Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM- 2 Timothy 1:1-7 - Pastor Ryan

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

And Father, we thank you for another day. Thank you for another opportunity, Lord, to be in your house this morning. Lord, we ask your blessing upon this time. Lord, help us to lift a joyful noise to you, Lord, and just open our hearts and minds this morning, Lord, to the truth of your word. We love you and we praise you. And in Jesus' name, amen. And yes, Lord God, that is our desire this morning is to glorify you, Lord God,

because you are worthy of all of our praise. You're worthy of all glory. And yes, Lord God, we just thank you for how faithful you are, Lord. And Lord, we know that when we fail, Lord God, we know that you won't. When we're not faithful, Lord, you are always. And we just thank you, Lord. We thank you that you are our firm foundation. Lord God, as we sing this last song, God, I just can't.

Help us think of how good you are to us. Lord, for all the ways you take care of us and bless us and work in our lives, Lord God, you're working good in our lives. And we just thank you for how good you are to us, God. And we just praise you this morning.

Lord God, again, we just thank you for how good you are. Lord God, with every breath that you give us, Lord God, we just want to return praise to you. And we want to sing of your goodness and your greatness. And your glory, God. We just want to return praise to you, God. We love you, Lord, and we praise you. And now, as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, I pray that you would overflow him with your gift of teaching.

Lord, let your spirit move mightily this morning, God. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive it, Lord. Open our hearts and minds this morning to the truth of your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Turn to your right, turn to your left. Find somebody. Say, good morning.

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

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A few things to take note of. As always, things on the left-hand side. Everything's going on as usual this week. Over in your middle section, this is the last Sunday for directory pictures. And then Wednesday, there will be an opportunity for directory pictures. But if you are not in there yet, make this thing happen.

We want to know. We want to know that you are here so that when people say, wait, who is that again? They can pull out their handy-dandy directory. Which, by the way, sidebar, side story here. So my mom's been going through some stuff of my father's. And we found a directory from 1997. That thing is gorgeous. It is just, God bless all of those pictures. We had a great time last night.

That's all I'm saying. So, so, and, you know, what, almost 30 years from now, you too will be able to pull out a directory and go, wow, what was I thinking? So it's going to be awesome. Just be a part of it. It's going to be great. Tonight, there is intercessory prayer down at the other end of the hallway. So take note of that. Come join us for that. Ladies, there's a women's breakfast coming up next Saturday right here at the church.

All of the information is right there in the bulletin. A couple of other things that are not in your bulletin. I still have a handful of FLS. Banquet tickets. If you are interested in going to the family life services banquet, please come talk to me afterwards. And then two events that are coming up this coming Wednesday, October the 8th is fields of faith.

We will still have church as usual here. However, if you want to go over there, you're more than welcome to the gates open at five and the service actually starts at 630. So be praying for that. It's a, it's a fellowship of Christian athletes outreach to the community. We're trying to get as many people in Cali County. Many kids in Cali. County as we can to be there.

So, um, and so there'll be no youth group here. All it'll all be over there on Wednesday. Um, and then the only other thing is a pumpkin chase is coming up October the 10th. If you are interested in helping out with that, or you're like, Hey, what's the pumpkin chase. You should go talk to Jared after the service. Um, also it is operation Christmas child time again, believe it or not.

Yes. It's going to almost be 90 degrees today, but the fact of the matter is it's time to start thinking about operation Christmas child. So the first thing we have, I think. Is a video to watch. We're gonna watch the video first. Yes. So cue it up. Lady the gospel unites all of us. We are coming together and giving gospel opportunities to these kids. There's a lot of children out there that we want to try to reach.

We want to give them a gift and we want to give them Christ. These boxes go to some of the most difficult places of the world. They go by sea truck, tractor camels. It's our responsibility to make sure. Everybody cares and knows about Jesus Christ. I want these kids to know their love. They're not forsaken. And that's what operation Christmas child does. It goes around the world and shares the gospel boldly.

When the category five hurricane, which creates a complete destruction hits a couple of car operation. Christmas child delivered that gift of hope. Event. I need to be seen. I don't. Come on. This is. You don't know. See that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. This is good. Connoisseur. I'm one in a torment. That is. See, I'm very, very nice. After children receive a shoe box gift, they're invited to the twelve lessons of the greatest journey discipleship classes.

We think children through the process of knowing the gospel, growing in the gospel and sharing the gospel with other people.

That business can make class. I know Jesus Christ. This. I want the world to know he is the one who came and died for our sins. She prayed to children in the area. That's how Daniel and the whole family has become part of the church. Within a year, we have grown massively into a huge church. Our project is about evangelism, discipleship, and multiplication.

Through the gift boxes, we are helping churches to see this as an outreach to those that have never heard the gospel. Seeing children coming to the Lord, taking the gospel back to their families, and the gospel continues to go to places where it has never gone before.

All of them might come to Jesus Christ as we are giving them the word of God. Because every box is an opportunity for a child to hear that Christ came to this earth for them. Keep packing these boxes and continue to pray for these children. We couldn't do this without you. Thank you for being a part of this ministry. God bless you.

Good morning. Wow, what a video. Let me get my notes out. How's everybody this morning? So for those of you who don't know me, my name is Phil A. Very good. Fill a box. All right. So you know me as Phil. Okay, so this morning, for the last several years, we've had the... I want to talk about what we're going to do. For the last several years, we've had the opportunity to partner with Samaritan's Purse here at the church.

Right? For those of you who are new and haven't seen what we do here, you see the video and see all the kids that are affected there by these boxes. You know, the main thing is we want to do is fulfill Jesus' command, you know, to let the little children come unto him. Right? Don't you just love the smiles you see on those videos? To date, this is an amazing number.

To date, two... Can you hear me? To date, 232 million children. And more than... More than 170 countries have experienced God's love through the power of this simple shoebox.

And if you would like to get involved, we have boxes in the lobby. So today, there's a big stack of boxes out there. Our goal this year is to fill 300 boxes. What did we do last year? I don't know. It was a bunch. Okay, so next thing I want to talk about is Joe and Danielle. Joe and Danielle will be... Heading up... You'll see them here after a while. They're not here, I don't think.

But Joe and Danielle will be having a packing party on October 19th. So write that on your calendar, Jared. For a small cost, everything will be provided for you. And you just walk around the room and make some choices. Or you're welcome, of course, to pack your own box. If you plan to come to the packing party, please don't take one of these because there will be boxes provided for you at the packing party.

Okay? So for those of you who aren't coming and want to pack your own, please grab a box. They're stacked in the hallway. They magically appeared while you were in here, praising God. If you pack them yourself, please make sure your boxes are fun, they're full, and they're personalized. So, you know, as a body, we've sent multiple people down to the packing...

The redistribution centers down there in Dallas. And we get to go through these boxes. And we see boxes from all over the place. And, man, some people really go all out. Some kids will put, like, color a picture and put it inside here or color the lid and make it personalized for the kids. And those are really important to the children who get to see these boxes.

And they know that they're cared for. If you can, put a picture of your family in and write a Christmas card telling the children that they are loved. Most of these kids have... Some of these kids that get these boxes have never received a gift. In their life. Can you imagine? We've been getting gifts our whole lives. This may be the first time they've ever gotten a gift.

The shoeboxes leave here and they go to Wichita, where they get prayed over and packaged into larger boxes and then shipped to a processing center nearby Dallas or maybe Denver. Make sure there's nothing in them to keep the boxes from not going through customs. Customs will not allow soap, toothpaste, food. I know. When Ryan's packing, you won't be putting your brownies in.

Yeah, he's supposed to be sharing them with me, but we are blessed to have gotten 35 spots this year. So when we're going down, the date is the 12th. Jared, put this in your calendar. 12th of December. The 12th of December, we got... You know, Jana, she works real hard to get this signed up for. And she calls... She starts calling right when the thing goes off, like at 8 o'clock.

And they fill up all of the slots. Instantly, there's places gone. But we got Friday. I think it's Friday, December 12th, okay? And there's a sign-up sheet in the lobby. We can take 35 people this year. So it's a wonderful blessing to go down there and go through these boxes, get the pray over the boxes, and then make sure they're all fun and full and personalized.

And then ship them out. So that's the main thing. You know, these boxes go to places. Did you bring it for me? No. No, okay. All right. These boxes go to places that... Some places that have never seen a gift. Like, for instance, there's one story where there was a Muslim village where they had never allowed... The imams of Islam had never allowed Christians ever to come in.

And secondly, never to share gifts. You could not give gifts to them. But they saw... They experienced a shoebox, and the Muslims let them come in. And now there's a bunch of Christians in that village where before it was Muslims who could... Never do anything. So these children got exposed to this, and even the imams got exposed to it. And that's the last thing I'll say.

One of these shoeboxes can impact up to 10 different people because a kid gets it, takes it home, shares it with their family, shares it with mom and dad. They share the story. They get to pass on what this is all about. And many people get to hear the story of Christ. So if you want to know more, please talk to myself or Jana. We'll be here after service. That's it.

All right. Very good. Easy now there, Phil. All right. For our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 5. Psalm 5. Looking at the New American Standard so that hopefully we all sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 5, 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 Jared and the even verses. Psalm 5 for the choir director, for flute accompaniment, a psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you will hear my voice. In the morning, I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch.

For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness. No evil dwells with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. But as for me, by your abundant loving kindness, I will enter your house. At your holy temple, I will bow in reverence for you.

O Lord, lead me in your righteousness because of my foes. Make your way straight before me. Amen. There is nothing reliable in what they say. Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. Hold them guilty, O God. By their own devices, let them fall. In the multitude of their transgressions, thrust them out, for they are rebellious against you.

But let all who take refuge in you be glad. Let them ever sing for joy, and may you shelter them, that those who love your name may exult in you. Amen. For it is you who blesses the righteous man, O Lord. You surround him with favor, as with a shield. And so, Father, we come to you now, and I praise you that you do give ear to our words, Lord, and you pay attention to the cry of our heart.

And so, Father, our desire now is to have you speak to us through your word. And so I pray that you administer to our hearts as you see fit, and that your Holy Spirit would do your work in us. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Timothy, chapter 1. 2 Timothy, chapter 1. We move on now in the last of the pastoral epistles,

as we come to 2 Timothy. And 2 Timothy has a very different flavor to it than the other two pastoral epistles. The first two pastoral epistles were very instructive, especially for the church in nature. Not only for those pastors, but also instructions for the churches. Whereas 2 Timothy gets much more personal. Much more personal in nature. So faithfulness is the theme, but it has a very different feel to it.

So let me give you a little introduction just to kind of set the stage for where we are here. So at the end of the book of Acts, Paul was sent to prison in Rome because of his witness there in Jerusalem. He was held in prison there under house arrest for about three years until the year A.D. 64. In A.D. 64, he was released from prison in Rome. And from that point, for the next three years,

he would go on another missionary journey, some think reaching even as far as Spain, with the message of the gospel. It was on that last missionary journey that he then penned the books of 1 Timothy and Titus. At the end of those three years, we come to the year A.D. 67. And in A.D. 67, he returned to Rome. But upon his return to Rome, there was a particular Caesar that had taken power,

and his name was Nero. And Nero hated the Christians. And Nero hated the Christians. And Nero was the one who ultimately had Paul imprisoned. And so the year is A.D. 67, and Paul is now sitting in what most historians agree was the Mamertine prison at this point in time. And it wasn't under the house arrest that he was under the first time, where he dwelt in his own rented quarters with a Roman soldier chained to him.

This is exactly what you think of when you think of a Roman prison. Think of a dungeon where there's only a hole in the ceiling, surrounded by stone all around, a cold place underground where the only light that comes in is from a hole that's in the ceiling of this Mamertine prison. The only fresh air that comes in is coming through this hole in the ceiling. It's where food would be lowered down to him.

And he's in this prison, and he's very much alone. The only one that's even in town with him at this point in time that he considers a close brother is his friend Luke, who penned the book not only of Luke, but also the book of Acts, Luke is with him, but other than that, he is very alone at this point in time. And he knew this time that he faced certain execution. And so as Paul, this now aged warrior for Christ, this man who had been through so much in his life, in his witness for the Lord and in his missionary journeys, now sits in this prison very alone, his heart and his mind return to a young man that meant so much to him.

And that young man, Luke, that young man's name was Timothy. Timothy, who had been a faithful companion, who had been a faithful servant. And as Paul sits to think about this young man, he wants to write as many instructions as he possibly can. And so he pens what I have simply termed as final words from a faithful servant. Now, I'm just going to be really honest with you throughout this whole book.

There's a reason why I put this book off as long as I did. Matter of fact, I almost didn't start this this week, but I knew that it was coming. And so I had to do it. This is an emotional book that's written by Paul. And we can see that in the very introduction that he gives. And it's about the end of his life. And so this is going to be a little bit of an emotional book for me too.

And you just have to bear with me on that. I know you people are used to that from me, but this one hits very close to home for me. And it hits very close to my heart because I too have received those instructions in the last few months. And so this feels... This feels a lot more personal to me than most of the other books that I teach, just like this is a lot more personal to Paul

than the other books that he had written. And so with that as a backdrop, we take a look at the introduction that he gives us to this book. Looking at verse 1 of chapter 1, it says this. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved son. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord.

I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you even as I recall your tears so that I may be filled with joy. For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, and I am sure that is in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of discipline.

Much like most of Paul's letters, it has the introduction that is very similar to what we've seen. We see the writer, we see the recipient, and we see the greeting, although this greeting is much longer than most of the other epistles that Paul has written. So we see the writer, we see the recipient, and we see the greeting, of course, the writer, which is what we'll cover first, is Paul. I'm not going to spend a great deal of time talking about Paul because I've done that in several different letters lately, but I would encourage you, if you don't know very much about Paul, go back and start looking around the end of Acts chapter 7.

From Acts chapter 7 on through the rest of the book of Acts, we'll tell you a great deal about the life of Paul, both his conversion and his ministry that he had for the Lord. So I would encourage you to go back and read that for a little bit of backdrop on the person of Paul. But Paul refers to himself as one thing. He refers to himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

And as an apostle of Jesus Christ, it is according to the will of God. Of course, an apostle is one who has been sent out. Paul bore in him the apostolic authority to set out the doctrine of the church, but that apostolic authority ended with he and the other 11 apostles and so in that way, we don't have apostles any longer. However, we do still have people that have been sent out to do the work of the ministry.

And that's what Paul saw himself as. And I think it's fascinating for us to remember that from the first letter that Paul wrote to the last letter that Paul wrote, he simply saw himself as that apostle of Jesus Christ, as one who was sent out by God with a mission. And that mission was not to spread the kingdom of Paul. That mission was to spread the truth of Jesus Christ.

And so his entire, his entire life was spent fulfilling that mission. Which is why at the end of the book, he's going to say, I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I have kept the course. Because from the beginning, he was an apostle of Jesus Christ. To the very end of his life, he was an apostle of Jesus Christ. And of course, it wasn't because that was something he chose in his life.

Anybody that serves the Lord will tell you that if we could have chosen anything else, we probably would have. Because there's a whole lot of easier roads out there to choose and to be a servant of Jesus Christ than to make your own choice. You could have spent your entire life serving God with every fiber of your being. But the fact of the matter is, when you've been called to serve Jesus, nothing else in the world will ever make you happy.

And nothing else in the world will ever fulfill you. Because nothing else in the world is what God has called for you to do. What he's called for you to do is to serve. And that's what Paul did. An apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. But I want to point out this next statement that he makes, because it's very different than many of his other epistles.

He says, He says, According to the promise of life in Christ Jesus. I find that interesting because it's the only epistle in which he uses that little phrase, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus. And I think there's two things we should pay attention to about that statement. The first thing I think that we need to pay attention to is that as an apostle of Jesus Christ, whose goal in life, whose mission in life was to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are reminded that the very heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is new life in Jesus Christ.

I'm reminded of that conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus in John chapter three, if you remember that. Nicodemus came to meet with Jesus because he was one of the religious leaders and Jesus had made quite a splash in his arrival on the ministry scene. And he had a question for him, but the question he asked was not the real question that he had. The question that he asked is, have you been sent of God?

But the question that Jesus answered was the question that was really burning in his heart. And he says, unless you believe, unless you are born again, you will not see the kingdom of God. And he says, what do you mean born again? I can't enter again into my mother's womb. How am I supposed to do that? And Jesus says, as a teacher of the law, don't you understand these things?

Unless you are born of the water, a physical birth, and of the spirit, a spiritual birth, you will never see eternal life. Because the very essence of the gospel is to go from the death that came into our lives that was ushered in through Adam in sin, to the life that we now have that God always intended through Jesus Christ. That restoration of life that God always intended for us. That's why no matter who you are, no matter what your background is, you have a miraculous testimony.

It hurts my heart so bad when people say, you know, I don't have one of those testimonies like everybody else does. And I love to tell people, yes, you do. Because you may not have been as decayed as some other people, but you were still dead. And you went from being dead to being alive. That, brothers and sisters, is a miracle. It's the most miraculous thing

that can ever take place in this world, because you go from eternally dead to eternally alive. And so he says, I am an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus. But we understand that this statement is colored with the fact that he knows he's facing death. He knows he's facing death. He knows he's facing execution. It's peppered throughout the entire epistle

that he knows that's what's coming for him. And so when Paul says, I am an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, it's not only that he has preached the essence of the gospel, which is life in Christ Jesus, but it colors the hope that he has, knowing that even though he's about to face death, it's with the promise of life in Christ Jesus. Amen. I'm here to tell you right now, I know I'm nowhere near death, but I'm faced with it so often in my job.

And I have been faced with it so often in my life that I have found that words like this are the only thing that bring me hope, is knowing that there is the promise of life in Christ Jesus.

Well, we'll move on from there. And so that's the writer, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. The recipient is given to us in verse two. To Timothy, beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace. To Timothy, it's interesting how short of a little statement he makes about Timothy. Again, we won't go into a great deal of detail. I would encourage you to go back and read the book of Acts sometime to find out.

But Timothy had always been his faithful companion, picked him up somewhere around his second missionary journey, a time when Paul was maybe a little bit broken in ministry anyway, because one of his closest friends had gotten into an argument with him. And so he had to start out with a whole new ministry, and he finds this young man, this young man who showed promise, this young man who showed faithfulness, and he took this young man, Timothy, under his wing, and he taught him what it looked like to follow Jesus. And he taught him what it looked like to serve the Lord. And Timothy walked with him through all of the difficulties that went along with that second missionary journey.

As a matter of fact, it was Timothy that he left behind in Ephesus at the very end of the book of Acts, when he was on his way to Rome, where he would face that certain imprisonment. It was Timothy that he left behind in Ephesus to build up his faith, to build up his faith, to build up the church, to teach the church, to be the pastor there, even though he was a timid young man, even though he was a nervous kid. He left him behind to do the work of the ministry. And so as he addresses this recipient, he says to Timothy, but I would like for you to notice how he refers to Timothy.

In 1 Timothy, he referred to him as his son in the faith, but notice how he refers to him here. He refers to him as his beloved son. Literally, what he calls him is this dearly loved child. Paul didn't have any kids. The closest he had was Timothy. Timothy, who had spent so much time with him. Timothy, who had been with him in the trenches. Timothy, who had seen the worst of the things

in the life of Paul that he had endured and had still stuck with him in the hardest times. He says, Timothy, you're kind of like my own son. You're like a dearly loved son to me. And so he addresses the recipient. But what we'll spend the most time on here this morning is this greeting. Because it's one of the longest greetings that Paul gives in any of his epistles.

He starts off like he typically does. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord. It was a familiar greeting that Paul brought into the world. There was, of course, grace, which is the standing upon which we all have. You'll see it in the next few minutes. You'll find this word used often in this epistle, just like all of Paul's other epistles.

It's the standing that we have. It's that unmerited favor of God. Coupled with that, it's also the greeting that was given to the Gentile believers at that point in time. And, of course, he gives the greeting of peace, that tranquility of soul that comes only from our understanding of grace. That tranquility of soul that comes only from the understanding of the fact

that there is the promise of life in Christ Jesus. And, of course, the typical Gentile Jewish greeting, indicating that whether you were Gentile or whether you were Jew, Paul's saying hi. But there's one other word that he includes that he only includes in, I think, one other epistle in his greeting. And that word is mercy. It's funny because we talked about that

a lot a couple of weeks ago. But I find that as Paul is now reaching the end of his life, what seems to be the thing that is the theme in his heart? God's mercy. Because those of you that have walked for Jesus for any amount of time, you've seen that. No, the longer that you walk with Jesus, the more you find yourself thankful for his mercy. The more that you find yourself going,

you know what I really need a whole lot of in my life? I need a whole lot of God's mercy. Because the closer that I walk to the standard, the more I realize I don't live up to the standard. Because the closer that I get to the perfect one, the more I realize that I'm not perfect, the more I am distinctly aware of the need of God's mercy in my life. And as Paul says,

and as Paul lives this life, as Paul has lived this life, he realizes that the three most important things in his life, while these are his typical greetings, the three most important things in his life are the grace of God that give him standing with God, the mercy of God that allows God to continue to love him in spite of himself, and the peace of God that come from resting in the grace and the mercy of God. I will remind you of the words of my really good friend, Truman Page. Truman Page, who had served God, his entire life, and I had the distinct pleasure of being able to be the guy that took care of his lawn in the last years of his life. I had the distinct pleasure of going over to his house every day and having him teach me a little bit more

about God's word. And I had the distinct pleasure of sitting with him in the last week of his life as he was in the healthcare center there at Lakeview Village. And I had the distinct pleasure in that last week of his life for him to tell me, Ryan, I've walked with God for over 50 years now. And I am more aware today of my need for the grace of God than I have been in my entire life.

And I will never forget sitting next to my dad in a moment of clarity in that last month of his life. And he said, Ryan, I've thought a lot about those words of Truman Page that you like to quote so often. And he said, can I just tell you, I agree. I agree. And as Paul is at the end of his life, he realizes that the three most important things to him are the grace of God

and the mercy of God and the peace that comes from God. And so he tells Timothy, he says, grace and mercy and peace from Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, the Father. He says in verse three, he says, I thank God. I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did as I called on God. I constantly remember you in my prayers, longing to see you even as I recall your tears

so that I may be filled with joy. For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother and then your mother. And I am sure that is in you as well. Paul starts by saying, I thank God. I thank God. And I was reminded of something this week. This week, I was reminded of the importance of thanksgiving. Now listen, I know it's not November yet.

We're almost there. It's not November yet. And so you don't have to post every day on social media what you're thankful for. But I was reminded this week of why it's so important to live a life of thanksgiving. I remember when I taught ACCA or a high school Bible at ACCA, it would be November. And I would say, okay, it's thankful Thursday. What are you going to be thankful for?

And you know what the kids rolled their eyes at the most? I love those kids, but you know what they rolled their eyes at the most? It was thankful Thursday. Mr. Nichols, this is, this is so cheesy. Why are you making us, actually, I think that they said, this is so cringy. Why are you making us do a thankful Thursday? I said, because thankfulness is important.

And somebody put it down in the best words possible for me this week. They said, do you know why you should make sure every day you have something you're thankful to God for? Because you know what it says? You should write this in the margin of your Bible. Romans chapter one, verse 21. Romans chapter one, verse 21. I think I hadn't put it up there. Maybe not.

Maybe. Just write it. Romans 1, 21. Because this is what, Romans 1, 21 says. It says, they did not give thanks to God. And so they became futile in their thoughts. And God gave them over to a debased mind. Where did it start? Where did their futility, where did their emptiness of thinking begin? It began with the fact that they stopped thanking God for what God provided them on a consistent basis.

That tells us that your life of thanksgiving is a whole lot more than a social media post that you make. Your life of thanksgiving is what keeps your life in perspective and what keeps you focused on God. And you'll find that in every one of Paul's letters, he is thankful for what God has done and thankful for the people that God has provided. And so he says, he says, I give thanks to God whom I serve with a clear conscience.

Whom I serve with a clear conscience. And I love the way he says this. Because it's so important for us to pay attention to. One of the commentators that I read, really pointed this out. They said, when Paul says he served with a clear conscience, it means two things. Number one, it means that Paul served with a conscience that was clear from sin. He served with a conscience that was clear from sin.

And I think we need to understand something. If anybody would have struggled with having a clear conscience, free from sin, from the guilt of sin, it would have been Paul. Because how often, I think this was a struggle for him in his life. Because how often does he continue to repeat that he was the leader, the least of the apostles, and then the least of the saints, and then the chiefest of sinners.

Why? Because he persecuted the church. And I think Paul struggled to live a life with a clear conscience. Not because his sins weren't forgiven, but because he had a hard time forgiving himself. But now here he is at the end of his life, and he says, I have served God with a clear conscience because he had learned to understand what it means that he had been washed

by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, you might just, again, in the margin of your Bible, write Titus chapter three, verse five. Because if you remember the letter he wrote shortly previous to this, to Titus, he talked about the washing of regeneration. And do you remember what we said the term regeneration meant? It meant restored to its pristine state.

You see, I think when Paul says this, he has finally come to a place in his life where he realizes his conscience is clear. I don't know how many people come to know Jesus as their Lord. They come to Jesus as their, but their past holds on to them. Not that they're continuing to live in the sins of the past, but they continue to remember the sins of the past.

And so they hold on to so much guilt and they hold on to so much shame and they can't walk truly in the freedom and the joy that God has intended for them to have because they're still living under the guilt and the shame of what they've done wrong. And God wants you to know, he wants you to be distinctly aware of the fact that you have been washed clean. I was reminded about this. Again, last week, that you have been washed clean.

And every time the enemy wants to bring up the guilt that is probably truly associated with your past life, you need to remind yourself, you've been washed clean of that and you can serve God with a clear conscience. But not only this, he's serving God with a clear conscience because he's been cleared from the guilt of sin, but he's serving God with a clear conscience because of his faithful service. We have to understand something about serving God. Serving God, serving God does not mean that you will always have amazing results.

And we need to know that. We are a results-based society. And if you have checked the box with the results that you were supposed to hit, that you set your monthly goals, you set your yearly goals, maybe your five-year plan or whatever, and if you've hit the goals, if you've hit the marks, you're like, I'm successful. But you know, God does not look at it like that.

God does not view success as you hitting some sort of goal. God views success with one word, and that word is faithfulness. Have you faithfully done what God has called for you to do? Have you day in and day out, in spite of failure, in spite of lack of results, in spite of all other things, have you continued to day in and day out do what God has called for you to do?

Because God calls that success. It looks different than the world says, but in God's economy, it means that you're successful. As a matter of fact, at the end of the book, in the book of Acts, before Paul's first imprisonment, he tells the Ephesian elders, he says, my conscience is clear because I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. In other words, I didn't pull my punches.

I didn't hold back the hard stuff. I gave you everything that you would need to know. That's why sometimes I have to get up here and I have to give sermons that I would really prefer not to give. I have to address things in scripture that I would really prefer not to address. But I have to. Because there's a point in time where I realize I don't answer to man,

I answer to God. And God is the one who is going to hold me accountable as to whether or not I addressed all of the hard things in scripture or if I glossed over them because they weren't particularly popular at that point in time. Or it might make me look political. Or it might offend somebody in the church. Listen, if God's word offends you, it's done its job.

You need to know that. Because God's word offends me every day. And then I have to give it out to you. I have to give it out to you guys. And so he says, I have served God with a clear conscience. Not only because I'm clear from the guilt of sin, but also because I am cleared through my faithful service. He says, I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did.

And then he makes this great statement in verse 3. He says, I constantly remember you in my prayers day and night. I constantly remember you in my prayers day and night. Now I don't think that this means that Paul was constantly praying for Timothy. I think that he indicates that every time Timothy came to his mind, he would pray for him again. Every time things would come to his mind,

he lived in that constant state of prayer. Now I absolutely think that you should choose a time of day to pray. Where you say, you know what? I'm setting aside all other distractions. I'm setting aside all other things. And I'm going to have my communion with the Lord during this time. I'm going to have my time where I dedicate my thoughts and my actions. I dedicate everything to the Lord.

But ultimately we're to live a life, a lifestyle of prayer. And I had somebody ask me the other day, they said, how do you keep that space open for God where you're praying the way that you should? He goes, I'm always thinking to the next thing. And if I stop to try to listen to God, I have a hard time listening to God. And I said, you have to create space the way that works for you.

The way that works for me is doing active things. Like I really struggle to just sit down and pray because my ADHD brain goes crazy. And I start thinking of everything, everything else in the world up to and including pink elephants, right? I mean, it's just, it's all running through. There's a circus going on up there. So I have to do something active while I pray.

And if there's not a circus going on, I'm falling asleep. It's one direction or the other, right? And so, so I said, I have to create space for me to be able to do that. For me, that space is created by either going for a walk or going for a run. Sometimes it's even mowing, right? There's a reason why I enjoy mowing, partly because I can make it look sweet when it's done.

And I really enjoy loud machines. But also, because that's a really good communion time for me between me and the Lord. I create that space by occupying my brain enough to where I can focus on Jesus. Because I learned this a long, I learned this when I was in college and I was battling anxiety. It's really hard to be anxious while you're doing something incredibly physical

because there's less blood going to your brain, more of it's going to your muscles, which is why that clears your mind. And so, so I've had to learn, throughout my day, I'm praying for things and I keep these things on my mind. And as I am actively doing my thing, I go, oh, I got to remember to pray for them. I forgot to do that today. And I'll just stop right there where I am.

Like I've even been driving before and said, whoop, hold on, we got to pray for this because it came through. And if I don't do it right now, I'll forget. And we'll just stop and pray for it. When the prayer request came through for Seth Aerosmith the other day, I was just about to watch the end of my incredibly intense show on Netflix. And it came through and I looked at my wife and said,

you're not going to believe what just came through about Seth Aerosmith. And she goes, you better pray right now, otherwise you're going to forget. And so he did turn the TV off. We just prayed right there. So what you got to do? And so he said, I constantly remember you in my prayers. And isn't this great? Again, I didn't come up with this on my own. R. Kent Hughes came up with it in his commentary.

He said, what a way to end your life with a clear conscience and engaged in daily prayer. What a way to end your life. Clear conscience, engaged in daily prayer. The way he started is the way he finished. He says, I constantly, I constantly remember you in my prayers. And I thank God for you. And what's his prayer? His prayer in verse four is because I'm longing to see you

even as I recall your tears so that I may be filled with joy. Matter of fact, when we get to the end of the book, we're going to find that Paul says, hey, could you make your way up here? I'd sure love to see you. His prayers, he just wants to see his little buddy, right? He just wants to see his son in the faith. His dearly loved son, because at the end of his life,

he wanted to be surrounded with the people that he loved. And he felt very alone right now. And even though he knew he had the presence of God with him, and we'll see that again, sprinkled throughout the book, what he really wanted is the young man that meant so much to him. He says, I'm longing to see you because I can remember your tears. This is why I relate to Timothy, okay?

He says, I remember your tears. Undoubtedly, the last time he saw him when he left Ephesus, six years ago. He says, I've always, always longing to see you. In verse five, he says, for I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother, Lois, and then in your mother, Eunice, and I know is in you as well. He says, I long to see you

because I know your sincere faith. The word sincere is a beautiful word. The word sincere literally means to be without wax. I was reminded again of this word with a teaching that I heard this week. When sculptors in Paul's day would work on a sculpture, if there were any sort of cracks in it or any sort of blemishes in it, if they weren't worth their salt,

they would take wax that was very similarly colored to the stone that they were sculpting and they would take and they would spread that wax and the cracks or whatever issues were there. And to the naked eye, you couldn't notice it, but I learned something new. Especially if it was a vase, that was in the ground, that was built, what they would do is a discerning eye would hold the vase up to the sun because the sun would reveal as light would shine through the wax and it would reveal that which was not sincere. Isn't that great? When we hold our lives up to the sun, what do we see? Is it sincere

or is it filled with wax? He says, I remember your sincere faith that was instilled within you because of your mother and your grandmother. So I have, you know, I'm always talking to men in here. I'm always like giving dudes a hard time. Ladies, here you go. Here you go. Okay. One of the greatest influences in the lives of kids. And I know in the world today, it's like, ah,

it should be in the lives of more than that. Really? Because I think that's a pretty big influence, right? The greatest influence in the lives of kids are moms and grandmas. The greatest influence in the lives of young men are oftentimes moms and grandmas who are teaching them the truth, who are authentically living their lives in front of them, who are giving out those verses, who are giving them things to memorize, who are teaching them Bible

songs every now and then, commercial jingles, but then they're throwing Bible verses in there with it too. And they're, and they're teaching them those things because you're spending oftentimes the most time with your kids, especially when they're really little and you're, you're pouring that truth into them. Do not discount the importance of the job that you have as moms and grandmas because here we have a young man named Timothy who would go on to be one of the greatest men of the faith, whose faith was instilled in him by a believing mother and a believing grandmother. In other words, he was the man that he was because of the influence of the women in his life. Do not discount the influence that you're, that you meal was fulfilling.

Just put yourself in the role of a Christian that wants to live on the side of a real life. Do not, take anyone as you are, no not taking anyone as a thing of theомit who could leave your life being freed and repeat it. wasting things, such as in life and and love life and when you're not dying Segwa lies more than than by one of those eras of finding out who the ways in Florida where your you have in kids. He says, and I know that it's in you as well. So there's one last thing he's

going to tell him. He's going to give Timothy a reminder. This again is still all a part of the introduction. He says in verse six, for this reason, since you have this sincere faith, I remind you, kindle afresh the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of hands. For God has not given us the spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of discipline.

He says, since you have this sincere faith, I want you to remember to kindle afresh the gift. That word kindle afresh means to fan the flame. I sat around a campfire the other night with a bunch of FCA kids. It was great. And as we sat around the campfire, you always notice that if there's any part, of the, of the, of the wood that's burning, that gets moved away from the rest of the fire,

what always happens to it. It always begins to fizzle, right? Because it's, because it's gotten away from the fire. How do you, how do you fan that flame? You push all of the fuel back to the middle and you let oxygen get to it. And then all of a sudden it, it flames again. And that's what he tells Timothy he needs to do. He needs to fan the flame of the gift that's in him. Don't separate

yourself from the fire. Don't separate yourself from the fire. Don't separate yourself from the people. Don't separate yourself from the gift that God has given you. No, pour into it. Dig into it. Get closer to the people, get closer to the Lord and use the gift that God has given to you. You see, Timothy was a fearful young man and he's living in a time of false teachers who were

probably, uh, who are probably giving him a hard time and causing him issues and testing him. And so, and so Paul tells Timothy, don't allow yourself to pull back from that gift because the natural tendency, if you're a fearful person is to say, I'm just going to let somebody else do it. I'll just, I'll let somebody else take that role. I don't want to take the lead. I don't want to try to assert myself. And Paul says,

assert yourself, get in there and do what you've been called to do. And I don't know who this is a word for here this morning, but, but I think that maybe there's somebody in here this morning that has a gift that, that God has called you to do something and you have decided somebody else can do it. And so, and so Paul says, get in there and do what you've been called to do. And I don't know really need to be the one that's doing it. And it's time for you to fan that flame. It's time for

you to do the thing that God has called for you to do and not hold back, not, not decide somebody else can do it, not decide. No, no, I'm, I'm done with that now, but, but fan that flame again. I'll remind you that my uncle Joe did this for me in my life as a very young man, I had decided I did not want to do ministry because I was questioning everything about my walk with the Lord. I was questioning everything about ministry. And I decided I probably could never be used by God.

And I had just sort of given up on the idea and I'll never forget my uncle Joe calling me out of the blue and saying, would you come teach for me? And me telling him no. And him using those famous words that every pastor likes to use when they ask someone to do something and they tell them, no, they say, why don't you pray about it? It's the magic phrase of every pastor. Cause what are

you gonna do at that point in time? No, I'm not going to pray about it. Well, that's a loser move, right? So I was like, fine, I'll pray about it. And I prayed about it and God told me to do it. So I went kicking and screaming and God used it. And that's why I'm here today is because somebody fans, the flame in me, somebody told me, don't neglect the gift that's

in you fan that flame. And it clearly was an issue for Timothy because this is the second time Paul's had to tell him something like this. He told him, don't neglect the gift fan into flame, what God wants to do. Because listen, we need, we need workers in the harvest. We need people out doing the work of the ministry. We need people who, who have a clear vision of what God wants them to do

and attack that vision in a very godly way. Because I can tell you firsthand, the harvest is ripe and the workers are few and we need people that are willing to do that. So he says, fan it into flame. But then he tells them one other thing. He says, why is it? Why do you need to do this? Because God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of discipline.

He says, God has not given us a spirit of cowardice or fear. That's what the word timidity there means cowardice or fear. And I, I think this is an important word, not only for Timothy in this moment, because Timothy again was facing the difficulty of living as a Christian in a time when persecution was on the rise. Living as a Christian in a time when, uh, false teaching was on the rise, living as a leader in a time when it was not popular to be a Christian leader who stood up and said what was true, because it might cost him his life. He tells him, God has not given us a spirit of fear or cowardice.

Boy, that sounds a lot like today, doesn't it? In a time where it's not always popular to stand up and say what's true. In a time when it's not always popular to stand up and say what's right. In a time when, if you give out the truth, it might cost you your life because we're seeing more of that take place. Some of it's happening here in the United States, but I'm here to tell you right now,

if you look at what's going on in some of these other countries right now, do you realize that Christians are being slaughtered right now? And we sit here in an air-conditioned sanctuary, hoping that someone else will go reach the harvest. Meanwhile, in, was it Nigeria? Is that where they've had all this take place? They're absolutely, they're absolutely being wiped out. Brothers and sisters, God has not given us a spirit of

cowardice or fear. Do not fear him who can harm the body. Fear him who has control over your soul. Because for me to live is Christ, and for me to die is gain. And so he tells him, God has not given us a spirit of cowardice or fear. No, what has he given us? He's given us a spirit of power. It's an interesting word. It means strength or ability. The Greek word is dynamis. It's where we get our word dynamite from. That's the idea of power

that's given to us there. We have dynamite power that's been given to us by the Holy Spirit. I was just teaching a group of college kids about this last week in that prayer in the book of Ephesians, where Paul says, where Paul says that God would help you to understand the mighty power that works in you. The same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, that's at work in you.

That's the power that you have in you. The same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead. He tells Timothy, You can be the pastor that God has called for you to be. You can be the witness that God has called for you to be. Because the very power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is coursing through you through the Holy Spirit. Because God's not given us that spirit of fear. He's given us the spirit

of power. But what's the other aspect of the spirit that God's given to us? He's given to us the spirit of love. You see, that keeps power under control, right? That keeps us from using our power to harm. Instead, it uses the power to harm us. So, I'm going to tell you a little bit about what God's given us to show love. And of course, that word love is the word agape. I looked

it up to make sure it's true. It is. It's the word agape, sacrificial love. God has given us the spirit of power, dynamite power to do what he's called for us to do, love to have the right motivation behind what we do. But notice what else he's given us. He's given to us the spirit of discipline. The word discipline here is very interesting. It means sound judgment and personal discipline

that result in a calm well-being. A well-balanced mind. Let me read that to you again. Sound judgment and personal discipline that result in a calm, well-balanced mind. One commentator put it like this. It is the sanity of saintliness. He has given us the spirit of discipline for the sanity of saintliness so that we can maintain a level head. So that we can maintain a level head.

So that we're not people who are driven by our emotions, but we are people who are driven by the truth of the Holy Spirit. So that we are not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, but we are guided by the truth of the word of God. He says, Timothy, fan into flame the gift that was given to you by the laying on of hands. Because listen, God's not given us the spirit of fear, but he's given us the spirit of power and of love.

And of a sound mind that stays level-headed in the worst of situations. Final words from a faithful servant. Amen? Well, this morning is Communion Sunday. And so I'm going to invite Jared to come on up to get ready to do this last song. And I'm going to invite the ushers to come on in because in just a moment, they'll be handing out the elements. But I always

like to take just a moment to talk about communion and what it means so that we partake in a worthy manner. As I always like to point out inside of each of these little trays, there's a couple of cups that are stacked together. The bottom cup has the cracker in it and the top cup has the juice in it. And as always, in and of themselves, they are incredibly mundane and they mean nothing. But what they represent for us is incredibly powerful. Because

Jesus, on that last night of the feast, took that bread and he broke it. I always like to point out what that means. I always like to point out what that means. I always like to point out what that bread looked like because it doesn't look like what we usually see. This pretty loaf of bread there. Maybe sourdough. It came from a sweet sourdough starter. That's

not the idea of the bread that they used. They would have used unleavened bread. There was something really specific about that unleavened bread. Two things that are really important. Number one is that bread was striped because of the way that it was baked. And that bread is pierced because of the way that they prepared it for the baking. So I want you to picture,

if you will, Jesus. He pulls up this bread that is both pierced and striped. And he says, this is my body, which is broken for you. Take and eat. And we're reminded that Jesus, whose body was pierced and striped and broken for us, is the sacrifice for sins that was necessary. And then he took the cup, the cup of the new covenant. He says, this is the cup of the new

covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. And so everybody took the cup and they drank. And we're reminded that the one thing that gives us hope is that the blood of Jesus Christ would cover our sins. You see, all throughout scripture, there was the red thread of redemption that was woven. It started in

the book of Genesis with the promise of salvation. It carried on through the sacrifices that were made throughout the Old Testament. And it was fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. And we are reminded that the blood of Jesus Christ is what cleanses us from all sins. And so we're told in scripture to make sure that we partake in a worthy manner. I think that means

a couple of things. Well, first of all, it means understanding what we're doing, which is what we just talked about. The second thing that you need to understand is if you're not a believer here this morning, this meal really isn't for you. It won't mean very much to you. And quite frankly, scripture gives warnings about, about unbelievers partaking in the meal. That problem can be solved

really quickly. By putting your faith in Jesus and becoming born again. But there's a warning that's given. So you need to make sure that you really are a part of the family of Christ before you partake. The second thing is to make sure that your heart is right with Jesus, that there's nothing between you and him, that sins have been confessed so that you can partake with that clear conscience.

And so as Jared sings this last song, and as the ushers come forward to hand out the elements, I would just ask you to allow the Holy Spirit to do what he's going to do in you, to prepare your hearts for us to partake together. And as you receive the elements, if you would stand and then we'll partake together.

This is the body. This is the blood. Broken and poor. This is the body. This is the blood.

The sacrifice that set me free. This is the blood. This is the body. This is the blood. If you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, what perfect words, Lord. This is the body and this is the blood. Lord, I thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. I thank you that you were wounded for our transgressions. You were bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement for our

peace was placed upon you. And so Father, I thank you for the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us. And Lord, I thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. Lord, the blood of Jesus Christ that is enough to not only cover, our sins, but to make them as white as snow. And so Father, I thank you for the cleansing work of the blood of Jesus Christ. And so Father, as we partake now, may we always keep in mind the

preciousness of the love that you have for us, that you demonstrated your own love for us. And that while we were yet sinners, you died for us. Father, we just thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Let's partake. And if you'd bow with me one last time. Father, we come to you now. And as we head into another week, Lord, we just ask that your word would continue to sink deep into our hearts. Father, that you would keep us close to you.

That you would continue to make us the men and women of God that you've created for us to be. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.