Responding to a World in Chaos - 8:30am || 2 Timothy 1:12 || Pastor Ryan Nichols || 2/27/22

okay come on now kane good morning would you all stand with with us this morning as we go to the lord in prayer would you bow your heads and join me as we pray and i want to welcome all of you here this morning and those online father we just ask that you would bless our time together that you'd be glorified lord in this service would you by your holy spirit fill us afresh this morning we come just as we are with all this going on in the world and in each of our lives lord we thank you that you're sovereign what you rule is always right we thank you for your love your grace your mercy lord too your loving kindness that is always in your mercies that are new every morning lord and father so as we start this service may we just sing as unto you

play your instruments as unto you and by faith we come to you this morning we give you praise in jesus name amen bless the lord oh my soul my soul worship his holy name worship your whole it's a time to sing your song eyes before my soul worship his whole your slow your heart

thousand reasons for my heart bless the lord oh my soul oh worship his holy name my strict us here

lord i worship you so when we come to do this z� spider compiled something that's right now you got a complete vision of that new snacks. that's what we come to do this we come to do this one person, a списued mixture, mx'ek is a tree. morning lord just as we are we're coming to worship you and praise you may be seated we thank you for your it's easy to get on e it's easy to get uneasy lord in all that's going on and so strengthen us we thank you that you're in control you were you you are god you always have been you always will be god what a beautiful nothing compares to this what a beautiful name of g of g what a wonderful name as to this what a wonderful name the name of g nothing can stand again you were the word

at the beginning amen we praise you lord we thank you oh lord thank you jesus jesus lord that you have given the promise i stand in wonder at the sacrifice you may mercy be on measure than the stars in the sky this lord of heaven is her have given i stand in wonder

you may see beyond measure stars in the sky your love has your love has no we thank you lord grace that you've given us lord and your word yes lord beam it from the heart yes lord that's what we do this morning sing it out to you the author and the finisher of our faith who loves us who gave his life lord jesus you gave your life on the cross and you rose from the dead you ascended on high and you're at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us. We thank you for that. In Jesus' name.

Three in one, the Spirit's Son, Zion and the Lord, is our God, see how, see how great, your voices, yes, is our God, sing with, is our God, all will see how, is our God. Amen. Praise the Lord. Father, just continue to bless our service now as we... You hear your word taught, anoint Ryan by the power of your Holy Spirit to bring forth your word. Lord, strengthen us and encourage us in these times in which we're living. In Jesus' name, amen.

Good morning. If you would begin locating your seat, find your bulletin, we'll go over some announcements.

First of all, on the left-hand side of your bulletin, everything's happening this week, including the fact that marriage and family study is tonight. So take note of that. Also here in the middle section, just to remind you, a couple more weeks left of taking pictures for the church directory, so please get signed up for that if you haven't already. And looking forward to seeing all of your beautiful faces in a beautifully produced publication coming soon.

The new women's Bible study begins March the 3rd, because even though it tried to snow, God was like, not as much this time. I'm going to let you off with only about a half an inch this time. So they were able to have it, so they should start. On the 3rd. And then one more thing. So I'm pretty sure that the polar vortex, or whatever we had last week, is done now, and it's supposed to be 78 degrees this week.

You know what that means? It means it's almost my favorite time of the year. Mowing season. So Kurt, if you'd come up real quick. Just want to introduce everybody, if you don't know him, this is Kurt Solomon. Kurt is going to be taking over the making of the schedule for the mowing ministry this year. He has a real heart for doing that ministry. And so, if you are interested in getting involved in the mowing ministry, you can come see him after the service, next couple of weeks probably.

Yup. Yup. The next couple of weeks for sure. Perfect. And he'll have a sign-up sheet, and then you said you are going to bring a trailer this week. Yup. Perfect. Yup. Alright, so he's going to get you signed up for helping out with the mowing ministry? There's a sign-up. Perfect. And usually. Okay. Hopefully. There you go. That's it. Awesome. That's it. Very good.

Thank you, Kurt. Awesome. So, see him afterwards. Okay. Those are the things. Okay. Those are the things that are happening. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. For our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 57. Psalm 57, looking at the New American Standard, so we all say the same thing. If you need one, there should be one in your row.

And as you're turning to Psalm 57, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word. I will read the odd verses, if you will follow along with Pastor Allen, and the even verses. Psalm 57, for the choir director. Please stand. And the one thing that I have to teach you is that you have to read through the New American Standard, that it's in the New American Standard Version.

So, it says Psalm 57, where it says, ...Therefore I would like to ask you to read me a text of the commandments of the Lord, but then I would like you to read from Psalm 57 and then I would like you to read from the Old American Standard, because I want you to know that there's a lot of different things that can be read, and I want you to understand how we need these. But I want you to understand the prior verses. I want you to understand this past and present verses, and I want you to understand why this is important and why you can read these. Not only do we have the Old American Standard, but the Old American Standard, you have to read it to get the Holy Book.

I will cry to God most high. For his loving kindness and his truth. Our spears and arrows and their tongue, a sharp sword. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They dug a pit before me. They themselves have fallen into the midst of it. Selah. My heart is steadfast, O God.

My heart is steadfast. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises. Awake, my glory. Awake, harp and lyre. I will awaken the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your loving kindness is great to the heavens and your truth to the clouds. And read verse 11 with me. Be exalted above the heavens, O God.

Let your glory be above all the earth. And Lord, I do thank you that we can take our refuge in you. In a time when it feels like the world is very chaotic. Lord, we know that you are always steady and unchanging. And so, Lord, as we spend time in your word this morning, I just ask for that presence of your Holy Spirit to be here. Lord, that you would overflow this place and draw us near to you.

In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Timothy. I called a little bit of an audible this morning. I opted for a little bit of a different. Section with the things going on in the world. I felt like it was probably a good idea to kind of just have a little bit of a steadying word from the word that I feel like kind of fits the things that are going on right now.

And so I've entitled the message responding to a world in chaos. Because if I'm being honest over this last few days, if I could have described it in any one word, it would be the word chaos. But here's the interesting thing. The more I thought about it ever since Wednesday night. What? When all this business began to take place. I thought, you know, it hasn't just been in the last three days that the world's been in chaos.

It really has been in quite a bit of chaos really for the past two or three 510 25 years, right? I mean, we've been watching this chaos build. Have we not? We've seen what's taken place with with the trucking industry and and however you feel about that. It's neither here nor there but it's caused a certain amount of chaos within the world because we can't get things like we used to as we.

Look at the protesting over racial issues. We've seen a great deal of chaos take place as we look at the fact that inflation is at a 40 year high and we see the chaos taking place in our economy. And then when you look at what takes place, not only within our nation, but everywhere in the world, chaos just seems to ensue. Russia is attacking Ukraine. China has now begin begun to approach Taiwan and an even more aggressive sort of way.

They've come within. I believe. I read last night. Six nautical miles of of Taiwan, a US warship last night went through some sort of a straight near Taiwan that China called provocative that they that they sail the ship through that area. When we see all of these things. Oh, and by the way, Kim Jong-un in North Korea was like, hey, seems like a good time to run a military test.

This was all just yesterday, right? And so when we look at this world in chaos, we kind of go. Oh my goodness. This is kind of crazy. And so. There's usually about three ways. We can choose to respond to chaos. One way that we can respond to chaos is we can kind of bury our head in the sand. As a matter of fact, I bet, you know, somebody who has been burying their head in the sand for a very long time.

And when you talk to them about the things going on in the world, they're like, what? There's all kinds of chaos happening in the world right now because they have no idea. Maybe you're one of those people here this morning. We can choose to bury our head in the sand and pretend nothing's going on. Life is just normal, even though we all know it's not. We can also choose to.

Hide out and just wait for the rapture, right? I absolutely believe that Jesus is coming back for the church, but there are some who I know are probably right now. Stalking their bunkers. You are. You're prepping all of your ammunition. You're prepping all of your all of your food. Now, listen, there's nothing wrong with being prepared, but I don't think that God wants us to hide out and just wait for the rapture and go.

I'm just going to wait right here where it's really safe until Jesus takes me home. And then there's a third way, which I think is the biblical response that we're to have. We are to be busy about the work of the kingdom. We need to get busy doing the work of the kingdom that God has given for us to do. I was so inspired yesterday morning when I read an article.

I got up and as I've been doing, I checked the news to make sure we were still here. And wouldn't it be a bummer if I woke up and I was like, hey, we're not here. You know what they say? We're all here because we're not all there. So, so anyway, I checked the news and I read this article and I love that. The headline of this article, and it's a, it's a quote that I had her put up on there.

The, the president of Ukraine was offered a ride out our government, which I'm not saying they were wrong to offer him that they were wanting to protect a sovereign government and a sovereign president. But, but they asked him, do you want to ride out? And this was his response. He said, the fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride. And listen, by the way, you can get t-shirts that say that right now.

I looked him up this morning. I, I typed. This quote in to make sure that I had everything accurate. And, and I noticed that one of the suggested was t-shirts and I was like, so I looked at it's got president Zelensky's face. And then this quote in the bottom, I'm probably going to buy one today. I just want you to know that. So if I wear that next week, you're going to know what's going on.

Uh, that was such an inspiring quote because I thought, you know what, that should not only be the battle cry for the people of Ukraine. It should be the battle cry for the church because the church really needs to take a little bit of a lesson while I absolutely. Believe that Jesus is going to take us home until he does. We need to understand something. The fight is here and we need ammunition, not a ride because it's time for the church to get busy doing the work of the church.

Well, there was another guy in the new Testament who felt the exact same way. And his name was Paul. Paul, the apostle felt the exact same way about the way he approached ministry in life. And so there's a verse that's given to us here about the great confidence. That Paul had here in the book of second Timothy. But before I give you that, let me give you just a touch of background about the book of second Timothy.

Second Timothy is the very last book that Paul ever wrote. You see, if you go through the book of acts, you know that the book of acts ends with Paul being in prison. That's his first imprisonment. It was a somewhat for lack of better terms. If there was such a thing in the age of Rome, it was a cushy imprisonment. He lived in his own rented quarters, chained to two Roman soldiers every day.

But. Still, he was not in some kind of a dungeon. It was about as good as it gets for a prisoner at that point in time. Well, he survives that first imprisonment and he's released from that first imprisonment. When he's released from that first imprisonment, he continues doing ministry and makes it as far as Spain. But after he returned from Spain, there was a particular Caesar that had come to power.

His name was Nero. And during the time of Nero, we know that Christians began to be persecuted to a level that had not been seen yet. During that time. During that time of Nero, before the persecution really got bad, Paul was imprisoned underneath under his watch. And when he was imprisoned, he was no longer in his own rented quarters. He was stuck in a dungeon below the palace.

He was stuck in what we would all think of as a very bad situation for someone to be to be stuck in as far as a prisoner in Rome. And he knew that one thing and one thing alone awaited him. And the one thing that awaited him was death. Death in probably a pretty horrific sort of way. But he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that that was what awaited him. And so as he writes this letter to Timothy, he writes it from a jail cell where he knows that death awaits him and he knows that he needs to get a message to a young man named Timothy.

Now, Timothy was a young man that had joined him on missionary journeys in the past. Timothy was a young man whom Paul had discipled and considered his own son in the faith. But Timothy was a lot like me. Timothy got pretty scared pretty easy. And so as Paul is writing this letter to Timothy, knowing the persecution that is coming because he can see the handwriting on the wall with this newest Caesar that had come to power, knowing what was awaiting him, he knew that he needed to write a letter to Timothy to tell him, as Paul is writing this letter, he gives us a very bold and confident statement in Second Timothy, chapter one, verse twelve.

So I want to look at Paul's confident statement, and then I want to look at five exhortations that Paul gives Timothy that I think we should take note of when it comes to Timothy. When it comes to standing in this world of chaos that we're living in. So let's look at Second Timothy, chapter one, verse twelve. It says this. For this reason, I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

Right? We should make a t-shirt out of that, too. That's such a bold, confident statement that Paul makes there. So I want to break this statement down and talk about exactly what he's speaking of here, and then we'll get to those exhortations. Paul says, for this reason, I also suffer these things. And so anytime we read something like, for this reason, we should ask ourselves, so what's the reason that he's talking about?

Well, the reason that he's talking about is given to us in the previous verses. Notice what it says in verse six. For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on. For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on. But now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. What did he just say there? For this reason. For what reason? For the hope of the gospel. Why is Paul suffering all of the things that he's suffering? Why has he been through all of the things that he's been through up to this point in time in his life? And why is he going through what he's going through?

Right now, because of the message of the hope of the gospel, because Jesus Christ came to save sinners of whom he was the chief. And he said, because of this message, because of the hope that I have in Jesus Christ, because he came and he died and now he is alive and because he has abolished death and because he has abolished sin and because of this work of the gospel of whom he has made me a servant, of whom he has made me a preacher. For this reason, I'm suffering all. Of these things.

You know what we don't always hear about of what's going on in Ukraine right now. I listened to an interesting video by Amir Serfati the other day and he pointed out three reasons why why Putin does not like the people of Ukraine. Do you know one of those reasons is because of the church in Ukraine, because they have broken away from the Russian Orthodox Church. Therefore, this is not just a physical battle that's being fought.

This is a very. spiritual battle that's being fought. By the way, I forgot to mention this during the announcements, but those of you that have been coming here for a while, you remember a singing group that we've had come called the Ineloquent, or as my daughters called them when they were little, Daniel, Georgiana, and Pablo, because they didn't like the word ineloquent. So Daniel and Georgiana live in Romania, which if you don't know very much about geography, borders Ukraine.

It's actually the one place, the one border that Putin did not attack from, and they live very close to the border. He put a post on Facebook yesterday about what they are doing to help the people of Ukraine. Essentially, our church actually helped buy them a van at one point in time to where they could tour around Ukraine, preaching the gospel through their music. He is now about to start using that van to drive to the border, pick up refugees, and bring them back to house them there.

In Romania. And he said, please pray for us as we not only have to make these dangerous trips, but as we determine where we can put these refugees up, both in houses and in Christian retreat centers, and pray that we will have the wisdom to know how to disciple them and get them food and all those kinds of things. I said, Daniel, what can we do to help, man? And he said, right now, pray. He said, I'm going to be in the process of figuring out how you can start getting

funds to us, because I asked him specifically if we could help them financially, because I would love for us to partner with you. And he said, I'm going to be in the process of figuring out how you can partner with them financially, because there's going to be a major cost involved in what they're doing. I said, what can we do? He said, I'm working on it right now. As soon as I have a way

for you to support us, then I'll let you know what that is, and we can start accepting funds at that point in time. But he said, right now, please tell your church, pray for us. Pray for us, because we are doing the work of the ministry in ways we didn't know we were ever going to have to. But you see, they're suffering. They're suffering because of these things, because of the gospel, because of the word of God. And you

know what? That battle's coming to a front door near you. And I think we need to be prepared for that. The second thing he says is, for this reason, I'm suffering these things, but I love this next statement, but I am not ashamed. Now, as I was studying this particular phrase in this verse, one of the commentators pointed something out. He said, really, if we were to translate this

literally, he would say, difficulty, so many hardships. He says, I don't regret any of it. If you were to ask me, would I do it all over again? I would tell you, yes, every day of the week, because there was no regret in anything that I've been through, or even anything that I'm suffering right now, or what I'm sure is awaiting me in the future, because I'm not ashamed of the work that I've done. Matter of

fact, I would love to keep doing it if it weren't for the fact that I'm lying here in these chains. He says, but I'm not ashamed. And then he begins to speak very boldly. And very confidently about why he's not ashamed. Why? For I know whom I have believed. He says, for I know. Now, that word know there is the word ginosko in the Greek, which means an experiential knowledge. In other words, something that you've come to know because

you've experienced it for yourself, right? Like there's the knowledge that you can gain from reading it in a book, and then there's the knowledge that you can gain from actually spending time with your own two hands doing it. That's the knowledge that he talks about here. He says, for I know. For I know. Because this knowledge that he has was not gained in one experience. It has been gained

over a lifetime of getting to know his Savior. Because who does he say he knows? He says, for I know whom I have believed. There's a lot of emphasis, I think, that's put on knowing what you believe. And I absolutely think that that's a beautiful thing. You should know what you believe. And we'll talk about diligence and study soon, because I think it's important.

You should know what you believe. Well, you're a Christian, so what do you believe? You should be able to answer that question. We're told in the book of Jude that you should be able to give a reason for the hope that you have in you. You should be able to back that up with statements of knowledge. You should know what you believe. But you see, there also comes a point in time

when it needs to go beyond knowing what we believe to the point where we know whom we believe. You see, this doesn't just speak of an experiential knowledge of what the Bible has to say. It's a point where we know who we believe. We know who we believe. You see, this doesn't just speak of an experiential knowledge of what the Bible has to say. It speaks of an experiential knowledge of who the Bible has always presented. He said, I know whom I have

believed. In other words, his knowledge of Jesus was of great depth. And I think, again, if I have a concern for the church today, if I have a concern for my own life today, it's that I would live a life where my depth of the knowledge of Jesus is nowhere near where it should be. That the depth of the knowledge of Jesus is nowhere near where it should be. That the depth of the knowledge of

the church in general has of Jesus Christ is nowhere near where it should be. Because only in knowing him do we have everything that we need for life and godliness. Only in knowing him do we understand why we're doing these things. Only through knowing him do we have any kind of purpose. I'm reminded of God in the Old Testament speaking to the nation of Israel. And when God brought the

nation of Israel out of Egypt, you know what he said? I brought you out of Egypt unto myself. When he was giving all of those commands in the book of Leviticus and telling them to be holy, why were they to be holy? Because they were to be holy unto him. You see, the point was never that we would be perfect people. The point was never that we would be able to know all of the

things about Greek and Hebrew and all those kinds of things. The point was never any of that. The point was always to know him because that's what we were created for. And that's the thing that the enemy would love to keep us from. As a matter of fact, he'll even use things like this as a distraction from us knowing Jesus. How many of you have been a little bit more focused on the news lately than you have been in your Bibles? I know I have. I know

I've been finding those moments. The enemy loves to use times like this to distract us from our knowledge of him. But you see, Paul can in a very settled way say, even though I've suffered all of these things, I'm not ashamed because I know whom I have believed. And no one's ever going to change his mind. And then he goes on from there to give, this next statement, he says,

And I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. I am convinced the word convinced means positively persuaded. Matter of fact, some of your translations may say persuaded that he is able to keep what I've committed to him until that day. What has caused Paul to be convinced of these things? It's been a lifetime of watching God provide for him

over and over and over. and over again. Now, in that process, that didn't mean Paul didn't go through hard things. I think that's an important thing for us to pay attention to because if you look at Paul's life, you see that part of him becoming convinced that he was essentially invincible until God was done with him was the fact that he had endured all of the suffering that he had endured. He had endured

days that you and I would probably break down, and he endured beatings and whippings and persecutions and rejection on top of the pressure that he had of knowing that he was responsible for so many churches. He endured all of those things, but do you know what he saw in the midst of all of those things? He saw the faithfulness of God in every single little way. It kind of goes back to what we talked about last week when Jesus said, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. All of the heavy burdens

that he carried with his sin, he took it away from him. He took it away from him. He took it away from him, and he was finally able to take to Jesus. He experienced rest for his soul. That happened on that road to Damascus when he laid all of those sins on Jesus. He experienced rest continually over and over again. While the pressures I'm dealing with are too much for me, they're not too much

for him, and I can trust. I am persuaded that as I have partnered with Jesus, he has never once let me down. He has always proven himself to be faithful. He's never once allowed me to suffer beyond anything that he wouldn't also give me the strength to bear. He says, I am convinced. And what's he convinced of? He says, I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to

him until that day. Some of your translations may say that he will keep what I have entrusted to him until that day. The idea is kept under safeguard. So here's the question. What has Paul entrusted to him? Now, if you read commentaries, you'll find that even in things like this, there's debates, right? So let me tell you the two thoughts of what people have when it says what Paul has entrusted to

him. Some say, oh, well, what Paul's talking about there is his life. He has entrusted his soul to Jesus, and God will guard it until that day. And then on the other side, you've got some that are saying, no, no, contextually speaking, what he's talking about is his ministry, that he has entrusted his ministry to Jesus, and he will give everything he's got until that day.

And trust that God will do what he's supposed to with his ministry until that day. And you know how I kind of feel about these things. If you can make that strong of a case for both of them, gosh darn, he may be talking about both of them there, right? So let's look at both of those. Paul says, I know in whom I have believed, sorry, I saw this memorized in King James, and am persuaded

that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day. What have I committed to him? My life. You know what that means? My life is as secure as it could possibly be in the hands of God until the day he chooses to call me home, either through death or through the rapture. My life is secure as it will ever be. I could be in the most dangerous situation on the face of the earth,

and yet my life is as secure as it could possibly be because Jesus is keeping it. Here's what we know about Paul. What did Paul know he was facing? Certain death. And you know what? He was still okay with that because he knew that even in death, God was still keeping his soul because he knew that who he really was was going to go home to be with his Savior. Because remember what he said? For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain.

Matter of fact, old King James, I'm in a straight betwixt the two. Will I stay with you or will I go home? Well, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Nevertheless, I'll be surrendered to his will. But not only is his life completely surrendered to Jesus, and he says, nothing's going to happen to me apart from the will of God until the day that he takes me home

to be with him. The same is true of his ministry, that his ministry was secure in the hands of God, and he would continue to do what God called him to do until God said, it's time for you to come home, and now your days on this earth are finished. Therefore, your ministry is finished as well, and I will continue using the words that come out of your mouth in the way that my Holy Spirit sees fit the rest of your life. I'm going to be with you. I'm going to be with you. I'm going to be with you.

I'm going to be with you. I'm going to be with you. I'm going to be with you. I'm going to be with you. You see, the point is this. We can trust God with who we are and everything that he's given us until the day that he calls us home. The day that he calls us home, it's the day that we graduate and the day that we say, it's all his now anyway. And as we live in this world of chaos,

we have to come to a place of resting in the fact that we can know this Savior, and we can rest everything in him. Now, as Paul makes this very bold statement of faith, he makes this statement because he knows what Timothy is going to face, because he knows that while his time on earth is wrapping up, Timothy's is just ramping up, and it's time for him to stand in and fight. And he knows the potential that Timothy has to be fearful. He knows the potential he's going to have to not want to make those bold steps of faith, especially considering the persecution that Paul feels like he can see the handwriting on the wall is coming. And you know what? I think that it's

absolutely true of us as well, because I really feel like what I'm starting to see with the handwriting on the wall is it's not going to get any easier for us as the church. Somebody said last night, they said, can you give us a really uplifting message tomorrow? Listen, I'll do the best I can. But I'm also a realist, and I know the reality of what we're about to face. I know the

reality of what's happening in our world right now into a doorfront near you. So how do we respond? Well, let's look at what he has to say. Throughout 2 Timothy, he's going to give what I call five exhortations to Timothy, and I think that they're five exhortations for us. The first comes in 2 Timothy 2, verse 1, probably on the same page that you're on right now. He says, you therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is

in Christ Jesus. So the first exhortation he gives is to be strong. Now, I read you an amazing quote that probably caused the soul to go, right? Like the man side of me was ready to pick up an AK-47 at that point in time. When I read that quote, I'm like, let's do this thing, right? But that's not what Paul is talking about here when he says to be strong. You see, we normally think of it as

physical strength, but that's not the type of strength that Paul's talking about here. No, the type of strength that Paul's talking about here is an inward strength. As a matter of fact, you could literally translate this, be clothed with an inward strength. You see, the inward strength is what allows us to stand up, to have the outward strength. It's inward strength of

heart. It's inward strength of soul that causes us to be able to stand up and be who God has called for us to be. Because right now, the pressures will continue to get worse. Inflation will continue to get worse. Persecution will continue to get worse. And as it does, as we continue to face these things, we must realize that we are not to be cowards right now, but we are to be strong.

Not necessarily strong in what the world says is strong, but strong in our resolve and in our belief. Clothed with an inward strength that shows itself with an outward peace. Well, I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of strength in me. Because quite frankly, sometimes I get scared. And so when Paul is writing this to Timothy, somebody who he's already told God's not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love

and a sound mind, as he writes to him to be strong, he also tells him how to be strong. Did you notice what it said? You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace of God. That is in Christ Jesus. You know what that means? That means that the strength that I need doesn't come from me. Where does it come from? It is a free gift from God. The strength that I have

in the grace of Christ Jesus means two things. It first of all means that I am strong in the salvation grace that the Lord gives me. I think one of the greatest things we can do right now is to really understand that you belong to Jesus. And if today you don't belong to Jesus, if you've never come to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then today better be the day. Because literally, I

cannot guarantee you tomorrow. We need to understand that. I think that a lot of people in Ukraine just began to understand that. And so we must be strong in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. But if you are here this morning and you know Jesus is your Lord and Savior, it's time to strengthen your faith. And that grace. And remind yourself today, no matter what happens, I am born again. And nobody

can change that. I may face battles. I may have failures. I may face fears. I may not always be who God calls me to be. But beyond a shadow of a doubt, I am born again. And nothing can change that. But not only do we need to really stand strong and allow the grace of Jesus Christ for salvation to clothe us, but the grace of Jesus Christ for salvation to clothe us.

We talked about this last week, didn't we? This idea of sanctification. The word sanctify means to set apart. But we also know, practically speaking, what it means is being conformed to the image of God. That for me to live in the way that Christ wants me to live, for me to be who God wants for me to be, will require a strength of resolve inside of me that I don't have. For me to

continue to be the witness that God wants for me requires a strength of resolve that I don't have, but it is something that God provides. That that strength, that grace for sanctification is what he provides for me. How do I access that? All I do is ask. Lord, I need your grace today to be who you've called for me to be. Father, overflow me with that grace to be who you want for me to be. And since we know that grace is

a free gift of God, God's not sitting there going, it's my grace, and I haven't decided to give it to you yet. No, God's like, take it all. I want to give you all of it. Just go and ask. Brothers and sisters, we need to be strong. Number two, it's given to us in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 15. Be diligent. Notice what it says. Be diligent to present yourselves approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,

accurately handling the word of truth. Oh, now's where it gets serious. Okay, the first one's be strong. Now, be strong means we're resting in the grace that God has. We are being strengthened by his grace. It's what he does in our lives. But now there's a part of us that has responsibility, right? Because the responsibility that we have because of this grace given to us

is that we are diligent. You see, grace produces works. That's what it does in our life. Grace produces in us, like fruit, those works of God. And those works that he wants to produce in us are diligence. The word diligence is a word that we use when we're in a situation where we're in a situation where we have to bend every self-manifestation, all of those things, and get

right into the fruit of the fruit. I mean, being diligent here literally means to exert oneself or to bend every effort. The idea is working very hard. You go, Ryan, you said it's grace, I don't have to do any work. You're right. You don't have to do anything to be accepted by God. And when you put in that diligence, God is the one who does all of the work to produce the fruit. But he still

wants you to be diligent. He still wants us to exert ourselves in the faith. As a matter of fact, is so wonderful, it should exhaust you by the time you're done. Because that's who we're to be as believers in Jesus Christ. We are to give 100% of ourselves to everything, everything that has to do with the faith. And so what do we need to be diligent about? What should we be exerting

ourselves or bending ourselves in every effort towards? Well, I think there's two things. Contextually, we'll get to the second one here in just a minute. But the first thing I think is prayer. I think we as human beings, as Christians in the 21st century, lack the diligence of prayer. And may I say, as I'm telling you this, I'm mainly talking to myself. Because sometimes

it is so easy to lack that diligence and prayer, that exerting of oneself in prayer. You say, Ryan, prayer should be easy. Really? Have you looked at that prayer of Jesus there in the Garden of Gethsemane? Do you remember what he was doing? He was praying so intensely that what began to happen? Great drops of blood began to come from him. Now, what we understand from a physiological standpoint is that means that the intensity and the pressure was so great

that it was bursting capillaries in his forehead and it was actually producing drops of blood because he was so intense in the way that he was praying. Now listen, I'm not saying you've got to go out there and constipate yourselves trying to pray because you're praying so hard, right? That's not what I'm saying. That you try to produce great drops of blood, that would be ridiculous.

But what I am saying is there should be a diligence in the way that we are seeking the Lord in prayer. Perhaps you're like me and sometimes you're good at saying, I'll pray about that and you throw up what I call an arrow prayer. Like just a quick one up into the air. And obviously God answers all kinds of prayers. But have you ever wondered if God doesn't want us to get down on our hands and knees

and just really start pouring out our hearts to him? That perhaps... That perhaps our prayer time doesn't really begin until we've actually gotten through all of the distractions. And the only way that we can do that is through a great deal of diligence.

He says be diligent, first of all in the area of prayer, but second of all, contextually speaking, in the area of our study of the word of God. He says be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. If you're reading the New King James or the Old King James, the word diligent there is actually study. Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth or accurately handling the word of truth.

Brothers and sisters, we need to be in the word of God on our own. Now, for some of us, that means we need to start with like an Our Daily Bread, which by the way, the new ones are out there because Tuesday's March, which is dumb because it's... How can it be March already? But maybe you need to start with an Our Daily Bread where you're reading a little snippet of scripture every day, but I think for most of us, especially attending Calvary Chapel of Arc City, we're well beyond that, and it's time that you start actually digging into the word.

Paul in the book of... Well, the writer of the book of Hebrews got really, really intense when he said, by now, many of you should be eating meat, but you're still drinking milk. You still need milk, and I'm concerned that in so many churches today, Christians have been saved for a very long time, and they've been listening to sermonettes for a very long time, but the problem is they've never started eating meat, and we're like spiritual infants in grown-up bodies. Meanwhile, God's saying, you can't do the work of men if you don't start eating like a man.

You can't do the work of a mature adult if you don't start eating like a mature adult. You can't have the kind of resolve that that president had if we don't start growing up as Christians and really digging into the word of God to find out what it has to say, that there's more than just Psalm 23 and John 3.16. Wonderful. Places to start. Wonderful things to dig into,

but it's time to start making this a part of who I am because it reveals to me who Jesus is, and if I ever want to be like Paul and say, for I know whom I have believed, then I need to get to know who and whom I believe. He says, be diligent in the way that you study God's word. So, he first of all says to be strong. Second of all, he says, be diligent. The third one comes in chapter three, verse one.

But realize this, in the last days, difficult times will come. And so, we must realize difficult times are coming. I always appreciate when something bad is about to happen, someone tells me, hey, this is what is coming, and you need to be prepared for it. For instance, when you go to the dentist, I go to the dentist, and I'm always having to have my head drilled on because I like to drink pop, and I like to eat candy, and I don't like to floss, okay?

It's just who I am. Deal with it. And so, I go, and I end up having to have my head drilled on forever, and they're like, oh, hey, look, we're gonna put a crown on you. Well, I love my dentist, partly because I went to high school with him, and he was my warm-up partner all through high school in wrestling, but also, he's just a really good guy, and he always goes, okay, Ryan, here's what's about to happen.

And he walks me through all of it so that I can go and prepare myself, for what's about to be taking place, and I usually ask him, Scotty, how long is it gonna take? Because I want to know how long to be prepared for, and he's usually wrong on what he tells me, but anyway, he tries to tell me about how long it's gonna take. But he prepares me for these things, and I think it's important that we as Christians have this understanding that difficult times are coming. I love this because Paul is talking to Timothy, who gets really scared really easy, and is about to face a lot of difficulty, but instead of Paul saying, hey, listen, everything's gonna be fine, okay?

You need to just not worry about anything because everything's gonna be okay. No, he says, you need to realize difficult times are coming. The word difficult there, if you weren't encouraged enough, the word difficult there means perilous and hard to bear. Wow, right? Like you're reading this letter, you're like, hey, more suffering. Hey, I'm confident about the suffering.

You should be bold, feels like a bad, or you should be strong, feels like a bad idea. You should be diligent, probably. Realize bad times are coming. Perilous, difficult to bear times. Paul, you're killing me here. But you see, he wanted Timothy to go into the next age that was coming with his eyes wide open. Why? So that he would not be shocked. Jesus did the same thing with his disciples.

We're gonna find out that towards the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is gonna tell them, listen, you need to understand something. If they're gonna kill me, what do you think they're gonna do to you? The same thing's coming for you, but you stand strong. Understand that you're not gonna kill me. Understand that you're not gonna kill me. Understand that in this world,

you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer because I have overcome the world. And we need to realize difficult times are coming. I think that means difficulty economically because I absolutely think bad economic times are gonna continue to come. And I don't care who gets into office next. I think difficult because this is bigger than who's in office right now.

I think we're starting to come into these birth pains that will bring about the tribulation. And so I don't know if I really care who's gonna be in office. I keep seeing people say, man, if the last president was in there, this wouldn't be happening. I mean, maybe, maybe that's true. But can we also understand that God's sovereign and would be at work in the way that he sees fit?

And we could still be facing hard times no matter who was sitting in the White House right now. We have to realize that these things are coming. I think more difficult times are coming militarily because I think more wars and rumors of wars, I think I've read that somewhere in the Bible, more wars and rumors of wars are coming. And we need to be prepared for that.

We, as the church, will continue to be who the rest of the world hates because we tell them about sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And we'll continue to be persecuted for this. And the best thing that we can do is be aware of what's coming because with knowledge comes confidence. He says, realize difficult times are coming. Number four comes to us in 2 Timothy chapter four.

Let's read verses one. I only wrote verse two there, but let's read one and two. He says this, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, and with great patience and instructions.

And so number four, we need to preach the word. The word preach here literally means to herald or make a public proclamation. When I worked at the Lakeview Village, I worked with a guy named Matt Shaughnessy and I really miss Matt Shaughnessy because he made fun of me a lot and it was hilarious. So every time I would get a really tasty treat, which was just about every day, usually a soda and a brownie, I would say, oh my gosh, this is the best brownie ever.

And he goes, there's Ryan making a proclamation again. He mocked me all the time for it. It became a joke in the shop. And all I can think now is here I am, same thing, even about brownies sometimes, right? And so that's the idea that's given to us here in this word. When he says preach the gospel, it means to be a herald or to make a public proclamation. And brothers and sisters,

I think it's time that we start getting a little bit public with our faith. After all, the fight is here. And it's time that we start gathering some ammunition. Now, I'm gonna make this statement right now. I do not think that you should go out and buy guns and start shooting people. That's not the idea that I mean behind the fight is here and go get ammunition.

No, the ammunition we need is contained in the word of God. And it's time that we start using it to its fullest capacity because this has power. As a matter of fact, Paul in the book of Romans said, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. Where is the gospel contained? In the word of God. Therefore, this has power.

We're told in the book of Hebrews that it is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Able to pierce between bone and marrow. Therefore, it's time that we use it and start using it boldly. You say, Ryan, people are gonna ask questions. Then you start asking them questions. Start asking them questions that are hard for them to answer. Well, what are you gonna do with Jesus?

What are you gonna do if you have to stand in front of Jesus someday and you have to give an account for everything that you've done? What will you say if he condemns you and says not good enough, go to hell? Maybe we should start asking some really challenging questions of people because that's what Jesus did. That was actually gonna be in my sermon for this morning when Jesus faces religion is that when they started asking Jesus questions, he turned the tables and said, I have a question for you.

And it's time that we started getting bold. But you see, we cannot preach the word if we are not diligent to study the word. If we are not strong in the grace of God and if we don't realize that these difficult times are coming, we won't be people that understand, we've got to preach the word. After he says preach the word, he says be ready in season and out of season.

I read this in a couple of other translations. The Amplified says this, hold yourself in readiness. And the Wiest translates it like this, keep your sense of urgency. Man, that gives a lot of color to that statement, doesn't it? When he says to preach the word and to be ready, what does he mean? Hold yourself in a total state of readiness. That means that every time you leave your house,

in the morning, you should know that you're going to come across somebody that needs to hear the gospel, that you need to preach the gospel too. Now, I don't think that that necessarily means that you need to hit the street corner with a billboard that says judgment's coming. Unless God tells you to do that, then do it. But I do think that it means that so many people around you every day are starting to ask questions about what's going on in the world.

Do you know how many people are starting to say things like, dude, doesn't like, there's some book at the end of the Bible that talks about stuff like this. Like, what's it called? Like, revelatory or something, some rev word of some sort? And you're like, yeah, it's the book of Revelation. And it talks about the fact that there's a whole bunch of bad stuff coming and that we need to be ready for it.

They're like, yeah, right? This is an actual conversation I've had with somebody. So, everybody around you is starting to pay attention to what's going on in the world. And they're going to start asking you questions. And it's time that you be ready with the word. Preach the word. And then we come to number five. And number five comes at the very end of 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy, chapter four, verse five. And it says, be sober. Verse five, it says, but you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. The word sober literally means to be calm, collected, steady, and alert in all things. Calm, collected, steady, and alert in all things. I appreciate that at the end of this book,

as Paul has given some very hard statements to Timothy, statements that could potentially cause a great deal of fear, he finishes by saying, but you just be calm, be collected, and be alert. What the world needs right now is they need believers in Jesus Christ. We're going to be calm, collected, and alert. We need to pay attention to the things that are going on in the world, I absolutely think that.

I believe it wholeheartedly. I think we need to be prepared for what's coming. Now, again, I want you to understand, I don't think that you need to start going and buying bags of beans and rice by the 50 pounds and keeping them in a bunker in your basement with all of your ammunition with which you'll be able to fight off the enemy if need be. However, I do think that we need to be prepared.

I don't think it's a terrible idea to begin stocking up some extra food for yourself and to help those that might need it. We've been trying to do that here at the church because we know what's coming, we know the hard times that are coming, and so we've been building up our food pantry. By the way, there's a list out there of some things that you can help bring to build up a food pantry so that should things continue to go south, we can not only care for the body of Christ here at Calvary Chapel of our church, Calvary Chapel of Arc City, but also the community here of Arc, Kansas City so that we can show them some love in the midst of all of this. I don't think it's a terrible idea for you to always make sure

every other day you're filling up your gas tank because I don't know what's going to be coming. I don't think it's a bad idea to make sure that you've got flashlights with batteries and that you've got ways to cook food that don't involve electricity. And I'm just being honest here. I'm not trying to be out of control in any way, shape, or form, but I think part of being sober is being alert, and that means being prepared.

But in the process of our preparation, we cannot lose our heads. We can't be people that are freaking out about all of the things that are going on. We have to be people that maintain a level head, kind of like Jesus in the boat when everything's going crazy. Do you remember what Jesus was doing? He was sleeping. Why? Because he was sober. He was alert, but he was calm and collected because he knew

who was ultimately in control. Brothers and sisters, these are strong exhortations that Paul gives to Timothy here in this book of 2 Timothy. But I believe wholeheartedly they spring from a lifetime of confidence that Paul received from the Lord because he was able to say, because of this, I suffer all these things. Because of my work in the gospel, I'm suffering all these things.

But hey, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Why? Because I know in whom I have believed, and I am absolutely convinced that he is able to keep what I've committed to him until that day. Amen? Amen. Let's all stand. Let's bow our heads. Father, I thank you that none of these things have caught you by surprise. Lord, I thank you that you are ultimately in control,

that you are the sovereign God of the heavens and the earth. And Lord, leaders are put into power at your will. Lord, you put some in power to bless us, and you put some in power to judge us. And Lord, we know that your hand is at work in all of the things happening in the world. Father, I want to pray protection over all of those brothers and sisters in harm's way right now.

Lord, the church in Ukraine is so strong, and they send out so many missionaries to Europe. And so, Lord, I just lift up the churches that are meeting wherever they can today. And Lord, I just want to pray that you would be with them. Lord, I lift up Daniel and Georgiana and the work that they're doing. I pray your protection over them. Lord, I pray your provision for them.

And God, as they're bringing these refugees in, that they would be able to give them the gospel so that, Lord, they can not only save them physically, but Lord, that their soul can be saved spiritually. And Lord, help us to be aware and alert and strong and diligent in all of the things that you've called for us to do. Because, Lord, there is a world that is desperately in need. Lord, keep us close to you and in your grace.

And we just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

And carry the cross. Love so amazing. Love so amazing. Jesus, Messiah, name above all. Blessed, redeemed, Emmanuel, the rescue for sinners. Amen. Ransomed from heaven Jesus Messiah All trembled And the veil was torn Love so amazing Love so amazing Jesus Messiah Name above Blessed, redeemed Rescue for suicide Messiah Blessed, rescued for sin Ransomed from heaven

Jesus Messiah Jesus Messiah He's the Lord Yes, Lord. You're Lord. And we give you thanks and praise. In Jesus' name. Have a great week, y'all.