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Father we thank you for your word Lord and We pray that you feel passion here with your Holy Spirit Lord and that you also give us ears to hear in the preaching Lord And because you feel past me with your power and in Jesus name we pray. Amen All right, we're in the book of 2nd Timothy we're starting a brand new book this evening and it's actually a continuation from Last Couple of months I was in 1st Timothy and I wanted to continue with 2nd Timothy here So let me just give you some introduction introductory statements regarding the book of 2nd Timothy The book of 2nd Timothy is basically part of a collection of what's known as the pastoral epistles when you go to Bible College They'll often say, you know These are the pastoral epistles referring to 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus and the reason they refer to that Refer to these letters as the pastoral epistles is because these letters Basically large in part give a lot of instructions in regards to the pastorate how to run a church the details of those things And that's why they're referred to as that They have large amounts of specific instructions regarding being a pastor and in 1st Timothy We saw a lot of detailed mandates given to Timothy on how to operate the local New Testament Church It's a great book for anyone who wants to be a pastor Anybody who's training to be you know, a pastor of a New Testament Church, you know You should familiarize yourself with 1st Timothy of course Titus because it gives you a lot of specific instructions and details regarding it, you know from sifting through Who is competent to preach and who is not, you know, that's important, you know It's important that the pastor or the person who's gonna be ordained to be the pastor that they're apt to teach That they know how to preach the Word of God that they not only preach with fire But they preach with biblical content as well. Okay, you know, we've seen in times past of Pastors who literally are pastors of churches and they have belly fire They know how to scream and yell But when it comes to their biblical knowledge They have very low knowledge and IQ when it comes to the Bible and this is not good Because of the fact that what changes lives is the preaching of God's Word, but it's just that the word, right? It's knowing what the Word of God says and how it can change people. This is important So he details a lot on who is competent who is not who is qualified to be ordained You know You can't just put any regular Joe Schmo behind the pulpit and ordain that person and expect that they're gonna do a good job No In fact, we need to make sure that people that we ordained we lay hands on meet specifically whoever I lay hands on for the Future that they're qualified to be a pastor and he lays that out in chapter 3 of 1st Timothy We see the qualifications of a deacon the instructions on dealing with those who are widows indeed and having the right attitude towards finances It's a great letter to really Meditate upon and study because it gives us a lot of instructions in that regard second Timothy however, really has a different format and emphasizes a different category Regarding the pastorate altogether because first Timothy is just a lot of instructions Hey gotta make sure people are preaching the Word of God. They're preaching it right they have sound doctrine They're not giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. They're giving attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine This is how you deal with widows in the church who are widows indeed You got to make sure you do this, you know, he's very he has a lot of instruction a lot of teaching whereas second Timothy Really is about how to endure as a pastor Okay enduring hardness as a good soldier What's great about the letter like all the other epistles? Is that you don't have to be a pastor in order to apply these principles that we're gonna look at in second Timothy, okay? Now what we're gonna see is that pastors like everyone else when we study this pastors like everyone else Have struggles and battles just like everyone else. Okay, they suffered through the same temptations and trials Difficulties they go through the same fire that everyone else goes through but particularly This is why second Timothy is being written because Paul is telling Timothy Hey now you have the knowledge, but you got to make sure you be you're able to execute these commandments under pressure under difficulty under extreme conditions You know conditions that could potentially cause you to fall away and haven't we seen that in times past where pastors are going forward? And then for whatever reason they just stop being a pastor because they just couldn't handle it You know, this is a temptation for many pastors because it's difficult at times But it's just it's the same thing all across the board for any Christian Okay, why because there's no temptation taking you but such as this common to man Okay, but God is faithful who will with that temptation also make a way to escape that he may be able to bear it So although this is particular to a pastor who's gonna be ordained we can all apply apply this to our lives, right? The principle is all across the board for everyone. This is a letter that places a heavy emphasis on Enduring hardship now I mentioned this last week. I think it was last week in my sermon You know, it's one thing to know the Bible right, you know doctrine, you know end times Bible prophecy You know the book inside and out, but it's another thing To be able to endure the hardships of life In order to continue in those doctrines, you know I know a lot of people who are just extremely intelligent when it comes to the Bible, you know They've only been saved for like a year, but they know the posture pre-wrath rapture. They know all about replacement theology I mean they know doctrine, but you know what they have little to no endurance And let me say this folks just as doctrine is important The ability to endure hardships is just as important because what good is it if you understand all mysteries, right? But you can't endure What good is it to know what the Bible says about the second coming of Christ But you can't even endure the difficulties of this life. It's basically meaningless You know, God wants us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might He not only wants us to understand these things in our minds and in our brains to intake the information He wants us to have some fortitude as well Because the fact of the matter is, you know, the Christian life is not a bed of roses You're gonna go through difficulties and trials you're gonna go through temptations And if you are a weak Christian, if you don't if you do not know how to endure you're gonna fall away You're gonna be offended and you're gonna be fruitless for the rest of your life And look I got saved 2007 July July 22nd 2007 is when I got saved and in the years that I've been saved I've seen many Christians fall by the wayside Seen a lot of them people who were going forward for the Lord. They were serving God They were soul winning They were coming to church and then something comes up in their life and they just fall away Whether it's sin, it's the cares of this life. It's the deceitfulness of riches the Bible says it's all these categories There really pulls on the heart of someone to get them out of church get them out of the Word of God You know, etc. Now look, I'm not talking about having some some physical ailment that will debilitate you from coming to church I'm referring to the fact when you make the actual decision to say I'm not going to church I'm not gonna read my Bible I'm not gonna go soul-winning because there's something else that's calling to my attention and I'm gonna put church on the back burner That's a person who's not enduring. Okay? Endurance is this yeah, my life sucks right now It's just not going well It's just going really bad. But you know what? I'm just gonna man up, you know, I'm a woman up or whatever You know I'm just gonna plow through this trial through this difficulty and I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing. No matter what the difficulty is. I'm not I shall not be moved. Okay? And I preached that I think it was a couple weeks ago regarding hope and the importance of that But this is what this book primarily deals with and during hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ Okay You know being able to perform these Commandments under extreme spiritual conditions and temperatures And look God's gonna allow you to go through some trials, you know, and look the trials can come in the form of persecution You know some people maybe persecution from your own family members, you know to some people in here Your family's very like means a lot to you, right? You know I have family immediate family that I'm very close to But I have a bigger family outside of that scope that I'm not really close to and if they criticize me for my beliefs Or for the things that I do it doesn't really bother me You know, and in fact, I'll be honest with you when anybody criticizes me for my beliefs it doesn't bother me at all In fact, it's like fuel. Okay. I'm just like thanks, you know it's just it kind of confirms and it kind of fires me up and to keep going forward and So sometimes for one person something that will cause them to get away from the Lord is persecution from family members for other people It's not maybe it's persecution from the secular world or maybe it's just not persecution at all Maybe it's just financial difficulties Maybe it's health difficulties You know, maybe it's conflict with other people These are the things I mean Satan knows what he has to do to push your buttons What buttons to use what buttons to push to get you out of the game out of the race? Okay, but the point is this we need to endure no matter what the temptation is Okay, and that's what this is all about first Timothy gives us the head knowledge Hey study the Bible give attendance to reading make sure that you're preaching the Word of God and make sure you're doing things Right, you know that the church is the pillar and ground of truth know who you're gaining Second Timothy admonishes the importance of enduring hardness in order to accomplish these great tasks Okay, so he kind of takes the letter into a different, you know street so to speak and saying look, okay You understand that now you need to learn how to man up now You need to learn how to endure how to be persistent how to be steadfast Unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord and this takes spiritual fortitude not spiritual knowledge But spiritual fortitude in order to accomplish these things look down to verse number one. Let's start. Let's start here in chapter one I know it's a little warm in this room here, but endure hardness is a good soldier. Okay? You know you it could be worse you could be in in Arizona. Okay? Where it's blazing hot? Way harder than this, right Verse number one says Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God according to the promise of life Which is in Christ Jesus to Timothy my dearly beloved son grace mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience now without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day. So you don't want to breeze over this too quickly But notice that when he's starting this letter he's talking to Timothy he's saying hey, I'm praying for you day and night I mean, can you really say there's people in here that you pray for day and night? And if there is it's probably someone who you think about quite a bit Maybe someone who God has placed in your heart your burden for because let's be honest most of the time when we pray we're praying for Ourselves right Lord. Help me. Give me wisdom. Give me strength It takes a special level of conflict and trial in a person's life for you to think about that person to say I'm praying for You day and night. So what is this telling us off the bat? It's telling us Timothy's probably going through a hard time right now To cause Paul to write into him to say hey, I'm praying for you day and night Look what it goes on to say greatly desiring to see thee Look what it goes on to say being mindful of thy tears So there's something that Paul knows about Timothy Timothy is going through a difficult time. He's weeping. He has sorrow of heart He's very emotional during this time You know and we don't know the specifics but based upon the overall teaching of second Timothy. He's basically afraid He's scared Okay So he's saying look I'm remembering you. I'm calling to remembrance You know, I desire to see you and I'm thinking about your tears You know in other words, he's basically hurting with those that hurt, right? He is feeling sorrow with those that feel sorrow and he's telling them like hey I empathize with the things that you're going through I know your tears. I'm not trying to undermine the difficulty you're going through I'm not trying to undermine your trial. In fact, I'm thinking about your tears. This is a great love that Paul has for Timothy She's being mindful of that tears that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the unfamed faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice and I am Persuaded that in thee also so a couple things I want to mention here First of all, he says in verse 4 Greatly desire to see to be mindful of thy tears that I may be filled with joy It's kind of weird. He's like, hey, I'm mindful of your tears because it fills me with joy At first it's like why are you happy that I'm sad? What do you mean it fills you with joy that I'm you know that I'm tearing up Well, you gotta understand something is that the Apostle Paul is very mature in the Lord So he's been through this wringer before Whatever Timothy is going through the Apostle Paul has already experienced Okay, whatever trial that Timothy is facing whatever fear He may have the Apostle Paul has gone down that street already so if he's gone down that path already if he's gone through that trial and Obviously we see that the Apostle Paul is still standing firm then that means that the Apostle Paul knows the end of that trial And therefore he knows hey, I'm joyful because I know this is gonna turn out for your good That's basically what he's saying there and this is why he states in verse 5 that he's calling to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee Which was first in his grandmother and then his mother Eunice and then he says and I'm persuaded in thee also now a couple things that we want to see here is that Often when we read these verses we think all this is referring to the fact that Timothy saved so was his mother So was his grandmother. That's pretty obvious, right? But I believe what he's referring to here is he's saying like I know That your grandmother grandmother had faith I know that your mom had faith and I'm persuaded that you have faith, too Because I don't think it's referring to specifically the faith to be saved I think it's referring to the faith that it takes to believe that God is with you even during trials Okay, that's what it's referring to. I Believe that's what he's stating there. Okay, and it's an unfeigned faith now This is pretty interesting because Paul because you know, you would look at someone activity is like well, I didn't grow up in a Christian home You know, I didn't have a grandmother who was who's who here is a first-generation Christian first-generation Raise your hand if you're a first-generation Christian quite a bit How many here have a I have a mother or father who was saved taught you the ways of the Lord How about a grandparent who was saved? Any anything further than that great-grandparent Okay, so it pretty much stops like at grandma or grandpa right now for those of you who are first-generation Christians You're probably thinking yourself. Well, you know, my mom wasn't saved. My dad wasn't saved I wasn't raised I was raised in a Catholic home or whatever. But here's the thing who's the one writing the letter To encourage Timothy, right and he had just gotten saved Paul had just gotten saved later on in life You know, and I don't know if his parents were saved But obviously, you know if he's in his older years and he just got saved a couple years back on the road to Damascus You know, maybe we don't know we don't only speculate that maybe his parents weren't saved. Okay. It was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, etc But what this is showing us is that hey Even if you whether you got saved later on in life or you had the unfeigned faith of your grandmother grandfather You know of your mom or your dad Guess what? We can all still build up our faith and have faith in God to deliver us in difficult times whether we got saved later on In life or not. Okay, we all have access to the grace of God which is in Christ Jesus We all have access to grow to endure to endure persecutions and difficulties no matter what Stage or in okay, so He's simply insinuating that Timothy's faith is strong and it's being tried That's basically what he's saying what he's saying there James 1 2 says my brethren counted all joy when you fall into diverse temptations Knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have a perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire Wanting nothing and so go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 if you would 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 chapter number 1 Hold your place in 2nd Timothy Now Look another thing that we can grasp from this, you know regarding his grandmother and his mother is That it's important for us That we endure, you know for the reward sake but also for our children's sake right Because obviously Timothy viewed and he observed the endurance of his mother and his grandmother and their unfeigned faith and We actually build confidence and those around us when we undergo fiery trials and we don't quit You know, it says a lot When you look at someone who goes through a difficulty and they just plow through that thing They just keep serving God and actually stills confidence in us to do the same But folks even more so when it comes to our children, though Okay, when your children see that you just stick it out no matter what through tears through sorrow through hardships but you're just plowing through serving God that does something to the spiritual composition of your children and instills faith in them Very important. So don't think that oh man, you know, I'm the only one benefiting from this, you know I'm gonna come through as gold. Well, you know what your children might come through as gold as well Because the unfeigned faith that is in thee the unfeigned faith that is in your wife or that is in your husband Will be imparted unto your children now, obviously they have to go through their own trials They have to experience fiery difficulties But you know what it gives them a head start if you're able to endure trials and difficulties as well Don't be a selfish parent Take your children into consideration folks You know the self selfish parent says well woe is me I'm just gonna get out of church and you know, God will work it out later on Yeah, you know, he might work it out later on for your children. But do you really want to roll that dice? How do you know that to be true? Better to endure hardness learn from that difficulty Go through that fiery trial and instill the confidence in your children because guess what you're not gonna be here forever Isn't that a scary thought sometimes for those of us who are parents knowing that we're not going to be around and that our children Are going to be left here in this world To basically fend for themselves. We better make sure we're training them, right? We better make sure that we're instilling faith into their lives by teaching them the Word of God But by also enduring hardness and difficulties ourselves, okay Now Again why is Paul rejoicing over his tears? Well, keep in mind the Bible tells us in Psalm 30 verse 5 for his anger endured But for a moment in his favorites life weeping may endure for a night But joy cometh in the morning. You think Paul knew that of course He's telling he's rejoicing over the fact that Timothy is weeping because he knows it's only gonna do it for a night And look sometimes the night is long Sometimes the night feels like it's never gonna end Sometimes the darkness seems like it's forever. It's just ongoing It's never gonna end but the Bible tells us that joy cometh in the morning You know, this is this didn't take Alaska into account, okay, well there's like six months of darkness or something, you know you know this is Fact that you know and weeping will it it may endure for just a night And the joy does come in the morning you just have to endure and the principle there is this indoor Go through that night weep all you can weep till you can weep no more You know there there will come a time where you go through such difficulty The weep and you weep and then guess what? You just kind of run out of tears that happens You just can't weep anymore But even then press through that joy will come in the morning Why else is he rejoicing look at second Corinthians 1 verse 3 blessed be God He's writing this the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth says blessed be God Even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of all comfort Who comforted us and all our tribulation? That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. Isn't that what Paul is doing to Timothy? By The comfort we're with we ourselves are comforted of God for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us So our consolation also abounded by Christ and whether we be afflicted it is for your consolation and salvation Which is effectual and the enduring of the same suffering which we also suffer or whether we be comforted is for your consolation in salvation Now I don't want to get ahead of myself as far as the book of 2nd Timothy is concerned When he's referring to salvation, he's not referring to the salvation of the Spirit He's referring to the salvation of the body Okay, and he's saying look I'm gonna endure because I know God's gonna come for me when I'm going through difficult times And I know that the comfort of the the trials comes with a measure of comfort And I know that I'm going through this in order to help someone else Because one of the things we think about is like why am I going through this? Like Lord like you know that I love you You know that I want to serve you You know that I'm not trying to do anything Nefarious or just you know you begin to question and there's various reasons Why we go through trials is to is to prune us, but one of the best reasons is that we can save someone else We instill confidence and they're able to help someone else when they go through that same difficulty Okay, and they see you go through that trial And they say you know what if that person went through it and made it I can go through it as well I can survive this trial. I can survive this difficulty. It's gonna be okay, okay? He goes on to say in verse 7 and our hope of you is steadfast knowing that ye are partakers of the sufferings So shall ye be also of the consolation For we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia He's like look. I'm gonna tell you what happened in Asia Some bad stuff happened in Asia that we were pressed out of measure above strength in so much that we despaired even of life But we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves But in God which raised raised it to death. He's saying look it got to the point where I felt like we're gonna die We're close to death we despaired even of life. I mean talk about the breaking point You know what often God takes us to that breaking point Okay He says a verse 10 Say I'm sorry verse the end of verse 9 says but in God which raised at the dead who delivered us From so great a death and doth deliver and who we trust that he would yet deliver us He says look not only did he deliver us. He's gonna deliver. Let me repeat that He not only delivered us we trust he's still gonna deliver us in the future They Gained credibility. It's just like now we know when we're at that breaking point God delivered us and you know what that gave us confidence then when we go when I'm when I'm stoned by my own countrymen When I'm persecuted by false brethren that are creepering in unawares when I'm going through a hard time if I'm shipwrecked in the sea I know that he's gonna deliver me Okay, this is a strong faith here to be at the point where you feel like you're just almost gonna die and Say he's gonna deliver me He's gonna deliver now Don't get the misconception that if you like You know snort coke or you know, just do some crazy drug. You're gonna be like God's gonna deliver me from this. I've just overdose No, sometimes God actually just allows you. He just gives you over to the consequences of your sin Okay Now look if you survive that then yeah, it was God Well, what about that? Well, you know what? I wouldn't roll that dice again And you're a fool if you think you can do that again and not suffer the consequences of your actions. I had a cousin and thankfully he got saved and I grew up with this guy and he was he was my age and we lost contact, but I found out later on in his 20s that He just got heavily involved in drugs and alcohol and he had just destroyed his body Just destroyed his body and He was basically gonna die He was in the hospital and they told him like you're not gonna survive very long. Your liver is really bad. Everything is just destroyed And so I got his number and I called him because I wanted a witness to him I heard that he was a Christian but you know, you can't really you don't know what that means, you know so I gave him a call and and His name is Melvin And I called him and I said, hey, how you doing and it's good to hear your voice and I heard what happened And I said, well, so what's what's the news? And they said they said I only have a couple days to live And I said, well you are you 100% sure that you're gonna go to heaven when you die. He's like, yeah, I'm saved He says I already believed on the Lord Jesus Christ You know, I know I'm saved. Jesus is my Savior. No, I can't lose my salvation. I'm safe. I know that I am And that and that rejoiced my heart, you know what I mean? Because it's just it was a sad way to To to live and die to be honest with you. The guy was like in his early 20s and and so I I Said well, that's great. He says but you know what? He says God's gonna deliver me though. I Know I'm gonna get out of this hospital You know, I know that God's gonna heal me. I know I'm gonna get out of this hospital. I know what's gonna happen And I'll be honest with you I didn't know I didn't have the heart to tell him So all I told him was this I said I'll see you in heaven I'll see you in heaven Why because the fact of the matter is is that he had destroyed his body so much He can't when when the Bible talks that God will deliver us. It's referring to the people who are like still serving God. I Mean they're pressing forward They're doing the best that they can it's not referring to people who are just out there. Just living a wicked life Making a mock of sin just kind of throwing their lives away You know something and you know what a few days later. He passed away And he was convinced folks that God was now ultimately he will be delivered Amen, because we have something called the resurrection, but as far as in this lifetime game over Game over Now this is not what this is referring to the Apostle Paul's referring to the fact that when we serve God There can be times when we feel like we were despairing even of life And that's some of the most difficult times in a Christian's life because in our minds we think man. I'm serving God Why is this happening to me if I'm serving God? And look we have the book of Job But Even then we still question It's like yeah with Joe, but why am I going through this though? Someone already went there. We already got Joe Lord like Need we another example, I thought the Bible was already canonized. It's already good to come like But the book of Job is written I mean that guy went through a lot a Lot okay, but it's written To show us That we all we too will go through difficulties We too will lose our children. We too will lose family members. We too will get cancer We too will go through financial difficulties and trials that will bring us to the breaking point You know and job and look doesn't job strengthen our faith when we read about him The fact that he came forth as gold and God like blessed him so much the more even at the end of his life Absolutely, okay But he will deliver us go back to 2nd Timothy chapter 1 so this is what 2nd Timothy is about okay And I'll be honest with you I rather have a Christian who knows how to endure than a Christian who knows a lot of Bible doctrine Because I know I at least I know the person who knows how to endure will be here for the long haul It's not guaranteed that the person who has knowledge will be here for the long haul But you know what is guaranteed is the one who's here for the long haul has the long haul to learn a bunch of doctrine Understand So the person who has all the knowledge, but no endurance. I mean what good is it? You're gonna fall away in that and that knowledge stays with you You die with the music inside of you kind of so to speak you know Not good look at verse 6 where if I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God Which is in thee by the putting on of my hands now What is he referring to here when he says stir up the gift of God? Which is given thee by the putting on of my hands. He's referring to the fact that Timothy was ordained by the Apostle Paul, okay He was ordained the evangelist in fact later on in the book we'll see that he tells them do the work of an evangelist right and this is a Good pattern that we as independent fundamental Baptists use that when we were doing someone we actually lay hands on them now Why is that well? when a person is qualified okay, and he's the man for the job and There is a qualified pastor who lays hands on that man it instills a lot of confidence in that person To say well if this person who is confident this person who's been in the ministry is willing to basically ordain me that gives us Confidence okay, it gave me confidence for example. You know pastor Anderson laid hands on me, and and you know Ordain me as the pastor here. You know I had confidence before that but my confidence was boosted when he laid hands because it's a man who has Experience in the ministry laying confidence upon you and what he's telling them here is this you need to remember To stir up that gift in other words. Hey, I know you're afraid, but just remember I'm confident in you because I laid hands on You can make it through this because you're qualified I Ordained you you can make it through this is basically what he's telling them there, so Any time he goes through times of discouragement. He just needs to remember that you know The laying on of hands is a biblical principle and imparts a level of confidence within the recipient, okay? He said well, how does it apply to me though because I'm not gonna be a pastor. You know what about me? I'm a lady or I'm a young man, or you know I'm a father I'm a wife, and I just I'm not obviously I'm not gonna be a pastor. I'm not looking to be an evangelist I just want to be a faithful servant of the Lord in church. I want to win souls to Christ How can I apply this to my life if I'm never gonna have someone lay hands on me Well go to Ezra chapter 7 if you would Ezra chapter number 7 keep in mind that you know we're not charismatic So it's not like when pastor Anderson put his hands on me I just got like I just he just transmitted these powers into me You know the ability to hate homos with the perfect hatred and just to just know perfect Bible doctrine And just you know he just transmitted all that power to me doesn't work that way, okay? Really the laying on of hands is actually symbolic okay Look at Ezra 7 verse 9 It says for upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon and on the first day of the first month of the fifth month Came he to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God Upon him for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it to teach in Israel statutes and Judgments, so if you're never gonna be a pastor or an evangelist you can still have God's hand on you You may not have a pastor laying hands on you, but it's okay. You can still have God lay hands on you Where God's hand is upon your life, and you know what that's available for anybody That's Available for the pastors for the deacons for the evangelists for the layman for the mom for the dad for the child for everyone Who wants God's hand to be on them because look when we have God's hand we have God's favor And you know what that does it gives us confidence You know when God's hand is on you when you're winning people to Christ you're making wise decisions You're learning the Word of God you're prospering in your Christian life You're prospering even through difficulty you can say I have God's hand on me It's God who's leading you so yeah? You may never never be ordained as the pastor or an evangelist or a deacon or any of that sort But you know what you can still have God's hand on you, and let me say this folks I rather have God's hand on me than any pastor lay hands on me Because there's folks out there who have been ordained by a man, but let me say this they don't have God's hand on them Self willed pastors out there who you know just became the pastor because they're self-willed to have to have their own agenda They have some nefarious agenda in regards to that. You know I want God's hand on me What good is it for a pastor to ordain to lay hands on me and ordain me if I don't have God's favor so we can still Stir up the gift of God that is in us, but the laying on of hands of God Okay as we serve him as we walk with him as we add to our faith virtue into virtue knowledge as We grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we do things that are pleasing unto the Lord God can lay hands on us not literally by the way. I got to make that very clear I'm not literally talking about God. I just I feel something It's gas it's gas Okay, I'm talking about on a spiritual sense I We're not getting charismatic here, okay Charismatic they think like I just feel the spirit. It's just all these goosebumps, and it's like walk by faith not by sight That's devil is essential. It's earthly. It's not from above this wisdom to send it not from above Okay, we're talking about God's hand and the fact that we are prosper. God's allowing us to prosper and So when you're going through a difficult time You need to stir that gift up and say you know what God's hand is available for me to prosper I Can still prosper in my marriage I can prosper at my job. I can prosper in the church I can prosper as a Christian as long as God's hand is upon me. Okay. That's what you need Go back to 2nd Timothy chapter 1 And sometimes we just need to remember that You know we often forget Basic principles right I've been saved for almost 15 years, and there's still things that I forget sometimes you know Basic things and sometimes it takes a trial to come to our lives to remember our to remind ourselves of those things to bring those Things into remembrance to stir up the gift of God that is in us in order for us to continue to go forward look At verse 7 it says for God has not given us given us a spirit of fear But of power and of love and of a sound mind he says so what he's so you know cats out of the back Okay, we know what Timothy's struggling with he's afraid You know it's not like he's struggling with covetousness He's not struggling with lusts. He's not a drunkard. You know he's not struggling with extortion or fornication He's afraid This is why Paul is telling them hey God did not give us a spirit of fear the Holy Spirit that resides within you does not fear You know it has power has love and it gives you a sound mind now This is proof that a person can have the Holy Spirit abiding within them and still be afraid Still be afraid Because if that was not possible he would not be telling them hey God Did not give us a spirit of fear because he's afraid you understand and any time a Christian is afraid of any circumstance any Situation not just persecution anything even outside of that that would cause that would shake you up a little bit You just got to remind yourself. This is not the Holy Spirit Because the Holy Spirit that goes within me it's not afraid God's Spirit has zero fear So look this is a good way To determine if you're walking in the spirit Are you afraid? Are you afraid of your circumstances and situation are you afraid of the outcome of whatever you're going through? Are you fearful? There you go. There's your answer. You're not in the spirit. You're walking in the flesh Because the flesh is afraid you understand, but once you stir up the gift of God that is in you Once you place that in the hands of God and you cast your cares upon him for he careth for you And then you become bold in the Lord at that point now you're filled with the spirit. It's very simple You don't have to go through this transformation Hallelujah Start feeling the spirit. It's just a matter of am I afraid that I'm afraid. I'm sorry Lord for being afraid Forgive me for being fearful Fill me with your spirit how many to be bold how many put everything in your hands and then when you get that overwhelming sense Of confidence now, you know, I'm filled with the spirit. I'm walking in a new man pretty simple, okay People want to complicate things, but it's as simple as that You know, once you have a sound mind you have love power meaning authority You have that overwhelming sense of hope that's you in the spirit What is he afraid of look at verse 8 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 this is what he's scared of. He's scared of the persecution that comes with the gospel Comes with the Word of God. He's scared to even be affiliated with the Apostle Paul Because the Apostle Paul is getting persecuted left and right and he's thinking well if I affiliated with this guy I'm gonna get that same persecution You know It's kind of like if you were to come to this church, but you don't really want to tell your family you come in this church You don't really you're just kind of like You know you go to church. Oh, yeah, what's your church in LA? What's it called? It's a Baptist Church What kind of Baptist Church? That's a first first birth Baptist Church of something What's the person? It's uh, I'll bring you an invitation You know because you don't want because we live in the age of of the Internet So if you tell them that they can just quickly look it up and see hey your pastor is crazy You got a Muslim I think say you're going to Christian Church you got a Muslim And he was the first thing your pastor hates homo, did you know that You know and if and if you're not grounded, and if you're ashamed You're gonna be like well. You know there's a couple things. We don't agree on and stuff you'll compromise You know, but this is what he's telling him He's telling he's not only telling don't be don't be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ in other words Don't be ashamed to be called a Christian Right hey, are you Christian? Oh? Yeah? Church and like yeah, I'm a Christian. I'm not only a Christian. I'm a Baptist That's my game That's what I represent I'm an independent fundamental Baptist You know Well, you know I just don't feel comfortable saying that let your eyes bug out when you tell them that like yeah I'm an independent fundamental Baptist Because look they're gonna think you're crazy no matter what Might as well look crazy doing it Like Yep That's the church. I go to you know I remember one time I met someone from she was a graduate from West Coast Baptist College and He came to me he's like hey, I heard you're a pastor. I'm like yeah, I was I'm a pastor I was ordained by pastor Stephen L. Anderson from Faith Ford Baptist Church of Tempe, Arizona He's all oh Like oh And I'm just like You know just let it all out there and that oh Said a lot. It's like oh Like this conversation just ended right here, okay? But don't be ashamed of the testimony, but he also says nor of me his prisoner So there's times when people could be ashamed of their own pastor. You know and Sometimes it's you know they for a right reason Maybe because their pastor is just a weakling of the pastor who doesn't preach the Word of God Doesn't take a strong stance and just kind of not still with the spirit But sometimes it's just because it takes too much of a strong stance in their eyes On their on their social media They know they just go you know Christian But they don't want to say what church they're associated with or whatever because they don't want people to know And I'm not saying that you have to go put on your profile first words Baptist Church what I'm saying is like sometimes people They rather just not have other people know where they congregate and The reason for this because they're ashamed You know because they know that they can click on that link And ladies and pastor me here puts the hottest part of the sermon He's like did you know he's against vaccines? He doesn't vaccinate. Did you know that it's like yeah, I mean either what like You know and they become a they become ashamed and it's unfortunate, but why is that because they're afraid Because they're afraid what people might think of them Forget what people think of you What we need to concern ourselves with is what God thinks of us folks We Need to make sure that what God's hand is upon us that God is pleased with our lives Phooey was whatever everyone else thinks about us Their opinions don't matter You know why are you trying to keep up with the Joneses? Better to just serve Christ be all in let everyone know that you are You know and let the chips fall where they make and look if people criticize you good You know what they just did they just did the work for you You know who not to hang out with Okay, oh You're anti-vaxx and you hate homos yep, that's me Like how do you how can you say it like that? That's who I am Well when you answer those just like huh, yeah Huh, I'm still learning though. I don't know I got it. I still gotta like look into it, huh, I Just answer as naturally as possible yep That's me and they're just like You want me show you I Got some sermons I can shoot you Where are you going? I'm just kidding Don't be ashamed So shame is closely tied into being afraid You know we need to be afraid of the Lord we need to fear God Okay, and not be ashamed of his words, and he reinforces this thought in verse 9 He says who have saved us and called us with the holy calling. He's supposed. He's saying you're supposed to be different You're holy means you're separated He's called you with the holy calling so don't be surprised when people get on you for being a Christian This is what he's called you to be Holy calling not according to our works But according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began I mean God has an entire purpose laid out for you prior to even the world being created But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who had abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light Through the gospel where unto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles man I like Paul's attitude He's like I'm appointed to this I'm appointed a preacher an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles who's he talking to the Jews Yeah, I'm a preacher of the Gentiles. I'm a teacher of the Gentiles. I'm out to reach the Gentiles Not ashamed of it whereas you have petered with this dissimulation Afraid of what the Jews might think of him, right? Look at verse 12 for the which cause I also suffer these things He's like well This is why I suffer because I'm and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed to him Against that day. So what is he saying? I Don't care what anybody says about me of who I'm reaching for Christ. I Don't care what they do to me, you know, let me say this this churches out there Where it's like what kind of people you got in your church You know, are they people with high IQs? Are they people with clout and money or you guys just regular Joe Schmoe people? I'm not kidding There's just pastors who have this mindset We're like if you don't have the high rollers in your church money wise Okay, that's yeah, it's one of those churches It's one of those ghetto churches are the common people heard him gladly the Bible says It's out there But Paul is saying here I'm willing to suffer these things. This is very profound. Don't miss this I'm willing to suffer with these things. I'm not ashamed For I know whom I believed and then persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed it unto him against that day What is it that he's referring to when he talks about that which I've committed unto him It's referring to the fact that he's committed his body unto the Lord I Beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God the present your bodies a living sacrifice Holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. So what is he stating here? I don't care what they do because I know that God is gonna protect me against that day Towards that day is what he's saying. I know he's gonna keep me until the end of my life And look do we have any record of the Apostle Paul getting his head chopped off? No, do we have any example of him being martyred and dying at the hands of the Roman soldiers? No In fact what we have record of that He just finished his life the way I think every Christian would like to finish their life Unless you're going through the 70 days of the Great Tribulation, which you know, I want to go out like Tony Montana. Amen We see him going out just living his the end of days just dying an old man so to speak But look at the faith that he had He's like I'm gonna preach the Word of God. I'm gonna keep soul winning I'm not gonna be ashamed because I know whom I believed in and I'm already persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed this body unto him against that day So in other words, I can serve God as fully as I want you because I know nothing's gonna happen to me. I Know nothing's gonna happen to me and he's gonna reach the brink of death, but it's okay. Nothing's gonna happen to him Talk about an exciting life right The Bible says in Matthew 16 24 then G then said Jesus into unto his disciples If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whosoever will save his life Shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find It where he's gonna find it against that day The Christians who just want to be live a temporal life Live for the here and now they want to save their lives They're gonna lose it because at that point God has no need for you. It's gonna take you home the people that he wants to Deliver the people that he's gonna keep against that day Are those who lose their life for his sake? in other words, they just live for the Lord and They're not afraid of what might happen to them. And this is the way someone put it to me, okay? Because you know, sometimes people are afraid of dying And I remember a long time ago. Someone told me if you are afraid of dying just you got to see it this way As a Christian you're basically invincible Until God wants to take you home Now that doesn't mean like haha, I'm gonna drop off a cliff or something Nothing's ever gonna happen to me what's referring to please don't do that. Okay. It's not what I'm saying at all What he's what the guy was saying was that? When you're serving God, you're basically invincible No evil shall befall you, you know to the point where your life is taken away unless God wants you to go home So basically it's free reign to serve God to its fullest extent If you've committed that would if you've taken that what you've committed unto him against that day There's no limit to what you can do for God You will not lose your life, but you will if you seek to save it I'm out of time here Let's let's finish up the chapter verse 13 hold fast the form of sound words Which thou has heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus That good thing which is committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us referring to the responsibility He had to preach the Word of God to see people say This thou knowest that all day which are in Asia be turned away from me of whom is Phygelus and Hermogenes The Lord give mercy unto thee unto thee. So what is he talking about with these two guys in verse 15? He's saying look this is part of the persecution. I've had people completely turn against me Believe me people who are my friends just completely forsake me for serving God Verse 16 the Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain This is a man that has actually talked about in the book of Philemon verse 17 But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me the Lord grant unto him That he may find mercy of the Lord in that day and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus That I know is very well I want to finish with this thought has nothing to do with what we've been talking about This goes to show you that the Apostle Paul says that the Lord gave mercy unto him And it shows you that the Apostle Paul was very much into calling out names Called out names I mean, we know who Phygelus and Hermogenes is because of the Apostle Paul calling him out. Oh, yeah You know those two guys over there? Yeah, they forsook me He wasn't like one of these pastors who get up and they want to warn you of some wicked false prophet But just doesn't want to say their name It's just like yeah There's people out there. I'm just saying You Know and they they want to just like Indirectly take shots of other people but not say their names here. He's calling out the names Because we need to know who he's talking about right and like he would obviously he wasn't ashamed of that He's like, I'll tell you who they are Phygelus and Hermogenes. These are the guys who turn against me So anytime someone comes through he's like, oh, you know, you shouldn't really call out names and stuff like that And by the way, let me just tell you the old IFP called out names all the time All the time. Here's the difference and I've said this before The difference is they didn't have social media like we have today The difference is they used to do it to what something called an open letter I remember the open letters of the old IFP. Nobody does. All right, I'm old They used to have these open letters where they were writing an open letter and and somehow It would get to like all these pastors and we would have to wait and then we would see we're like Whoa shows those calling out so-and-so Jack Scott. He's calling out Jack Scott I remember I had a or my wife's uncle uncle Johnny Esposito He wrote a book called if the foundations be destroyed and it was literally an entire book refuting Jack Scott's teaching on the King James Bible Cool, you know, but then they turn around and say to us. Oh you guys shouldn't call people out you guys did it We just do it faster We just got 5g We just got high internet speed, you know, we just do it at a quicker rate, you know, you guys had pigeons and like You know birds you have to send with messages and stuff like that Not us But it's a biblical concept there. Okay, so we'll finish there. What's the what's the the premise? What's basically the the Summation of chapter number one basically, he's telling them don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of your church. Don't be afraid of Jesus Don't be afraid of your pastor or be ashamed of your pastor Don't be ashamed of these things because you know, whether you're shamed or not. The world is still gonna treat you the same So you might as well just go all-in Amen. It's fire has enough order prayer father. We thank you so much for your word Pray God that you'd help us as Christians Lord to not be ashamed of your testimony Nor of your prisoners and I pray God that you'd continue to work in us help us to endure hardships as a good Soldier and continue to bless the teaching and the lessons as we continue to study next week the book of Second Timothy in Jesus Then we pray