Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM - 2 Timothy 4:1-11 - "Preach the Word" - Pastor Ryan Nichols

Before you go into the verse? Yeah. The pre-chorus? Yeah, because we went kind of back to that and then did the very last. They end on the chorus. So after the bridge, we actually don't do the pre-chorus.

So it does... Maybe I was thinking of the chorus. We did the bridge twice. We did the pre-chorus after each verse. Just once? Just once, yeah. Okay. I think that's true. Oh.

Because when you're coming out of the bridge, it doesn't kind of necessarily lend itself to the flow of things, you know?

All right. Well, good morning. Glad you're here. I want to invite you to stand with us. We'll pray. We'll get started.

Father, we come before you this morning. We just thank you for another day. Thank you for allowing us to be here this morning, to be in your house, Lord, to lift songs, to lift praise to you, Lord, and to spend some time in your word. And just we ask your blessing upon this time now, Lord. Lord, help us to lift a joyful noise to you, to lavish praise upon you.

And, Lord, may your word go out with power this morning, God. May it move mightily in our lives by the power of your Holy Spirit. We love you and we praise you. And in Jesus' name, amen.

In your presence, Lord God, and a thousand elsewhere, Lord, is where we draw our strength, where we draw our peace. Amen. Amen. Lord God, we just thank you for all the ways that you take care of us, for all the ways you provide for us, Lord God. We just want to give you, we just want to take some time this morning and give you gratitude, Lord God.

I've got nothing to stop as I kiss this flower every storm.

You can take a life that's been completely wrecked and make it something new. You can wash us white as an essence. And so, Lord, we thank you and we praise you this morning for who you are, for how much you love us, and for what you've done for us, Lord. And now, as Pastor Ryan comes, I just ask your blessing upon him. Ask your Holy Spirit to overflow him with your gift of teaching.

Give him the words to speak and give us ears to hear and hearts to receive it. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

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

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of in your bulletin. First of all, over on the left-hand side are the things that go on throughout the week. But a couple of those are canceled this week, with it being Thanksgiving. So there will be no Thursday. Women's study, obviously. And then there's also no church this Wednesday evening.

So those things are canceled this week. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, some things to take note of. Directory photos. So the directory should be ready about the middle of December. But Lauren is going to be here after both services today to snag anybody that has not had their photo taken yet or people that she knows are not in there because she's compiling all of that.

So if you have not had that take place, she's going to be doing that down here in the new part of the building down by KidCheck. So that's going on today. Tonight, Agape Fruits is having a Thanksgiving feast. So everybody is welcome to come to that. Tuesday. There's a lot going on this week. Did you notice that? Tuesday, there is a citywide community Thanksgiving service

at the First United Methodist Church at 630. So go join that. A reminder, ladies, that there is the women's conference coming up on December the 6th. All of the information is right there. And there's no need to sign up for that. It is free. And you can just show up. If you have any other questions, you can talk to my mom. Also, by the way, she failed to mention that she is going to be speaking at that.

So if you would like to hear her speak, she's going to do a fantastic job. She always does. So you should go check that out. The live nativity. I have no idea where we are on the sign-up sheet for that. But we are needing some people to help out with the live nativity. So all of the information is there. And there's a sign-up sheet out in the lobby. Operation Christmas Child.

Dude, y'all, knock this thing out of the park, okay? Final count of the boxes. Are you ready for this? Feels like we need a drum roll. Where's Jack? There it is. That's perfect. 517 boxes. That's pretty amazing. I think our goal was 350. So well played. Although you set the bar really high for next year. So be ready for that. There are two spots still available for the Operation Christmas Child Dallas trip.

So if anybody is interested, you've been going, I don't know if I really have time. You have time. You should just go talk to Jana. And then ladies' breakfast. Somebody was going to announce about this, but I don't know. Okay, she is here. Very good. Come on up.

You snuck in on me.

Yes, 100%. Hey, guys. Women's breakfast has just been so fun. It's been a true blessing. We've moved it here, so now we can kind of spread out, have some fellowship. We can hear each other, which is kind of the best part. And so for December, we decided we'd do kind of expand it a little bit, maybe do a little gift exchange. And for the younger ones, they can either join the gift exchange,

or we're hoping to have a little activity for them. So bring your daughters, granddaughters, whatever. But there's sign-up sheets, because I'm hoping they'll have a little better attendance. I know it's December. I understand that. But in December. December gets busy. But sign up for if you want to bring food or help with the activity or decorations or whatever.

Wherever your gifting is or wherever you're feeling led, please do that. Sign-ups. And also, there'll be a sign-up if you're going to attend, so we can kind of have an estimate on how big to plan. So I hope to see you there. I won't be there. I'm moving Gracie back, you guys. So I'll be in Hawaii that weekend. But I know. Yeah, well, for at least to the Continental, she's leaving Hawaii, but she'll be back.

So please join. It's been such a blessing to be able to get together with what I call the heartbeat of the church. But the ladies, it's just really been great. And so we'll have a guest speaker doing the devotion. So it'll be cool. So make it if you can. Please sign up if you would. Thanks.

All right. Those are the things that are going on. So if you would, make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading, we are going to be in Psalm 100. Psalm 100. Looking at the New American Standard, if you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 100, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

It seemed only appropriate to choose a psalm for Thanksgiving for the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Psalm 100. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. A psalm for Thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord himself is God.

It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him. Bless his name. And read verse 5 with me. For the Lord is good. His loving kindness is everlasting. And his faithfulness to all generations. And so, Father, we praise you for who you are.

And we give thanks to you for being so good to us that you have made us, that you have called us your own. You have redeemed us, Lord, and you have a place waiting for us. And so, Lord, our hope is in you. And so, Father, speak to us now through your word. Bless us, encourage us, and strengthen us. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. If you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4.

2 Timothy chapter 4.

Well, it's good to be back this Sunday. We had a great time last weekend at the fall FCA conference. We saw God do a lot of things in a lot of kids' lives. I don't remember if I shared this Wednesday night or not, but 15 kids came to faith in Christ over the weekend, which I thought was pretty cool. Yeah, it was pretty awesome to see what God is doing in the next generation.

And that's also where I picked up the fact that my voice is lower now than it usually is. Thank you, camp. So, but today we jump back into the book of 2 Timothy, and we come to the last chapter. And the next thing that Paul is going to tell us, the next thing that Paul is going to tell Timothy as he gives his final words from a faithful servant, is he's going to tell Timothy, preach the word.

We start off in verse 1. It says this. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. And will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. He tells them to preach the word. It's kind of interesting, because oftentimes Paul brings up this point in his writings.

As a matter of fact, he calls it, I believe in the book of 2 Corinthians, the foolishness of the preaching of the word. That God has chosen that through the foolishness of the preaching of the word, that that's how the gospel would be spread. And in other words, there's probably better ways to do it. But God has chosen that the preaching of the word would be the way that God's word would go forth unto the people.

And God chooses to use foolish instruments like us to be the ones who would preach the word. And I think that that's truly one of the most miraculous things that we can see take place. I shared this with the kids over the weekend, because it seems like we want to be used by God, but we sense within ourselves an inability to be used. And can I tell you that once you have sensed the inability within yourself to be used by God, you have finally reached the place where you can be used by God.

When we think that we have something to offer, when we think that we have something that is useful to God, when we think that my talents and my giftings are finally developed to the place where they can be used by God, you have now put yourself on the shelf, because God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Because his strength is making them useful. And so when we reach that point of going, Lord, the message that I speak will never be enough. The giftings that I have will never be enough.

The knowledge that I have will never be enough. My ability will never be enough to ever be effective for the use of the kingdom of God. God says, now we're getting somewhere. Now you can take seriously what I've called you to do, which is to preach the word. And so there's three things Paul's going to tell Timothy. He's going to give him the charge. He's going to give him the instructions.

And then he's going to give him the why. Why is it so important to preach the word? So let's start with the charge. Paul says in verse 1, Paul spends an entire verse telling Timothy how important the next verse that he's going to give him is. He spends an entire verse, a whole sentence there, explaining why it's so important what he's about to tell him when it comes to preaching the word.

Paul says, That word, to charge, means to testify under oath. In other words, I am testifying under oath that what I'm about to tell you is incredibly important. It's a strong legal term to say that I solemnly charge you. This is my testimony under oath. And what oath is he putting himself under? He is putting himself under the oath of the judge of the living and the dead.

He said, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ, and that statement there, puts Jesus and the Father on the same plane. He says, In other words, he tells him, what I'm about to tell you is so important that I am calling God into account to say that I have solemnly charged you. And this is the same God who will judge the living and the dead, the God who will take all of your works and judge them under the microscope of whether they were done by faith or not. And he's the same God who's going, who's going to return in his person to judge the living and the dead.

That's who I am calling into account when I charge you to do this. Why does Paul take so much painstaking effort to explain to Timothy that what he's about to tell him is so important? I think there's two really big reasons why. Number one, because what he's about to tell Timothy is so important. Because what he's about to tell Timothy is he is about to tell Timothy

that the gifting that God has given you, use it to its fullest. The gifting. The gifting that God has given to you, use it to its fullest strength and its fullest capacity because you may not realize it, but the simple act of preaching the word is the most important thing that you can do because it is the single thing that God has says, this is how men's hearts will be changed, is by the preaching of the word of God. And it doesn't make sense how it works, but God's spirit is able to take the preaching of the word and he is able to turn it into the most powerful thing, that you can imagine.

So powerful that it is able to take the dead and make them alive. So powerful that it is able to take the lost and make them found. So powerful that it is able to take the blind and to make them see, to take the lame and to make them walk. That's how powerful the preaching of the word of God is. And you sit there and you go, I don't understand. Why is it so important?

Because it's what changes lives. I watched it happen last Saturday night again. As a speaker got up and gave a message. And after his message, he simply invited kids to respond. For the next hour, kids responded. I took a beautiful picture of it, put it on my Instagram because there was just nothing but kids down at the altar, all coming forward just to pray.

Why? Because the preaching of the word is powerful. And that's why Paul says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ, who is to judge you. Who is to judge the living and the dead by his appearance and by his coming. And then he gets to his instruction. He says, preach the word. Preach the word. That word preach is a word that means to herald the word as an official messenger.

To herald the word as an official messenger. Now you and I, when we think of preaching the word, we think of exactly what I'm doing right now, preaching the word. And while ultimately that's what he's getting to, that's not the idea that would have been, that would have been created in the mind of Timothy. Because the Greek word carried with it a little bit of a different idea.

You see, the Greek word carries with it the idea of this. The spokesman of the emperor who proclaims the message which the emperor gave him to announce. That's what a preacher was at that point in time. It became someone who heralded the word of God. But a preacher in Paul's time was a messenger from the emperor who had to give forth the message that the emperor had given him.

Now if you know anything about the Roman Empire, what's really important about, what's really important about being the messenger at that point in time, that you be faithful and that you be accurate, right? Because if you proclaim something different than what the emperor has to say, he has no problem ending your life because of it. And so when he says preach the word, that would have been the image that would have been created in the mind of Timothy is someone who was sent forth from the emperor with a message that needed to be proclaimed accurately and needed to be proclaimed faithfully and needed to be proclaimed obediently. And so when Paul says preach the word, it created an intense message in the mind of Timothy.

He says, preach, preach what the word has to say. But then I want you to notice what he tells them that he has to preach, because I think this is important. He says to preach the word. Why? Because what is our message from the emperor? What is our message from the king? Our message from the king is what he gave us in the 66 books that sit right in front of us

in a sweet leather bound, perhaps a hard down cover. It's sitting on your lap right now. That's the message of the emperor. That's the message of the king. And if you want to know what the message of the king is, that's the message of the king. That's the message of the king. And we have to do it faithfully. We have to do it accurately. And we have to do it obediently.

He says to preach the word. And listen, that means that our message has to stay pretty narrow because the word of God stays pretty narrow. That means I can't get outside of God's word and get extra creative with the things that I have to say. It means I can't get outside of God's word and preach my own ideas. It means I can't get outside of God's word and preach what somebody else has to say.

I have to preach what this has to say, perhaps amplified by the words of someone else, but it always has to come back to this. That's why I'm incredibly disciplined to stick with what this has to say. To try to stick strictly with what the Bible has to say. And listen, sometimes I don't like to do that. Because you know as well as I do that there's some Sundays that I get up here and I'm like,

I wish I could have used my black highlighter on this part, right? I wish I could have taken my black sharpie and covered this part up because I don't want to preach this this morning. Because this is hard. This is culturally unacceptable. Nobody wants to hear this. I don't want to preach this, but it's in the word, so I have to faithfully preach it. Because at the end of the day,

what's more important to me is not your opinion of what I have to say. What's more important to me is what God's opinion has to say. Because he's the one that I will stand before, and he's the one that I will answer to because he is the emperor who has sent me with a message that I have to declare to the people. And so he says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God, preach the word.

Well, you know me. I had started thinking about these things, and what does it look like to preach the word? How do we preach the word? And all those kinds of things. So I wrote some things down, and I think I even had him put them up there. As a matter of fact, I gave him a lot of work to do this morning. How do we preach the word? There's two things I want to attack.

The how and the what. How do we preach the word? Well, number one, you have to preach the word accurately. You have to preach the word accurately. In other words, you better know what it has to say. And it's interesting because that's the very thing that Paul has been telling Timothy that he needed to do. Remember what he said up in verse 15 of chapter 2? He said,

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a workman who does not, need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Why do you need to rightly divide the word of truth? Why do you need to cut it straight or handle it accurately? Because if you're going to preach it accurately, you need to know how to handle it accurately. So he says to be diligent.

And then right in the verse above where we're studying right now, in verse 16 of chapter 3, he says, All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped. So it has to be handled accurately. That means you should know what God's word has to say. You should know what it has to say because you should hold me accountable to what it has to say.

We're told in the book of Acts that there was a group of people that Paul went and preached to, and they were called the Berean church from the city of Berea. And he says, The Bereans were more fair-minded than the others because they searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Listen, biblical accuracy is not just, it's not just the pastor's job. That was the problem in the Dark Ages.

In the Dark Ages, people didn't have the word of God sitting in front of them, and they trusted the fact that the priest was accurately handling the word of God. And the problem was, the priest wasn't accurately handling the word of God until the people got the word of God into their own hands. And they said, That's not what it says. That's not what the Bible says here.

And so the accurate handling of the word of God, yes, is my job, but it's not just my job. It's your job too. Because you may not realize it, but you're a preacher. That's who you are. That's what you do. We'll talk about that in just a minute. So you've got to handle it accurately. Number two, you've got to handle it boldly. You've got to handle it boldly.

We live in a cowardice generation. Have you noticed that? I'm watching the tide turn with some people, but we live in a cowardice generation where nobody wants to stand up and say what's true. Nobody wants to stand up and say, This is sin. This is salvation. This is wrong. This is right. And if you can't get right, you will be right. You will be wrong, and you will have to pay the consequences for it.

Nobody wants to be held accountable. No one wants to hold anyone else accountable. And it all comes back to the fact that we have lost our boldness. What happened to us as the church? What happened to us as the church that asked the hard questions of people? We're so scared somebody's going to not believe what God's word has to say that we won't just use what God's word has to say.

And we've lost our boldness. We've lost our courage. We've lost our heart. And we've got to return to that. You need that boldness. There's a beautiful story in the book of Acts. The disciples had been arrested for preaching. This is somewhere around chapter 3 or 4 of the book of Acts. They got arrested for preaching. When they were arrested for preaching, they brought them in and they beat them up.

And they said, Stop preaching God's word. And so what did they do? They went back to the upper room and they prayed. Only they didn't pray, Lord, could you please help them to like us better? We don't want to be disliked. We just want them to know that we love them. No, what did they pray? Lord, give us boldness that we can preach the word in the face of danger.

And what happened? The Holy Spirit fell. And what happened when the Holy Spirit fell? It shook the room that they were in. You know what I'm tired of? I'm tired of rooms not being shaken anymore. Because instead of us praying for boldness, we're praying for deliverance from all of the fearful things. They didn't pray that they wouldn't get beat up anymore. They prayed that they would have boldness in the face of danger.

And brothers and sisters, if we want to see our culture change, and I don't know if you've noticed, but we need to see our culture change, it's going to take boldness on the part of the church. That means you can't sit there and be glued to the pew or the sweet, comfortable chair that you're in right now. You can't just be glued to that. You're going to have to have the heart that's willing to go out and be bold.

And so if you're going to preach the word, number one, it's got to be accurate. Number two, it's got to be bold. But number three, it's got to be authentic. You have to preach the word authentically. Listen, the world does not care how much you know unless they see what is done in your life. That means that you have to get really authentic and transparent about what the gospel has done for you.

Because the greatest proof of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is your changed life. The greatest proof of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is what it's done in you. Because that's what other people take note of. They don't take note of the fact that you can parse the Greek words. They don't take note of the fact that you have memorized different parts

of scripture or that you carry a beautiful leather-bound Bible. No, they care about whether or not it's changed your life. And whether or not you're willing to own up to times when it should have changed your life, but it didn't. And they need to see authenticity in the people of God. Do you know what happened to us because of sin? We lost our authenticity and we lost our transparency.

I think I've shared this before. What was the first thing that happened when Adam and Eve sinned? First thing that happens, they covered themselves. What was the second thing that happened? They hid themselves. That means that a lack of transparency and a lack of authenticity came about because of sin. And ever since then, humanity has been hiding. We've been hiding who we really are

and we've been hiding what we really struggle with. We don't want anyone to see it. The gospel sets us free from a lack of authenticity. And the gospel sets us free from a lack of transparency. Because if I know that I'm right with my Savior, then I don't have to be afraid. I don't care what you think about me. I'm going to share with you the good, the bad, and the ugly of who I am.

And when I'm wrong, I'm going to own it. And when I'm wrong, I'm going to confess it. And I'm going to make sure and share with you the transparent truth of what Jesus has done and is doing in my life. It's one of the biggest lessons that God taught me early on in walking with Him is I had to learn to be transparent. I had to learn to be authentic in front of people.

And listen, that opens me up to sometimes looking really bad. It opens me up to sometimes looking really bad towards people. Last week when I shared on Sunday morning with the kids, I shared about what I've gone through in the last six months with loss. And I, of course, got emotional because that's who I am. And I had like three or four kids come up to me afterwards

and they put their arm around me and they said, we're praying for you, Pastor Ryan. And it was really, really sweet. And I'm like, wait, I'm supposed to be ministering to you guys. You guys aren't supposed to be ministering to me. And in that moment, the Lord said, but Ryan, that's transparency. You have to let them in on what's really going on. And you have to allow somebody younger

to minister to you. Because that's what the gospel sets us free from. The gospel sets us free from the need to always know everything. The gospel sets us free from the need to always control everything. The gospel sets us free from needing to always be right. Because it creates a transparency and authenticity in us. And so if you're going to preach the gospel,

number one is you got to be accurate. Number two, you got to be bold. But number three, you got to be authentic. That's what it takes to preach the gospel. But then the second question I had is this. What does it look like to preach the gospel? Because I bet a lot of you are sitting there thinking right now, Ryan, I'm never standing up there where you are. I'm never going to be able to stand behind a pulpit

and preach. And that's okay. I wrote down three things that are the what of preaching. Number one, there is formal preaching. There's a formal aspect of being able to get up and preach the truth of what God has done for us. There's a beautiful way to be able to do that. And listen, some of you really may at some point in time end up in a position like this where you are up in front of people giving the gospel.

It may be because you're the pastor of a church. It may be because you're being an evangelist. It may be because sometimes you're going to share a testimony. You're going to share what Jesus has done in your life. There were three kids over the weekend that got up and they gave their testimonies and each of them moved my heart. And in those moments, those kids got up there

and they preached the gospel. They did it through their own story, but they formally preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we had Fields of Faith, we had four young people get up and in front of a group of their peers, they preached the gospel of Jesus Christ through the changed work that God had done in their lives. And so the first major aspect of preaching the word is the formal preaching of God's word.

But now we get down to the nitty gritty here. Now we get down to the number two, informal preaching of God's word. That's mostly what the rest of us do. The rest of us are going to do all the time. We're going to do the informal preaching of God's word. In other words, it's not going to be in a situation where I have prepared a three-point sermon and I stand up in front of a group of people

and I preach. It's going to be in my everyday conversations or in the opportunities that God gives to me. That's called the informal preaching of the gospel. I thought it was fascinating and my heart was convicted by this. A young man got up on Sunday morning and he shares his testimony. And he said, my testimony is not like everybody else's. I didn't get saved in a church.

I didn't even get saved in an event. He said, I got saved scrolling TikTok. I'm like, all right, I got to hear this one. A wonderful young man. I talked to him a bunch. I love that kid. He goes, I got saved scrolling TikTok. He said, I happened to come across a video on TikTok of somebody sharing the gospel. And there was something about it that made me want to click on it.

He said, so I clicked on it. And you know how it works. Once you click on one video, the algorithm is created. And all of a sudden I start getting sent all of these videos about the gospel. And he said, I kept watching video after video of people sharing the gospel and what Jesus had done in their life. He said, all I could think was, I've got to have that in my life

because that's not me. I need that in my life. See, that's the informal preaching of God's word. That is just someone's testimony over and over again being shared in a very informal way. And listen, I was, he goes, social media gets a really bad rap and sometimes rightfully so, but sometimes God uses it for good because any medium that can preach the gospel of Jesus Christ

can be a really good thing. And my heart was convicted by it. I was like, man, that's a true story because I give kids a hard time a lot. Listen, kids, you should not constantly scroll TikTok, okay? But sometimes God uses it in a beautiful way. Sometimes you're going to have the opportunity with somebody that you work with, somebody that you're nearby to share what God has done in your life.

And you're going to be able to share the gospel with them or that one question, that one statement comes up and you go, I can't let that one go. I got to address that situation. And listen, the informal preaching, the informal preaching of God's word is one of the most important things that you can do. Because I don't know if you realize this or not, but people around you are dying right now.

I don't know what happened with the fella at Wichita North. I don't know if y'all saw that report or not. Kenny Taylor that died. Those of us that are my age and a little bit older that were in the wrestling world know exactly who that is because we all watched him be a beast on the mat. And it was heartbreaking to hear that. I hear that he died. And I don't know all the details yet.

I know what's been reported. But it makes me go, that guy must have been hurting. That must have been hurting and nobody knew it. And I'm reminded that it's not just kids right now that are struggling in the world that we live in. The people around you are struggling in the world that we live in. I told this to my college group the other night. I said, listen, you may not realize it,

but the person next to you could be contemplating suicide. It's the world that we live in. I know this to be true. I know this to be the case. We had multiple kids write that down over the weekend, last weekend. And I said, those are the kids that are willing to admit it. I just wonder how many people are in that place where they are going through hard stuff,

but the gospel's never set them free to be transparent. The gospel's never set them free to be authentic. So they don't know that it's okay to share those things with somebody else. And they need someone living authentically next to them. They need someone living transparently next to them that is willing. They need someone living to informally and in a very non-intimidating way,

share the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. It's what's needed in this culture. So we preach the gospel in formal preaching situations. And then you preach the gospel daily in informal preaching situations. But then number three, you preach the gospel through godly living. You preach the gospel through godly living. I don't know if you know this,

but the moment that you start telling people that you're a believer in Jesus Christ, every day you preach. The question is, what message are you preaching? What message is coming out of your life? Not out of your mouth, although maybe sometimes out of your mouth. But what message is coming out of your life? Like if someone were to say, that guy says he's a Christian,

and here's why I believe him. What would they say about you? If they said they claim that they're a Christian, and I believe them because, how would you fill in that blank in your life? What message is coming out of your life? What do you think the people around you would say? Because as I've shared with you before, Christians are the greatest cause of atheism in the world.

Who proclaim Jesus with their lips, and walk out the door, and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable. And that's just the truth. And every day you preach. Every day you preach by the way that you live your life. The question is, what kind of message are you preaching? Are you preaching a message of a changed life?

Are you preaching a message of what Jesus is able to do? Or are you preaching a message of hypocrisy? Are you preaching a message of, this is who I am on Sunday, this is who I am the rest of the week? Either way, you preach with the way that you live your life. And so Paul says, preach the word. The second thing that he tells Timothy to do is he says, be ready.

Notice what it says in the middle of verse 2. Be ready in season and out of season. It's interesting, that word ready, that word ready means to stand by, to be at hand, or to be present. To stand by, to be at hand, or to be present. And I thought that that last phrase was kind of fascinating in the world that we live in today. Because what is the biggest thing that sometimes we lack

in the world today? The ability to be present, right? Like why are we not always ready for what's in front of us? Well because we're not present. Why did you rear end that car? I wasn't present. Why weren't you present? Well because I was staring at my phone. Right? Again, I tell you, I'm a runner and so I wave at everybody when I run and everybody wants to, why do you wave at everybody when you run?

Because nobody pays attention. Sometimes I can see in windshields and sometimes I can't. And sometimes when I can see in windshields I wish I couldn't. Because you, I have seen somebody go almost an entire city block and never look up from their phone. I'm not making this up. And I'm like, oh wow. That's why I wave at people. Because I want to make as much distraction as I can so that

they go, hey there's a bald guy running. I shouldn't hit him. Right? It's not just the sun beaming off of his melon. But we're not present. Listen, I can't be ready if I'm not present. And that's the idea. We need to be ready. To be standing by. To be at hand. To be present. And we need to be ready in season and out of season. The idea is that when the time is opportune

and when the time is not opportune. In other words, when everybody is ready to hear the message, preach the gospel. When nobody is ready to hear the message, preach the gospel. When the conditions are perfect, preach the gospel. When the conditions are imperfect, it's maybe an even better time to preach the gospel. Sometimes it's going to be formally. Sometimes it's going to be informally.

Sometimes it's going to be through your life. But preach the gospel and be ready in season and out of season. Well again, I'm never content just to say, so be ready. What's it look like to be ready? What's it look like to always be ready to go? Again, I work with athletes a lot and they're trained to be ready. To be ready to go for their event. So they do some things that are muscle memory

so that they know this is the thing. Every time this comes up, this is how I react. So how are we ready in season and out of season? Well I wrote down three things. Number one, be prayed up. Be prayed up. As we've said before, you can't do anything but pray until you've prayed. But once you've prayed, you can do anything. Prayer lays the groundwork for everything that's going to take place

in our life. Prayer lays the groundwork for every ministry. Prayer lays the groundwork for everything that God is going to do. Prayer goes in and binds the strong man so that we can go in and take the spoil. That's what prayer does. And until you've prayed, you're not going to be successful in anything that you do. I shared this with you right after it happened, but we, right before

Fields of Faith, we had some times of going to pray at the field and it was fantastic to watch it take place. There was three waves of us one day that went and prayed because we all have different schedules and so one group of kids went early in the afternoon and then me and a couple of old boring adults, we prayed for a little bit later and then a group of kids joined me a little bit later that evening and all I could think was when you get kids praying, God can't help but move because God loves to build the faith of kids. So if you really want, sidebar, if you really want God to move in your life, ask some little kid to pray for you, right? Because God loves to move on behalf of kids.

And quite frankly, kids have no problem asking really big requests. Right? They're like, God, grow his leg back, please. God's like, well, I mean, okay. Build a space. Kids don't have a problem asking for really big things, right? If you don't believe me, just wait until next weekend when they make their Christmas list. Right? They'll ask for really big things.

I would like a new car. Me too, kid. Probably not happening this Christmas. So you have to start by being prayed up because being prayed up lays all of the groundwork for what God is going to do. That's part of being ready. Number two, you have to be read up. You have to be read up. In other words, you need to, if you're going to be ready to preach the gospel, be in

a consistent place of being in God's word. Listen, God is able to recall to your memory all of the things that you've ever read before. I've watched it happen in my life. But you do the groundwork. That's not an excuse to not be in the word. That's a reason to be in it even more. That's a reason to be in it even more. So be read up on what God has to do and what God wants to say. I don't know

how many times I have been in the middle of a question that's hit me out of left field during the day and think, I was just reading about this this morning in my devotions. I don't know how many times that's happened where I'm like, at some point in time people are going to think I'm making this up. But I'm not. Because I'm not smart enough to make that up.

Because that's what God does. God prepares us for exactly what we need for the day. If you'll be read up on what God's word has to say. And if you find that God is guiding your heart to slow down. We have this one year Bible plan, right? And this is what God's been convicting me of here lately. Is we have this one year Bible plan and it's a lot of reading and I think you should do it.

I absolutely think you should try it. But if God ever says, I want you to slow down. And I want you to spend some more time in this scripture. Then you need to slow down and spend some time in that because there's some reason why God has you in it. There's some reason why God has slowed you down. Because He wants to teach you something in an even deeper way. He wants to take you deeper. Probably

because there's something coming. Either that you're going to address in the life of someone else or it's going to be addressed in your own life. That that slow down is going to do for you. And so you have to be read up. Because that's what's going to prepare you for what God has for you. You need to be prayed up because that lays the groundwork. You need to be read up because that gives

you the stockpile of weapons that you need. But the third thing is that you need to be filled up. You need to be filled up. There's this principle in life. And it's this. You cannot give out what you have not first received. I used this example the other day and I'm going to use him again. So Jack Richardson came to me and he said, Pastor Ryan, I need one million dollars.

And I said, You know what, Jack, I really like you. And I do. I'm going to write you a check for one million dollars. So I sit down with my checkbook and I write out Jack Millard Richardson. One million dollars. Ryan Nichols. Here you go, Jack. He could take that check to the bank and they would laugh until he left. Because they would know he can write you a check for a million dollars all he wants to.

He can't cash that check because he doesn't have a million dollars. If I wrote him a check for two dollars and seventy-five cents, I can give him that whole thing today. It's all his. He can spend it however he wants to. Because I can't give out what I don't first have. And that's why I have to be filled up. And that's why you have to be filled up. You know the problem with most of us in the church

is we don't take time to fill up. We just run on empty all the time. How are we filled up? Well, the first two things I told you are a really important part of it. But it's more than that. It's more than just some prayer time and some Bible time. It is time with the Lord. Your time in worship, personal worship between you and the Lord is so key. It's just so key.

And listen, sometimes that time of personal worship takes place on your way to work in the morning. Sometimes y'all got to turn the news off for a little bit. Listen, stay updated. I get it. You got to do all that kind of thing. But every now and then, just turn the talk box off. And just turn a little bit of worship on. And allow God to just fill you up. To get into the presence of the Lord

and get filled up for the day. Sometimes it's just sitting with the Lord out in nature. Sometimes it's just sitting with God in your office. On the couch. Whatever it is, just take time to sit with the Lord and let Him minister to you. And quite frankly, I know that not everybody gets into this sort of thing but you should be constantly asking for the filling of the Holy Spirit.

You should be constantly going to the Lord and saying, Lord, I need you to overflow me with the power of the Holy Spirit. Listen, I believe that all of the gifts of the Spirit are for today. But I believe that He will not use them in some sort of a showy way so that everybody goes, look at that guy. He is full of the gifts of the Spirit. No, He's going to use it to preach Jesus

to the people that are around you. You know, I know that because that's what the Bible says. Jesus said, I'm going to send my Spirit and He will empower you. He will come alongside you and He will empower you and He will teach you and He will glorify me. Not Himself or the instrument. He will glorify Jesus. And so you need a constant filling with the Holy Spirit.

Plus the Bible says, being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's a daily thing. So every day you should say, Lord, fill it up. Overflow me with the power of your Holy Spirit. Overflow me with the strength of your Spirit. And you will find that God gives you a whole lot of what you need. That God empowers you and that God strengthens you. And sometimes when you ask

for the filling of the Holy Spirit, God sits you down for a little bit and says it's time to rest. And it's time to rest in the Spirit. That's what God does with us. And so you have to be prayed up. You have to be read up. And you have to be filled up. Because that's how you're ready. And if you're not doing those things, I promise you, you're not going to be ready.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to promise you something. If you don't do those things, then you'll fail. You will find that you're angry all the time. You will find that you're irritable all the time. You will find that when difficult things come along, they become the greatest challenges that you've ever faced. You will find that everything annoys you and everyone annoys you.

And when that happens, you need to step back and go, I need filled up again. I need to pray up. I need to read up. I need to fill up. Because right now I'm fed up. Right? I just came up with that one on the fly, by the way. I didn't write that one down. Felt good. Felt good coming out. I'm not going to remember it for second service either. Anyway, this is what happens to me.

What was I saying? Oh yeah. So if you find that that's you, are you extra irritable right now? Do you find that everything makes you angry right now? You know why? It's because you probably need to stop and you probably need to take some time with Jesus. And you probably need to get yourself filled back up. That happened to me over the summer when I was dealing with everything with Dad

and just ministering and serving and wearing myself out. And I got to a point where I was just angry at a lot of things. And I don't know if you all saw it or not. We usually lash out around the people that we feel the most comfortable around, right? And I found that I was getting a little bit extra angry and a little bit extra irritable. And I remember my wife telling me,

are you okay? You seem a little irritable right now. And then you always give the, I'm not irritable! Because we have a blind spot to it. But if enough people say it, you go, you're probably right. So I got back to prioritizing my time with the Lord again. Because I was giving out too much and not taking in enough. That's what needed to happen in my life. And so,

if you don't do those things, it will show. Everybody will see it. And you'll be the last one to figure it out. But it's okay. We'll still love you. It's just time to get filled up again. Amen? So he says, be ready in season and out of season. And then the last thing he tells them is to reprove, rebuke, and exhort. That's exactly what he says. I didn't get overly creative with what I wrote there.

He says, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. What does the preaching look like? Well this is the nitty gritty of what the preaching is supposed to look like. Number one, he says to reprove. The word reprove means to correct erring doctrine or behavior. To correct erring doctrine or behavior. The idea is to convince. To convince someone of what is right

and to convince someone of what is wrong. That is part of the work of preaching the Gospel. Part of the work of preaching the truth is a convincing work of showing the error in doctrine or the error in behavior. That's kind of like what we talked about last week. That's what teaches us what not to do. He says you have to reprove people. Number two, he says to rebuke.

The word rebuke means to warn those who sin. To warn those who sin. Listen, we have to understand something. There is a warning for sin all throughout the Bible. And if we are not faithful messengers of what God has to say then at some point in time that's on us. It's on us that we have not warned people of sin. Now listen, I'm not saying every single person's soul that you come in contact with

you're responsible for. I don't want to put too much pressure on you. But when you are aware of sin and you have the opportunity to address it and you choose not to at some point in time you are going to have to answer to God for that. At some point in time you are going to have to answer to God for the fact that you had the opportunity and you didn't take the opportunity.

That it was presented to you and you didn't take it. Trust me, I know there's some that I can look back on and go, I'm going to have to answer to God for those because I kept my mouth shut when I should have said something. But that's what rebuke is. And that's why sometimes I have to say harsh things from the pulpit. And that's why sometimes I have to say harsh things in person.

It's because ultimately I am responsible to God for how I handle the truth. And if it means I have to rebuke then it means that I have to rebuke. We'll deal with how we do that in just a moment. But the third thing he says is exhort. The word exhort means to encourage those who are growing spiritually. To encourage those who are growing spiritually. This is a word that's used throughout scripture

and it's kind of an interesting word because that word can also mean to call to one's side which is why it carries with it the idea of an encouragement towards someone. And listen, this is where sometimes exhortation happens in a situation like this where I encourage you who are growing spiritually but this is a lot of times where that informal preaching is really important. Because that informal preaching is where you come alongside someone and say I see the area that you're struggling with in your life let me walk through this with you. Let me walk through this issue with you.

I see that you're struggling with alcohol. I see that you're struggling with anger. I see that you're struggling with discouragement. I see that you're struggling with porn. Whatever it is. I know that you're struggling with these things and you know they're sin and I know they're sin. But I also know that you don't just overcome it by me saying don't do that anymore.

And so let me walk with you. That's the informal preaching of God's word. And that's called discipleship. And that's what only we can do one-on-one with each other and in small groups. I can't disciple every single person in this church. There's way too many of you. And there's just one of me. And I may not connect with everybody in that way. But that's where the person sitting next to you may come in clutch, right?

The person in your small group may come in clutch. Because that's where you need that discipleship in your life, to have somebody that puts their arm around you and comes alongside and says, we're going to walk through this thing together. Because I know what you're going through. Maybe I've been through it before. And I just want to encourage you. He says, reprove, rebuke, and exhort.

How? With patience and instruction. Now, I'm going to read this to you out of the Amplified Bible. I don't like what it says in the Amplified Bible. But I need to read you what it says in the Amplified Bible. It says, with inexhaustible patience. I don't want inexhaustible patience. Do you know what that means? That means patience that never ends.

That means I have to keep being patient with all of you people no matter what. Just like all of you have to keep being patient with me no matter what. We'll do it for each other. Why does he say that? Because the person that you rebuke, they're not always going to listen. They're not always going to listen the first time. Or the second time. Or the third time.

Or the 55th time. You know how I know that? Because I've been in ministry for a long time. And I've had to say the same thing to people over and over again. And I just have to keep saying, it's okay. We'll get through it. We'll get through it. You know how I know that? Because I have people in my life that say, it's okay. We'll get through it. We'll get through it.

We have to have that inexhaustible patience. How do you gain inexhaustible patience? By understanding how inexhaustible God's patience is with you. Because it's inexhaustible. But not only is it a great deal of patience that we show to each other, but it's also a great deal of faithful teaching. Faithful teaching. Parents, I'm going to tell you something that I'm learning.

Now that my girls are, you know, one of them is almost grown and getting ready to get out of the house. I'm finally learning something. They need to know why rules exist. They need to know why that's wrong. Why this is what they should do. It's something that my oldest daughter has asked me almost since she could start talking.

Why is that important? And they need to know the why. If you discipline them, they need to know the why. If you correct them, they need to know the why. You can't just say, well, because I said so. Would you accept that from anybody? No, you wouldn't accept it from anybody. Is it hard to explain? 100%. If it was easy, everybody would do it. But there has to be faithful teaching that goes along.

With any sort of correction. Otherwise, you're wasting your breath. And so, he says, Why? Verse 3. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers. In accordance to their own desires. And will turn away their ears from the truth. And will turn aside to myths.

Why does he need to preach the gospel? Because there's a time coming. There's a time coming when they will not endure sound doctrine. When they will not endure sound instruction or sound teaching. There's going to come a time when all people want is to have their ears tickled. Can I say, in the western culture, we may be there. We have. We have maybe arrived.

Which is why false doctrine spreads like fire. Especially false doctrine that allows people to live however they want to live. Or false doctrine that says, you can have your best life now. You know why? Because that's what everybody wants. I want Jesus and all of my sin too. I want to feel good about me. And live how I want to live. They will not endure sound doctrine.

Now. I will say this. There is always a pocket of people who are like, give me the truth. There's always a pocket of people who are like, tell me what I need to be told. And that's a beautiful thing. But it's amazing how many people just want to be told what they want to hear. He said, there's coming a time when they will not endure sound doctrine. Instead, they will want their ears tickled.

In other words, they'll just want to hear the fun things. They'll just want to hear the funny things. You know why we like to listen to that guy. Because he's really funny. You know why we like to listen to that guy. Because he's really entertaining. You know why we go to that church. Because they have all the cool stuff. Because they have all the cool things.

That's why we go to that church. And I'm going, doesn't anybody just want to hear the word taught anymore? Apparently you people do. Because you're here. Somebody said, I went to this church and this guy spoke for over 45 minutes. And I was like, who does that?

Silly guy. I said, I must have a weird church. Because I do too. So. So you must kind of like hearing the word taught. But you have to be aware of getting to a place where you only want the fun and you never want the meat. Where you only want the cotton candy and you never want the real meal. Usually that means that either A, you only want enough of Jesus to feel good about yourself.

Or B, you want to live how you want to live and you want affirmed in it. He says they will want their ears to be tickled. And then notice what it says next. They accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. I think we call those podcasts now. People accumulating teachers. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with podcasts. Don't get me wrong.

Don't go delete the podcast app off of your phone or whatever it is. But it's what's happening right now. You can now, in the a la carte church world that we live in, you can find anybody that will say anything that you want to hear. Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Find that teacher who will affirm everything that you want.

And you can say, ah, a place where I finally feel at home. Because he says everything that I want to hear. You know, I never really felt good about myself until I showed up at his church. Or her church. Or their church. That was a quick pun about pronouns. I never really felt like I could be myself until I showed up there. And then I realized that I'd been looking at the Bible wrong.

God's not provincial. God's not harsh and mean. God's just all love, and I can do whatever I want to do. Because they've accumulated for themselves teachers according to their own desires. Listen, I would love that too. I would love for somebody to tell me everything that I want to hear. The problem is I have enough conviction of the Holy Spirit in me that doesn't want to be told what I want to hear.

It wants to be told what I need to hear. Because I know that that's going to get me closer to the Jesus that gave his life for me. He says, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. And then notice what it says, and they will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. They will turn away their ears from the truth, and they will turn aside to myths.

I think that those two verses should always be a test for us. First of all, it's a major test for me as a pastor. That I am not just preaching in order to get people to show up. That I am not just preaching what I think people want to hear, but that I'm always preaching the truth. That I do not become one of those pastors who simply accommodates to what people want to hear.

Who just wants to entertain people. So it's a good test for my heart as a pastor. Am I sticking to the truth, or am I becoming one of those people? But it's also a good test for all of us as hearers. All of us that take in God's word. Do I really want the truth of God to convict my life? Do I really want the truth of God? Do I really want the truth of God to work inside of me, or do I just want to be entertained?

Do I just want to be a part of some social club? Do I just want to be a part of a group where I feel like I fit in? Or do I want to know Jesus? And it should be a test for us to know that what I'm taking in, to know that the people that I'm listening to the most, because I'm well aware that a lot of you go on to different podcasts and things like that. That's great. You should learn as much as you can learn.

But you should make sure that they're not just telling you what you want to hear, but that they're really sticking to the truth of what God's word has to say. And so, as we look at this statement to preach the word, I'll remind you, it's a solemn charge. It's a solemn charge that each of us, as believers in Jesus Christ, has been given a commission. Number two, there's this great instruction.

Preach the word. Do it formally. Do it informally. Do it through the way that you live your life. And always be ready. And make sure that your heart is wanting the truth, and not just simply wanting the things of the world that will make you feel good about you. Amen? Let's all stand. Well, it's the week of Thanksgiving. That means that you get to meet up with your family,

enjoy lots of good food, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes. I've heard of mac and cheese being a dish. Green bean casserole, somebody said, was their favorite dessert. One of my kids, I've never heard that before, but that was new on me. But you also have the opportunity to be around all of your family. Some of them love Jesus. I bet some of them don't. And you're going to have the opportunity

to faithfully stand for the truth, and to love them as Jesus would want you to love them. Amen? So let me pray for you all. Father, we come to you now. And I pray that you would be with us as we go out from here. Lord, as we move into this Thanksgiving week, I pray first of all that you would keep our hearts and minds focused on who you are. Lord, a truly thankful heart.

A truly thankful heart for the things that you have done in our lives. And Father, I pray that as we get together with our families, I pray for peace in the lives of families. And Lord, I pray for opportunities to give out the truth of who you are. And so Father, we just pray all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. From the dark called your name

And into darkness your mercy came Lifted me up as your love There has never been You praised this morning. Nobody else could have done what you've done. And so Lord, this morning we give you all the praise, we give you all the honor, and we give you all the glory. And Father, as we leave here today, I just pray a blessing on each and every one of us. I pray you protect us as we,

as some of us may be traveling this Thanksgiving. And so I just pray your protection over them as well. And we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.