2 Timothy 3:13-17 Understanding the Times Pt 2 - Pastor Ryan - Morning Service 10:30AM

All right. Well, good morning. Glad you're here. Glad you all can make it out. If you want to go ahead and stand with me, we'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, we thank you again for another day. Thank you for allowing us to be here in your house this morning, Lord. And Lord, for those that couldn't make it this morning, I just ask that you be with them and bless them and speak to them wherever they're at, Lord, this morning. We ask your blessing upon this time. Lord, may we glorify you with our worship and our praise. Lord God, and may your Holy Spirit move mightily through the

power of your word. In Jesus' name.

You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like. God, as we continue to praise you, Lord God, and we sing this next song. Lord, if there is anybody here that is just struggling with who they are in you, Lord God, and your word says that you have set them free, that they are free indeed. Help us to walk in that today.

Lord God, I just can't, I can't help but just thank you for how good you are to us, for how faithful you are to me, Lord God. And even when I fall short, when I fail, Lord God, when I'm not faithful, Lord God, you are. Lord God, you are always, faithful, you are always good. And Lord God, I just thank you so much.

And all my faithful will sing this song, God. Sing that one more time. And all my faithful will sing of your goodness, O God. And all my faithful will sing of your goodness, O God. Would you guys go ahead and stand with me for the last one?

A thousand generations falling down and worshiping the song of angels to the Lamb. It's the greatest, your name stands above them all. And dominions all powers and positions, your name.

We lift praise to you this morning, God, to your holy name. You are King of kings and Lord of lords, and we praise you. Lord God, you are the Lord of our salvation, Lord God, and we praise you. We glorify you this morning, God. Now as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, I just ask that your Holy Spirit move mightily. Lord, speak what you want us to hear. And give us ears to hear and hearts to receive it.

We pray these things in your precious name. Amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seats. Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. Some things to take note of in your bulletins. As always, on the left-hand side, the things that go on throughout the week. In the middle section. Okay, so. Construction update. As you can tell, things are open to the new building now. However, some things are still not finished yet. So please continue to be patient with us with that.

But a couple of things that I am supposed to announce on a Sunday school slash nursery toddler front is this. You may have noticed when you dropped your tiny people off at either the nursery or the toddler place that there are baby gates there. The goal is that you will hand those children over the baby gate. And here's why. Because your kids are fast. And if we go pop that door open, your kid escapes and we're going, oh great, we lost a kid.

Nobody wants that. Nobody wants that on a Sunday. Nobody wants that on a Tuesday. We just don't want to lose any kids. So if you can, when you're both sending and receiving. Sending and receiving? Is that the right word for that? When you go pick up your kid, make sure that you pick them up over the gate. Number two. With the fact that we just have an incredible number of new people in this church.

We really need to make sure that when you go pick a child up. That you have the, when you've checked your kid in, you've got this little thing, it's called the guardian slip. You have to show whoever the Sunday school worker is, that guardian slip. In order to pick your kid up. If you want a sibling to go pick that kid up, you have to give them the guardian slip.

And this is all because I love your kids and I want to protect them. And so, so this is a way to protect those little people. So, so those are kind of the things that you need to know about that. I also have a little tip. I have a little tip. I also have a couple of announcements. Wait, nope, let's keep going down my list here. Operation Christmas Child. Those boxes are due next Sunday.

When are those boxes due? Oh, look at you guys. You're really good. Okay. And then there are, where's Jana? There she is. Four spaces open. If you are still wanting to go to Dallas, we've had four spaces open up. So if you want to go down and work at the distribution center. Go see that lady that's waving her hand in the back. And the beautiful bald man next to her.

So they will, they will, they will get you connected to be able to do that. And then fellows, we have a men's breakfast next Saturday. So take note of that. And then there are two things that are not in your bulletin that I'm going to have announced. So if you would come up and share about the ladies group.

I could be wrong, but it's my opinion that Ryan is slightly biased about the beauty of bald men. Not that you're not all beautiful. So. There's a women's retreat coming up the first Saturday in December. That's Saturday, December 6th. And women's retreats are great because we get to get together. We get to have a good time. We get to laugh. And it's best if you just grab a carload of women.

You all come together and it's a great day. It's at Calvary Chapel, Wellington. There will be four women teaching. Most of them are from the Wichita Calvaries. And it starts at 830 in the morning. It's at 430 in the afternoon. And there's no charge. Lunch will be served. So I hope some of you are able to come to that.

Cassie. Yes. So I'm going to have her come up and announce this. As we mentioned before with the fact that there's been a government shutdown and SNAP benefits have either been greatly reduced, if not canceled. I don't totally know the whole story with all that. We asked last week for some food donations. And some of you were very wonderful and brought some of those.

But Cassie had this great idea. Try to put something together to make it a little bit easier. So hit it. Hi. We do have a food pantry and we have had donations. But one of the problems we are having is actually providing people with full meals. We have shortages on canned meat specifically. So one of the things that Danielle Palmer and Jordan Aerosmith had come up with that I'm implementing up here today on their behalf.

Thank you. He's going to be Vanna for me. We have a meal in a bag. And each one of these meals, I have put together about six recipe cards out front. And each one of these meals can fit in this bag and is under $12. And that is only if you add the canned stable shelf milk to one of them. Otherwise, they're all under $10. This is an example of one. This is a much smaller baggie.

But some of these meals are rather large once you get all the canned goods in them. So this is what we're going for. The other thing we have here is just this nice little dinner prayer here. We do want to use this as kind of an outreach to bring people in to the Lord. And I just feel like this could really help our community right now. I hear a lot of people talking.

A lot of people are nervous. I know we have a lot going on with Operation Christmas Child. But the Lord asked us to be the hands and the feet. We're being the feet, getting our boots on the ground, spreading the gospel to the word. But the people here in our town really need a hand. So if you guys could just remember that the holidays are coming up. And even if the government does come back open, there is still a need in our community.

So I will be out front in the entryway with those baggies if you guys are interested and want to pick one up. And then just bring it back as soon as possible. The need is real right now. So Wednesday night, Sunday night, come bring them back, and we would really appreciate it. Thank you.

And then one last thing that I did not get announced is that if you have, if you have kindergarten, first and second, is that what it was? Pre-K and kindergarten, they'll get picked up in the same place as usual. So, and what? And first grade, what they said. So make sure that that happens. All right. Now, before we get into the word this morning, we get to do a baby dedication.

So if I could have the Warren family come up here. And while they're on their way up, I'll kind of explain what we do. So we do not believe in infant baptism. Because we feel like that's a decision that an individual needs to make for themselves. But we do believe in dedicating babies to the Lord. And that comes out of the book of 1 Samuel. There was a lady named Hannah that really, really wanted to have a son.

And she was not able to have any kids. And so she prayed that God would give her a child. And she said, Lord, if you give me this child, I will dedicate this child to you. And that's exactly what she did. And so Samuel went and lived in the temple. And even though Genevieve's not going to come live with us for Jared and I to take care of here at the church,

we do. We want to dedicate this tiny person to the Lord. And so, will you let me hold you? Are you a... You've got a snack. That helps me too. Oh, and you love... Yep, there's that. Let's switch sides. You can play with my beard over here. Look, it'll be fun. See, look, it's soft. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah? Right? Not bad. Not bad. All right. Well, let's dedicate this baby to the Lord.

Father, we come before you. And Lord, I just thank you for Genevieve. Lord, I thank you. For this wonderful young lady that you have given to this family. And Lord, we just want to give her to you. Lord, we want to see her grow in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Lord, we want to see her become a woman of God. And Lord, I pray that you would begin now, Lord, to pour out your spirit on her.

And God, that you would give her a heart to know and love you. Lord, a desire for your word. And God, that you would begin to lay out the path before her. And I lift up her family to you. And Lord, I pray that as they raise her, that you would give them all the love that you have for them. And that you would give them all of the wisdom of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen.

Did you say amen? No, that's okay. The snacks got me too. Very good. All right, there you go. Yes, love you guys.

It's usually at that point in time that a baby farts on me. So I'm glad that didn't happen. All right. I'm not allowed to say that from the pulpit. I got to remember that. For our responsive reading this morning, we're going to be in Psalm 39. Psalm 39. We'll be looking at the New American Standard for this part. If you need a copy, it should be one in a row around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 39, 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. In the even verses, Psalm 39 for the choir director for Jedithoon, a Psalm of David. I said, I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue. I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle while the wicked are in my presence. I was mute and silent. I refrained even from good. And my sorrow grew worse.

My heart was hot within me while I was musing. The fire burned. And then I spoke with my tongue. Lord, make me to know my end. And what is the extent of my days? Let me know how transient I am. Behold, you have made my days as hand breaths in my lifetime as nothing in your sight. Surely every man is at his best is a mere breath. Say love. Surely every man walks about as a phantom.

Surely. Surely they make an uproar for nothing. He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Make me not the reproach of the foolish. I have become mute and I do not open my mouth because it is you who have done it. Remove your plague from me because of the opposition of your hand.

I am perishing. With reproofs you chasten me. You chasten. You chasten a man for iniquity. You consume as a moth what is precious to him. Surely every man is a mere breath. Say love. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry. Do not be silent at my tears, for I am a stranger with you, a sojourner like all my fathers. Read verse 13 with me. Turn your gaze away from me that I may smile again before I depart and am no more.

And so, Father, we come to you now. And, Lord, I just ask that as we spend time in your presence, that you would be with me. And, Lord, that you would give us that heart to understand and perceive. And, Lord, that you would move in this place as you see fit. Father, I just ask for a fresh filling of your Holy Spirit. And, Lord, I just ask for a fresh move of your Holy Spirit this morning.

In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Timothy, chapter 3. 2 Timothy, chapter 3. We come today to the second part of our series. We come today to the second part of our series, Understand the Times. Understand the Times. And so, last week, what we talked about is he told Timothy, he said, Understand this or realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come.

And, of course, those difficult times had less to do with exterior circumstances like famines or pestilence or wars or economic issues. And those dangerous or those perilous times had a whole lot more to do with the people that were living in them. That in that time, people would continue to grow worse and worse. And as we... As we see time march on, that's exactly what we see.

We see an intensity of things. But not only do we see evil in the world around us, but we see imposters oftentimes in the church within us. And so, he deals with those things and says, pay attention to these things, not to mention the fact that persecutions will come. And so, as he has laid out for us the difficulties that we face in these last days, he now tells us what we need to do to live in these end times.

What we need to do to live. Live with an understanding of the times. How we respond knowing the evil that is in the world around us. And he simply gives Timothy one statement. He says, remain faithful. And so, the subtitle this morning is, remain faithful. And so, we pick up in verse 13 of chapter 3. And it says this. But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

You, however, continue... ...in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them. And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate.

And so, as he tells him to remain faithful, the first thing he reminds him of is that evil men will grow worse and worse. Evil men will grow worse and worse. He had in the verse previous said, yes, everyone who seeks to live godly for Jesus in this present age will suffer persecution and understand that evil men and imposters will continue to grow worse and worse. He had in the verse previous said, yes, everyone who seeks to live godly for Jesus in this present age will suffer persecution and understand that evil men and imposters will continue to grow worse and worse.

He had in the verse previous said, yes, everyone who seeks to live godly for Jesus in this present age will suffer persecution and understand that evil men and imposters will continue to grow worse and worse. He had in the verse previous said, yes, everyone who seeks to live godly for Jesus in this present age will suffer persecution and understand that evil men and imposters will continue to grow worse and worse. He had in the verse previous said, yes, everyone who seeks to live godly for Jesus in this present age will suffer persecution and understand that evil men and imposters will continue to grow worse and worse.

He had in the verse previous said, yes, everyone who seeks to live godly for Jesus in this present age will suffer persecution and understand that evil men and imposters will continue to grow worse and worse. in the world that we live in today is that we will never make this world that we live in better. There will always be difficulties that we face. And I know no one wants to hear that kind of message. We all want to hear that we can make the world a better place. We all want to hear that we

can make the world a happier place. But the problem is we live in a world that is dominated by sin, and you can't reform sin. You can't reform a sinful culture. All you can do is bring some in the sinful culture to a knowledge of the truth. And so we need to have an understanding as believers in Jesus Christ, and that is the understanding that things will continue to get

worse and worse, which is why it's so important that we remain faithful. And that's exactly what he tells Timothy here. He says, evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse. There's two words he, or two descriptions he uses of people. The first is evil men. We have to understand that those are the ones that he described in those first 18 things that he gave us when he described

the evil people living in the world, that these are the blatant enemies of Christ, the people of the world. And so he says, evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse. People living in the world that are opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, that are opposed to the truth of Jesus Christ, these are the evil men, and they will continue to grow worse and worse. And what we see in culture today is that men don't get better as time goes on. Every

generation seems to add a little bit more to the sinful culture than when we started. And we watch things continue to get worse and worse. But the second word that he uses to describe these is he describes them as imposters. Imposters. And of course, that word imposters speaks of false brethren. It speaks of false brethren. And so what we see in the world is that we see not

only does the world around us continue to get worse and worse, but the distinction within the church continues to grow greater and greater between those who affirm the truth and those who affirm sin. And we have to realize that as things continue to go, imposters will continue until finally in the end times when the ultimate imposter church comes along that is a one world church that is run by an antichrist. What we're seeing is pictures of that now, but it will ultimately find its fruition in an antichrist during those end times. And we have to realize that within the church today, there's the real church and that the real church are the ones who are truly surrendering themselves to Jesus,

truly seeking after holiness and seeking after the truth. And then there's the imposter church. And the imposter church wants to make you feel good in your sin. And the imposter church wants to make everything a little bit more palatable for you and wants to try to make as big of a place as it can be. And so he's really, truly giving out the truth. And he says those things will continue to grow

worse and worse. And then he describes what both these evil men and imposters will do. These evil men and imposters will both deceive and be deceived. These evil men and imposters will both deceive and be deceived. And I think it's kind of interesting the way he words that because those two words point out the process that takes place in the life of an individual. Number one, they get

deceived by the things of the world. And number two, they get deceived by the things of the world. They get deceived. This is how you become an imposter Christian is you become deceived by the world that is around you. This is how you continue to grow worse and worse is because you are deceived by the enemy. And we have to understand that most of the people that we see, they have

been deceived by something that is false. But not only have they been deceived, but they are the ones doing the deceiving. They are the ones bringing in the deception. And I pointed this out to first service, and I think it's important for us to pay attention to as well. Both the evil men and the imposters that we see around us that are both deceiving and being deceived, they are

not our enemy. We need to understand that because they are deceived by the real enemy, which is the devil. Because what's happened in the world today and what's happened in the church today is we've made people the enemy. And that's why oftentimes we don't get the gospel to people the way that we should. It's because we view those people over there as worse and us people over here as better.

And that's a hard distinction for us to get away from. And we have to realize that the people that are a part of a church that's affirming sin have been deceived by sin, which is why they're affirming it. And they need the truth of Jesus Christ in their life. And they need to be brought back around to the truth and that understanding. I've watched it happen. I have watched good men

be deceived by the false. And I have seen good men that have been deceived come to their senses and abandon that lifestyle and abandon that kind of a church and abandon, that kind of an imposter life and get themselves right back on track with Jesus. Just like I've seen evil men in the world become wonderful men of God because the gospel has taken its hold on their lives and their eyes have been opened to the deception that they followed all of their lives. And we have to remember that as a church. Listen, I'm going to say it again. People are not our

enemy. We have one enemy and that's the devil. And all of the people that follow him have been deceived and they need the truth in their lives. But understand, it's not going to get easier. Understand that this world is going to continue to get harder. And I know that's not a fun statement to hear. I know it's not a fun thing to take in. But if we don't go into it with our eyes wide open, then we don't go into it with

focus. And if we don't go into it with focus, then we go into it set up to fail. But if we know the job's going to be hard, then our eyes are opened to the difficulty that's in front of us. And so we focus on the only one who can get us through it. And that's what we're going to do. And that's which is why he tells Timothy, he says, And that from childhood, you have known the sacred writings, which are able to

give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. The next thing he tells him is he says, Continue in these things. Continue in these things. That word continue is an interesting word. That word continue means to remain or to abide, to remain or to abide. It's the exact same word in the Greek that Jesus uses in John chapter 15, when he tells the disciples,

I am the vine and you are the branches. Anyone who abides in me will bear much fruit. Anyone who remains in me, anyone who continues in me will bear much fruit. And so he tells Timothy, you need to continue. You need to remain. You need to abide in the things that you have learned. I love the way the New Living Translation put this. It said, You need to remain faithful to the things that you have been taught.

Remain faithful to the things that you have been taught. And so he tells them, you have to remain faithful. That's where I came up with the idea of the title of this message. He says, remain faithful to these things. Well, what's he supposed to be remain faithful to? The things that he has been taught and the things that he has been taught. The things that he has been convinced of. The things that he has been taught and the things

that he has been convinced of. Well, what's he been taught? In just a minute, he's going to say he's been taught the sacred scriptures, the sacred writings. In other words, remain faithful to the word of God. Remain faithful to what God's word has to say. To the things that you have been convinced of, of the truth of God's word. There's a beautiful thing that happens in the life of a

believer when they go from knowing things on a page to being convinced of them in their hearts. To go from just knowing what it has to say to where you're convinced of the truth of it on the inside of you. I've always told people, you need to understand it's okay that sometimes you don't believe what God's word has to say. It's okay that sometimes you go, I don't know if I really agree with that. You need to then go to God and say, Lord, I'm having a hard time believing this.

I'm having a hard time agreeing with this. Will you convince me that this is true? And I will promise you, God will convince you that it's true. I would tell an unbeliever and a believer alike, you should challenge God on everything that his word has to say. Lord, I don't understand this. Is this really true? And you're probably going, challenge God on his word. God's not insecure, okay? God's not going, well, what if they find

out it's wrong? What if they find out it's not true? Like, God's not doing that. God's like, listen, if you want to know, I will always tell you. Anytime someone with a genuine question came to Jesus, he answered them every time. The only ones he didn't answer were the ones that were trying to trip him up with his words. Those were the ones that he always sent on their way. But

anyone that came to Jesus with a real question, anyone that came to Jesus with a real doubt, anyone that came to Jesus that was a real seeker, he answered all of their questions. And it's amazing how when we take those things to God, he will convince us of the truth. And when he convinces us of the truth, no one can ever change your mind. I promise. The things that

God has taught me, no one will ever change my mind on. Because those things are written on my heart. I shared with somebody the other day, I said, I remember the first message I ever gave is Psalm 23. I can give that message today. I can stand up here in front of you and give that message today with no preparation. You know why? Because it was written on my heart. About a month or so ago, I did a funeral.

And it was a funeral for a good friend of mine's dad. It was a hard funeral. Mainly because I love my friends so much. And I remember I was preparing for the funeral because I kind of have my standard funeral message. Sorry, every pastor does. I have my standard funeral message and I thought, I don't want to give my standard funeral message. I want to give something new. I want to give

something fresh. So I sat down in my office that morning and I, it's been a good one. I've been out of time looking up scriptures, reading over things, kind of thinking and writing and just doing some stuff. And after about an hour, hour and a half, I thought, I can't, I can't come up with anything new. And I know I felt in my spirit, God ministered to me and he said, you don't need

to come up with anything new because what you know has been written on your heart. And I remember just thinking, it's true. I don't share these things because it's my standard funeral message. I share these things because it's my standard funeral message. I don't share these things because it's my standard funeral message. Because that's what God gave me to overcome grief. I share these things because that's what God gave me to

overcome difficulties. And so I stood in front of that crowd that morning and I said, listen, I wanted to come up with something brand new. I wanted to come up with something I've never shared before because a lot of you have been to services that I've done before. And I don't want you to think he just gave the same old standard message. I said, listen, I tried. I couldn't come up with

anything new. And God told me, don't come up with something new. Share what I've written on your heart because that's what they need to hear. Because the things that I share, I've been convinced of. Things that I share is what God has done in me. And so I don't share things because I read it in a book. I share it because God wrote it on my heart because that's how I've coped with life. And God

has written those things on me. And so I'm convinced of them. That's why I get passionate about it because it's what's changed my life. And that's what God wants to do with you too. God wants to take his truth. God wants to take his word. He wants to write it on your heart to where when somebody comes to you with a question, you don't have to think about it because it's your natural reaction

because that's what God has done in you. Because you have been convinced of it. And he tells Timothy, he says, Timothy, continue in the things that you know. Continue in the things that you have been convinced of. Remain faithful to what I've taught you. He says, continue in these things. The things that you have learned have been convinced of knowing where you learned them

from. And that from childhood, you have known the sacred, writings. I love this because he says, from childhood, you've known these sacred writings. Well, what sacred writings would he have known from childhood? Could have been the New Testament yet. We will deal with that in just a moment. But it can't be the New Testament yet because from a child, the New Testament wasn't written for him. He's talking about the Old Testament. And he shares

two interesting things about the Old Testament and what it had done in Timothy's life. Number one, he says, continue in these things that you have learned from childhood because from childhood, you've known the sacred writings which are able to give wisdom. They're able to give wisdom. Have you ever thought about the fact that there's nothing in your life that God's word can't address? Everything in your life is something that God's word is able to

address and give you wisdom on. You say, Ryan, I'm building a house. Can God's word give me wisdom? I wouldn't see why not. Noah built an ark. I mean, surely there's some construction things in there you should pay attention to. There's a tabernacle and a temple. Probably not how you're going to build your house. God will give you the wisdom to know the right people to ask. He'll give you the

wisdom to know the right direction to go. He'll give you the wisdom to know the right direction to go. He'll give you the wisdom to know the right direction to go. He'll give you the wisdom to know the right direction to go. give their wisdom to the right people to seek you know why because what is at the heart of wisdom jesus because the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom and in god's word we learn the fear of

the lord which is the beginning of wisdom which is what is able to teach us he says the sacred writings which you've known from a child which are able to give you wisdom but the greatest wisdom that they give is the wisdom that salvation comes through jesus christ the salvation comes through jesus christ and you know what i love about the old testament everything because the old testament is jesus concealed there's a great statement in the old testament jesus is concealed in the new testament jesus is revealed and that's why i like getting into the old testament i had a conversation with a kid the other day and they were like i'm in the book of exodus and it was great when there

were stories and red seas were being parted but now the ten commandments are being given and there's all these laws and dietary things i'm like wait till you get to leviticus you're gonna love it right it's enthralling but i really do you know why because jesus has revealed in all of those things jesus has revealed in in all of those moments in all of those things in the old testament there's a great story in the gospel of luke jesus has just finished uh rising from the dead appearing to a bunch of disciples on that third day towards the end of the third day that sunday and jesus rolls up next to some guys on the road to emmaus as they're heading back from the passover ceremony and he he rolls up next to him and he's like hey

what are you guys talking about they're like were you born under a rock or something like that like we're talking about the fact that this guy that we thought that was the messiah is dead his disciples are saying he's alive but we're having a hard time buying that one but anyway it's kind of kind of wild and so so it says in the gospel of luke that that jesus began from that moment to teach them from the writings of moses all the way through the prophetic writings everything that revealed the suffering that the messiah would have to go through in other words everything of the old testament that taught about jesus i haven't shared this for a while it's one of my favorite things do you realize that there's there's jesus written all over

the old testament one of my favorite ones that was revealed to me in the past few years uh has to do with noah's ark and i i just shared this with this young person the other day so it's kind of fresh on my mind you know noah's ark was built to protect noah and his family from the coming judgment right like the flood was god's judgment on the earth and and the ark was built to protect them if you remember in the construction of the ark it says that it was to be lined with pitch now that word in the hebrew is the hebrew word kofar which is where we get our word covering from but it's also where we get our word atonement from and so if you will noah and his family were protected from the judgment of god because of an atoning cover isn't that cool

jesus is written into the story of the flood because that atoning cover is what protected them from the judgment to come just like the atoning cover of the blood of jesus christ is what protects us from the judgment that is to come he says you've known the sacred writings that reveal to you the wisdom that salvation comes through faith in jesus christ he says you've known those things well i got to thinking about it and i thought what does it look like to remain faithful what does it look like to to remain faithful to the things that we have been taught and so i i kind of prayed over that and i thought over that so the other morning i sat down by bible and a pen and a piece of paper and i wrote down a list of four things that i think it

looks like if we're going to remain faithful the way that paul tells timothy to remain faithful are you ready number one you need to be faithful to know the word you need to be faithful to know the word you need to be faithful to know what it says you need to be faithful to know why it says it you need to be faithful to be in it and listen i address this every single time i know the word's hard to read intellectually it can be sometimes hard to take in everything that the bible has to say but just because it's hard to understand intellectually doesn't mean that god doesn't still use it spiritually in your life because it still spiritually washes you in the way that you need to be washed and you need to be faithful to know the word even when it's hard

even when it doesn't make sense be faithful to be in it because that's being faithful to continue in the things that you have been taught so number one you need to be faithful to know the word number two you need to be faithful to let the word know you you need to be faithful to let the word know you let me explain what i mean by that it's really easy to come to the word with preconceived ideas and with all of our walls up to just hopefully get an emotional devotional and a spiritual high to get us through the day a little inspirational message a little verse of the day to get us through the day something that gives me the here we go sort of feeling that's not being faithful to let the word know you

you see if i'm going to come to god's word and open it then i need to come to god's word and open it and let the word know you you need to be faithful to let the word know you in other words i need to let god's word be the magnifying glass that it needs to be i need to let it be the mirror that it needs to be in my life to reveal everything about me so i need to let all of my guards down when i come to god's word i need to let all of my preconceived ideas come down when i come to god's word and i need to open myself up for god's word to do the surgery that needs to be done in my life i need to open myself up enough to let god's word penetrate past all of the garbage and point out the truth of the word and let the word know you

this is what's wrong. This is where you're falling short. This is where you need some work in your life. Because if I'm never faithful to let God's word know me, then I will never be faithful to continue in these things. And we have to come to God as an open book and say, Lord, search me and know me. Because there's things I don't see in myself. And the Bible tells us that it is like a

sharp sword able to pierce between bone and marrow to get down to the nitty gritty in our lives. So we have to be faithful to know the word. We have to be faithful to let the word know you. Number three, we have to be faithful to live the word. We have to be faithful to live the word. Listen, it's only as good as you putting it into practice. It's only as good as you putting it

into practice. If you never put it into practice, you may as well not read it. Because it won't do you any good and you'll be held accountable for the knowledge. But when you begin to put it into practice, it begins to change your life. Begins to change the way that you think. Now, I think one of the best things that you can do is every time you get into God's word, you need to make a positive

statement of, Lord, this is how I'm going to obey you today in this area. Because now you have just taken it from words on a page, something in your journal, to now this is going to have shoes on it and I'm going to make it walk. Because you are faithful to live out the word. Number four, you need to be faithful to speak the word. You need to be faithful to speak the word. To speak the truth

of God into your own life. And to speak the truth of God into other people's lives. And to speak the truth of God into situations. That take place. Sometimes in difficult times. But you need to be faithful to speak the truth of the word of God. That's becoming more and more unpopular. But you need to be able to do it. You need to be willing to do it. Because that's being faithful to continue in the things that you have

learned. And so, he tells Timothy, he says, evil men are going to grow worse and worse. So what you need to do is continue in these things. Remain faithful to the things that you have been taught. And then he describes the things that he has been taught. Notice what it says in verse 16 as he talks about the scriptures. He says, all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof,

for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. The first thing he says is all scripture. Now, I believe personally along with several other very conservative commentators that I've read that when he says all of scripture, he means exactly what he says there. All of scripture. Yes, all of the Old

Testament. But remember, by this point in time, much of the New Testament is being written, if not has been written. Because many of Paul's letters have been written. After all, this is the last one he's going to write. Many of the gospel accounts have been written. Definitely Luke has been written by this point in time. And so, I think he's referring to all scripture. You say, Ryan, how do we know that

the things written in the New Testament are scripture? Well, you know what Peter called the writings of Paul? He called them scripture. It says so in 1 Peter. He refers to them as scripture. So, I think what he's talking about is he's talking about these 66 books we have canonized in the scripture in front of us today. And I don't think there's any new revelations coming out. You

know why? Because in the book of Revelation, that is the last verbal revelation of Jesus Christ that we have. He spoke to John while he was on the island of Patmos. And you remember what he told John to do with the words? He said, seal up these words. And if anyone changes them, if anyone adds to them, or if anyone takes away from them, that I will add to him the curses in

this book and I will take his name out of the book of life. Meaning that that's a pretty important book for us to pay attention to because it ended all of the revelation of Jesus Christ. And I believe sealed up that revelation to where there's no new stuff coming out. And so, when he says all of scripture, he means everything we have canonized in these 66 books. They are very important to our

lives, right? But this is what he says about all of scripture. He says, all of scripture is inspired by God. All of scripture is inspired by God. Now, the first thing I'm going to tell you is what that does not mean, okay? Now, I know some very artistic people. I'm not one of them, but I do know some artistic people in my life. I have a very good friend that's a songwriter. As a matter of fact, he's come and led worship here for us before. And I

remember early on when we were both much younger and we could stay up late, we would stay up at all hours of the night with him in my apartment and he would write songs. And it was always fascinating to be a part of. He never wrote any of them down, so we can't remember most of those. I don't know how many times I've said, hey, do you remember that one song that we wrote? He goes, I mean, yeah, but I don't know what the words are. I didn't write it down. I'm

like, dude, you're a loser. What is going on? Anyway, he's an inspired songwriter, in my opinion, and apparently in record companies' opinions. He's an inspired songwriter. That's not the inspiration he's talking about here. I know a couple of people that are artists and it's fascinating to see what they can do. See what they can do with a canvas, with a blank canvas

and they can go and they can put stuff in. It's inspired what they do. That's not the inspiration he's talking about here. When he says all of scriptures are inspired by God, this is what the Greek word actually means. The Greek word actually means God breathed. God breathed. In other words, all of these scriptures, God spoke to and through human authors. He used

their particular sets of skills, if you will, throughout scripture, but they were still words God gave them. They didn't just go, okay, I've got a good idea. I'm going to run with it from here, God. Okay, don't worry. I got you. Correct me if I'm wrong, and I know you will, but I think I'm just going to roll with it from here. No, they wrote down what God told them to write. How do

you know that? Well, hold your finger here. Go over to 2 Peter. Hebrews, we'll be at 1 John. You went too far, like me. Go to 2 Peter. I want you to look at chapter 1, and I want you to look down to verses 20 and 21, and this is what Peter says. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 20. But know this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,

for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. See, there's Peter's testimony of what Paul just said about scripture, that they are God breathed, because God actually spoke them to these men, and they wrote down what God spoke to them. Therefore, we should treat the Bible as if it is God's Word spoken to us, because that's exactly what it is. I don't know about you, but for me, that changes my view of what scripture is. This is not just words on a page. This is God's Word spoken to us. He goes,

I want to tell you things, and it was so important for me to tell you that I had somebody write it down, that I had somebody write it down in the exact way that you would know exactly what I had to say to you, so that there's no question, so that the Word of God is in Christ, and that you read this thing the other day. I said, we've got to quit saying that God's Word is incredibly clear on all these things, because there's a lot of different interpretations. Yeah, that's true. There's a lot of different interpretations, but there's only one that's accurate, right?

Because God's Word is incredibly clear on a lot of things. The only things it's not clear on are the gray issues, and even those, He's pretty clear on. And so, He says, God's Word is God breathed, and quite frankly, there's an unmatched accuracy of the Word of God. There's an unmatched accuracy. People have been trying to destroy God's Word for years. As a matter of fact, there are two current men living, I think they're both still

living, two current men living who originally set out to disprove God's Word. Their goal was to completely prove it wrong. One's name was Josh McDowell, the other's name is Lee Strobel. And both of them, in the process of trying to prove God's Word wrong, got saved, and then wrote books proving God's Word wrong. Right? Because you cannot change it, because it is unmatched in its accuracy.

There's a guy that has a great book out. If you're ever looking for a good apologetics book, you should read Frank Turek's book, I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. It's a fantastic book. It's a little heady, but it's a really good book. One of the things that he points out is he says, you have to start with someone. If you're going to defend the accuracy of God's Word, you have to start with one thing. If I can prove that this is

true, will you believe it? And they will give you one of two answers. Either one, they will say yes, it's worth having the conversation now. He said, but some people will say no. And you realize that it is not an information issue, it's a heart issue. And the reason why most people don't want to believe that God's Word is accurate is not an information issue, it's a heart issue. Because God's Word

is unmatched in its accuracy. Back to 2 Timothy. He says, all of Scripture is inspired by God. But then the next thing he says that all of Scripture is, is profitable. It is profitable for four things. Notice what it says. Number one, it is profitable for teaching. Now, I didn't put these up here, so you just have to write them down off the Bible there. I believe in you, you can do it. It's profitable for teaching. The word teaching means

instruction or doctrine. Instruction or doctrine. Everybody gets scared of the word doctrine, because doctrine sounds like a really big scary word. Like, oh man, I'm in school now, and I have to learn scary words that are big words. Listen, doctrine is a really simple word. It just means the instructions, right? So yesterday, said baby gates that I was talking about, we bought these two baby gates from

Walmart, and brought them here. Now, I'm expecting that when you buy a baby gate, I'm going to use my sweet pocket knife, I'm going to cut that thing open, pull it out of the box, lock that thing down, right? It's a baby gate. How complicated can it be? Apparently, things have changed in 17 years. So, I pull this thing out of the box, and all of these parts, I'm like, how can there be that many parts? I'm like, how can there be that many parts?

To a baby gate. It's a baby gate. This would be the simplest thing I've ever put together in my entire life. So, I start trying to put it together. I'm like, this isn't working. And that was when my wife and I were reminded what our marital roles are. She reads the instructions. I turn the screwdriver. Listen, I have always said, I've never done this. And those of you that have done

your weddings before, you know I've never made you do this. But in premarital counseling, sometimes I'm like, I think I should just make couples put stuff together, right? Maybe I should have couples do projects around my house. I've never thought about that. That's a fantastic idea. Anyway, so, because you will learn your roles and responsibility in a relationship faster putting something

together than in anything else. First time my wife and I ever put something together, we did not know our roles yet, right? We were brand new married. We didn't know the roles. And so, it did not go very well, and there was great consternation. And finally, she goes, how about this? How about I read the directions, you turn the screwdriver. And I'm like, no, that makes sense right there. Because I

don't read all of the directions. It's like, part A, got it. I know where part A goes. And I start trying to put that, nope, not where part A went, okay? She goes, slow down. She cannot tighten a screw if her life depended on it. And I said this first service when she was sitting right there. I come back, and I'm just like, what? They pulled together. She's like, I tried as hard as I could.

And so, I finished tightening. So, we've learned our roles, right? But we had to pull out the doctrine, right? We had to pull out the instructions. Because that's what God's Word is. It's the doctrine. It's the instructions. And we make it way more complicated than it has to be. I didn't go to seminary. I went to Bible College in California with surfer guys teaching me, right? Legit, Joey Buran, a pro surfer, was one of

my Bible College teachers. He taught Acts, okay? He said, duh, a lot. I didn't get a theological survey on a lot of things sometimes, but I learned the truth. And I remember, every now and then, I'll have a conversation with somebody that has been to seminary, and they'll use giant words, and they'll describe this thing. I'm like, I've never heard that word before, but I know exactly

what you're talking about. Like, is this what you mean? And I'll put it really simply, and they're like, yeah. I'm like, why did you just say that? Like, why do we need the big word? And they're like, I don't know. That's what it is. That's why people get scared of doctrine. It's just basic instructions for how to live. And so, it is profitable for teaching, for the doctrine that

we need. Number two, it's profitable for reproof. And this is where you have to open yourself to God's Word. The word reproof means refuting error or bringing conviction. This is what God's Word is really, really good at doing, is when you open yourself up to God's Word and let it know you, then all of a sudden, it starts pointing out the things in your life,

and it begins to convict you, sometimes gently, sometimes not gently, but it convicts you. And it's really important. That's why sin will keep you from God's Word, but God's Word will keep you from sin, right? Because it brings that conviction into your life that you need. And it does it by refuting the error. You see, we've all believed a lie for a really long time. And even when you

come to Jesus, you believe the ultimate truth, that Jesus is your Savior. But now you have to confront all of the individual lies in your life that you've believed because of your flesh and because of the enemy. And so, God's Word is so good because it reproves us. It refutes the error, and it convicts us. Let me put it to you really, really simply. Reproof means it shows you where

you're wrong. It shows you where you're wrong. And that's what God's Word is good at. God's Word is really good at doing in our lives. But number three, God's Word never tells us where we're wrong without giving us correction. Correction. The word correction means restoration, improvement of life and character, correction of error, and restoration to obedience. I love this word because it's what God has done so

many times in my life. As He has brought correction, He has brought restoration. Let me put it to you really simply. If reproof, it shows you where you're wrong. Correction shows you how to get right. And that's what God's Word is so good at doing. It'll never point out where we're wrong without also showing us how to get right. But the thing that I love about God's Word is it restores the soul. And again, this is one of those things that I'm not

telling you because I read it in a book somewhere. I'm telling you because God wrote it on my heart. Because God has written His ability to restore. And I'm telling you because God wrote it on my heart. To bring restoration to a soul through God's Word on the very core of who I am. It's what He did when I first started walking with Jesus. It's what He did after a failed relationship where I made a

lot of mistakes I shouldn't have made. It's what God did when I battled depression. And it's what God has done as I faced some of the hardest things of my life. As I have faced grief, I have watched God's Word restore my soul. And I said this first service, and I'll say it again because I know that God has done it for me. He's done it for me. He's done it for me. He's done it for me. He's done it for me.

Somebody in here needs their soul to be restored. And sometimes you think maybe you're too far gone for that. Or maybe the depth of sin that you've fallen into is too great. But I want you to know that that's not true. That's a lie of the enemy. And he wants to not only refute that lie in your life, but he wants to restore you from that lie in your life. But it's going to take you getting

into God's Word. And getting into God's Word by faith. Because listen, when we get into God's Word, it's totally compute in our brains. But I promise you, if by faith you will do that, if you will commit by faith every day to get into God's Word, and by faith, God will bring healing into your life. And he will bring restoration into your life. And you will find that you are brought back not only into right relationship with God, you will find that

you are brought back into right relationship with other people. And you will find that your mind will be restored. I've watched it happen over, and over, and over again. In my life, in my dad's life, in my father's life. friends' lives and many of the pastors that taught the classes that I took in Bible college lives because that's what God does, is He brings restoration. Because God doesn't just show

us where we're wrong. He shows us how to get right. But then comes number four, training in righteousness. Training in righteousness. That word training means education and instruction. The idea of righteousness is integrity and moral courage. In other words, God's Word provides for us the education that we need to live in conformity to God's will, both publicly and privately. To live in conformity to God's will, both publicly and

privately. So if reproof shows you where you're wrong, if correction shows you how to get right, then training in righteousness shows you how to stay right. It shows you how to stay right. And that's what God's Word does. And listen, God's Word will sometimes slap you in the face with this. And sometimes God's Word is going to hurt your feelings, but that's okay. We have to learn to start being okay with getting our feelings

hurt. Because sometimes getting our feelings hurt is the best thing for us because that's where God will begin to provide training for us. I shared this with First Service. A long time ago, I taught a message on Psalm 23. I think I shared that with you already. But I read this fantastic book called A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm by Philip Keller. And Philip Keller actually was a shepherd

in South Africa. So he shares a lot of insight into the way that Psalm 23 lays out because of his understanding of the shepherd. You see, one of the most dangerous things for a sheep to do is to wander off not only from the shepherd, but from the rest of the flock. Partly because sheep are really stupid. They will literally run off of a cliff because they're not paying attention. And listen, as someone that God

calls a sheep, I relate to that, okay? I'm like, same sheep, same, right? But also, sheep can't protect themselves. Like, all sheep have are hooves and wool, right? Like, there's just, it's not going to work very well. And so if they wander from the flock or they wander from the shepherd, that's not going to go very well for them. And so it's the most dangerous thing because

it will mean certain death for them. So if a shepherd has a sheep that just keeps wandering off, here's what he does. Leaves the 99, he goes and finds it, just like Jesus said he would. But when he finds it, he knows it has a propensity to wander off. He will take the sheep and he will actually break one of its legs. And that sounds horrific. And it sounds cruel. And you go, oh, why would the shepherd do that?

Until you find what the shepherd does next. Because what the shepherd does is he will take and he will set that bone. And then he will take that sheep with the broken bone and he'll lay it up on his shoulders. And that sheep will heal while he's laying on the shepherd's shoulders. And he will gain a bond with the shepherd that he would have had no other way. Until by the time the sheep is restored,

it can walk. The sheep walks right next to the shepherd. It's been reproved. It's been corrected. And now it's being trained in righteousness. And that's what God's word does for us. Listen, you have to understand something. Sometimes God's word is going to break your leg. Actually, sometimes God's word is going to break your heart. And when I say sometimes, I mean all the time. But he does it so that we can gain a bond with

him that we would have no other way until we walk next to him and we are trained in righteousness. Because it's the safest place for us to be. He says, God's word is profitable. It's profitable for teaching, for correction, and for training in righteousness. Why? So that verse says, 17, the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. I don't like the translation of

the word adequate there. It's an adequate translation, but that's a bad joke. Sorry, they laughed at first service. I thought maybe you guys would too. It's an adequate translation, but I don't love it. The word adequate here means complete, capable, or proficient. But my favorite definition, my favorite translation is the word mature. You see, what does God's word do

in our life? It brings maturity. Maturity, because that's what we need as believers in Jesus Christ. We need to be mature believers. Listen, I work with kids all the time, and I love all of you kids, so this is not a slam on you, but kids are emotional. And you're tossed to and fro by every new thing that comes along, every new trend that comes along, every new flashy thing that comes

along. And I only know that because I still struggle with that in my life, right? But God's word has begun to bring maturity to me. See, the great thing about becoming an adult is you you care less about what people think of you. I actually kind of enjoy being in my 40s. It's not always fun being old, and my beard is way grayer than it used to be. As a matter of fact,

my wife looked at my eyebrows the other day, which are already bushy, right? Like, I know that. She goes, wow, there's a lot of gray in those. And I was like, I know it really hurts pretty bad, actually, that that's true. But the good thing is that I'm mature-ish, and I'm not tossed. I don't care what people think about me anymore. I'm like, what? Are you going to get mad at me?

Okay. But welcome to, there's a line back here, so join those people. We'll all go along together, okay? I don't like me sometimes either. And that's just kind of how you learn to be. Because you stop being tossed by every new thing that comes along. That's what God wants us to be as believers. He wants us to be mature. He wants us to not be tossed by every new thing, every flashy thing that comes along, but to be steady. To be steady as a

rock so that we can keep moving forward and not be moved by the anxieties of life and not be moved by every fear that comes along in life. And not be moved by every new trend that comes along in life, but that we just stay, we just stay steady. He says, these things have been given to you so that you may be mature. Not only mature, but that you may be equipped for every good work. That word

equipped means thoroughly furnished. One of my favorite translations, I don't remember which one it came out of, one of my favorite translations said, furnished to finish. Now to me, I get emotional in this first service too. To me, there's something, kind of cool about that. Because he says, you need to, as a believer, have the word of God be the most important thing in your life. Continue in these things so that you can be furnished to

finish. And this struck me this week, because I thought about this. In the next chapter, Paul is going to say, because this is the last letter that he writes, Paul is going to say, I have run my race. I have finished the course. And I love this because as he says, I want you to continue in these things so that you can be furnished to finish. I think Paul is thinking about the fact that he's

about to finish his course. And the way that he is able to finish his course is because he had been trained by God's word. Because he had been equipped with God's word. Because he had continued in God's word. And so he tells this young man, he tells this young man, Timothy, he says, Timothy, continue in these things. I know the world is hard. I know that things are going to get worse. I know that evil men

and imposters will continue to grow more prevalent. You continue in these things because I want you to finish. And I want you to finish strong. And the only way that you can finish strong, listen, is if you remain faithful. And so brothers and sisters, I'm going to tell you the same thing. The world is hard. People are going to keep getting worse. Life is not going to get easier on this side of eternity. The only thing that you can hold

on to is the steady rock of Jesus. So if you want to finish, remain faithful. Amen. Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come before you. And Lord, I thank you that you have blessed us with your word. And Father, with Paul, I say, Lord, may we remain faithful. May we continue in the truth. And Lord, may your word continue to sink deeply into our hearts. Father, I pray that when we are tempted to go one direction or another, Lord, I pray that you as the good shepherd would keep us focused.

Father, as the world continues to become increasingly challenging, may we know that you have already met the challenge. And all we need to do is walk into the promised land that you have provided. Lord, I lift up each person that's here this morning, and I pray your blessing on them. Father, I want to lift up the ones that need restoration in their lives right now.

Father, whether that be restoration from a broken relationship, whether that's restoration from sin, Lord, sins committed or sins committed against them, Lord, I just want to pray for that restoration. I want to pray for that fresh filling of your Holy Spirit to do that work in their lives. And Father, I want to pray that we would take this truth, the truth of your word, and God, that it would change the fabric of who we are, that we would live it out. So Father, be with us as we go out from here.

Move in us as you see fit. In Jesus' name, amen. I love you all. Be blessed. God, we just give you praise this morning. We give you glory and honor.

I ask that you're blessing upon each and every one of us here. As we leave here today, let your Holy Spirit go with us and continue to minister to us. We love you. We praise you. Amen.