothes, not about the snake bite but about the worship.
50:29
Dangers on the sea. Dangers among false brethren. That was happening even at this time. By by jealous and Hermogenes. Alexander, Hymenaeus.
50:42
I have been in labor and I have been same word, hardship. I've been in labor and hardship. I've been through many sleepless night. I've been in hunger and in thirst. I've been often without food and cold and exposure and apart from such external things.
50:57
This one also to me is comical as a pastor. There's the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. He's still concerned about all the churches that he's been along and he's planted and there are things that have been started in these people's lives and been turned onto it. And he knows that it's not easy. And he knows that that nascent faith needs to continue to grow.
51:18
And he wants to do everything he can for that happen. Apart from such external things, there's a daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Now, what he just say to Timothy said, be strong. Be strong.
51:31
Be strong in the grace of Christ Jesus. Be strong. If you wake up with breath in your lungs, praise God. Be strong. Who is weak without my being weak?
51:40
I've been weak but I trust in God who keeps me going. Who is led into sin without my intense concern? So, the reason that would the the listing of Phygelic and Hermogenes such a personal note. It wasn't that he didn't like those guys. It's that he loved them and they had been led astray.
52:00
He's brokenhearted over. Who is led in the sin with my out my intent concern? That's second Corinthians eleven twenty three to 29. Kinda puts the lot this command to suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Now, next week, it'll be as a good soldier of Christ Jesus and then he gives a military analogy about how soldiers prepare and how soldiers are unconcerned with some things that they're more concerned with others But I'm gonna stop right here.
52:30
Suffer this hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. So these are the five imperatives for today. I don't have an invitation. I went to Georgia and we always have a Southern Baptist invitation at the end of it. I thought that the pastor was gonna do it at my grandmother's funeral.
52:44
He led right up to it and didn't do the actual invitation. The casket I think was in the way but they did. They he did preach an invitation message. I'm inviting all of you today to think about these five things. Retain it.
52:58
Retain the actual gospel. Guard it. Doggedly. Don't fall off on either side. Be strong in the grace that is from Christ Jesus right here in the center of the gospel, right at Calvary, right there and then trust it.
53:15
Everyone of our programs here is designed so that we would like Awana. You pour scripture into their heart, into their minds to get to their hearts and the idea is a workman that need not be ashamed. That's what Awana stands for. A workman. Somebody that is willing to study, to show themselves approved, and to be ready to give a defense.
53:36
Every one of our ministries, whether it's men's fraternity or precept, is designed so that we can reach people to reach people. So that Christ's church will continue to grow. In Jesus name, lord, would you bless us, lord, with the ability to retain. Would you bless us with the strength to be able to guard the words, lord, to be able to defend. I pray that you'd give us strength because we understand weakness and human frailty.
54:08
Lord, I pray that we would continually be entrusting you and entrusting our souls to you but entrusting your word to others. As I prayed earlier, lord, that you'd be preparing hearts for a multiplication ministry in Kenya, in Africa, and then the group that's going to Israel up in the March. Lord, I'm thinking in advance of those and I just pray that you'd give us the words and the time to be able to converse with people and promote you, glorify you, lift you up. And and amongst those people that don't know you or have outright rejected. Would you give us all of the strength that we need lord to be able to suffer hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
54:57
In Jesus name, we pray you're blessed. Amen. Now, would you stand with me and we'll close with I surrender all. Have been a good one all
55:13
to Jesus I surrender all to him I freely give I will and trust him in his presence daily to thee my blessed savior I surrender all to Jesus I surrender take me Jesus take me now surrender
56:42
Amen. I've got a benediction for you today from Colossians and I pray that this would be the case that God would fulfill this, that he would work this out in our lives this week. Now, let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom and teaching and admonishing one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or indeed, would you do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks through him to God the father. God, would you work your will in our lives that it would be worked out in a way that people around us would understand and see our father in heaven.
57:24
Jesus name, amen.
