An Introduction to Faithfulness

spend some time in your presence. Lord, I just pray that you would overflow us with your Holy Spirit. God, help us to lift a joyful noise to you, Lord God. Lord, we praise you. We lavish praise upon you this morning. Lord, for you are worthy of all of our praise. God, we give you glory and honor. Ask your blessing upon this time and upon the word as it goes out. We love you and

we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. We just want to glorify you this morning, Lord, in all glory and honor due to you. Amen. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like. Lord God, we just praise you, Lord. We praise you, Lord, for the new life that we have in you, Lord God, through your sacrifice and your blood spilled on that cross, Lord. Lord God, we praise you and we thank you.

Just thank you for what you've done for us. Lord God, you took the fall for us, Lord God. You took the punishment for us. Lord God, you took the punishment for us. Lord God, you took the punishment that we rightfully deserve on that cross. Lord, and you paid the price for our sin. Lord, it is paid in full. We just have only to reach out and ask for it, Lord God,

for that salvation, for that free gift, Lord, that you offer us. So, Lord, if there's any here this morning that don't know you, Lord, that have never come to that saving relationship with you, Lord, I pray that today would be that day that they would reach out and ask for that free gift of salvation, that they would ask for that forgiveness, Lord, that you so freely offer. I pray that as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, that you would speak mightily through him, Lord. Overflow him with your Holy Spirit and do a mighty work in our hearts, Lord.

Give us soft hearts to receive it. We love you, Lord, and we praise you, and we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

Good morning. If you could begin the process of finding yourself, your seat, grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A few things to take note of in your bulletin. First of all, as always, on the left-hand side, the things that go on throughout the week. Please find yourself a spot to get plugged into. Over in the middle section, a reminder that this Tuesday is the start of the new Grief Share group,

if you're interested in getting involved in that. And then a couple of things that did not... Make it into the bulletin because I failed this week on this. There is a new Experiencing God Bible study that Elaine Phillips is leading for some ladies. It's starting March the 3rd. There's a sign-up sheet out there. I think there's 8 to 10 spots, something like that.

So there's a sign-up sheet out there in the lobby if you're interested in getting involved in that. And then there is a Hope Worship Night coming up this week. That's the group that's been doing them in both towns at Venue 208, which is downtown, 7 o'clock p.m. Thursday of this week. So if you're interested in getting involved in that, it should be a great time

just to praise the Lord together as the community. And then, so last year, we started talking a little bit about maybe putting a memory verse in the bulletin. And I have not done it, but this week I was like, you know what? I really like this one, so let's do it. So the memory verse for the next couple of weeks is 1 Timothy 1, and so you can take a look at that,

see if you can start putting that to memory, and I'll try to get one in every couple of weeks or so as it goes along with what we're studying in Scripture. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. For our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 16. Psalm 16. Looking at the New American Standard for this part

so that we sound the same. If you need a copy, it should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 16, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 16, a Mishnah of David. Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in you. I said to the Lord, You are my Lord. I have no good besides you. As for the saints who are in the earth, they are majestic ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrow of those who are bartered for another God

will be multiplied. I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. I will bless the Lord who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.

I have set the Lord continually before me because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell securely. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay. And read verse 11 with me. You will make known to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy.

In your right hand, there are pleasures forever. And so, Father, we do praise you, Lord, for the presence that you give to us, Lord, because in your presence truly is fullness of joy. And so, Lord, that's what we seek this morning, Lord. As we arrive here at church, Lord, it's not just a meeting. It's not just a group, Lord. It's a place where we come to meet with you.

And so, Lord, make yourself known to us here this morning. Lord, reveal yourself to us. And Father, speak to us through your word. Father, there are many things God has done for us. There are many things going on throughout the world, throughout the nation, and even in our community. And, Lord, we trust that you are God in all of those situations and that we can rest in you.

And so, Father, be with us now as we spend time in your word. Speak to us by the power of your Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. And as we continue our journey through the New Testament, slowly but surely, we come this morning to the book of 1 Timothy.

I did debate on where to go on this one. I thought about going into Hebrews, but I thought, you know what? I feel like 1 Timothy is the place where we need to go because it really deals with the church and what church is supposed to look like and how we are to conduct ourselves in the church. As a matter of fact, that's really kind of the theme of 1 Timothy is conduct in the church.

He writes it to a young pastor. And so, as I have been, doing as we've gone through these Pauline epistles, we're just going to look at the first couple of verses this morning because we're going to look at the writer, we're going to look at the recipient, and we're going to look at his greeting. And so, we pick up in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 1, and this is what it says. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the commandment of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope.

To Timothy, my true child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. So, over the weekend, as I was starting to put things together, for me, the weekend starts on Friday. So, over the weekend, as I started putting things together, I asked my wife, I said, hey, I'm going to basically do something similar to what I've done before. Is that too redundant?

And she said, you cannot ever be too redundant with the Bible because we don't memorize it. We don't memorize all the things in it. We don't memorize your messages. And quite frankly, it's good to hear it again because we always add new people. And I thought, well, there it is. Wisdom from my wife. I seek her wisdom on a lot of these things. And she's almost always right.

Yeah, she's always right. She's almost always accurate. So, I thought we would... It's a good thing she's not sitting right there. I'd get the dirty look. I'll get it second service. So, I want to... So, I want to spend some time doing this again. And again, I know it's a little redundant, but I think it's just really good to remind ourselves of who these people are

because they were such prominent figures in Scripture and such prominent figures really in history. It's important to go back and look at them. So, the first thing we want to look at is the writer. It starts off simply, Paul. And I put a little thing up there that this is Paul from Persecutor. Maybe they're not with me back there. There it is. Paul from Persecutor to Preacher.

Paul's story for us begins in Acts chapters 8 and 9. And you might just in the margin of your Bible write Acts 8 and 9 or somewhere where you're taking notes because that's where it begins. Only in Acts chapter 8 and 9, he's referred to as Saul. Now, a lot of people think that's because after Paul got saved, he changed his name. And that's not actually accurate.

A lot of individuals like him living in that particular point in time had both a Jewish and a Gentile name, especially when you had dual citizens. Like Paul had. Saul was his Jewish name. Paul was his Gentile name. And so when we first read about Saul, we read about him in his Jewish context. And when we first start reading about Saul, a significant event had taken place.

In Acts chapter 7, we saw the very first martyr of the believers of Jesus Christ take place. His name was Stephen. And Stephen had given a testimony to the very same religious leaders that had crucified him. Jesus about how they were wrong in having crucified Jesus. And they, of course, shouted blasphemy and they drug him out and they stoned him. They put him to death. And the one who held

the coats, it says, consenting to the death of Stephen was a young scholar named Saul. Saul, who was one of the greatest scholars that Jewish history has ever seen, studied under one of the greatest teachers Jewish history had ever seen named Gamaliel. And he was consenting to the death of Stephen, that very first martyr. Well, after consenting to the death of Stephen, we read in the beginning of Acts chapter eight, that Saul unleashed a persecution on the church, unlike anything that they had seen at that point in time. So much so that it drove many members of the church in

Jerusalem to go throughout the rest of the nation of Israel, not only for fear of their, for their lives, but also spreading God's word as they went. And then we leave Saul alone for about a chapter. And then we pick up on him again in Acts chapter nine, and he was continuing with that same persecution. And he was receiving letters from the chief priests to go to other towns to bring back those who were of the way, is what they called it at that point in time, so that they could be put on trial and either imprisoned or put to death for blasphemy. And he had received

everything that he needed to do so. And while on the way to one of those towns, God got a hold of his heart. And when God got a hold of his heart, he knocked him down and said, why are you persecuting me? Isn't it hard for you to keep kicking against the goads? And I'm reminded of something in that moment, in this little story of Saul, Saul coming to Jesus Christ.

And that's that God had been working on his heart for a very, very long time. Probably the entire time that Jesus walked on top side of planet earth, God was trying to get a hold of the heart of Saul. And you can imagine that his heart was working on his heart for a very, very long time. And he was getting harder and harder towards Jesus. The more that he seemed to stand against formal religion

of the day and stand more for truth. Saul kept saying, I don't like this guy. I think everything about him is wrong. I don't like anything about him. But deep down on the inside, there was a convicting going on inside of his heart. God was working on him and it just, and it just took time. And I think that that's an important word for someone in here this morning, that God's been

trying to get a hold of your heart and you keep kicking against the goads. And God is patiently continuing to work on your heart until you finally reach that point of saying, who are you Lord? And eventually surrendering yourself ultimately and completely to Jesus. And so that's what Saul did. God was at work that whole time. And finally he surrenders himself in

Acts chapter nine to Jesus. At that point in time, he goes from persecutor to preacher. And so through a series of events, he ends up becoming this preacher in a city called Antioch. And while he's, in Antioch, he receives his calling. As a matter of fact, the next scripture you might write down is Acts chapter 13, because in Acts chapter 13, he receives his commission. The Holy Spirit said,

separate unto me Saul and Barnabas for the work that I have called them to do. And at that point in time, he would take off on a missions trip where he would not go to the people he thought he wanted to go to because who he really wanted to go to was his Jewish brethren. But who God wanted him to go to was the Gentiles. To a Gentile group of people who didn't know anything about Jesus, who didn't know anything about the scriptures, but were lost in their idolatry and their immorality. And God sent this

Jewish preacher to a group of Gentiles and he began giving them the gospel. And throughout three different missionary journeys, great ministry was done. Many, many people came to faith in Jesus Christ. Many churches, were started on these three missionary journeys that will encompass the next few years of his life. Books of the Bible will be written. Letters to different churches will be written. An entire

movement will be started. And in each of those places, he established churches with elders that would lead those churches. But in that process of doing all of those things, there was also great hardship that he faced. He faced persecution from the Jewish people. He faced the death of the Jewish people. He faced the death of the Jewish people. He faced the death of the Jewish people.

All the difficulties of life, sickness, all of the things that we go through plus the persecutions that he experienced. He experienced being beaten, he experienced being stoned, he experienced being imprisoned, all in pursuit of his desire to serve the Savior who had delivered him from death. Well, at the end of those three missionary journeys, he returned to Jerusalem and through miscommunication and misunderstanding he was falsely accused of something. Again, his Jewish brethren, and they sought to kill him. And one particular Roman soldier saved his life,

and when Paul began speaking to this Roman soldier and told him that he was a Roman citizen, he knew he'd better watch his P's and Q's. And so he brings Paul and imprisons him until he can figure out a little bit more what's going on. Well, a trial in Jerusalem led to a trial in Antioch that led to a trial in Rome where Paul said, I appeal to Caesar as a Roman citizen. And it's kind of interesting because on that journey to Rome, they had to take a ship. And of course,

as they took a ship, there was a storm because every disciple of Jesus Christ is going to go through a storm. There was a storm that also involved a shipwreck, and through it all, God was faithful. And through it all, God kept telling him over and over and over again, keep doing what you're doing because this is what I've called you to do. And so he makes it to Jerusalem, or he makes it to Rome. And when he makes it to Rome,

he lives on. Under house arrest for a couple of years. And as he lives under house arrest for a couple of years, he goes on to write what we call the prison epistles. And people come and go and visit with him. And he's able to share the gospel with every Roman soldier that he's chained to. And eventually, he stands trial before Caesar, and Caesar sets him free. After Caesar set him free from the years

AD 62 to AD 67, Paul traveled throughout the regions where he had already ministered. Some think he even went as far as Spain. And continued to encourage churches there. And while he was traveling to these different places, he eventually assigned Timothy to go down and pastor in Ephesus. He said, I need you to be in charge of the church of Ephesus. And then he sent Titus to go be in charge of the church

in Crete. And as those two young pastors go to take over those churches, Paul decides it's time to write another letter. A letter to Timothy in Ephesus. Actually, it'll end up being two. And then a letter to Titus in Crete. We refer to these letters as the pastoral epistles. They're called the pastoral epistles for two reasons. Number one, because they were written to young pastors. But that's not the main reason why they're referred to as pastoral

epistles. They're referred to as pastoral epistles because Paul knew that his time on this earth was short. That the time of his death was probably coming soon. Quite frankly, I think he was amazed to begin with. And he knew that when he was gone, they were going to need to know how to run a church. What it was to look like for the church to gather. What it was to look like for a church to

meet and be a healthy church, an organized church, an ordered church with proper leadership. And so he wrote letters to not only these two young pastors, but letters that were to be circulated to the other churches, pastoral letters, so that people would know, this is what a church is supposed to look like. And so as we dive into these pastoral epistles, we know that that is why he wrote them, to instruct the church on both the conduct and the function of the church. And so we see that the writer is Paul, but he identifies himself in an interesting way. He refers to himself, verse one, as an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to

the commandment of God. An apostle by commandment. Now, on its faith level, the word apostle means a sent out one. It also can mean an ambassador or a personally chosen representative. That's the idea of an apostle. And in its broadest sense of the word, that's what we are. You and I are ambassadors. We are sent out by God, commissioned by God to be his personal representatives, personally chosen representatives to the world.

And in a broad sense, that's what you and I are called to do. We are called to be apostles. But in its strictest sense, which is what Paul refers to it here, he's an apostle by the command of God. Now, it's interesting because in most of the epistles that Paul writes, he will say that he is an apostle by the will of God. But in the pastoral epistles, he presents himself differently.

He presents himself as an apostle by the command of God. Why? Because Paul knows that the role that he's been given is different than a whole other person. He's been given a role that he's been given a lot of other people because it is an authoritative role to let the church know this is a message from God about the way the church is supposed to function. And so he reminds them that his

apostolic authority is not like what you and I have. That's just simply a sent out one. He and the other 11 apostles that followed Jesus, their apostolic authority looked very different because their authority was to set the doctrine for the church, to set the doctrine for what the church wanted. And so he reminds them that his apostolic authority is not like what you and I have. That's

just simply a sent out one. He reminds them that his apostolic authority is not like what you and I have. That's supposed to be like and how it was supposed to run. And he's going to have to tell Timothy really hard things. He's going to have to tell all three, all both of these guys really hard things about what they were supposed to do and what it was supposed to look like. And so he needed not only

Timothy, but everybody else reading this epistle to know this is not just some guy writing a letter. This is a guy who was under the direct command of God and he has the authority of God behind him. He is an apostle by the command of God. But this made me think about something in our own lives. And that's that you and I have received both a call and a command from God. Do you know that? Do you know that everybody in this room,

if you're a born again believer, has a call and a command from God? I reached out to a young person this week because I wanted them to come speak at an FCA meeting for me. And they were like, well, I've never really done that before. And I, but I suppose there's no time like the present. It's always good to learn how to do something like that. I wanted to share their testimony. And I said, that statement's how I got started in the ministry

that in this individual said, plus Jesus is more important than chemistry. I said, those two statements are how I got into ministry. Because when I first started walking with Jesus as a junior in high school, April of 1998, I was in the middle of a chemistry class that I was terrible at. I thought I wanted to be a physical therapist. That was kind of what I wanted to go into. So I took

this chemistry class and I was like, I'm really bad at chemistry. And then I came to start walking with Jesus. And I was like, Jesus is more important than chemistry. And every opportunity early on, especially that God gave me to speak, I fought against tooth and nail. And I said, I've never really done that. I don't know how to do that. I guess I'll just have to figure it out. Because when you have a calling and a

command on your life, you will never be able to escape that. And I'm telling you this because we are entirely too content in the church of Jesus Christ to turn church into a church of a spectator sport. You see, I go to church to watch the pastor use his gift every Sunday morning. I go to church to watch the worship team use their gift every Sunday morning. And my kids get to watch

the Sunday school teachers use their gifts every Sunday morning. The problem is we're not the only people with gifts in this room. And we're not the only people with callings in this room. And we're not the only people with a command in this room. And I would venture to say, I asked the group of men yesterday that came for men's breakfast, which by the way, fellas, you've got to start showing up

to breakfast. And this is a little bit of an authoritative statement on my part, because otherwise you're really missing out. You cannot be who God has called for you to be if you don't show up to stuff, especially stuff that other men are doing. There's just no excuse for it anymore. Times are too tough. Times are too hard. You got to start showing up to things that we have. That's

just all that there is to it. But I was talking to a group of men yesterday morning, and I said, what keeps us from being about the master's business? And one of the guys said, fear. Fear of not being able to do what God has called me to do. And you know why you won't do what God's calling and commanding you to do? Fear. You're scared you can't do it. You're scared it's going

to take too much of your time. You're scared it's going to take too much of your life. You're scared the sacrifice is going to be too big. And quite frankly, you're scared that nobody is going to want you because you're not going to be good enough. And I'm here to tell you right now, if God has called you, if God has called you, you're not going to be good enough.

And if God has commanded you, then God will empower you. And maybe I should state that differently. Because God has called you, and because God has commanded you, God will empower you. And that's what Paul had. He had that in his life. And I am so glad that I finally said, okay, fine, I'll do it. Because here I am today. And I'm pretty happy about that. Amen. And so he says, Paul, an apostle, by the command of God, and he refers,

two different words here, God, our Savior, and Christ Jesus, who is our hope. God, our Savior, and Christ Jesus, who is our hope. Two phrases that I think are really, really interesting for us to pay attention to. Because when he says, God, our Savior, he really pulls from a very Old Testament idea that's given to us both throughout the Psalms and the prophets. It was

fascinating to take my Thompson Chain Reference Bible and have it say, God, our Savior, and take me to all the places in Psalms. And the prophets, where that's exactly what the prophets referred to God as. They referred to him as their Savior. And I think that that's a really important thing for us to pay attention to. Because the idea of Savior is one who delivers, one who sustains, because that's who God is for us. He is

the one who delivers us, and he is the one who sustains us, because he is our Savior. But when he says, God, our Savior, he throws another word in there. He says, and Jesus, our hope. Jesus, our hope. The word hope means a confident expectation. And I love the way that the Amplified Bible put this, because it says, Jesus, our hope, our fulfillment of salvation. You see,

God is our Savior, and Jesus is the fulfillment of God being our Savior, because he is the one who saves us. And it made me start thinking about something. It made me think about the complete salvation of Jesus Christ. Because for the most part, we view the salvation of Jesus Christ as one thing, being delivered from the penalty of sin. And that's the first tense of

salvation. That's called justification. Justification is being set free from the penalty of sin, because it is just as if you've never sinned. So you no longer have the penalty, because Jesus bore the penalty for us. That's what he did on the cross. That's the first tense of salvation, is justification. But there's a second tense of salvation. And that second tense of salvation

is that not only does he deliver us from the penalty of sin, but he delivers us from the power of sin. See, that's what he's doing for us in the present tense. Every day he is delivering us. He is saving us. He is our hope to be delivered from the power of sin. We call that sanctification. Even though you are set apart unto God in position, practically speaking, every day you're being sanctified. You are being delivered from the power of sin. How does

he do that? With the same blood that set you free from the penalty of sin. He continues to deliver you from the power of sin. He delivers you from the power of sin. He delivers you from the power of sin. As you seek him and his help and his strength in every aspect of your life, he delivers us from that power of sin. And so when we think of Jesus, our hope, he's not just my hope that I'm not going

to go to hell, but he's also my hope that I can overcome the issues of today. I can overcome the profanity that I struggle with so much. I can overcome the anger that I struggle with so much. I can overcome all of the garbage that I struggle with so much because he sets us free from the power of sin. But not only does he set us free from the power of sin, he sets us free from the power of sin.

Not only does he set us free from the penalty of sin, past tense, the presence or the power of sin, present tense, but he will one day set us free from the presence of sin, future tense. We call that glorification. That's when Jesus takes us home to be with him. That's when Jesus takes us out of this world and no longer is there a presence of sin that we deal with because we will be in the presence of God who cannot dwell in the presence of sin.

That's our hope is that we will one day be set free from the presence of sin in our life. The day that we are in the presence of our savior for eternity. He says, Paul, an apostle of by the command of God, who is our savior and Jesus, who is our hope. That's the writer. The second thing that we see is the recipient. He says, hold your finger here and go over to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16 is right at

the beginning of Paul's second missionary journey. And let's look at verses one and two. Acts chapter 16 verses one and two says this. Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra and a disciple was named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. And he was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. And Paul wanted this man to go with

him. This young man, Timothy was from the city of Lystra. Now, if we were to go back another chapter or two, we would find that on Paul's first missionary journey, one of the cities that he visited was both Derbe and Lystra. And he was a believer. And he was a believer. And he was a means that he had already come here. He had already preached the gospel here and had even

started a church here. So something that, that perhaps this ball with Timothy got rolling, even though his name isn't mentioned, it actually got rolling in Paul's first missionary journey. Perhaps that's when his mother and grandmother got saved because we find that they are the ones who really are the ones who raised him and brought him to faith. And then Paul discipled him after that, which is why he calls him his true child in the faith. But on that first missionary journey,

A young man perhaps came to faith, and now on this second missionary journey, Paul hears about this young man. We're told several things about him. We're told that he was a disciple, meaning that he was already a follower of Jesus Christ, somebody who had heard the message and who wanted to walk with the Lord. We find that he is a disciple. We find that he is well spoken of by the brethren.

In other words, this young man, who was probably anywhere from the ages of 15 to 20, maybe 22 max, this young man was well spoken. Everybody said, man, Timothy's a good dude, right? That kid, he's on it. He seems to love the Lord. He seems to really care about scripture. I think if the right person came along, he could really become a force for the Lord. So well spoken of by those

that were there in Lystra. But there's also something else interesting about him. We find in 1 Timothy that he was raised by his mother and his grandmother, and it would appear as though he came from a broken home. It is that his father was a Gentile. In other words, not a Jewish man. And we read nothing else about his father in all of scripture. In other words, perhaps his father had zero influence in

his life, which is kind of interesting to think that this young man came from a broken home, a home that was from a mixed marriage, mixed ethnicity home, and really a young man that understands a lot of the things that go on in a culture like ours today, where there are so many broken homes, so many fatherless homes. And so many homes with perhaps mixed or ethnically mixed marriages. And probably all of the difficulties that he went through in his life because of that. And yet this young man, who is potentially from a very broken background, came to faith in Jesus Christ. God provided him a Paul,

and he ends up becoming one of the greatest servants of God that we know. Because after all, just in this first section alone, we see that he is well spoken of by the brethren who are there. Well, Paul, after spending some time with this young man, saw potential in him. And as he saw potential in him, he said, you should come with me. Again, I'm going to speak a word to you men in

this room right now. The word that I'm going to speak to you men in this room is you need to start looking for young men that have that potential. And you need to decide you're going to be the one that pours into them. Isn't that the youth pastor job? Nope, it's your job. You're men in the church. That means that your job as men in the church is to disciple other young men in the church.

And that's what we're going to do. And that's what we're going to do. And that's what we're going to do. And for too long, we've left it to the women to do that. For too long, we have left it to the youth pastor or the pastor. And those are all great roles. Moms play fantastic roles clearly because his mother, his grandmother raised him. Clearly the pastor plays an important role. I

think I have a pretty important job. Clearly the youth pastor plays an important role. I think he has a very important job, but there is no substitute for other men in the church that come alongside and see the potential in young men and say, I'm going to pour into you. I'm going to teach you what it looks like to walk with Jesus. I'm just going to be an influence in your life because you never know how that's going to change a young man's

life. And that's what Paul does. Paul says, I want you to go with me. This young man, Timothy, now will accompany Paul on the rest of his missionary journeys. Now it's fascinating because as he follows Paul and serves alongside Paul on these missionary journeys, a beautiful thing starts to happen. He gets to be a part of all of those fantastic things that we see take place

in churches. He gets to watch churches get started. He gets to be there for Paul as Paul is preaching the gospel and seeing person after person come to faith in Jesus Christ. He gets to watch all of the highs of ministry that take place. And what a fantastic thing for this young man at such a young age to watch all of these fantastic highs in ministry take place. But he

doesn't just experience the highs of ministry. He gets to be a part of all of those fantastic things ministry. He walks with Paul through the lows of ministry as well. He was with Paul when he was rejected and kicked out of towns and kicked out of synagogues. He was with Paul as he faced persecution. He was, from all understanding, with Paul on that shipwreck that took place on his way

to Rome. And quite frankly, he spent time with Paul in his imprisonment. After all, when he wrote those prison epistles, he said, hey, it's me, Paul, and I'm here with my buddy Timothy. Timothy was a faithful friend. He was a faithful servant, a faithful follower of Paul. He was his trusted companion, so much so that Paul will mention Timothy in eight of his epistles. Well,

seven of his epistles and the book of Hebrews. We don't really know who wrote Hebrews. But he will be mentioned in eight different epistles. And he is so trusted that as Paul is nearing the end of his life, he says, Timothy, I need you to go and pastor the church in Ephesus. By the way, a church that Paul is so trusted in, he says, I need you to go and pastor the church in

Paul spent more time than just about any other church in all of his ministry career in a church that found itself in a place where false teachers had come in and needed to be confronted. And so who does he send? The guy he trusts the most, Timothy. As a matter of fact, Timothy will become such a trusted, faithful companion of Paul that when he writes the book of 2 Timothy, which is our last known writing that Paul gives to us, at the end of the book of him writing to Timothy, he will say, Hey, could you come visit me?

I'm pretty sure I'm right towards the end, and I'd sure love if you were here. That's how close he was to this young man. That's how trusted this young man was to Paul. And so again, I want to speak a word to you young men in here, and any young man watching, become a trusted companion. Be someone who is a man of their word. Be someone who can be trusted with the most difficult tasks.

Because I'm here to tell you right now, in the world that we live in today, not a lot different than the world that Paul lived in, when you find someone you trust, you love them with all of your heart.

Now the interesting thing about Timothy, I've always related to Timothy to an extent because everybody says the same thing. Timothy was pretty anxious, he was pretty timid, and he was very easily intimidated. And I'm like, yep, I feel that. So Paul writes to him to remind him to be strong. That sometimes he's going to have to have hard conversations, conversations that will make him not want to eat.

Okay, it's because he knows he has to confront someone. But conversations that need to be had nonetheless. That he will have to stand in front of people and say really controversial things because that's what the Bible says, and he needs to be okay with it. And most of all, be faithful. Because the theme of all of these pastoral epistles, and I've stolen this directly from Warren Wiersbe, is be faithful.

And he writes to him to be strong. And to be faithful. And to be faithful. And to be faithful. So the recipient is Timothy. Simply referred to as a true child in the faith. And then Paul gives his typical greeting. Notice what he says. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord. By the way, turn back to 1 Timothy. It's interesting.

Because Paul's greeting is just a little bit different than the other greetings that he gives. Did you notice it? Let me read it to you again. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. He added a word there, didn't he? Well, I want to go through those three words that he uses. Because again, as Paul is writing to a young man. A young man who is a timid, anxious, easily intimidated pastor.

A young man who is going to have to give out hard truths. To his church. And a letter that will be read to a church. That potentially needs to be corrected. Other churches that may need to be corrected. A letter that is written so that people will understand the true function. And organization of a church. That it will always start with these three things. Number one.

Grace. Of course that word grace means unmerited favor. Unmerited favor. And that unmerited favor. Comes through the blood of Jesus Christ. That's where God's unmerited favor in our lives come from. I find that grace is one of those words that once again is sort of being ruined in the world that we live in. And we don't have very many words left, do we? That they're not screwing up.

Like I feel like every time I have a conversation with someone. I need to have like a, okay, this is a list of what these words actually mean. And so let's read this real quick. And then we'll talk. Because everybody. Everybody's screwed up. You know, grace now means you can just live however you want to. Oh, just show them grace. No, grace is not license. Grace doesn't mean you can go do whatever you want to.

And that's okay. I'll just use my grace credit card to pay for it. That's not what grace means. Grace is the unmerited purchase favor of God that he has given to us as lowly, worthless sinners. That's not very happy, right? It's the happiest news I've ever heard. Because I know who I am. And. As much as I love that song, I know who I am apart from God. So I know who I am because of God.

Because who I am today is because of the grace of God. And Paul is that apostle of grace. It's fascinating to go through scripture and find all the places where he uses the word grace because that grace in our lives is what strengthens us. That grace in our lives is what saves us. That grace in our lives is what teaches us because it is the grace of God. That brings salvation.

That has appeared to all men. That teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present age. You see, that's grace. Grace is not the freedom to sin. Grace is the power to be free from sin. He says grace to you. And then he adds a word. Mercy. Mercy. I love that word mercy. It just it just sounds nice, doesn't it?

I grew up with a dad who used the word mercy all the time. Only only he used it in like the in like the the old Texas version of the word mercy. Right. So I heard it a lot growing up. But but it's a fantastic word. The word mercy, as I looked it up, means this kindness and goodwill toward the miserable. And afflicted that great kindness and goodwill towards the miserable and afflicted.

Well, that's right. We're that we're the miserable and afflicted. And so one of the things that we have to come to a place of understanding in our lives is the mercy of God. Now, let me tell you the difference between grace and mercy. Grace is receiving something that you don't deserve. Mercy is not receiving something that you do. You deserve right. Like grace means you've been gifted something from God.

Mercy means something has been withheld to you, withheld from you by God. Because what we are deserving of is judgment. What we are deserving of is wrath. What we are deserving of is the the righteous anger of God. And yet he has chosen to show mercy, not just because he's a happy grandfather, because the same blood of Jesus Christ that brings grace into our lives is the blood of Jesus Christ that withholds punishment.

And yet he has chosen to show mercy, not just because he's a happy grandfather, because the same blood of Jesus Christ that brings grace into our lives is the blood of Jesus Christ that withholds punishment. In our lives so that he can show to us mercy. I think one of the greatest things that we can do as believers in Jesus Christ is to allow ourselves every now and then to go on a little journey of God's mercy in our lives, because we should remember who we were before God cast as far as the east is from the west. You shouldn't dwell in it.

But every now and then it's good to remember who you were so that you can remember who you are and you can remember that God's mercy is how you got there. I was sharing with this. Same. Person. They said, how do you share a testimony about what God's done in your life? I said, well, every testimony involves three things, who you were, who you are, how you got there.

That's what a testimony is. This is who I was. This is who I am. God's how I got there. Right. This is the story of how I got there. And they're always a story of of mercy. And when we begin to understand God's mercy in our lives, it gives us the ability to show mercy in the lives. Of other people begins to to give us that ability to show that mercy to the life of someone who has harmed you or mercy in the life of an individual who is struggling so much with sin.

And we are reminded I was just like them. You know why sometimes we withhold that mercy from people is because we forget we looked just like them one time. I was the exact same person that they are. Only now I'm here. And it's all because of God. So if they're where I was, and I want them to be where I am, I have to show them what God showed me. And that's mercy.

And that mercy means that I'm going to show them grace. And that mercy means I'm going to be patient. That mercy is going to mean that I'm going to show them the truth. But that mercy also means that I'm always going to love them. I am always going to show kindness and goodwill towards the miserable and afflicted. And listen, we're kind of missing that in our world today, aren't we?

Sometimes we're kind of missing that in the church today and in all of the excitement of everything going on and in the world today with certain changes that are taking place. Let's let's not forget mercy. Let's not forget that that we're told it's his kindness that leads us to repentance. What was the one thing Jesus told the religious leaders was the one thing he told them.

He said you should have done all of these other things and not forgotten about mercy. Go and learn what I mean that I desire mercy and not sacrifice. It's a fascinating study through scripture to look up this word and see all the places where God uses it. Because quite frankly, the entire reason why Jesus was able to be born of a woman is because God showed David mercy.

Right? And so he says grace and mercy. And then that familiar word. And then that familiar word that we spent a little bit of time talking about last week. And peace. I love this. I think it was the Amplified Bible that had it in here. It said tranquilizing peace. Again, the comedic side of me thought of getting hit with a tranquilizer dart. Right? That's what went through my head as soon as I heard tranquilizing peace.

So like, yeah, sometimes that is what God has to do to me when I'm really stressed out. When I'm really anxious. He just has to hit me with a tranquilizing dart. Right? And I'm like, I got you. But that's what God gives to us. It is an inner calm and a spiritual well-being. I listened to Aurora, Ed Taylor talk about this this last week. And he talked a lot about peace.

And he said, you know, grace and peace always go together, but always in their proper order. And in this particular instance, grace and mercy precede peace. Because if you don't know the grace of God. If you can't bask in the mercy of God. Then it's really hard to know the peace of God in our lives. And he put it like this. I wrote it down to make sure that I had it right.

Grace is the fountain. Peace is the stream. Isn't that great? Grace is the fountain. Peace is the stream. Because God's grace flows. And God's mercy flows. And it turns into this peaceful stream. Just like the scene we created last week. Right? Sitting next to a peaceful stream. On a beautiful grassy field. When it's about 72, maybe 74 degrees outside. And everything is perfect.

Once again, nothing like it will look like this week. Right? That's peace. And they all flow from the grace and the mercy of God. So I have a question for you. Do you really understand God's grace and mercy in your life? Do you understand the unmerited favor that he's given to you? And do you understand everything that he's withheld from you? Because listen.

It's a whole lot easier to be at peace in yourself. And it's a whole lot easier to be at peace with everybody else. And to show that grace and mercy to everybody else. Once you've received it for you. Once you've received it inside of you. Do you remember that story? Again, going back to David. Do you remember that story? Where Nathan confronts David in his sin.

And he tells him. He tells him about a sin somebody else committed. He said there was a man who had one lamb. And a man that had a whole herd of lambs. A whole flock of lambs. A flock of lambs. A whole bunch of sheep. He said the man with all of the sheep had a guest come. And he wanted to make a meal for him. And so he went to the man that only had one lamb.

And he took his lamb. And he slaughtered it. And he fed it to his guests. And do you remember what David said? Take that man and burn him to death. Why? Because he wasn't walking in the grace and the mercy of God. Therefore, he wasn't at peace in himself. And he couldn't show grace and mercy to anybody else. Because he had no peace. Therefore, you're not at peace in any place in your life.

Because that's what he wants to do. And as he writes to this young pastor. He says, I know it's going to be hard. I know there's difficulties that you're going to face. I know that the job is hard. And you're nervous about it. But may God's grace and God's mercy lead you into his peace. He says, grace, mercy, and peace to you. Notice what he says. From God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Because those are the source. They're the source of the grace in our life. They're the source of the mercy in our life. And they're the source of the peace in our life. So go after Jesus today. Because he'll give you all of those things that you need. Amen. Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come before you. And Lord, I thank you for what your word has to tell us.

And I thank you for these individuals that you have chosen to use over the years. Or that you have chosen to use in your scriptures. That teach us lessons of mercy and grace. Father, I thank you for the life of Paul. Who went through so many hard things and yet continued to seek you faithfully. Continued to serve you faithfully. Because he finally surrendered to you.

Lord, I thank you for the life of Timothy. Lord, who was so faithful. Even though timid. Even though anxious. Lord, continued to serve you faithfully. And Lord, I thank you for your unmerited favor in our lives. I thank you for your kindness to the poor and the needy. And Lord, I thank you for your peace that flows through us. And so Father, I lift up the heart of every individual that's here this morning or watching online.

And we just ask that you would do the work that only your Holy Spirit can do in us. Lord, that if there is someone in this room this morning that is just living in that angst. And they've been fighting so hard against you. That they would ultimately find their peace in you. And so Father, we thank you and we praise you for who you are. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Be blessed. Lord God, we just thank you for the day, Lord. And we just thank you for this opportunity to come and worship you, Lord God. Because it is all about you. Lord God, without you, Lord, we are nothing. We have nothing. So Lord, we just ask that you would be with us, Lord. And if there are any here this morning, Lord, that have never come to that saving relationship, Lord.

I pray that today would be that day. That now would be the time. Lord, while it is still today, Lord, let us not harden our hearts. Lord, let us ask your blessing and your protection on us as we leave here today, Lord. And just keep us all safe and warm this week, Lord. We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen.