(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

because there's opposition. It's because when God, especially here with Timothy, I mean, he's given him a gift to be able to teach and to preach and to do the job of a pastor which you're putting yourself out there. You're teaching. You're gonna be running into opposition and the more good works you're doing for the Lord, the more troubles you're gonna face. So he's saying, he's reminding him, hey Timothy, God hasn't given us the spirit of fear. So as you're stirring up your gift, as you're doing what's right and as people oppose you and you're coming across things that are fearful and you're getting some fears deep down inside, just remember that's not from God. Remember that. He's not saying you're never gonna have fear. He's just saying God hasn't given us that spirit of fear. God's given us a spirit, he says, of power and of love and of a sound mind. The world's going crazy. God's given us a sound mind. Thank God for that, right? But not just a sound mind, he's of power and of love. These are motivating things. They have power of God. There's power in God's word. There's power in being in the will of God and preaching the word of God. There's real power there. And quite honestly, that is why the devil wants to attack people who are preaching the loudest and preaching the hardest and doing the most soul winning and leading people to Christ because of the power that is there. That's where the attacks are gonna come from and that's why you have to be concerned about fear that might creep in because this spirit of fear, God hasn't given that to us. So we don't need to be letting that hamper our gifts that God has given us and hamper our service to God because of some fears of conflict and opposition and whatever else might be thrown at you. Verse number eight, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. So the exhortation or the encouragement to Timothy is, look, God's given you a gift. Don't be afraid. You don't have a spirit of fear from God. God's given you a spirit of power. He's given you a love. He's given you a spirit of a sound mind. These are the things that God has equipped you with. So don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord Jesus. Why would someone be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord Jesus? The only reason why anyone would ever be ashamed of that is because of the reprisals and the attacks and who might come against you for claiming and proclaiming Jesus Christ. It's because there's other people that might attack you for what you say, for what you preach, and try to cause you to be ashamed. That's why he's saying don't be ashamed. Don't be afraid. And I'll encourage you today, don't be afraid of what the Bible says. Don't be ashamed. I had someone call me, I was referred to this earlier, but it's the same thing with the atheists wanna make you ashamed of the Bible. And oh, don't you know that the Bible endorses slavery? Oh, and any child who ever disobeys their parents needs to be put to death, and all the stupidity of not understanding scripture whatsoever, not quoting it right. They don't even care if they quote it right. Someone's told them that this is what the Bible says, and they'll just repeat that. But you know what? People who are weak, people who have the spirit of fear, who are worried about oh, so and so said this, that makes them ashamed then of bringing up the gospel. Why? Because the gospel is in the same Bible that has the Old Testament and the New Testament. And if you don't love God's law, and you don't love God's word, you won't know how to respond when people come at you with these lies. First of all, just lies about the Bible. But second of all, even the part that, I had someone say, they're trying to call me a hypocrite because of my stance on the homos and putting them to death and stuff. And they're like, oh, what about adulterous? Or I say, well, I believe the same thing about that too, and I have sermons about it, but you don't even care to see where I stand on that. So you can't call me a hypocrite. They're like, oh yeah, you're not a hypocrite then. You're just crazy. Well, call me crazy, but I am consistent, and I love God's word, and I'm not gonna be ashamed of what the Bible says. You oughta be ashamed for not believing the Bible. Amen. God hasn't given us the spirit of fear. And you know what? It doesn't matter which human being, which mouth the attacks are coming from. It doesn't matter if it's a bum on the street. It doesn't matter if it's the President of the United States. It doesn't matter who it is anywhere in between, whether you think their position is high or not, whether it's your boss or it's anybody. You should not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for any reason, or of God's word, of the Bible, of what the Bible says, any part of the Bible. Genesis to Revelation, there is no reason to be ashamed of what the Bible says. It is the word of God.