Faithful to Stand Pt 2: On the Truth

All right, good morning. It's good to see you guys. I'm glad you're here. I want to welcome you and invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, we thank you for the day and thank you for another opportunity, Lord, to be here, to be with you, to be in your presence. I ask that you bless this time, Lord. Help us to focus on you, to lift a joyful noise, maybe a sweet sound in your ear. And Lord, we ask that your word go out with power this morning. Bless the word. Bless the kids and the teachers at the other end of the hall, Lord.

We love you and we praise you in your name. Amen. You guys go and have a seat if you like. We'll continue on.

Into dawn, mercy, it is your love.

For who you are and for how much you love us, Lord. Lord, we just thank you that you sent your son, Jesus, to take our rightful place on that cross. We thank you for how much you love us, Lord.

Stand with me for this last one.

We just thank you for who you are. We just thank you that you are the one who is always faithful and who you're faithful to keep your promises. You are just so good to us, Lord God, and we praise you. We can't help but praise you. And Lord, this morning as Pastor Ryan comes, I just pray that you would overflow him with your Holy Spirit, Lord. And the words to speak and give us ears to hear and hearts to receive it, Lord.

We love you, Lord. And we pray. We praise you. And all God's people said, amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seats. 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, a reminder that this Thursday we'll begin the New Home Fellowship at the Rizzios. So if you're interested in that, there's a sign-up sheet out there. Also, there's a link. There's a leadership conference in Wellington this coming Saturday at Grace Calvary Fellowship, June the 7th from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

An opportunity for you to take advantage of there. And then also there's a prophecy conference coming up June 12th through the 14th in Emporia. So if you're interested in those, please go check those out. And the one thing that is not in your bulletin is that since this is the first Sunday of the month, there will be intercessory prayer tonight down at the other end of the hallway at 6 o'clock.

So if you have that chance to... Come check that out. That would be good, too. 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're going to be in Psalm 61. Psalm 61. Look at the New American Standard for this part so that we sound the same. If you need a copy, it should be one in a row around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 61, if you are able, 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 Allen and the even verses. Psalm 61 for the choir director on a stringed instrument, a psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God, and give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings, Selah. For you have heard my vows, O God. You have given me the inheritance of those who fear your name. You will prolong the king's life. His years will be as many generations.

He will abide before God forever. Appoint loving kindness and truth that they may preserve him. So I will sing praise to your name forever that I may pay my vows day by day. And Father, we do praise you for being our refuge and shelter. Lord, I pray that as we spend time in your word this morning that you would minister to our hearts, that you would. Instruct us, that you would comfort us, that you would convict us and Lord, that we would

become the men and women of God that you have called for us to be. And so, Lord, we offer this time to you now, Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of First Timothy, Chapter four, First Timothy, Chapter four.

Today, we come to part two of our series in Chapter four on faithful to stand. We said that throughout the pastoral. Epistles, both first and second Timothy and Titus faithfulness will be the theme and the particular aspect that we've been looking at in Chapter four is that faithfulness to stand. And we said that there was three things overall that he was going to talk to Timothy about when it came to being faithful to stand, that he needed to be faithful to stand in the midst of apostasy, that he needed to be faithful to stand for the truth and that he would need to be faithful to stand in his ministry.

Well, last week we talked about being faithful to stand in the midst of apostasy. Today we come to part two faithful to. Stand on the truth, and so we start in Chapter four, verse six, and this is what it says in pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, constantly nourished in the words of faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been falling following, but have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness for bodily discipline is only of little.

On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness for bodily discipline is only of little. But godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds the promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving of full acceptance, for it is this it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially believers. Now, as we look at this theme of being faithful to stand on the truth, he's going to tell them that there's three things he's going.

in need in order to stand faithful on the truth. Three things he needs to do. He needs instruction, he needs discipline, and he needs hope. So let's take these three things. Let's first of all look at instruction. Look one more time at verse six. It says, in pointing out these things, brethren, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, constantly nourished on the words of faith

and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. He says, in pointing out these things. Now, again, as you approach scripture, when it says something, you should ask yourself a question. What are these things that he's talking about here? What are the things that he is supposed to be pointing out to them? Well, that takes us directly back to what he had just covered

in that first set of verses. So let's read verses one and two real quick. It says, but the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits, doctrines of demons, by the means of the hypocrisy of liars, sin, and evil. And he says, in pointing out these things. Now, again, as you approach scripture,

seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. He says, if you point out these things, the fact that there are those who will follow deceptive spirits, that there are those who will follow the doctrine of demons, that there are those who will be hypocritical liars, that there are those whose consciences will be seared as with a hot iron. If you point out these things, you will be a faithful servant of Jesus Christ. The word point out can also mean explain or instruct the brethren on these things. What he tells Timothy is, if you want to really be a faithful

servant of Jesus Christ, you can't just give the happy messages. Remember, I shared that last week. I wish I could just give all of the happy, feel-good messages in the world. I wish they could all just be about the love of Jesus and the goodness of God and how to be a really good person. But that would make me not a faithful shepherd. Because a faithful shepherd, a faithful

servant of Jesus Christ is going to point out the false, which will automatically emphasize the true. It's an important aspect. It's not the only thing that we should do, but it's one of the things that should be done. It's pointing out the truth. It's pointing out the false, which will automatically emphasize the true. It's pointing out that which is false. And as we have done with many of the

things that we've looked at in 1 Timothy, we realize that while this is written to a pastor, it has implications for all of us. Because while you may not be the pastor of a church, you may have a family or you have friends that you know that walk with Jesus. And I can tell you right now, if you want to be a faithful servant of Jesus Christ, you need to point out the false that is around you. And you need to point out the false when you see other people begin to walk into that in their lives. That's what a faithful servant of Jesus Christ is.

Jesus Christ does. Listen, I've seen people start to drift into the false. They find the new thing that came about on the internet or the new thing that's in the Christian bookstore, the new thing that everybody's doing, this new trend. And it's like, well, I mean, it's great in theory and everything, but there's some falsehood in that. You need to pay attention to it. You need to pay

attention to that which is false because I love you and I don't want you to end up being led astray. It will make you a little unpopular at times. It makes me a little unpopular at times. I can tell you right now, people sometimes don't like me because I point out what's false. But it's still something that's necessary. I can tell you right now, people sometimes don't like me

because I point out what's false. But it's still something that's necessary to be done. Necessary to be done the lives of the people that we love. But I'll tell you this, and I pointed this out first service because it kind of came to me as I was speaking. I'll tell you this. If you are going to tell someone that they're falling into the false, you better to be able to explain

to them why it's false. Because here's the problem is sometimes we'll hear something and in our spirit, because of the Holy Spirit at work in us, we'll go, that's not right. But we don't know why. And we just settle with the fact that, well, that's not right. So somebody else says, and we're like, you know, that's wrong. And they're like, why? And you're like, great question. I just know it is. Well,

that's as bad as what they would say, right? You need to be able to know why something is false. Therefore, you should start to study it out. When you hear about things that you know that you disagree with, and you know scripture disagrees with, get to a place where you know why scripture disagrees with it. Get to a place where you know why that is not lining up with God's word. Listen,

we have so many resources right now that it won't take you very long to discover, and study out why you feel the way that you feel. I love when people come to me and challenge me with things. They say, but why don't you believe this? Why does the Bible say this? I love that about my daughters. My daughters are so bold with me to be like, dad, I don't know why the Bible

says this. I don't know why this is wrong. And I'm like, that's a great question. Some of them I'm right there with. I'm like, well, I can tell you exactly why the Bible says that's wrong. But some of them I have to study out a little bit. It's a fantastic question. I hadn't thought about that. Let's look at what the Bible says. You need to be able to know that. He says, in pointing these things out,

you will be a faithful servant or a good servant of Jesus Christ. What makes him a good servant of Jesus Christ? Well, two things. Number one, the fact that he's faithful to tell the truth. The fact that he's faithful to tell the truth. Do you know what my favorite friends in the world are is the people that are willing to tell me the truth. The people that are willing to be honest with me about things. I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

It doesn't matter what anybody else says to me after church about how you felt about the service, about how you felt about anything that I had to say. There's only one opinion I really care about besides Jesus, and that's my wife. You know why? Because my wife will be honest with me. And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if she says, yes, that was really good, it all made sense,

that yes, it was really good and all made sense. Because I know that if something is a little bit off or she's like, eh, didn't like that, I understand that she says that out of love, but she's going to be honest with me. And I appreciate that because she is, faithful, and she's faithful to tell me the truth and everything. And it's so good to have friends like that, but it's even better to be a servant of Jesus Christ like that, to be a servant of Jesus Christ who is faithful to tell the truth. But the second thing that

makes him a faithful servant of Jesus Christ is that he has been faithful to be nourished in the word. Let me read verse six to you one more time. In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, constantly nourished on the word of faith, and of a sound doctrine which you have been following. I love the wording that he uses there, nourished with the words of truth, because it carries with it the idea of what God's word actually is for us. And something I don't think we always pay attention to, that God's word is

not just another book that we read, it's the nourishment that we need for our lives. This is going to be a real theme we talk about throughout the message, so just kind of buckle up for this, but it's the nourishment that we need for our lives. As a matter of fact, you know that throughout scripture, the word of God is referred to as two different types of food. It's referred to as the pure milk of the word, and then it is referred to as the meat that you should begin to crave. When you first start walking with Jesus, you need the pure milk of

the word. You need something put on a much more simple level for you, on a much more basic level for you. But then as you grow in your walk with Jesus Christ, the goal is that eventually you're past the simple stories, and you're ready to start digging deeper into the word. You're ready for the meat of the word, because all of it's going to nourish you. But the idea is that that's

food for your soul. It's the very thing that will grow you into who God wants for you to be. And so he says, as a faithful servant of Jesus Christ, you should warn them of these things, but you should also be being nourished in the word yourself. Why? Because if you're going to point out the false, you better know what is the true. If you're going to point out the things that

are not good, you better really be solid in the things that are good. And so you need to be nourished in the word. I read this in a commentary, and it said, the great need for the Christian constantly be nourished in the word, a steady diet of God's word, and a steady diet of sound doctrine. And if you're going to be used by God in any way, and listen, if you're here and you're born again, God wants to use you in some way, then you need to be constantly being nourished in the word of God, so that you can not only instruct others, but that you are being instructed yourself. And so to stand firm, to stand fast on the truth, you number one, need instruction.

But then number two is discipline. Notice what it says in verse seven, but have nothing to do with the worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds the promise for the present life, and also for the life to come. Discipline.

As disciplined servants of Jesus Christ, the first thing you have to know is what to reject, what to put away from you, what to have nothing to do with. And he says, have nothing to do with, or reject. Let me read it to you again, because I don't want to quote this incorrectly. Worldly fables fit only for old women. Man, I love Paul, right? Like, dude just calls it like it is.

Worldly fables. What does he mean by worldly fables? Profane and silly myths. Now listen, I read an incredible number of, and I'm not going to go into too much detail on this, but I'm going to read an incredible number of, and I'm not going to go into too much detail on this, but I'm going to read an incredible number of, and I'm not going to go into too much detail on this, but I'm going to read some commentaries on this, hoping that someone was going to be like, you see, in Ephesus at this point in time, which is where Timothy is, which is where Paul's writing to, in Ephesus at this point in time, these were the silly myths. And maybe I missed it in the commentary. Nobody

told me what the silly myth was. Nobody told me what the worldly fable fit only for old women was. So I was left to my own devices. So all week long, I've been praying, Lord, what do you mean by this? What does Timothy mean by this? And so, through prayer and through study and everything else, this is what I came up with. The worthless things of the world that distract from Jesus. The worthless things of the world

that distract from Jesus. Do you know what the word worldly or profane means there? It means common, that which can be walked over. That's the idea of it. So in other words, it's a worthless thing. And we need to beware of the worthless things of the world that will distract us from Jesus. And do you know what one of the biggest things that came into my mind was as I thought about

the worthless thing of the world? All of the conspiracy theories right now. Whether they be governmental conspiracy theories, whether they be health conspiracy theories, pharmaceuticals conspiracy, you name them. Listen, are they true? I don't know. Are they pointing you to Jesus? Probably not, right? And if that's all you're spending your time doing, then you need to start

rejecting that stuff. Because remember, the things that are important to you, the things that are important in our lives are two-fold. Number one, is it helping me to reach in and build up the body and build up my own walk with Jesus Christ? And is it helping me to reach out with the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world around me? If it's not helping me with those two things, then I either

need to limit or reject it in my life. Because those are the two things I need to be focused on in my life. And so he says, have nothing to do with, reject those kinds of things. The worthless things of the world that ultimately lead you away from Jesus. Two or three weeks ago, I came across something at the end of 2 Kings. And it was right towards the end of the kingdom of Judah, right

before they were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. And it was this interesting little commentary right there in 2 Kings. And it says, they gave themselves over to worthless idols and became themselves worthless. And I thought, what a fantastic commentary on what happens when we give ourselves to the worthless things of the world, the worthless things of the world that end up distracting us from Jesus.

It's ultimately, ultimately your life starts to become worthless. And listen, that's not what you were created for. You were created with purpose. You were created on purpose. And you were created with a great amount of worth. Therefore, don't give yourself over to the worthless things of the world that distract you from Jesus. So you should shun, you should have nothing to do with,

reject the worldly fables. But you are to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. Why? Because bodily exercise profits a little bit, but godliness is profitable for all things and for all times. So I'm going to take those two things, bodily exercise and disciplining yourself for godliness and look at the benefits of both of them. So he says, discipline yourself towards

godliness. We'll deal with that in just a moment because bodily exercise, bodily discipline profits a little. And I do want to point this out. We need to understand who Paul was writing to at this point in time. Paul is writing to a Greco-Roman culture that put incredibly high emphasis on the physical physique, especially of a man. As a matter of fact, between the Greek games and the competitors in the Greek games and the Roman

soldiers, there was so much emphasis put on the physique of a Greco-Roman man at that point in time that this statement that Paul made, that bodily exercise is profitable just for a little bit, was a pretty earth-shattering idea to them, right? Be like showing up to the gym and being like, you know, this really, you know, this really, you know, this really, you know, this really, you know, this really isn't all that important, right? And all of the people at the gym are like, get out of here, right? And understand, I think bodily exercise is incredibly important. And I think it has a great

number of benefits for us, but they're only on this side of eternity. But I do want to point this out because I don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater because bodily exercise really does have spiritual connotation to it. We need to know that, right? Like bodily exercise, first of all, it teaches you a little bit of discipline in your life, which we'll talk about in just a moment.

But there are massive physical benefits to you being active. And I tell you, this because as somebody who deals with anxiety and depression, I know that the number one thing that helped pull me out of that was staying active, right? So there's all kinds of physical things that are important about bodily exercise. Matter of fact, I read this article one time about Jim Elliott. I don't know if you know who Jim Elliott is. He was a missionary to the

Indians and ended up giving his life in that service of missions work. And when he was in college, he was a wrestler. And so I think that's why I included it on this article. And he wrote a letter home to his parents because he wants a pretty good accolades as a wrestler when he was in college. And he said, listen, you're going to read about some things that I was able

to accomplish as a wrestler in college. But understand, I didn't do this to earn accolades. I did this so that I could have a fit body for the service of the king. And I thought that's a really good way for us to look at physical fitness in our lives. I want to offer to God the best that I possibly can. After all, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. I want to offer to

God the best that I can. And if I want to have energy to serve God, I want to offer to God the best that I can. If I want to have strength to serve God, if I want to have stamina to serve God, and trust me, to do this job, it takes those three things. If I want to have those things in order to serve the Lord, then I need to stay physically fit. It's a very important aspect of my life.

But not only that, there's a mental and emotional benefit to physical exercise in our lives, right? Like, do you realize that sometimes the reason why you get caught up in your own head is because you just need to go for a walk? Like, you need to get out in sunshine and go for a walk. I promise you, that will change the way that you view life. It will change the

way that you view everything. I've shared it before. I don't like to walk because I move too slow when I walk. I like to run. I still move slow, but I feel like I'm moving faster. I actually saw this hat the other day, sidebar. I actually saw this hat the other day that said, Slow Dad Run Club. And I was like, oh, that's what I need because that's what I've become, slow dad. Anyway,

what was I saying? Oh yeah, running. The reason why I like to do it is because I can't think as much at that point in time, and it allows my mind to be clear in order to really process life. That's one of the ways that I process things. As a matter of fact, most of my final sermon prep, besides what takes place really early on Sunday mornings, takes place when I run because I commune with God in that moment. And so there's massive benefits

to bodily exercise, but understand they're only on this side of eternity. So while it's important, put the most importance, put the most emphasis on that which will last for eternity, which is godliness, which is why he says, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, right? So the word discipline is a very interesting word. The word discipline can also be translated to train, and it comes from the Greek word gymnaze. Imagine gym,

naze, right? N-A-Z-E, G-Y-M-N-A-Z-E. That's the Greek word that's used. Believe it or not, it's where we get our word gymnasium from. Huge leap, right? But that's where we get our word gymnasium from. That's the idea of the word discipline. One commentary that I read said, you can smell the sweat all over the word, right? Because that's what it means. It means to discipline yourself. It means to work hard

in order to become something. And that's the idea. It says, discipline yourself. And what are we disciplining ourselves for? The purpose of godliness, which can also be translated godlikeness. Not that we become God, but that the character and the attitude of God is developed in our lives. Well, you know how I am. I don't like to just take something at surface. I want

to proverbially put shoes on that and make it run. That's a pretty good pun there, right? Feel like with gymnasium, that felt like the right thing to say. I want to know how to make that work in my life. And so I asked myself, what does it look like? What does it look like to discipline myself for the purpose of godliness? So I wrote down five things that I think it looks

like to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness. I think, did I have you put those up there? I didn't pay attention. Yeah, I did. Look at that. Number one, study the word. Study the word. Now, I read this article the other day, and it was the 10 reasons why young people don't like to listen to your sermons. And I was like, I should pay attention to this. I want young people to

listen to my sermons. I talk to them a lot. And I felt decent about some of the things in there. I have work to do. As a matter of fact, I had my wife read through them, and she was like, this is where you're doing good. This is where you could do better. And so I swiped through these things and read them. And one of them was, you tell people to study the word, but you never tell them how

to study the word. And so I read this article the other day, and it was the 10 reasons why young people don't like to listen to your sermons. And I was like, ooh, I'm going to take advantage of this one this morning. Feels like the right time to do this, right? So how do you study the word, especially you young people pay attention in here? How do you study the word? Well, there's usually

two problems that you have to solve when you're going to study the word. The first problem is, do I have time, right? Everybody in the world loves this one statement. Well, you know, I really don't have time for that. It's going to require a lot of time of me. Interesting you should say that. Let me read something to you here. I came across these two things in R. Kent Hughes' commentary. It's pretty good.

He said, this call is for all of us who know Christ, regardless of how busy we are or how demanding our occupation. Billy Graham has shared that his medical missionary father-in-law, Nelson Bell, who ran a 400-bed hospital in China, often on his own, made it a point to rise every morning at 4.30 and spend two to three hours in Bible reading. He didn't do his correspondence or any of that. He said, I'm going to study the word, but I don't have time for that.

He said, I'm going to study the word, but I don't have time for that. He said, I'm going to study the word, but I don't have time for that. He said, I'm going to study the word, but I don't have time for that. He just read the scriptures every morning, and he was a walking Bible encyclopedia. People wondered at the holiness and the greatness of his life. I asked a good personal friend,

Dr. Ken Geiser, who worked with Dr. Bell about this, and he said every word was true. He gave one more story. He said, consider the example of Lieutenant General William K. Harrison, who was the most decorated soldier in the 30th Infantry Division and rated by General Eisenhower as the number one infantryman in the world. He said, I'm going to study the word, but I don't have time for that.

General Harrison was the first American to enter Belgium during the war, which he did at the head of the Allied forces. He received every decoration of valor except for the Congressional Medal of Honor. When the Korean War began, he served as the chief of staff in the United Nations Command. And because of his character and calm self-control was ultimately President Eisenhower's choice to head the long and tedious negotiations to end the war.

General Harrison was a soldier's soldier who led a brave, busy, ultra-kinetic life, but he was also an amazing man of the word. When he was a 23-year-old West Point cadet, he began reading the Old Testament through once and the New Testament four times every year. General Harrison did this until the end of his life. Even in the thick of the war, his commitment, even in the thick of the war, he maintained his commitment by catching up during the two to three day respites for replacement and refitting that followed the battles, so that at the end of the war, he was right on schedule. When at the age of 90,

his failing eyesight no longer permitted this discipline, he had read the Old Testament 70 times and the New Testament 280 times. No wonder his godliness and wisdom were proverbial. It's no surprise that the Lord used him for 18 fruitful years to lead the officers' Christian fellowship. So maybe you do have time. Maybe you need to stop. I don't have time. And you need to start saying, I don't want to. Because that's actually what's

true. And I know that's incredibly harsh. I'm not trying to be harsh. I'm talking to myself right now too. But maybe time's not actually our problem. Maybe our discipline is our problem. So that's the time issue. Well, I don't have time. Yes, you do. You just have to choose to. But number two, how do you do it? How do you go about reading the word? How do you begin to study

it and really know what it has to say? Well, if you're going to study God's word, you're going to the first thing that you have to do is you have to choose the right Bible, right? There are so many Bibles and Bible translations out there. And listen, there are some people who get so intense about the Bible translation that you use. I love Jack and the King James only people, right? Listen,

if you're a King James only person here, I love you, but give it up, okay? There are other translations of the Bible and they are really, really good, okay? I actually watched a video clip one time of a guy saying, I can correct the original Greek with the King James Bible. I'm like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. The King James Bible was translated

from, wait for it, the original Greek. You can't correct it. Come on now. And so, and then I hear the New American Standard people say, well, you know, that's actually the most accurate translation. Not always. I use it all the time. Sometimes it's not the most accurate. And then the New King James people are like, well, you know, if you really want the updated,

accurate version, you'll read the New King James. Not always, because sometimes I like the older version of the New King James, but I like the older version of the New King James. And so, here's the fact of the matter. You know how you choose the right Bible for you? You choose the Bible you'll read. And you choose the Bible you can understand, right? Go online, go to the

Christian, listen, I love to go to the Christian bookstore and I love to look at, my daughters hate it. They're like, where's dad's Bible section? Oh, great, right? Because I'm in there like, ooh, did you feel the cover of this one? Oh, ooh, I like this translation too, right? Go find the one that you'll understand and then read it. And then you should maybe find yourself a Bible

Bible, okay? There's a difference between a text Bible and a study Bible. A text Bible just has the text in it. That's why it's called a text Bible. We don't get overly creative as Bible teachers, okay? We just say it like it is. But a study Bible is going to have some extra things in it, like introductions at the beginning of a book. That's going to do kind of like what I do

with you, where I tell you who it's written to, where they were, what some of the main points are so that you can kind of clue into those things. So maybe you need a study Bible to start off. So number one, choose the right Bible. Number two, you're going to answer three questions. Okay? I always view every Bible study like this, whether I am doing my devotions or whether I'm

preparing for Sunday morning, I'm always answering three questions. I'm solving three problems. Number one, what does it say? What does it say? Just face value. What does that say? The second problem that you're solving is, what does it mean? The third problem that you're solving is, how does that apply to me? Right? So let's just take this verse. Okay, it says,

discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. Well, what does that say? Well, it feels pretty basic, right? Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. So what does that mean? Well, we're going to ask ourselves what the word discipline means. Well, we know that the word discipline means train, because I looked that up, and I read some other translations. I know that it means train, and so it carries with it the idea of a gymnasium,

so there's hard work for it. I know that I know what a purpose is, and I know what godliness means now. It means godlikeness. It means that I am going to, work at becoming like God. Well, what does that mean for me? Well, that's where I came up with those five points. Well, what does that mean for me if I'm going to discipline myself for the purpose of becoming like Jesus? Well, it means, first of all, I'm going to study the Word. Does

that kind of make sense? That's how you get into God's Word, and you begin to study it for yourself. Don't make it harder than it has to be. Don't over-spiritualize it. I know it's very spiritual in nature. I understand that. But I remember when I was about 19 to 21 years old, getting into God's Word, and every time I'd do a devotion, I would be like, okay, I'm just waiting for like

the Shekinah glow to fall. Lord, what do you have to say? And finally, one day, God was like, why don't you just read it? Instead of like trying to get like over-spiritual with it, what does it say? Obey it. I'm like, oh, that's a good idea too. I could do that, right? So I'm going to figure out what it says. I'm going to figure out what it means. But listen, and this is really important,

you have to start living it out. That's applying it to yourself. Because you can do all the study in the world and tell me everything about that Bible verse, everything about that Bible passage. But listen, that Bible passage isn't for everybody else. That Bible passage is for you. And at some point in time, you have to say, so what does that mean for me? How am I going to live that out in my daily life? And then you have to apply it to

yourself. Otherwise, you've added to your intellect, but not your walk. And your goal, listen, is always to become more like Jesus. That's your goal. For Bible study, to become like Christ and to know him better. That's what you're shooting for, okay? So number one, you're going to study the word. Number two is prayer. Listen, I continue to be amazed at the power of prayer. I got to give up, get up and give the National Day of Prayer

a little message or whatever. And so I did some study on prayer and kind of what's done in my own life. I did some study on prayer and kind of what's done in my own life. I did some study on what I've seen it do in the Calvary movement, what I'm watching it do in our community, what I see it do in the lives of other people. And I am just more and more and more impressed with the fact

that if we want God to move, it starts in prayer. It starts with God stirring our hearts and then us crying out to God about what we see and then watching God do his work. I've watched it so much this year. You know, the more that you put yourself out there, the more that you have to completely rely on God and the more that you pray about it, the more that you watch God work. Can I share a

quick story with you? So you have to because I'm here and you're there, right? I guess you can get up and leave. Please don't. Anyway, so about three years ago, I got a call from somebody and they said, hey, I'm really concerned about the college campus right now. It's dark. There's just not a lot good, not a lot of good going on there. Can we just start praying for that? So I

said, yes, I'll pray. And I've been praying and this person has been praying and come to find out there was another lady who's a teacher at the college that's been praying as well. And for three years, we've been praying intensely that God would move on the college campus. Well, do you know when I get to start this fall? I get to start FCA and be on the college campus. And that's what

God's doing right now. And I've got some wonderful student leaders that are ready to start moving and they're different teams. And it's fantastic. And I got to tell this person the other day, I said, I want to tell you something. Do you remember when you called me a few years back and you said, I'm really concerned. Can we just start praying for the college? They said, yeah, I absolutely

remember that. And I shared what was going on. I mean, just almost in tears at what's happening right now, because that's the power of prayer. And we discount that. We're like, oh, prayer's the afterthought. No, prayer's not the afterthought. Prayer's the battle. Prayer's where things really take place. Only here's what I've learned about prayer. You have to make it a priority. You have

to make a list, right? Otherwise, well, the old saying goes, if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail, right? My wife and I started doing something. It was completely her idea. I would love to be like, yes, as a man of God, I led my wife in this. But we talked about praying and my wife said, well, what if we just chose a time? And I was like, that's a fantastic idea. Now, I'm a

night owl, not an early morning person. I'm very confused in the mornings, right? Honestly, y'all know, first service, I'm much more confused during first service than I am second. And so I'm very confused in the mornings. And so I'm anticipating about 930 or 10 o'clock at night after everybody goes to bed, we'll pray together. And she said, can we do it in the morning? I'm

fresher then. And I'm like, yes. So she drags my lazy rear end out of bed at 545 every morning, and we pray together. And listen, we have watched that be so powerful. Not because there's anything wrong with that. Quite frankly, I'm super confused about what I'm praying about, right? I'm just like, Jesus, the stuff, you know, the things, please help. And Jesus is like, the Holy Spirit's like,

this is what he meant. And Jesus is like, that's what I was picking up. Because God's good like that, right? But it became a discipline in our lives. And listen, once it becomes that discipline, it's a really good thing, because it makes you think about it in every other way. It was fascinating how that translated into me choosing other times in the day going, you know what,

everything gets set aside at this time of day, and I'm going to pray for these people. Because God lays people on my heart, and I'm like, I can't just say I'm going to pray for it. I've got to really decide I'm going to pray. Because it's amazing how that changes your view. And then you watch prayers get answered, and you're like, oh, let's do it again, right? It's so exciting.

And so number one is study the Word. Number two is prayer. Number three is Scripture memory. Listen, I have failed the past two or three weeks to get my Scripture memory verse in the bulletin. That's on me. My fault. But the more that you're putting God's Word into your heart, into your mind, the greater it is for you. Because what it does is it banks a set of

tools in your mind so that when stuff comes up, you pull from that set of tools, and you know exactly what to do. It's like a cache of weapons, right, that are ready to be used in the middle of battle. And that's what you're doing when you're memorizing Scripture. But listen, it requires discipline. You can be like, I think I'm going to start memorizing Scripture sometime this week.

Well, I'll check it out later. No, you've got to figure out what you're going to memorize, and then you've got to start reading it. And you've got to start writing it down somewhere. Get yourself some note cards. Get yourself an accountability partner, somebody that you're going to memorize that Scripture with, because that's discipline. You see, otherwise it's an idea. But once you put

a plan to it, it's discipline, right? So we discipline ourselves towards godliness. So study, prayer, Scripture memory. Oh, I hate this one. Fasting. I'm not good at this. I think it's because I was a wrestler. That's what I blame it on, right? Like PTSD kicks in the minute I'm like, hey, I'm going to not eat today. And all I can think is like junior, well, almost every year of wrestling and being like, oh, I want

to eat so bad, right? Maybe it's just my flesh, but I like to blame wrestling for it. And so this isn't the easiest thing in the world for me to do. But I will say this, the times when I do it, always beneficial. God does so much. And listen, somebody pointed out to me after first service, it was a great thing to point out. Like, listen, I realized that sometimes a fast has to look

different for people, because sometimes maybe you take medicine or something, and it's like, dude, I'm going to fast in order to maintain your life. And if you don't eat with that medicine, nothing else happens in your day. Listen, God understands that, okay? Like God is gracious, and he's not going to be like, well, you didn't fast properly. You can't do it. No, you do what

you can do. You pray about it. You seek the Lord about it. You do what you can do. But fasting is just simply the denial of the temporary for the priority of the eternal, right? So if you can fit it into that category, the denial of the temporary for the priority of the eternal, then that's fasting in your life, right? But fasting is a really important thing to do, and it really tunes

us back in with the things of God. And then the last of the disciplining ourselves is to serve and to tell. Eventually, brothers and sisters, here's what you got to know. You're going to have to serve God. Otherwise, you will never grow in your walk with Jesus Christ. And that's just an honest statement. Like, you will come to church, and you will learn some things, and there will

be a certain amount of growth, but you'll stagnate out of it. You're not going to grow. You're not going to have that point in time. Because if you're not giving out and you're only taking in, you become like the Dead Sea. See, the Dead Sea in the nation of Israel is the highest salt content of any body of water in the entire earth. You know why? It has no outlet. And so when the rains come

down, it fills up, and that salt content just remains the same because there's no outlet. And because there's no outlet, nothing can live in the Dead Sea. That's why they call it—wait for it—the Dead Sea, right? But it has no outlet. And if you want to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, you need to become like Jesus. Because remember what Jesus said, the Son of Man did not

come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And listen, I'm just going to tell you right now, I shared this Wednesday night. We were talking about Elijah and Elisha. And Elisha was like, hey, I want a double portion of the Spirit that's on you, Elisha—or Elijah. And he says, great. You watched me get taken up in the whirlwind.

You'll have a double portion of the Spirit. So he watches Elijah get taken up in the whirlwind, and it says that Elisha's mantle hits the ground. The mantle meaning like the cloth that everyone knew him by, right? It was sort of a symbol of the anointing of ministry that Elijah had. And Elisha had a choice to make at that point in time. He could either look at the mantle and know

the potential of the mantle and then walk away, or he could pick it up and put it on. And even though it would mean sacrifice, and even though it would mean pressure and stress, he would have all the blessing of serving God. And I'm here to tell you right now, and it's the same thing I challenged Wednesday night with, my heart hurts for people that sit in a church and never serve. My heart hurts for people that sit in a church and only take in and never serve.

Because you don't know the benefit that comes with serving. Because you don't understand the benefit that comes when you are serving not only in your local church, but in your local community and even far beyond there. Because the benefit that comes into your life from serving is something that can't be put into words. It can only be expressed in the godly character that is revealed through it. Because if you really want to learn what it's like to be like Jesus, then you'll start

to serve and you'll start to realize how much you're not like Jesus. And it'll make you go, oh man, I need God even more in my life. I need more of Jesus in my life, right? Like when pro teams come together, they play a certain number of games before they get into the season. Those are called pre-season games. And the reason why they call them pre-season games

is because, well, we all go why they call them pre-season games. I feel like we've done that joke enough. But they're pre-season games because they're working out all of the kinks. They're working out all of the issues, which is why they don't play the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season. They play it at the end of the season. Because the big game comes after they've worked

all of the things out, right? And that's the way it is with us. If you want some of the things to start getting worked out of your life, it starts with serving. It starts right here. It starts in your house. It starts in your neighborhood. But don't just sit in this church. Don't just sit here. Listen, I'll still love you. Jesus will still love you, but you'll be the one that's missing out. And so he says, discipline yourself for godliness,

for the purpose of godliness, because bodily exercise has a little bit of profit, but godliness is profitable for all things because it holds, into verse 8, it holds, a promise for the present life and also for the life that is to come. I got to thinking about the benefits that come with godliness on this side of eternity. We can all think of the benefits that come with the other side of eternity, right? Like we're set free, we know Jesus better, all those kinds of things. There's all kinds of benefits on the other side

of eternity, but there's benefits on this side of eternity as well. I read this article a few years ago, and I quoted it maybe a couple of years ago here, but I wanted to read it again. And it's the benefits for Bible reading. I don't know if you've ever read this or not, or if you remember me quoting this before, but they did a survey of somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000 people. I

can't remember what it was. And they tried to determine exactly how the Bible would affect their life. And those that read the Bible once a week, including like a church service like this, negligible effect, couldn't even hardly tell the difference in their lives. Same with two times a week. Three times a week, maybe they started to notice it, but if it was four times a week or more,

there were massive benefits that began to take place. in their lives. Ready for these? Number one, feelings of loneliness dropped by 30%. Number two, anger issues dropped by 32%. Number three, bitterness in relationships dropped by 40%. Number four, alcoholism dropped by 57%. Sex outside of marriage dropped by 68%. Feeling spiritually stagnant dropped by 60%. The viewing of pornography dropped by 60%. The viewing of

pornography dropped by 61%. And these are the two that'll really get you. The sharing of your faith jumped by 200% when you were in the word all the time on a consistent basis. And the discipling of others jumped by 230%. Yeah. Disciplining yourself towards godliness has benefits on this side of eternity, as well as the other side of eternity. Amen. And so if you want to stand

firm, if you want to be faithful to stand on the truth, number one, it takes instruction. Number two, it takes discipline. Number three, it takes hope. Notice who he says in verse 10. For it is for this that we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God who is the savior of all men, especially believers. He says, to this end we strive. To what end?

What end are we striving for? The thing that we're disciplining ourselves for. Godliness. God-like character in our lives, right? says, to this end, we strive. That word strive is another very interesting athletic term. It literally means to contend in the games. That's what the Greek word means. It's where we get our English word agonize from, right? I thought we were talking about hope. This is hope, okay? Because remember,

this is why we agonize. This is why we contend. This is why we discipline ourselves to become more like Jesus, to become more Christ-like in our character and our nature. But notice what he says, for it is for this that we labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on the living God. In other words, we put in that work, God produces the fruit. We have the discipline,

God produces the results in our lives. We hope in what God is able to do in us as we don't take God's grace in vain. Instead, we, take full advantage of it, and get to know the God that we were created to know. I'm going to read for you a verse out of 1 Corinthians. You might just write in the margin of your Bible, 1 Corinthians 15.10. 1 Corinthians 15.10, it says, this is Paul again speaking, it says,

But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Brothers and sisters, you can work as hard as you want to, and nothing will ever happen if you don't have hope in God. Because God's the one that produces the fruit in our lives. And it ultimately comes back to that.

What's your goal? What's your strength? What's your purpose? Is it God and knowing Him? Well, if we put all of that hope in God, then He produces amazing amount of fruit in our lives. I want you to... Notice how he describes the living God here, who is the Savior of all men, especially believers. He's the Savior of all men. The potential for salvation is there for everyone because of God.

Because He is powerful enough to save all. But He only saves those who put their faith in Him. Salvation is only for those who will come to Jesus and put their faith in Him. Amen? So, this morning is Communion Sunday. I'm looking down the hallway to see if I have ushers. Oh, they're scurrying now. I love when they scurry. It always makes me laugh a little. I got a thumbs up, and I see no kids.

Well, while they are working on getting them, I'll spend just a couple of moments talking to you about Communion. So, inside of each of these containers is some little cups, and the top cup has the juice, and the bottom cup has the cracker. And in and of themselves, pretty basic elements. It's what they stand for that's so important for us. Because what they stand for for us is the body and the blood of Jesus.

And so, on that last great night of the Feast, just hold the kids out there when you get them, and we'll bring them in in just a minute. On that last great night of the Feast, Jesus took the bread and He broke it. And He said, this is my body, which is broken for you. And so, as we look at this bread that God has given to us, we are reminded of the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us.

We were told in the book of Isaiah that, He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was laid upon Him. And by His stripes, we are healed. Never mind, come on in. All right, watch for your kids here. Come on in. Here come some tiny people. Found her. Is that all of them? Good. I'm getting thumbs up from everyone.

One more, Dr. Davis is on his way. Sorry. Help him find his parents, please. All right. So, that bread represents that body of Jesus. And then, of course, Jesus took the cup. He said, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood that is shed for you. We're told as often as we do this, we do this in remembrance of Him because we proclaim the death of Jesus Christ to all those that are around us.

And so, we're told that we're to partake in a worthy manner. So, I think you know my usual spiel on this. If you're here this morning and you're not a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, you've never accepted that work into your life, I honestly would probably encourage you not to partake of it just because this meal won't mean anything to you. Now, you can become a believer in Jesus Christ by the simple act of putting your faith in Him today, coming to Jesus, confessing your sin, and accepting the work of Jesus Christ that He's done for us on the cross, the very work that this meal speaks of.

But if you're here this morning and you're a believer in Jesus Christ, then it's really good to make sure that your heart's right with the Lord, to make sure that there's nothing between you and Him that's separating you, to make sure there's nothing between you and anyone else that's separating you, to make sure that it's true communion that's taking place. And so, as the worship team comes up, you guys come on up, as the worship team comes up to lead us in this last song, I would just ask you to allow the Lord to do the work in your heart that needs to be done by the power of your Holy Spirit. When you receive those elements, when the ushers hand those out, if you'd stand and we'll partake together, and just let the Lord move through this time.

Bow with me. Father, we come to You now. And Lord, I praise You for the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us, Lord, broken for our iniquities. Lord, that You were willing to bear in Your own body on the tree all of the sin of humanity. And Lord, that by Your stripes, truly, we are healed. Father, I thank You for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us,

the blood that was enough to cover all of our sins. Lord, the blood that was enough to give us brand new life and to cleanse us. Lord, to make us white as snow, to make us pure again. So, Father, I thank You for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. And Lord, we thank You for Your sacrifice for us on the cross. May we never take for granted what You did for us.

Father, we praise You and we thank You. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's partake. And if you'd bow with me one last time. Father, thank You for the time that we've had here together. Thank You for the time that we've had in Your Word. And thank You for how faithful You are to us. And so, Father, I pray that You would be with us as we go out this week. Lord, may our hearts be continually drawn back to You.

And Lord, may we be those men and women who discipline ourselves towards the purpose of godliness. Father, move in our hearts as we hope in You. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen.