Faithful to Stand Pt 3: In Your Ministry

On this time, Lord, help us to focus on you and to set everything else that's going on in our lives aside. Just help us to focus on you this morning, Lord Jesus. May you be glorified in Jesus' name. Amen. Go ahead and have a seat if you like. We'll continue on.

Oh, Lord God, I just thank you for who you are, Lord. And I thank you for the freedom, Lord, that comes with knowing you. Lord, you brought us out of slavery to sin, Lord. Lord, before we knew you, Lord, we were captives. We were slaves to sin and death. We enter into a relationship with you, Lord. You bring freedom. Lord, you led us out of that Egypt, Lord. Amen.

Lord Jesus, we just thank you for your blood. Lord, we just thank you for freely shedding it for us on the cross.

Because you shed your blood on the cross, Lord, we have forgiveness. We have redemption, Lord God. We just thank you for that precious, precious blood. Just stand with me for this. Last one. Lord Jesus, that's our prayer this morning, Lord, that you would be glorified, that you would be magnified in each of our lives. Lord, this morning, God, I pray that you would just come and transform our hearts, Lord.

Help us to look more like you so that we can reflect you and magnify you and glorify you, Lord Jesus. As Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, I just pray that you would overflow him with your Holy Spirit. Give him the words to speak and give us the ears to hear and hearts to receive it, Lord. We love you and we praise you. And in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seat.

Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. Handful of things to take note of in your bulletin. First of all, on the left-hand side are the things that go on throughout the week. As always, find yourself a spot to get plugged into. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, you'll find a place to get plugged into. On the right-hand side of your bulletin, a couple of things to take note of.

Just a reminder that there is that Prophecy Conference at Emporia, June 12th through the 14th. And then, ladies, there is a women's breakfast coming up this Saturday, June the 14th, down at the other end of the hallway. All of the details are there. And then a couple of things that are not in your bulletin. My wife wanted to make sure that everybody knew a couple of things.

Number one, we will not be having VBS this year. With construction and everything that's going on, it just felt like it was going to be a lot of fun. like it was going to be a little bit too cramped and and uh with with space believe it or not if you're not a part of vbs we use every bit of this property uh for for vbs so um so we decided that for this year we're going to take a year off uh of that so that needed to be said and then also we are needing some help in the twos and threes uh the the toddler uh part of the nursery um so if you are interested in getting involved in that we could sure use some uh some extra help down there and there's a good number of those little people and so if you are interested in that you

can either come talk to me or you can visit with my wife uh afterwards uh she'll be here between services and then for second service so those are the things that are going on if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for our responsive reading this morning we are going to be in psalm 8 psalm 8 looking at the new american standards so that hopefully we all sound the same that's not on by the way uh so that hopefully we all sound the same if you need a copy of one there should be one in a row around you and as you are turning to psalm 8 if you would please stand in the honor of the reading of god's word i will read the odd verses if you will follow along with pastor jared and the even

verses psalm 8 for the choir director on the gittith i have no idea if that's how you say that a psalm of david oh lord our lord how majestic is your name in all the earth who have displayed your splendor above the heavens from the mouth of infants and nursing babes you have established strength because of your adversaries to make the enemy and the revenge will cease when i consider your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have ordained what is man that you take thought of him and the son of man that you care for him yet you have made him a little lower than god and you crown him with glory and majesty you make him to rule over the world and you make him to rule over the

works of your hands you have put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea whatever passes through the paths of the seas and read verse 9 with me oh lord our lord how majestic is your name in all the earth and so father we come to you now and just pray that you would lord help us to see you more clearly this morning father that as we spend time in your word that our eyes would continue to see you and continually be open to your character and your nature and father that our hearts would be tuned in to exactly what you want for us and so father minister to our hearts by the power of your holy

spirit in jesus name amen you may be seated and if you would open up in your bibles to the book of first timothy chapter four first timothy chapter four today we come to the last part in our series of that chapter four has covered and that's chapter 5 of chapter two so that's what we're gonna deal with what do we talk about these four places one of them is chapter 12 here and vatican dedicated scripture chapter four chapter 21 chapter 22 chapter 20 and genealogy chapter 28 chapter 22 chapter 23 and so we colors are a major key point in our ministry and vatican dedicated scripture chapter 18 verse 21 says here's what he says warriors who are digging deep and those in need of rest and comfort

shall learn by faith men and women be sacrificed flipped and dyed for the glory of the blood of the but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear. And so as he tells Timothy to be faithful to stand in his ministry, once again, there's three things he's going to tell him. He's going to tell him to be an example. He's going to tell him to stay focused.

And he's going to tell him to watch yourself. So let's take the first one, be an example. Notice what it says in verse 12. He says, let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, in conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Let no one look down on your youth. Now, most agree that Timothy, when Paul was writing this to him,

was probably somewhere in his mid to late 30s, which for a Jew, they weren't really considered someone who had too much influence until they were at the age of 40. It was sort of a cultural thing at that point in time. And so Timothy was considered a pretty young guy. Age is such a relative thing, right? Like to a group of teenagers, a guy that's in his late 30s

sounds like he's super old, but you talk to a guy that's 55 or 60 and a guy that's in his late 30s is considered pretty young, right? Age can be kind of relative like that. But I can imagine what it was like for Timothy taking over this church in Ephesus because it's very hard to imagine that he was a young man. It's very hard to imagine that he was a young man.

It's very hard to take over a church from a tenured pastor when you're a young guy. I know that from experience. I remember what it was like when I first took over the church. And I was reading a commentator, R. Kent Hughes, on this, and he shared a very similar example. And I thought, man, I can really relate to that because I can appreciate what that's like.

I was 36 years old when I kind of took over as the pastor when Mark first got sick, and I was really handling a lot of the responsibilities. And I was 37 when I took over as the pastor. And again, I worked with teenagers at that point in time, and so they all thought I was pretty old. But when it came right down to it, I was a pretty young guy. And there's a great deal of stress as a young person

when you take over a church, when you take over a ministry like this because you find yourself, and I thought it was fascinating to read R. Kent Hughes on this, who's a fantastic commentator and Bible teacher. He said, I remember waking up every morning in that first year thinking to myself, what am I doing? I have no idea what I'm doing with this church. And I thought, I can relate to that so much

because that's exactly how I felt. For the first six months to a year, I woke up sick to my stomach every single morning with just this knot in my gut thinking, what am I doing? I have no clue how to run a church. Who put this guy in charge of this entire church? And I remember after the first year, my board asked me, they said, so how do you feel like you're doing?

I said, well, I don't wanna throw up every single morning. So I feel like I'm making some progress in how I feel like I'm doing as the pastor of the church because when you're young and you're teaching people that are much older than you, not only in age, but also in maturity, that's a pretty stressful thing. Not only that, but you add to that the fact that Timothy would have really been looked down on as a young person by the older people that were in the congregation. This was clearly an issue that Timothy was dealing with with the people in Ephesus.

And so he says, don't despise your youthfulness. And so I wanna speak a word both to young and old in here alike. First of all, for those of you that are not young, I'll use that as a phrase. For those of you that are not young, I just wanna tell you something. Can I just give you a little bit of a word of exhortation? Stop looking down on young people. And I mean that very seriously

because right now we have a culture of young people that think all of the old people hate them. And right now we have a culture of old people that hate all the young people. And I'm just gonna be honest about that. That's just me speaking reality because I listen to people talk and we've gotta stop looking down on young people. And we've gotta start looking at the youth

that are coming up, whether they're a 10, 12, 15 year old kid or whether they're in their 20s or whatever name we put on them. I don't know when we started putting names on generations, but I think that was the dumbest thing that we did because we started separating ourselves out by our generation. And now that's who you are. You're not just a member of the human race or a member of the church.

You're a Gen X or you're a millennial or you're a baby boomer or whatever it is. And we sort of bring about this separation. And so if you're older here, please stop being so hateful towards young people. But also know that if you're not a young person in here today, it doesn't mean you have no value. You have an incredible amount of wisdom and value. And I tell young people all the time,

you should find somebody that's walked with Jesus for a really long time and really listen to what they have to say. Hear their stories. Hear those stories of faithfulness in their lives because those are the things that really help us to grow as younger people is to hear the stories of those that have gone. Before us. But if you're a younger person here this morning,

I want to tell you don't don't despise your youth, right? Like like don't don't think you can't do anything because you're young, right? Like like young people aren't the church of tomorrow. They're the church of today. And God wants to use you in a powerful way. Maybe not in the same way that he's going to use somebody that's a little bit older than you, but God can use you in a very powerful way.

I'm always reminded of the fact that that Greg Laurie who who became one of the pastor of one of the biggest Calvary chapels in the in the world started as a pastor when he was 19. Years old. I mean, we never know what God wants to do, right? I would think like I said a few weeks ago, I always think about the fact that the first time I took over a ministry.

I was 21 years old and I was like who put that kid in charge of a ministry like that. God wants to use people no matter what their ages. So he says don't don't despise your youthfulness. Don't don't look down on yourself because you're young and don't let other people look down on you because you're young as a matter of fact, there's an indication that this was something that was going on.

And so this is sort of an exhortation for Timothy. Stop letting people push you. Around because you're young is actually what one of the translation said. I thought that that was kind of an interesting translation of that. He says instead what you should do is you should show yourself to be an example instead. You should be an example and he gives five categories of

things that Timothy should be an example in that will transcend age. It will transcend seniority. It will give you authority as opposed to seniority. So there's five things I want us to pay attention to here because whether you're young. Person or whether you're a not young person. These are five areas where you should be an example to the people that are around you number one.

You should be an example in your speech. You should be an example in your speech. I don't remember who I read the point of this out, but they said Proverbs 10 19 is a perfect example of this. So you might write Proverbs 10 19 over the margin of your Bible or somewhere and I'm going to read it to you. It says in the multitude of words sin is not lacking but he

who restrains. His lips is wise and the multitude of words sin is not lacking but he who restrains his lips is wise our speech can be one of the things that absolutely becomes the worst example to the people around us in a lot of ways in a lot of ways it can become a bad example to the people around us. If our speech is always deceptive if our speech is always perverse if our speech is filled with nothing but curse words all the time if if our. Speech is filled with nothing but dirty jokes or our speech is filled with things that aren't very genuine right our speech can be a problem.

Have you ever noticed that that the older we get the bigger our stories get you ever heard somebody tell the same story and every year that they tell it the stories a little bit bigger than it than it was the first time around and if you've been the one that's heard the story the whole time you're like wow that thing has changed so much more so much in the last 10 years and it's because they're becoming a bad example in their speech. Which is why the Proverbs warns us that in the multitude of words sin is not lacking that's why people like me have to be careful right because I talk a lot and so I have to be careful that that I don't use too many words because the multitude of words and is

not lacking let me put it to you the way that Chuck Smith does he says it it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt right and so and so there's there's that aspect of like in our speech we need to be an example the words that come out of your mouth. Should be an example to the people that are around you number two we are to be an example in conduct we are to be an example in conduct the word conduct literally means your manner of life in other words the way that you live your life day in and day out right have you ever known somebody that has about three different lives they have the life that they live at work they have the life that they live at home and then they have the life that they

live at church you ever been around people like that see that's called not being a good example. In your conduct the idea is that my day in and day out life reflects everything about what I believe everything about who I am it's amazing how Godly conduct will win people over because as they begin to see the difference take place in your life as they as they begin to not hear the words that you say but they begin to watch the life that you live that will be the dead giveaway of the example that you're setting to the people that are around you because listen as believers. We will set one of two examples in the way that we live our conduct will either set a good example and point people to Jesus or our

conduct will set a bad example and pull people away from Jesus right do you remember what Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount he said you are the salt of the earth but if the salt has lost its saltiness literally that's what he says it's lost its saltiness then it's good for nothing except to be thrown out on the path and to be scattered. Do you know why they would throw salt that no longer? Tasted good out on the path because even though I didn't have a good salty taste it would still have the effect that salt has on grass and it kills it that tells us something that as believers in Jesus Christ. You don't have to try to be salt.

You are salt. The question is what kind of salt are you you will either be the kind of salt that preserves life and adds flavor to life where you will be the kind of salt that brings death through the through your conduct so he said so he tells Timothy he says you need to be an example in your speech and you need to be an example in your conduct. Number three he tells them you need to be an example in love you need to be an example in love one commentator that I read pointed out something interesting he says is it is it interesting that in the first two speech and conduct we're going to come to the last two which is faith and purity speech and conduct have to do with your outward actions faith and purity have to do with your inward actions love

links to those two things together because love is the heart of everything that we're supposed to do let me read this to you he said love involves the whole life outward love requires an inward quality outward love requires an inward quality because you can do something to try to show love towards somebody but you can do it the wrong way and then all of a sudden it looks really bad to the people around you and it looks it just doesn't look very loving well I have to be doing this for you because God says so I'm going to try to be loving right now well then just don't write like just let's just not do that but that love should be something that that encapsulates our lives listen it doesn't come naturally to us this is a

work of the Holy Spirit in us this is what that continual surrendering of ourselves to the Holy Spirit does but it but it produces that love and he says let everybody look at your life and see the love that flows through you see the real love that flows through you remember what Jesus told his disciples he said they're gonna know that you're my disciples by the love that you have for one another not by a whole lot of other list of things that usually we include but by the love that you have for one another that unconditional love that always speaks the truth that always seeks to serve others that always puts Christ above everyone else he says be an example in speech and conduct and love

and then number four in faith in faith now the idea of the word faith here is not faith in that it's the faith that we have in God the idea of the word faith here is faithfulness in the way that we live our life he says let your faithful life character be an example to everyone around you one of my absolute favorite stories is by dr. Seuss and it's called Horton Hatches the Egg I probably shared this before I don't know I don't remember what I share at any point in time because I get confused too easily perhaps you've heard of Horton he's more well known for his story Horton hears a who but but Horton Hatches the Egg is is about this elephant who has a friend the dodo bird who has laid an egg and the

dodo bird has been sitting on the egg and quite frankly she needs a vacation because sitting on that egg is much harder than she ever thought it was going to be and so she goes on vacation and she looks at Horton and she says can you please sit on my egg while I'm gone I need you to do this and he says absolutely I mean what I say and I'll say what I mean and elephants faithful 100% well all of these other people come along winning Horton to go do something hey wouldn't you like to go to the beach with us wouldn't you like to go drink some water with us wouldn't you like to go do this and everybody that comes to see Horton to try to pull him away from sitting on that egg he tells them I'm a

good dog but because of Horton's voice I'm going to go do the opposite or I'm going to go to Horton's house and I'm going to go do whatever you want and Horton's the exact same thing I meant what I said I said what I meant an elephant's faithful 100% you want a really quick way to ruin your witness don't ever do what you say you're going to do be a person who is not a person of your word a person that cannot be counted on and everybody in the world will say the same thing yep another one of those Christians can't to be. Instead, we are supposed to set an example of faithfulness where we mean what we say, and we say what we mean, and we can be counted on because our word is our bond. In a culture right now that

needs all kinds of signatures to prove that you are going to do what you say you're going to do, be someone who is a person of your word. I remember the first time I ever bought a house. They put this big stack of papers down in front of you, and they start going through all these papers, and they're like, this one is this, and they talk a bunch of businessy words that I don't understand. And after about the 39th time I signed my name, I said, I just want to make sure I understand. I basically am signing my name all of these times to say that I'm going to pay my bill,

right? And the lady looked at me, and she kind of, yeah, basically it's so that you say you're going to pay your mortgage. And I'm like, could I have just signed one thing that says, yes, I'll pay my mortgage? She goes, nope. Too many people have tried to get around it because not enough people are faithful in the world that we live in today. In a world like that, be someone that can

be counted on. Because that will be an example to the world around you, young or old. And then number five, be an example in purity. Be an example in purity. The idea of purity actually has two different kind of connotations to it. The first, of course, is what we would normally think of with purity, and that's purity and morality, right? That Timothy would be pure in everything that he does,

that morally he would be a pure individual. But really, it carries it far beyond just the idea, it doesn't carry the idea far enough with just morality. It really carries with it, the idea of purity of motives. In other words, everything that you do is for the right reason. Everything that you do has the right heart around it, which is why love has to kind of link those

two things together, the outward actions and the inward motives. Because if love is your inward motive, then it's going to handle all of your outward actions. He said there should be that purity of motive inside of you always. He tells Timothy, be an example. I have two final thoughts on this, and they're quotes from a couple of commentaries that I read. I thought that they were fantastic. One is from the preacher's commentary. Lloyd Ogilvie is the

author of that. It says, this example that Paul sets does not demand perfection. After all, none of us are perfect, but it is a striving for integrity and quality. I really appreciated that quote because it presents, I believe, the idea that Paul is giving to Timothy that no one's ever going to arrive. No one's ever going to hit that point where they're perfect. He declares that for

us in the book of Philippians when he says, already attained, but this one thing I do, letting go of what's behind, I press on towards the goal. And so, so listen, we understand that none of us are perfect. And if we hold anybody to a standard of perfection, all of us are disqualified, but there should be an integrity and a character that is growing in our lives where we are continually seeking to set this kind of example. Listen, whether you're the pastor of a church or in leadership, or whether you're just a believer in Jesus Christ. The second quote I'll read to you is this.

It's from R. Kent Hughes. It says the ministry is a character profession. Godly character creates moral authority. Let me read that one more time. Godly character creates moral authority. We hear it over and over again in the political world. You hear it over and over again in the entertainment world. You hear it over and over again in the ministry world. You can't tell me that that's wrong if you're living like that.

Because a lack of moral character creates a lack of moral authority, which is why if you want people to listen to you, let them first see your life and then let them hear your words. So he tells Timothy, he says, be an example. The second thing he tells him that he needs to do is that he needs to stay focused. He needs to stay focused. He says in verse 13, until I come, give attention to

the public reading of scripture. To exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift that is within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things. Be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all. Within that, he tells them three things. The first thing he tells them is this is what you need to

give your attention to. The idea of give attention means devote yourself to the Lord. Give yourself to this. Make this the mission and the goal of your life. And it's threefold. First of all, the public reading of scripture. The public reading of scripture. This is why we do not only a responsive psalm, but it's why I will always make sure that whatever I'm teaching is

read out loud and then we cover it. I've shared with you before that I've been to churches where they'll read a little bit of scripture and it's never even dealt with, never taught, it's never expounded upon, it's never gone through. And can I say that I do believe, that the best way to handle scripture is to just go all the way through it, is to not pick out the parts that you really like, which is the danger that we all have as pastors, is to pick out the parts that we really like, but just to go all the way through it. That's why as I've gone through 1 Timothy, a couple of times I've had to say, I really wish this part wasn't in here because I don't want to cover this part.

But if I'm going to be faithful to the public reading of scripture, I have to go through it. I have to read everything that it has to say. I can't just read the parts that I like. But that public reading of scripture, is so important. And can I make a little personal application to you as well with this? I think that the reading out loud of scripture is a powerful thing to do in your life.

I think it's powerful for us to do here, which is why I like to read it out loud to you, and why we read some of it together. I think that that's very powerful to do. But I think in your families, that's a powerful thing to do. I think when you read the scripture out loud to your families, there's power in that. And you go, well, I don't know if my kids understand anything that I read.

I don't know if you understand anything that I read. I still read it to you. Right? I mean, that's the important thing to know, is you get the word out there and let the Holy Spirit do what he's going to do with it. But can I also say that there's an aspect in your own personal life where if you read it out loud in your own personal time, when it's just you there, there is something powerful about it going out of your mouth and at the same time going into your ears.

There is something incredibly powerful about that. And there are points and times in my life, especially if it's an early, early morning, where I will read it out loud, because I need to. I need to hear it, because otherwise I'll fall asleep while I'm reading it. And actually, when I went through some points in time in my life when I was struggling the most with my focus, you know what I found myself doing is this on your phone or at this point in time, it was just on a laptop because we didn't have smartphones at that point in time.

But but you could you could click play and it would just you could just listen to what the Bible had to say. And I would listen while I would read. And I found that that out loud hearing of the word of God and then reading it engaged all of my, all of my things, and it kept me one hundred percent focused. There's just something powerful about the the public reading, the out loud reading of Scripture.

The second thing that he tells them that he he should devote himself to is not only the public reading of Scripture, but also to the exhortation, exhortation. Some of your translations may say preaching because that's kind of the idea behind it. But exhortation is interesting because it carries with it two different ideas. If you look at if you were to look it up in a Greek dictionary, that word exhortation will have two different meanings.

It has two different definitions to it, but they kind of work together. The first definition, and if you follow it all the way through Scripture, you find that this is how it's used the most often. The idea of exhortation in this sense is comfort and consolation. It literally means to call to one side. And so so he says, you should you should be speaking words of exhortation.

And when we first hear that, we think of the second one, which I'll talk about in just a moment. But sometimes that exhortation is is comfort. Sometimes one of the greatest things that we can do is comfort each other with the word of God. Sometimes we just we just comfort each other with what Scripture says. What Scripture has to say, and I have found the longer that I go in ministry, when somebody reaches out to me for a need, honestly, the best thing I can do is I can just send them some Scripture like, listen, I can give you all kinds of thoughts on this, and sometimes I'll expound on it when I send it to them.

But I'll just send them some Scripture. I had a couple of people reach out to me that had lost some loved ones, and they were just hurt, and they were having a hard time with it. And and I just said, Can I just send you the Scriptures that have meant the most to me as I've faced some hardships, as I face some grief? And. My life, and they said, That'd be great.

And I just I just sent them the Scripture because there's just something powerful about that, that exhortation, that comfort and consolation that comes through the word of God. But not only does it mean comfort and consolation, but it also means a moral or a spiritual directive. You see, a lot of times what I'll do and what you should do as well as you take God's word and you see that there's an application and you tell someone, listen, this is the application. This is what we're supposed to do with it, because eventually God's word has to have a directive to it.

Otherwise, it's just something that. That we read for our own little personal enjoyment, but it eventually has to have a directive. It has to it has to say, This is now what you're supposed to do, we might call it personal application, right? And that's what it's supposed to have. He says, Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to the preaching of it, both the comfort and consolation and the moral or spiritual directive into your life.

And then number three thing that he's supposed to devote himself to or give attention to is teaching the instruction and sound doctrine. And again, we clearly believe in that a great deal here, because that's what we spent so much time doing it, but it's necessary in every part of our life, and I think that we should devote ourselves to the teaching of sound doctrine. Sometimes that's going to mean that that you teach somebody, somebody, something that God has taught to you, but in general, for most of us, it means that we're going to take in sound teaching all the time where we're going to hear the teaching of the word of God all the time. One of the disciplines I've had.

I've had to establish in my own life is that you may not realize this, but I don't always get to hear somebody on Sunday morning. I don't always get to take in the teaching of God's word. So so I have had to become disciplined about either finding someone or a podcast or something where where I'm constantly taking in, not for the purpose of studying. That's the danger that you have as a pastor is is all of the things that you take in or in order to put together a study.

But God has really spoken to me about the need to be listening to. The things throughout the week to take in sound doctrine throughout the week to where I'm being challenged to where to where I'm hearing spiritual and moral directives from a pastor. Basically, I find a pastor to to follow in those situations because it's just so important. If Timothy was to devote himself to the doing of it, then how much more should we devote ourselves to the hearing of it?

So he says, listen, if you're going to stay focused, first of all, you have to give your attention to you have to devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to the. Exhortation or the preaching of scripture and to the teaching of sound doctrine. But the second thing that he needs to do if he's going to stay focused is he cannot neglect certain things. He cannot neglect certain things. Let's read it in verse 14.

He says, Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. In this particular instance, what he's speaking to Timothy. About, I believe, is his gift of pastor teacher that that God had given him that gift of a pastor teacher in his life. And he was not to neglect that gift.

As a matter of fact, this is an imperative statement given in the Greek. And what he really says is stop neglecting the gift that you have in you. And I found that to be kind of interesting because here, Timothy's pastoring a church. And yet perhaps there was a tendency in him to avoid, to neglect the gifting that God. Had given to him to to neglect the pastor teacher role that God had given to him.

Why? Because it's hard. Because when God calls you to do something, it's usually a really hard thing to do. And I want to tell you all something. Each of you has been gifted by the Lord. God has something specific that he wants each and every one of you to do. And I'm going to give you the same exhortation that Paul's given to Timothy. Don't neglect it. Don't neglect what God has given you to do.

Don't don't put it by the wayside. Stop doing that. And if you don't know what your gifting is and you need to start praying, Lord, what gifting do you have for me? Or you need to seek prayer from someone else, from from one of the elders or somebody that's been around for a long time and just have them lay hands on you and pray for you. And it's amazing how when that happens, God begins to minister to you.

I remember when I was about 18 years old, I had just I might have only been 17. I had just started walking with Jesus, hadn't been walking with him for very long. So a lot of things were still really new to me, even though I grew up in the church and I went to a. Pastors are a men's conference up in Calvary Chapel of Johnson County, and they had a time of waiting on the Lord after one of the sessions at the very end.

And they and they pray. They said, if anybody would like to to be prayed for, to to have a gifting from the Lord, stand up and we want to lay hands on you and pray for you. And so I I start like, well, I mean, that feels like the right thing to do, right? I'm pretty new at this whole thing, but it feels like the right thing to do. So I stood up and some men laid hands on me and prayed for me.

It went long after that that I started having the desire to. To go to Bible college because God had started stirring that gift within me and God wants to do the same thing in you. There's nothing special about me. God wants to do the exact same thing in you, but you can't neglect what God has called for you to do. So I started thinking about this this morning as I was putting this together.

I thought, what causes us to neglect? Why would Timothy be neglecting the gift that God had given to him? What would cause all of us to neglect the gift that God had given to us? I came up with three things, three things that I believe sometimes can end. I don't even think I haven't put this up there. Three things that I believe that that. Can cause us to neglect what God wants us to do.

You ready? Number one, laziness, laziness. Sometimes we can just be like, God, that's going to be really, really hard, right? Like anything that God calls you to do. Listen, you need to know it's going to be hard, but it's going to be good. Whatever God calls you to do, it's going to be a hard thing. It's going to require some sacrifice. It's going to require a little bit on your part.

It's going to probably get you out of your comfort zone. It's it's going to get you to where you have to really rely on God for everything. But sometimes that laziness, we go, I'll do it later. I just don't want to do that. Gosh, that's going to require some. I'll probably go through some kind of training. I'll probably have to get up a little extra early on a Sunday morning.

I might have to stay up late on a Saturday night. I just I don't know that I want I don't know that I want to do that. So laziness can keep us from the spiritual gift that God has given to us. Number two is distraction. Distraction keeps us from the things that God wants us to do. We can be so distracted by the things around us, right? Listen. The Earth competes, the things of Earth compete for the allegiance that we owe only to the

giver of all good things. Right. I've just listened to that Rich Mullins song this morning, and it's so true because we get so distracted by the earthly things around us and we think, man, that's going to be great. I'm going to serve God in this way, but I also want to go do that. Right. Okay. Lord, can't I have both? And we live in a culture that teaches you, you can, only the problem is you can't.

You have to eliminate the distractions. That's why the writer to the to the Hebrews said, let us lay aside. Let us lay aside every weight and sin which ensnares us. The idea of a weight is it's not simple. It's just distracting and let us run with endurance. The race is set before us. So the things that cause us to neglect number one is laziness. Number two is distraction.

I've learned this one most recently, overextending ourselves, overextending ourselves. In other words, getting outside of the calling that God has given you, getting outside of the calling that God has given you. God has reinforced this to me over this last year. It's six months, is that you have to stay focused on what God calls you. You can't be what God has not called you to do.

There is a ton of amazing good works out there that can be done. There's an incredible amount of things that can be done, and if we're not careful, we'll spread ourselves into all of them. Oh, but that's a really good thing to do, too. And that's a really good thing to do, too. And that's a really good thing to do, too. But I was reading in this book, it's called Traction, kind of a fascinating book.

It's a secular book, sort of a business model, sort of a book, but it's kind of interesting. And it said, it said, find what you're good at. You can do it. And I was like, that's the most simple thing I can imagine. But it's really true. They said, if you get outside of what you're good at, then you'll never be good at anything. You have to find what you're good at, and you have to do that wholeheartedly.

And I was like, man, that's a really good word for me right now, is find the thing I'm good at, find the thing I'm called to do, and pour myself wholeheartedly into that. And all of the other things that need done, get somebody else to do them. Because that's not my calling. That's not my job. That's not my role. And that's the way it is with us. Everybody has a race that only you can run.

Your race is specific to you. Run your race, and don't overextend yourself into all of the other races. Be who God has called you to be. And in a world of comparison, stop comparing yourself, and just be who God has called for you to be. And so he says, don't neglect the gift that's been given to you through the laying on of hands. And then the third thing he tells them to do to stay focused is, he says, take pains

with these things. And it's literally what he says there. Take pains with these things. Be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all. Be absorbed. Let me read you some other translations of this. I thought it was pretty fascinating. Be absorbed in these things. Be occupied in these things. Diligently attend to these things. Be constantly engrossed in these things.

Are you picking up on a theme here? He says, the things that I've just told you. Make those the complete part of your life. Make those all of your focus. Because that's what we're supposed to do. What things is he talking about? Well, he's just told them to stay focused on the Word of God and to stay focused on the work of God. So I'm pretty sure what he intends when he says, absorb yourself with these things, is

he means absorb yourself with the Word of God and be absorbed in the work of God. It's a fascinating thought, isn't it? To just completely pour yourself. And to that, to completely pour yourself into following Jesus with all of your heart. Again, we live in a half-hearted world. We live in a multitasking world, where if you can do one thing great, you can probably

do two things okay. You can probably do three things sufficiently. Four things might get over the line a little bit, but let's give it a try anyway. And Jesus says, why don't you just stay focused? Stay focused on this thing. Stay focused on the Word of God and the work of God. Yeah. Stay focused on those things. A whole lot of other things are going to take care of yourself.

You remember Jesus said something really similar to this in Matthew 6, verse 33, right? He said, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you. That's essentially what Paul says here. He says, engross yourself, be absorbed in these things, and if you do so, then your progress will be made known to all. You won't have to worry about whether or not you're young or old.

You won't have to worry about it. You won't have to worry about what people say about you. You won't have to worry about being pushed around by the people that are around you because you will be so absorbed in the work of God, you will be so absorbed in the Word of God that it will transform the fabric of who you are, and everyone around will take note. Everyone will pay attention.

I always think about, again, having grown up in the Calvary Chapel movement, you follow all of the things about it, and one of the things that's always fascinating to me is the story of John Corson. John Corson was not a Calvary guy by name. By nature, he was actually going to the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and when he was going to Biola, that's the short name for it, when he was going to Biola, his professors told him, don't go down to that Calvary Chapel place because it's a cult. They're wild down there.

You shouldn't go down there. He goes, well, my interest was kind of piqued, plus it seemed like a lot of good things were going on down there. He said, so I decided to start riding my bicycle down to Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. He said, you know what I found? They were so absorbed in the Word of God. They were so absorbed in the Word of God. They were so absorbed in the Word of God.

They were so absorbed in the Word of God. They were so absorbed in the Word of God and the work of God that it was absolutely not a cult, and pretty soon, all of those professors had to come to realize that as well. I remember my mom telling me the story that when Calvary Chapel first started here in Arc City, her mother, who was a very, very staunch believer in Jesus Christ but very old-fashioned in everything that she did, told her, you stay away from that Calvary Chapel church because it's a cult, and pretty soon, she realized. Not only is it not a cult, but it's changing people's lives because they were so absorbed in the Word of God and the work of God that it had to be recognized by everybody.

This is what Jesus is doing. See, that's what he means. If you give yourself to these things, if you're absorbed in these things, then your life, your work, God's Word, it's all going to speak for itself. Everybody's going to become aware of that. You just stay focused. You seek first the kingdom, and let me handle everything else. So he tells them, number one.

That he is to be an example. Number two, he is to stay focused. Number three, you're to watch yourself. Verse 16, he says, pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will ensure salvation, both for yourself and for those who hear. He says, Pay close attention. Stay focused on this. Watch yourself.

He tells them to watch two things. Number one, he says, watch your life. Watch your life. Watch how you live. Concentrate on your personal development. Why? Because, as we said before, ministry is a character profession. Godly character creates morals. It's moral authority. We have to watch ourselves. As pastors, we have to watch ourselves. We have to watch our lives.

Again, I've shared with you that the transition from a youth pastor to a senior pastor is a very difficult thing, because you're used to being just the fun guy that can do the fun things and sometimes say things he probably shouldn't say, but you can get away with it because you're a youth pastor. Believe it or not, I'm better than I used to be. And then you realize that that next step was different. And I have to watch my life to a completely different level.

I have to watch my life to a completely different degree than I used to. I have to watch the things that I do. I have to watch the things that I say. I have to be careful how I present myself in the world, not only because I'm concerned about what outsiders are going to say, but quite frankly, because Satan's after my life. He's after the very fabric of who I am, because if he can jack with me, if he can make me

full, then he can bring a whole lot of other people with him. I know that because I've watched it happen. I know that because I've seen this take place. in the lives of people. Man, one of my favorite guys to listen to was Robbie Zacharias. Remember who Robbie Zacharias was? A fantastic Christian philosopher, a fantastic Bible teacher. I loved listening to his program,

Let My People Think, because I would listen to it and I was, first of all, smarter because of it, but also he was so fascinating in his understanding of God and his understanding of God's word. But after he died, it came out the kind of man that he really was that nobody realized.

And everything about the ministry of Robbie Zacharias has been challenged because as it turned out, he did not lead a morally pure life. And so you find yourself going, oh no, he didn't watch himself. He didn't watch himself. And because of that, everything else about history, his ministry is now challenged. And there's another opportunity for the enemies of God to blaspheme.

And while that's true of a pastor, it's true of you. You need to watch yourself because as a believer in Jesus Christ, which turns you into an ambassador for Jesus Christ, you need to watch your life because if you don't watch your life, Satan will come in and he will rob. Satan will come in and he will destroy you. He will seek to take you out because if he can take you out, he can take out all the people around you as well.

Dad's in this room. If he can take you out, he'll come for your family too. Mom's in this room. If he can take you out, he'll come for your family too. And we need to know that. And it's a stern warning to Timothy when he says, watch yourself, pay close attention to your personal development. And the only way that we can do that is to pour ourselves into the word of God

and the work of God. So that we don't find ourselves disqualified by the things that offend God. He says, watch yourself, watch your life. The second thing he tells them to do is to watch your teaching or in other words, watch your doctrine. And this again is something that as pastors, we have to pay very close attention to because if we don't watch our doctrine,

we can end up slipping into the things that are wrong. Because listen, the things that are wrong, the things that are false that we've talked about before, all of this kind of leads us back to what he first started chapter four with, which was that in the last days, many will fall away and will pursue doctrines of demons and deceiving spirits having, hold on, I don't want to mess it up, by means of the hypocrisy of liars and having their conscience seared as with a branding iron. He says, you have to watch your teaching because you don't want to become one of them. You don't want to end up like that.

I will almost guarantee 95% of false teachers did not start out that way or at least didn't intend to start out that way. They found themselves being led astray by either the flesh or they found themselves being led astray by something that could bring in more people or they found themselves being led astray because something was a little bit more popular or they didn't want to make a strong stand on something. Whatever it is, they found that their doctrine began to slowly but surely drift away. And all of a sudden, the things that they're saying, the things that they're teaching, the things that they say they believe, they don't wind up with scripture anymore.

And we have to watch our doctrine, and listen, I have to watch it as a Bible teacher because I'm going to be held to a higher account than you guys, but you guys need to watch your doctrine as well because there's always some new thing that comes out, right? I remember when the Enneagram thing came out and I was like, man, this is dumb. And then I found out the whole logic behind it. If you don't know the Enneagram, it's some nine numbers that's supposed to identify who you are and help you relate better to people.

You know what the problem with the Enneagram is? The guy that wrote it used automatic writing. The guy that came up with this numbering system used what's called automatic writing. Automatic writing, which basically meant that he connected with a demon and the demon helped him to write all these things out. He was basically out of his mind while he was writing it

and it was all demonically inspired. And all of these Christians are going, you know, I'm an Enneagram this. And I was like, okay, sidebar. I hate fads and I hate when things like this come out, so I refuse to do them. And my wife always finds them kind of fascinating. And so when it first came out, she's like, let's see what your number is. I don't think I can identify.

I'm like, the thing can't identify me, okay? I don't fit on a scale. I do not fit on any of these scales because I'm weird. That's just all that there is to it. I don't ever, I never fit in with anybody or anything. And she said, oh, it's not true. There's going to be a number. So I, so I take the thing and it's like, we can't really identify your number. And I was like, see, I can't be put on a scale.

I'm too weird for that. Well, the more I read about it, the more I was like, well, this is evil. Like this is it. This is an awful thing. And pretty soon you look at the Christian bookstore and they've got the Enneagram journal and they've got the, the, how you can know Jesus, better through your Enneagram number. And I'm like, and I remember telling people about it.

And they're like, it's not that big of a deal, is it? The guy used automatic writing to come up with it. That's demonic. Yes, it's that big of a deal. You got to watch your doctrine. You got to watch it because if you're not careful, you'll drift. You'll drift into things that are wrong. He says, watch yourself, how you live, how you're personally developing.

Watch your doctrine that you don't fall off into other things. And then he says, persevere in it, persevere in these things. I love that he uses that word because it indicates the fact that if we're going to continue on, it's going to require perseverance. It's going to require perseverance. Sometimes there can be this idea that, that once you're saved, that's it.

You're just going to coast through life now, right? World peace in my own apartment. Everything's going to be great. I'm going to live the Barbie life. It's going to be awesome. And the fact of the matter is once you got saved, you entered a war, a war that requires perseverance. It's the, you're on the right side. You were in a war before and whether you knew it or not,

you were just on the losing side, but now you're on the right side. And every day there's going to be a new battle to fight. And every day you think to yourself, do I really want to face this battle? You do, right? Let me, let me just tell you right now. Um, I showed up this morning and you know, the first battle that I thought was the first battle that I fought was the fact that the air conditioner wasn't working.

Praise God that we have a really smart guy that knew how to go figure out what was going on and he got it going again. But I was like, that was the first battle that I fought. And, and there's been other since then. And there always will be every day. There's something, and you have to persevere. You have to persevere in it because what we're shooting for is,

is of eternal value. He says, persevere in these things. And as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you salvation from what salvation from the false things of this world that would pull you away from the purity of knowing Jesus as your Lord and savior. Amen. Brothers and sisters, we have to be faithful to stand in the midst of all of the

garbage going on around us on the truth of the word of God and in the ministry that God has given to us. Stay focused, stay focused on Jesus because he's coming soon. Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me,

father, we come before you and Lord, I thank you for another day that you've given to us, Lord, another Sunday morning to gather as your body to, uh, to fellowship together, to worship together, to be in your work. To be in your word together. Lord, I thank you that you have blessed us with your word that is so good to our souls. And Lord, I pray that you had blessed us with a focus in our lives.

Father, I pray that you would bless us with the ability to see what that ministry is that you've called us to and Lord, that we would seek you with all of our hearts and we would persevere in these things. And so Lord move in our hearts and lives. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed. I pray that as we leave here today, Lord, that your Holy spirit just continue to minister to our lives.

Lord, we're blessed each and every one of us here work mildly in our hearts. Lord, we ask it in Jesus name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.