July 7, 2025 • 56 mins
In this powerful sermon, Pastor Karl draws a vivid parallel between the Revolutionary War’s militiamen and minutemen and the life of a Christ follower, urging us to live as dedicated “minutemen” of faith. Reflecting on his recent trip to Boston, Karl connects the historic battles of Lexington and Concord to the call in 2 Timothy 2 to be strong in God’s grace, not our own strength. He challenges us to flee from what dishonors God and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with unwavering commitment. Using Paul’s metaphors of a soldier, athlete, and farmer, Karl emphasizes enduring suffering, staying focused on God’s mission, and avoiding distractions that entangle us. This message inspires us to embody authentic faith, rely on God’s unmerited favor, and live purposefully for Christ’s kingdom, ensuring our lives align with His calling.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Thank you.
(00:01):
Let me just say this, Caleb,thank you for being with us
this morning, man.
You know,you got a home here and right now, Caleb.
But you're in New York. New York, right?
Doing doing, doing the theater.
Doing this theater thing.
But, you know,you're always a part of this family.
(00:21):
You always got a place here.
And I love the factthat when you come back, you are here.
So thank you.
You bless us, man.
Thank you.
It was great for,
Shelly and I to be gonelast week together with our sons.
And Jeff did a great jobkind of tying things in.
Ephesus together.
From the letter Paulwrote to the church in Ephesus.
(00:43):
And what Paul said or what is quoted forus in acts about FSS, and then what Jesus,
his response to the church in Ephesusand Revelation two, and kind of wrapping
all those things togetherbecause the, the, the books of first
and second Timothy deal with Timothyas a leader of the church of Ephesus.
And so Jeff kind of painted the picturelast week of the overarching theme
(01:05):
through for this church,through the through the eons.
But we're going to be backin second Timothy today in chapter two.
So if you have a Bible
and brought one with you,I want to encourage you to turn there.
But Shel and I were gonelast week in Boston over the 4th of July,
which was a great experienceand was great to be there with our sons.
(01:27):
And something that
I've realized while we were there,
and I want to share with you,
about the, the,
the, the things that ledinto the Revolutionary War,
because it has a profoundit struck me profoundly.
The correlation betweenand I'm going to share with you and
(01:49):
and how we live faithand our practice of it.
Are you familiar with the battles
of Lexington and Concord and.
All right.
And let me, let me let me startthen at the beginning.
As as this
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these colonies were beginning the process
of establishing independence.
The redcoats had infiltrated Boston,
and they heard that there was some,
commune at ease in the colony
of of of Massachusetts that were amassing,
(02:34):
weaponry, muskets, gunpowderand whatnot to fight them.
And so
the the order went
out to march from of the redcoatsto march from Boston
to Concord to put an end to this
budding rebellion and to arrest
(02:54):
Sam Adams and John Hancock,
who were in Lexington at the time,
which was just beforethe Russians would get to to Concord.
So they were marching through Lexingtonto arrest
Sam Adams and and and,
sorry.
(03:15):
John Hancock and Adamsand then go to Concord
and destroy this cache of weapons
on their march.
Y'all heard of Paul Revere's ride, right?
One of my plan to.
If I see the regulars are coming,that's what he.
He didn't say the the British were comingbecause they were all British.
(03:35):
The regulars are comingbecause it was a regular army.
The regulars are coming. The regularsare coming. That whole the whole story.
So he's making his way around the circuit
with about probably 30 other ridersin all to spread the news.
The Redcoats are marching up to Lexingtonto get to Concord
(03:55):
at Lexington.
If you ever heard of the shotheard around the world.
Okay,that happened at the Green and Lexington.
And as the as the Redcoats marched
into Lexington,there were men from Lexington
called the militiathat formed a line to meet them.
(04:16):
And to try to stop
the largest army in the world
at the time from carrying out their orders
at that Lexington greenwhere the first shot happened.
There's a statue.
It's a real iconic,and they call it the minute ma'am statue
(04:37):
you've all seen iton, if you realize it or not,
but it's called the Minutemen statuein honor of these, of this little.
This is where the first shots happened.
This is where the first Patriots had diedas an act of war,
in an act of war,just after the Boston Massacre.
But this was the first war time.
Shots that were fired and deathsthat occurred.
(04:59):
There's a statue there of the Minutemen.
The interesting thing is this.
That Lexington didn't have any Minutemen.
They had militia,
but it's called the Minutemen statue.
Just in honor of of this whole thing.
There's a difference between militiamen and minutemen.
And eventuallythey made their way to Concord
(05:22):
after election dayand after this, this little battle,
and then encountered all kindsof colonists that pushed them back.
And the ones who gathered togetherboth militiamen and minutemen.
But at Lexington, though
the statue says the Minutemen statue,they were militiamen.
And here's the difference.
If you know the difference,militiamen and minutemen
(05:43):
now get so that Minutemen
were hired by the communityto be really full time soldiers.
There was no Continental Army at the time,but a community.
If it had enough money,hired men to be their full time
soldiers, and as part of a full timesoldier, as a minutemen,
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you had to carry your musket with you24 hours a day, seven days a week.
You had to sleep with it even.
You had to always carry with youwater and food. Why?
Because if something happened,you had to be ready
to respond in in a minute.
So they trained about 3 to 4 times a week,
carried their weapon with them everywherethey went, slept with it, burned
(06:28):
food and water because they were readyon a minute's notice for battle.
The different them and
militiamenwere this militiamen in those communities
that didn't have enough money to hiresoldiers, they were just regular Joes,
and so they might train once or twicea year.
And when,
(06:50):
something happened where they,the community needed a responsive,
responsive force,
they would grab their musketor their shovel or their pitchfork
or whatever they had and kind of respondbecause it was a special emergency.
And then when it was over, they just goback to their regular civilian life.
And when I heard that,
I thought, that really reminds me
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of people of faith.
Churches are full.
Of militia.
And what we're called to
is Minutemen.
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To understand the difference.
Like, if something's needed
and we like to rally the troops, and,you know, you show up and.
And then as soon as it's over,we get right back to life is normal.
Rather than everyday training
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and disciplining ourselves
and carrying our sustenance with us
and the weapon with us
that were ready at a moment's notice,
we're on duty.
You follow.
(08:17):
So as we go through second Timothy two,
consider.
Militia
or Minutemen.
It will have a profound impact
on the rest of your life.
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In Second Timothy chapter two,
Paul comes out swinging.
He's in his 60s.
He knows he's going to be beheadedunder, Caesar Nero.
He's at the end of hislife, is in a dungeon at this point,
and he's writing a couple of lettersfirst Timothy, second Timothy and Titus,
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two men who will take over the leadershipof these churches.
And to Timothy, first and second Timothy,
who has taken over the leadershipof the church in Ephesus.
He imparts these very last wordsand basically says to him, listen,
this is how you lead and live.
Well.
(09:18):
And this is the final thingsI want to impart to you,
and I want you to take this responsibilityseriously,
not as a militia man,
but as a minuteman.
Do you understand?
And so, because these are the final words
we have written of Paul,he comes out so and so.
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I'm just telling you upfront, this isgoing to be a little difficult for some,
but you're all right.
You're going to handle it.
It's not going to break you.
Okay.
So just let let let's together
let's just suck it up and go through it.
Agreed.
And agreed.
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I'm glad you said agree.
Here's the big idea.
Here's the big idea.
What you flee determines your purity.
What you pursue determines your destiny.
And so Paul is going to tell Timothy.
Timothy, there are some thingsyou need to flee from,
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and there are some things you need
to pursue with your whole being
the same for us,
because what we fleewill determine our purity,
and what we pursue
will determine our destiny.
And so let's be clear about these things.
And so he starts in verse one
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and in verse one,
he says this.
You then, my child,
be strengthened by the gracethat is in Christ Jesus.
Let me justI want to unpack this a little bit.
He says, I want you to be strong, but
I want you to be strong in what?
In the grace of God.
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I want you to be strong in grace.
This is
really important, and this is importantfor us to understand
what he's saying to be strong inand the implication,
what he's saying not to be strong.
It he doesn't say,I want you to be strong in your obedience.
He doesn't say, I want you to be strongin your faithfulness.
He doesn't say, I want you to be strongin your ability to perform, I don't, I
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he doesn't say, I want you to be strongin your in all your religious duties.
He says, I want you to be strongin the grace of God,
not in your strengthand not in your performance.
This is the difference between religionand Christianity.
Religion will tell you
you'll be strong in your duty.
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Make sure
that in your own strength
that you don't do these thingsand you do these things.
That's religion.
How many of us are strong enoughin ourselves
to consistently not do the thingswe're not supposed to do, and consistently
do the things you're supposed to do?
Anybody strong enough in ourselvesto do it all the time?
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No. That's why Paul says,I don't want you to be strong in yourself,
Timothy, and not even in your faith,not even in your devotion,
not even in your Bible,not even in your prayer life.
I want you to be strongin the grace of God,
be strengthened
by the grace of God.
In other words, you know says,be strong in the grace of God.
(12:33):
Literally increase your strength
in the grace ofGod, not in your abilities.
This isreally important for us to understand.
And this is such good news
because if you have a testyour life to Christ,
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he now lives in you.
And so this is accessible to every Christfollower.
The grace of God,
the grace of God.
Let me tell you what that is.
That's the undeserved and unmerited favorand assistance of God.
As a Christ follower,
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you have at your accessthe undeserved and unmerited
means you can't earn itfavor and assistance of Almighty God.
And Paul says, oh,that's what I want you to be strong in.
He will say, and he has already saidin Second Corinthians 12,
my grace is sufficient for you.
God says, for my what?
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My power is made perfect.
In what?
In your weakness.
So don't try to be strong in yourself.
Be strong in my grace, because my graceis sufficient for your weakness.
You have access to my assistance by grace,
so don't try to be strong enough.
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Don't try to be good.
It's your test. You're going to fail.
So press into the grace of God.
I can rely on the divinehelp of God Almighty.
His unmerited assistance of me,
not because I deserve it,
but just because of his undeserved grace.
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See, I become weakwhen I see by my strength,
I'm going to do everything rightbecause I can't.
And the moment I thinkI'm strong enough to do everything right
and I don't, the only thingI'm reminded of is my weakness.
You understand?
And so I become strong when I saywithout earning it and without deserving
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it, I have the full love and favorand assistance of God.
I haven't done anything to get it done.
It is just mine.
Do you know how strong that makes me?
And everyChrist follower has access to this?
And that's why Paul tells Timothy,be strong in the grace of God,
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not in your ability,not in your own faithfulness,
not in your discipline.
See, it's strength through grace,
not strength through grind.
And so many people trying to follow God,
just grind it out.
(15:23):
Just grit their teeth and would do it
even if I don't like it.
I'm. And the people like that.
We call them religious peopleand they're just mean, nasty,
bitter, angry people.
Nobody likes them.
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And Paul says, look,his strength isn't through your grind.
It's through the grace of God.
You can't do this on your own.
You have to rely on the grace of God,his undeserved, unmerited
favor and blessing,his assistance that you don't deserve.
But if you're in Christ, it's yours.
Press into that.
You rely on that prayerand he says, he says.
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So verse two,
and what you've heard from me,in the presence of many witnesses, entrust
to faithful menwho will be able to teach others also
everything that a pastoror a minister does.
He should train someone else to do.
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That's what that's what Paul Saint
well, you've heard fromyou goes from me to you
and then from you to someone elseand from that person to someone else.
And so what he's saying isthink for generation,
to think for generations.
Timothy is the second. There's Paul.
Paul gives to Timothy.
And he said, give it to other peoplewho give it to other people.
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So Paul's thinking to Timothy,think for generations deep.
Listen, dear Christ follower,
our responsibility is not to grow inthis ourselves
is to grow in this ourselves,so we can give it to someone else and to
train them to give it to someone elsewho would give it to someone else.
And that's what this whole thing is about.
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It dies on the vine and starts with us.
This is one thing and one reason I'm
so proud of of our T2 group,second Timothy two and Titus two.
It's based on this principle
that I will teach others, who willteach others who will teach others.
The first iteration of this was last year.
Me and 12 guys.
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The second generation, which is the thirdgeneration, is this year.
42 others now,
and some of those in the first iteration.
The second generation are all hopingto lead the third generation.
And the following year we'll do it again.
And those who will teach the understandI'm saying this is what we do.
This is one reason why I do so much,
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training with church planters.
The next generation,they'll plant a church,
the next generation,they'll punch the next generation.
And I love thefact this says what you've heard from me.
All this stuff.
Pass it on.
What do you say to qualified man?
Does he say that?
Gifted man.
You say that creative man.Does he say that?
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Strong man. Does he say that?
What he say?
Faithful men,
faithful.
Just be faithful to what this word says.
Be faithful to passing it on.
Be faithful to these thingsthat he's going to tell us.
You want to know who the faithful men arein this church.
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It's the guys who are doing this
and passing it on to other faithful men.
I'm so proud of our two guys
and you should be proud of them. Two.
They're the faithful ones
passing it on.
Not now.
Let me look at verses three and four.
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Let's let's look at this.
Just be strong.
And God's grace, not your own ability.
Share in suffering.
As a good soldier of Christ Jesus,no soldier gets entangled
in civilian pursuits.
Since his aim is to pleasethe one who enlisted him.
An athlete is not crownedunless he competes according to the rules.
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It is a hardworking farmer who oughtto have the first share of the crops.
So he says, Timothy, this is the
I want youto emulate these three vocations,
if you will, the soldier,the athlete and the farmer.
There's qualities about all three of thesethat you need to emulate.
If you're going to follow Jesus,
he says, the first thing that you have to
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understand is as a soldier,as an athlete, as a farmer,
suffering is going to come.
So you better endure it.
All right.
That'swhat he says. Your share in the suffering.
There has to be an expectationfor the Christ follower
that at some point we're going to
experience ill treatment.
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A Christ follower
that wants to avoid illtreatment is not following Christ.
Jesus said the world hatedme, is going to hate you two, treated me
bad, is going to treat you bad.
You just we just have to expect it.
A faith that avoids ill treatment
is not a Christian faith.
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And I realize thatmost of the preaching that goes on
is not about enduringand embracing suffering.
It's about God loves youand has a wonderful plan for your life,
and you invite him into your life.
He'll make your marriage better,
make your finances better,make your kids better,
and make your car better and make a dogbetter. He'll just make everything better.
And it just doesn't seem to bewhat Paul says.
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Paul says as a follower of Jesus,the first thing you gotta do is you
share in the suffering.
It has to be an expectation that there'sgoing to be some suffering as I follow
Jesus, and I can't let it shake me.
I have to embrace sufferinglike a good soldier.
How many,
how many people going to boot campcarrying a bean bag in their PlayStation?
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You don't do that. Why?
Because you go to boot campexpecting to suffer, right?
Right, right, right.
Oh, former marine,
I don't. You were at Pendleton,weren't you?
I was at Pendleton.
How many of the guys went to Pendletonwith, you know, their little pillow
in hand and their little Gatorade canteen,a catering and a care package from Mama.
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That didn't happen in Pendleton, did it?
No. It'swhy you're freaking Marines, right?
You know,it looks like we're just going to this.
Is this our expectation?
This is what we're going to do.
Josh?
The same way you're at Pendleton, too,right?
Yeah.Which one was in the Marine Corps first,
I wonder what's it?
Oh, same timeyou always know an old marine
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because there's disdainfor the young marine like you.
Well, backwhen I was in the corps, you know,
and there's almost an honorin the suffering that I'm going to suffer.
Well, there's an honor.
And this is what Paul's saying in
share in the sufferinglike a good soldier.
Oh, what's the priority for a soldier?
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What's the soldier's priority?
Mission accomplished.
Carry out the commands of your commandingofficer right.
That that's your priority.
The priority of a soldieris not the a civilian's life.
You say goodbye to the civilian lifeonce you enlist as a soldier, right?
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You say goodbye to that.
And that's what he sayshere in the services, a good soldiers cry.
No soldier gets engagedin civilian pursuits,
since his aim is to pleasethe one who enlisted him.
There's
nothing wrong with the pursuits,pursuits of a civilian.
Until those pursuits entangleyou from your commanding officers.
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Commands.
There's nothing wrongwith the pursuits of a civilian life
until those prevent youfrom being a good soldier.
Do you understand the connection, friends?
Do you?
There's nothing wrongwith the pursuits of life until
they entangle you and distractyou from being a good soldier,
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serving the kingdomand the commands of your commanding
officer.
Embrace suffering.
Can you imagine?
Can you imagine a military
whose soldiers gave upwhen stuff got hard?
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Can you imagine?
Well, what kind of military would that be?
Did you say the Navy?
The Army, of course, ofmarine says it would be the army.
Okay.
So here's here's what he's saying.
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Don't interweave.
Go back to that.
Don't enterwith your life with things that are not
of the interests of the kingdom,nor of your commanding officer.
Just don't
interweave your life with that stuff.
If it's not the interests of the kingdomor the commands of the commanding officer,
don't let that intermingle with your life,is what he's saying.
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You cut ties with the civilian world
because you want to please your commandingofficer.
And athletes not crownunless he competes according to the rules.
Verse five.
Now Paul's talking in the differencebetween a professional athlete
and an amateur athlete.
And in that context, you'retalking about Olympians,
those training for the Olympicsand those who were just weekend warriors.
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And he says, you can't competeif you don't do it according to the rules,
like there's a right way to do thisand there's a wrong way to do this.
And you,he says, you can't. You gotta do it right.
And actually, for the Olympic athletes,
they couldn't even compete in any typeof athletic activity until they had signed
an affidavit that they had traineda properly for ten months beforehand.
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Because if you don't trainappropriately beforehand
and then you try to compete,you lessen the standard
and the quality of the competitionand the games and the title of an athlete.
Do you understand
sin? So listen,if you're going to claim this title,
then you gotta put the work in.
Because if you just try to work it out,when it's time to work it out,
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you're going to lessenthe standard, you're going to lessen
the quality
of everybody who came before you
and claim the same title.
You feel this is.
It's.
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When I was
thinking about this, I thought, Carl,I don't know
how much I say and how much I don't say,but I might say anyway,
I was thinking about this.
I thought, you know, thisjust just reminds me,
basically what Paul is sayingis don't be a poser.
Yeah. Just don't be a poser.
And we are back in, in Boston or standing,
(26:27):
in, in, just outside of Lexington,standing in Concord of the bridge
where the redcoats and the
and the militiamen and minutemen met.
And our guide was saying, you know how,
the British armorcall the rebels not British?
Because he said,
because, you know, we're we're all Britishanyways, where we came from.
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And and this one guy,I don't know, because I'm American.
And I thought this, this is
this is what I had in mindwhen I, when I thought of this analogy.
There are.
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There are poser preppers.
Those guys
that can't run a mile under ten minutes,but they sure look good
wearing a sidearm.
And I thought,
that's that's what Paul saying.
There are poser disciples
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who don't serve and don't lead,but sure look
good carrying a Bible.
You know what I'm saying?
He said, don't, don't
don't be one of those guys.
Don't act like you'rethis almost patriot guy.
You can't even, like, run like, don't.
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What defender are you?
Preaching.
And I think Paul would tell Timothy.
Look, unless you're putting in this.
Unless you really are,
don't try to look good. Carrying a Bible.
To make sense? Yes.
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And he says it's
the hard working farmer who ought to havethe first share of the crop.
Shares were saying,
look, you got to put the work in first
and you need to eat.
You have the first share the crops.
And if a farmer,
unless you're taking it and consuming it
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from here to here,you can't give it out there.
It's got it.
First share here.
It's got to be, planted herebefore you can plant it there.
And the farmer
who it isn't doing this first withthe Word of God has nothing to give.
There. Amen.
And the interesting thingabout these three the soldier,
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the athlete, the farmer, nowall three of them suffer.
We have to understand that
all three of them so.
But, but but but listen, listen.
When we settle for lesser
things we forfeit greater victories.
When the soldier settles for lesser
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things and comfort,he forfeits greater victories.
When the athlete settles for lesser thingsof, of,
of not competing, not training.
Well, he sells for lesser victories.
You understand this?
The soldier and the athlete,
they get an immediate reward.
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The farmer.
They toil
and they don't seeany fruit of their labor for a long time.
And even the fruit of their laborthat they see, they don't experience.
It's on behalf of somebody else.
The athlete and the soldier.
They do it for crowds and their heroes.
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The farmer does it in anonymity,
in the dark hours where no one sees.
And what he's saying, he's saying,Timothy, listen,
you have to embrace the suffering.
Yeah, because as a soldier,you're going to suffer and you have to
let go of the civilian stuffwhen it entangles your commands.
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As an athlete, you have to train hard
all the time.
You can't just show up and play.
And as a farmer, it'sgoing to be in the shadows.
It's going to be lonely.
Nobody's going to cheer for you,and you might not see
the results of your labor for a long time,and you may never really enjoy
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the full benefit of it, because it'sfor someone else who will never tell you.
Thank you.
You understand? Amen.
And so share in that suffering.
This is what it means to be a disciple.
To share all three of them.
All three of them.
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Will settle
for lesser victories if they tap out,
you know,
all three of them.
Have to endure suffering.
What I know is this
wholeness is when my life is aligned
with my mission, not my distractions.
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Now he's saying, soldier,
don't get distracted by civilian stuff.
Athletes don't get distracted.
Farmers don't be distracted. But
wholeness comes when my life is aligned
with my mission.
Not my distractions.
And so, friends, let's make sure
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that we're not getting distracted
by distractions.
You follow me on this?
Yeah.
Don't live for lesser things
and for greater victories.
You're a soldier. You're an athlete.
You're a farmer.
Don't live for the lesser things.
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Share in the suffering that it requires.
Because they're
great victories and great producethat's coming.
Share in this.
All three of these will endure suffering.
So must you.
And I.
And we can't think thatbecause we're suffering, God is against
(32:42):
us, has given us, or we've donesomething wrong.
Matter of fact, if we've done it right,suffering will be a part of the mix. You?
Oh yes.
Let me press on here.
Verse seven.
Think over what I say, for the Lord willgive you understanding and everything.
And basically what he's sayingis just like,
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just don't let this likecome on one ear and out the other.
Like think about thisbecause as you contemplate
this, God will give you throughthe whole of your understanding to it.
There's a lot more understandingcoming for you
than what I'm giving you right now.
As you continue to think through thisand ponder this and consider this
and the implications for your life,
the Holy Spirit will start to fleshthis out, is what he's saying.
(33:24):
Press friends, please press into this.
Verses eight and nine.
Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead,the offspring of David as preached
in my gospel, for which I am suffering,bound with chains as a criminal.
But the Word of God is not bound.
He's saying, and also rememberJesus Christ.
And he says two things aboutJesus what you say
risen from the dead,the offspring of David.
(33:46):
He's claiming two things about Jesus.
He's claimingJesus's full divinity and full humanity.
And this is what sets Christianity apartfrom every other religion.
It's what we call the hyper static union.
This this truth that in Jesusthere is full
God and full human, fullyGod and fully human.
It's called a hyper static union,the only one that this has ever existed in
(34:10):
being fully human.
He knows what it is to be tempted like youand I, yet without sin being fully God.
He's the only ransom for our sinon the cross.
He's the only pure holy sacrificethat's settled.
All the sacrifice,all the sacrificial system.
And he's saying, Jesus, this one,fully God, fully human, remember him.
He is unique.
(34:34):
For which I amsuffering, bound in chains as a criminal.
But the Word of God is not bounded.
You know,the Bible has been the most maligned,
the most attacked,the most burned book in the world.
Yet it is without failand will never go away.
It can never be bound.
And Paul says, Even I'm in chains here.
I'm going to be beheaded soon.
(34:54):
But the Word of God endures forever.
And remember this.
And I love the factthat Paul expected suffering in his.
He wasn't one of those preachers
that sought a life of ease,some life of privilege.
(35:15):
He wasn't a pastorthat had his own private parking
spot or a green room to retreat to.
He was a pastor.
So look, this is just part of thesufferings, part of the gig,
and I know I'm doing it right.
When I embrace suffering, it'sgoing to come.
It's all right.
But look at what he says.
Therefore, I endure all of thisfor the sake of the elect, that
(35:39):
they may also obtain the salvation is inChrist Jesus with the eternal glory.
I would expect him to say,I endure all the suffering
for God, or I endure all this for mebecause of what Jesus went through for me.
Or I endure all the sufferingbecause it's for the kingdom,
or I endure all this sufferingbecause God told me to.
He didn't say any of that because I endureall the suffering for whom?
The elect, those who will accept Christ.
(36:01):
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying, I know that my sufferingand how I go through
suffering is a benefit for youbecause as you watch me
be strong in the grace of God,not in my ability to handle it,
not in my own effort to give through it,but on the grace of God.
Because it's bigger than what I am.
(36:21):
It's heavier than what I can carry.
But I'm reliant upon the grace of God,the power of God.
This made perfect in my weakness.
Other people will see me go through thisand to realize there's
something different about thisJesus that I follow.
Yeah, it's for your sakethat I endure this suffering.
You know, you have seen people
go through hell on earthas a Christ follower,
(36:45):
and they've endured it with such grace.
Yes, yes.
And they've endured it with such patience
and an element of joy in their suffering.
And you've watched themwalk this road of faithfulness
with the embracing of sufferingbecause of the grace of God given them.
(37:07):
And you look at them,are these something's different.
Oh, and when people who claimthe name of Jesus
look just like the world, when we gothrough suffering difficult times,
it tells the worldthey nothing special about Christ.
He says, sorry for your sake
I will endure this
(37:28):
relying on the grace of God.
Yes, his undeserved merit and favor
for methat gives me strength when I am weak.
Yeah.
And I want you to watch me suffer.
Isn't that what Jesus did?
Yes, yes.
The lamb before the shears opened.
Not his mouth.
(37:52):
That they may obtain the glory
of eternal life.
Look at verse 11.The saying is trustworthy.
For if we died with him,we will also live with him.
If we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we deny him, he will alsohe will deny us.
If we're faithless, he remains faithful.
Listen. He's saying,listen, here's the deal.
(38:13):
If you die with Christ,you're going to live with him.
What's he talking?
What do you mean, die with Christ?
Well, one thing you talk about martyrdom.
Do you live your life in such a waythat you suffer the point of death?
Guess what? There's a special rewardfor you in heaven.
Martyrdom is a spiritual gift.
It's a gift you only use once.But it's a spiritual gift.
Well, Celebes a spiritual gift.
(38:34):
Celibacy is a gift to you. It's a giftyou never use.
So, I mean, there are those things.
If it's also if you die with Christ,
Paul will say in baptismyou died with Christ.
In baptism you were raised with Christ.
So when you profess your faith in Christ,you live with him.
(38:55):
And it's seen by othersin baptism, baptism, water.
But he says,if we endure, we'll also reign with him.
Some of you,you got to know that the endurance now
is leading to reigning later,so you endure it now. Why?
Because what's coming is greater.
But if we deny him, he'll deny us.
(39:15):
This is a twofold thing. Here.
One of it is, look, as a Christ follower,I cannot be faithful all the time.
And that's why he will say,if we're faithless, he remains faithful.
Praise God.
But if I deny God,
he is so faithful
that he cannot
(39:38):
acknowledge me.
If I deny him.
So when he says, when you're up
for he cannot deny himself
so, so, so this whole idea,if we deny him, he'll deny us.
If we're faithless, he remains faithful.
It's by the grace of Godthat he is faithful to his promises 100%,
even when I'm not faithful to him.
(39:59):
But if I deny him,
he is so faithful to His Word,
he cannot acknowledge me.
You understand?
So be careful.
This is the warning.
(40:20):
Verse 14 remind him of these things,and charge them before
God not to quarrel about wordswhich does no good,
only ruins hearers.
So, Timothy, your job is just simplyto remind them of Scripture,
to remind the people of good,solid doctrine and the gospel of God.
He said, there are some things
that that that that can ruin each other.
(40:44):
These
when we get in these stupid, ridiculousquarrels and arguments about stupid stuff
that have nothing to do with the gospel,nothing to do with God's Word.
And unfortunately, churchpeople are famous
for getting into stupid argumentsabout stupid stuff.
They have nothing to do with the gospeland nothing Luke
(41:04):
and Paul says to me,just keep the main thing, the main thing,
and keep telling your peopleto keep the main thing, the main thing.
You understand that.
That'swhy I will never preach the front page.
You understand what that means,like whatever's hot on the news.
But I'm not going to preach thatit's front page preaching.
And Paul says all that's going to dois ruin people.
Just keep the main thing, the main thing.
(41:25):
There's plenty of otherchurch of the preacher front page.
You want one of those churches?Go, please.
I welcome you to gothere. I'm not preaching the front page.
I'm gonna stick true to the gospel.
Do your best.
Verse 15 to present yourselfto God as one approved.
A workman who has no need to be ashamed,rightly handling the word of truth.
(41:45):
Do your best.
You know, the best way to refute erroris to embody
the truth of God's Word yourself.
The best way to refute error
is to embody God's Word in your life.
It says, do your best to present yourselfto God as one approved.
Literally, he said, make haste to this.
(42:05):
Make this year prior to get this right,get to it,
and exert yourselfto show yourself as approved to God.
When he says, make thisyour prior to be approved of God.
That word approved his use regarding moneyand he's saying don't be a counterfeit,
be the real deal.
It's the thing
they would use to prove what is legitimateand what is illegitimate.
(42:29):
Listen off.
He's talking about authenticity overimitation.
Do the work to show yourselfas the authentic one,
not the poser one, not who looks legitbut has no real value
to the kingdom.
And rightly handle the word of truth.
(42:50):
Make the road you cut
by this word so apparent
that all deviations are obvious.
Like this is the standardand it cuts a straight line.
And when this is firmly cut,that line is straight.
All deviations become apparent.
You understand that
(43:12):
this is the guide.
Now listen.
Rightly handling the word he says
there is a correct interpretationfor all of Scripture.
It is illegitimate for us to say, well,the Scripture means this to me,
and it means that for you.
And I mean whatever it means foryou is right. It's not right.
There's a
(43:32):
legitimate right interpretationto the Word of God and Christ.
Followers need to be under teachingthat rightly discerns
and interprets the Word of God,so that the line that is cut
in life is straightand all detours are apparent
and obvious.
(43:55):
When he says,
present yourself as one approved,
I mean, think about it.
How embarrassing is it
to have your work inspected by your boss,
and have your boss disappointedwith your work?
Do you understand?
(44:17):
He's saying you press into this Timothy
so that when it is inspected,
you got nothing to be ashamed of.
Let me finish this out.
Let me jump down to verse 19.
God's firmfoundation stands bearing this seal.
The Lord knows who are his.
And let everyone who namesthe name of the Lord depart from iniquity
(44:41):
is in the foundation.
And all this is built on is two thingsone, that the Lord knows who he is.
He's talking way backin the Old Testament, the Book of numbers,
chapter 16 called Coras Rebellion.
Read it sometime later.
And he says, this whole sound isbased on two things God knows who are his.
Let God sort out who are hisand who's are like, that's not our job
(45:04):
to determine who are who, who God'skids are like, God will take care of that.
That's first thing. Like he is sovereign.He knows.
The second thing is everybody who claimsthe name of Christ has to depart
from iniquity.
I mean, you gotta get awayfrom those things that entangle you.
You have to choose to departfrom iniquity.
He says.
(45:25):
So therefore,
if anyone cleanses himself, verse 21,from what is dishonorable,
he will be a vessel for honorable use,set apart as solely useful
to the master of the house, readyfor every good work said so.
There are some thingsthat you have to cleanse yourself from.
We rely on God's grace first.
Salvation, forgiveness.He does all that work.
(45:45):
But our responsibility
is to cleanse ourself from everythingthat is dishonorable to God.
And as we cleanse ourselffrom those things that are dishonorable
to God,we become ready for every good work.
Do you understand that?
Like God, he expects us
to do our job of cleansing ourself.
We're forgiven by his grace,but we are cleansed by our choice.
(46:09):
You understand?
And we have responsibility to that.
It means literally
to purge yourselfof everything that dishonors God,
everything that dishonoringto your commanding officer,
everything that's dishonoringto the kingdom.
We're to purge ourselves of all of that.
(46:29):
Here's what here's what I'm saying.
If it dishonors God, it deforms me.
If it dishonors God, it deforms us.
True joy comes
when I let go of it, dishonors my creator.
(46:57):
We have, our difficulty
is seeking in something
a joy and a peace that that thingwas never intended to give us.
Only God was.
And when we seek those things
to bring us joy, contentment, and peace,
(47:19):
it dishonors God,
and it deforms me, and I
will never have joy.
To understand.
So then, Timothy,
verse 22, flee youthful passionsand pursue righteousness, faith,
(47:41):
love, and peace,along with those who call on the Lord
from a pure hearthave nothing to do with foolish,
ignorant controversiesand rabbit holes and posts online.
You know that they only breed
quarrels with your friends and family.
The Lord's servantmust not be quarrelsome.
(48:05):
But be kind to everyone.
Even those we disagree with.
Do you know that we can disagreewithout being disagreeable?
Yeah.
Able to teach
patiently enduring evil.
Endure it patiently.
(48:28):
It doesn't say riot and revolt.
There's some bad stuff in this world.
Patiently enduring evil.
Correct your opponents with gentleness.
That's meekness.
You know what meekness is?
Meekness is strength under control.
It's an uncaged lionthat chooses not to devour you.
(48:48):
That's.
That's meekness, strength under control.
It looks.
Just because you're right doesn'tmean you have to prove it all the time.
Just because someone wrong doesn'tmean you get to beat them up all the time.
You understand,
can win an argument and lose a heart.
That's not right.
God may perhaps grant them repentance,leading to a knowledge of the truth,
(49:09):
and they may come to their sensesand escape
from the snare of the devilafter being captured by him to do as well.
They just might.
When we live this way,people just might come to their sentence,
to their senses,because they've been deluded.
The Bible says by the influencers.
(49:30):
There are minds
that are deluded by the influencers.
And when God's people live this way,
they just might come to their senses.
And so, dear friends, flee
those things that dishonor Godand that entangle you.
Flee means to run away fromand get out of the danger zone.
(49:54):
Quit flirting
with stuff you're flirting with, he says.
Quit letting this stuff entangleyour life.
It's screwing you up. It dishonors God.
It deforms you.
And pursue faith and agape love.
Pursue Christ.
It means you run fast to catch them.
(50:18):
And by doing that,
some people may come to their senses.
Because they've been duped
by influencers.
It's just so pertinent to our worldright now.
It's so pertinent to our lives and so.
(50:41):
Here's the questions.
We end where we started.
What you flee determines your purity,
and what you pursue determinesyour destiny.
So the question is,
what must you flee?
(51:03):
What must you flee?
There are some things you need
to run away from fast.
There's some thingsthat are even good things,
but it entangles you fulfillingthe command of your commanding officer.
Flee!
Quit flirting.
(51:25):
Quit acting like it doesn't matter.
Quit playing around.
You're a soldier.
You're an athlete.
You're a farmer.
And what must you pursue?
Or better said, whom must I pursue?
Christ.
(51:48):
Without him, we can do nothing.
And so.
Amen.
You okay?
Yeah.
Let's pray.
I've said enough.
(52:10):
I expect the Holy Spirit to speak now.
Yeah.
You've done a good job listening to me
do a better job listening to him.
Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
And say, Holy Spirit, what must I flee?
(52:39):
Bible says, ask and you will find her.
Ask and you will receive. Seekand you'll find.
Knock and there will be opened.
Ask him right now.
Seek his voice right now.
Holy spirit, what must I flee?
(52:59):
Listen to what he's saying.
Holy spirit, what must I flee?
And when you hear his voice respond.
Say, father,
I hear you telling me I must flee.
(53:23):
Whatever this is.
And by your grace, not my strength.
I choose to run away from it right now.
I choose to reject its powerand its hold on my life.
By your grace,
I am free.
(53:46):
Free?
What must you pursue?
And if you've never pursued Jesus.
You pursued religion. You pursued church.
You pursued being good,but you've not pursued Jesus.
Bible says you will find mewhen you seek me with all your heart.
(54:07):
Yeah,
for God is not far from any of us.
If you've not pursued Jesus yet,I wouldn't encourage you in this moment
to pursue him, because he will be found.
And to say, God, I need you in my life.
(54:29):
I need you,
Jesus.
I want you,
and I receive you,
and I trust you as the leader
and liberator of my soul. You.
Thank you for your forgiveness.
I accept it.
(54:51):
And I will choose to do
what I can do with my responsibilityas a soldier,
as your athlete, and as your farmer. You.
Father.
Thank you. Thank you that you love us.
Thank you that when we are faithless,you remain faithful.
(55:13):
Thank you that you cannot deny yourself.
That we've attached ourselves to.
You will never be denied.
Thank you, thank you, thank.
Holy spirit,I pray that you continue to speak
to us.
Calling us to flee those things.
We need to flee.
Pursuing you
(55:34):
with our whole heart and souland mind and strength
and father, for that will give you thanks.
In your name I pray.
Amen.
Let's not love you, Second Timothy.
It's good, isn't it?Yeah, it's good words.
Good words.
This and this week read second Timothytwo again and let it challenge you.
(55:55):
Paul just told Timothy like he'll give youunderstanding as you apply yourself.
So read it again and pray through
and let the Holy Spirit
talk to you in the kind of fleshthis stuff out and within you.
That makes sense.
You understand like,let this keep living on.
Remember, you're Nancy, you got ten monthsof training before you get to compete.
So train hard this week. You got that?
(56:17):
Don't walk from hereand be a militiaman, right?
Like warfare.
You got youryour your musket in your gunpowder.
Like be a minuteman.
Press into this training.
All right.
You good?
All right. We got one more song. Right.
This is about Jesus.
Jesus, that's a good song.I like that song.
(56:38):
I love that song. That stand up and sing.
Thank you.
(00:01):
Let me just say this, Caleb,thank you for being with us
this morning, man.
You know,you got a home here and right now, Caleb.
But you're in New York. New York, right?
Doing doing, doing the theater.
Doing this theater thing.
But, you know,you're always a part of this family.
(00:21):
You always got a place here.
And I love the factthat when you come back, you are here.
So thank you.
You bless us, man.
Thank you.
It was great for,
Shelly and I to be gonelast week together with our sons.
And Jeff did a great jobkind of tying things in.
Ephesus together.
From the letter Paulwrote to the church in Ephesus.
(00:43):
And what Paul said or what is quoted forus in acts about FSS, and then what Jesus,
his response to the church in Ephesusand Revelation two, and kind of wrapping
all those things togetherbecause the, the, the books of first
and second Timothy deal with Timothyas a leader of the church of Ephesus.
And so Jeff kind of painted the picturelast week of the overarching theme
(01:05):
through for this church,through the through the eons.
But we're going to be backin second Timothy today in chapter two.
So if you have a Bible
and brought one with you,I want to encourage you to turn there.
But Shel and I were gonelast week in Boston over the 4th of July,
which was a great experienceand was great to be there with our sons.
(01:27):
And something that
I've realized while we were there,
and I want to share with you,
about the, the,
the, the things that ledinto the Revolutionary War,
because it has a profoundit struck me profoundly.
The correlation betweenand I'm going to share with you and
(01:49):
and how we live faithand our practice of it.
Are you familiar with the battles
of Lexington and Concord and.
All right.
And let me, let me let me startthen at the beginning.
As as this
(02:11):
these colonies were beginning the process
of establishing independence.
The redcoats had infiltrated Boston,
and they heard that there was some,
commune at ease in the colony
of of of Massachusetts that were amassing,
(02:34):
weaponry, muskets, gunpowderand whatnot to fight them.
And so
the the order went
out to march from of the redcoatsto march from Boston
to Concord to put an end to this
budding rebellion and to arrest
(02:54):
Sam Adams and John Hancock,
who were in Lexington at the time,
which was just beforethe Russians would get to to Concord.
So they were marching through Lexingtonto arrest
Sam Adams and and and,
sorry.
(03:15):
John Hancock and Adamsand then go to Concord
and destroy this cache of weapons
on their march.
Y'all heard of Paul Revere's ride, right?
One of my plan to.
If I see the regulars are coming,that's what he.
He didn't say the the British were comingbecause they were all British.
(03:35):
The regulars are comingbecause it was a regular army.
The regulars are coming. The regularsare coming. That whole the whole story.
So he's making his way around the circuit
with about probably 30 other ridersin all to spread the news.
The Redcoats are marching up to Lexingtonto get to Concord
(03:55):
at Lexington.
If you ever heard of the shotheard around the world.
Okay,that happened at the Green and Lexington.
And as the as the Redcoats marched
into Lexington,there were men from Lexington
called the militiathat formed a line to meet them.
(04:16):
And to try to stop
the largest army in the world
at the time from carrying out their orders
at that Lexington greenwhere the first shot happened.
There's a statue.
It's a real iconic,and they call it the minute ma'am statue
(04:37):
you've all seen iton, if you realize it or not,
but it's called the Minutemen statuein honor of these, of this little.
This is where the first shots happened.
This is where the first Patriots had diedas an act of war,
in an act of war,just after the Boston Massacre.
But this was the first war time.
Shots that were fired and deathsthat occurred.
(04:59):
There's a statue there of the Minutemen.
The interesting thing is this.
That Lexington didn't have any Minutemen.
They had militia,
but it's called the Minutemen statue.
Just in honor of of this whole thing.
There's a difference between militiamen and minutemen.
And eventuallythey made their way to Concord
(05:22):
after election dayand after this, this little battle,
and then encountered all kindsof colonists that pushed them back.
And the ones who gathered togetherboth militiamen and minutemen.
But at Lexington, though
the statue says the Minutemen statue,they were militiamen.
And here's the difference.
If you know the difference,militiamen and minutemen
(05:43):
now get so that Minutemen
were hired by the communityto be really full time soldiers.
There was no Continental Army at the time,but a community.
If it had enough money,hired men to be their full time
soldiers, and as part of a full timesoldier, as a minutemen,
(06:05):
you had to carry your musket with you24 hours a day, seven days a week.
You had to sleep with it even.
You had to always carry with youwater and food. Why?
Because if something happened,you had to be ready
to respond in in a minute.
So they trained about 3 to 4 times a week,
carried their weapon with them everywherethey went, slept with it, burned
(06:28):
food and water because they were readyon a minute's notice for battle.
The different them and
militiamenwere this militiamen in those communities
that didn't have enough money to hiresoldiers, they were just regular Joes,
and so they might train once or twicea year.
And when,
(06:50):
something happened where they,the community needed a responsive,
responsive force,
they would grab their musketor their shovel or their pitchfork
or whatever they had and kind of respondbecause it was a special emergency.
And then when it was over, they just goback to their regular civilian life.
And when I heard that,
I thought, that really reminds me
(07:13):
of people of faith.
Churches are full.
Of militia.
And what we're called to
is Minutemen.
(07:34):
To understand the difference.
Like, if something's needed
and we like to rally the troops, and,you know, you show up and.
And then as soon as it's over,we get right back to life is normal.
Rather than everyday training
(07:56):
and disciplining ourselves
and carrying our sustenance with us
and the weapon with us
that were ready at a moment's notice,
we're on duty.
You follow.
(08:17):
So as we go through second Timothy two,
consider.
Militia
or Minutemen.
It will have a profound impact
on the rest of your life.
(08:38):
In Second Timothy chapter two,
Paul comes out swinging.
He's in his 60s.
He knows he's going to be beheadedunder, Caesar Nero.
He's at the end of hislife, is in a dungeon at this point,
and he's writing a couple of lettersfirst Timothy, second Timothy and Titus,
(08:58):
two men who will take over the leadershipof these churches.
And to Timothy, first and second Timothy,
who has taken over the leadershipof the church in Ephesus.
He imparts these very last wordsand basically says to him, listen,
this is how you lead and live.
Well.
(09:18):
And this is the final thingsI want to impart to you,
and I want you to take this responsibilityseriously,
not as a militia man,
but as a minuteman.
Do you understand?
And so, because these are the final words
we have written of Paul,he comes out so and so.
(09:39):
I'm just telling you upfront, this isgoing to be a little difficult for some,
but you're all right.
You're going to handle it.
It's not going to break you.
Okay.
So just let let let's together
let's just suck it up and go through it.
Agreed.
And agreed.
(10:01):
I'm glad you said agree.
Here's the big idea.
Here's the big idea.
What you flee determines your purity.
What you pursue determines your destiny.
And so Paul is going to tell Timothy.
Timothy, there are some thingsyou need to flee from,
(10:25):
and there are some things you need
to pursue with your whole being
the same for us,
because what we fleewill determine our purity,
and what we pursue
will determine our destiny.
And so let's be clear about these things.
And so he starts in verse one
(10:47):
and in verse one,
he says this.
You then, my child,
be strengthened by the gracethat is in Christ Jesus.
Let me justI want to unpack this a little bit.
He says, I want you to be strong, but
I want you to be strong in what?
In the grace of God.
(11:09):
I want you to be strong in grace.
This is
really important, and this is importantfor us to understand
what he's saying to be strong inand the implication,
what he's saying not to be strong.
It he doesn't say,I want you to be strong in your obedience.
He doesn't say, I want you to be strongin your faithfulness.
He doesn't say, I want you to be strongin your ability to perform, I don't, I
(11:29):
he doesn't say, I want you to be strongin your in all your religious duties.
He says, I want you to be strongin the grace of God,
not in your strengthand not in your performance.
This is the difference between religionand Christianity.
Religion will tell you
you'll be strong in your duty.
(11:50):
Make sure
that in your own strength
that you don't do these thingsand you do these things.
That's religion.
How many of us are strong enoughin ourselves
to consistently not do the thingswe're not supposed to do, and consistently
do the things you're supposed to do?
Anybody strong enough in ourselvesto do it all the time?
(12:11):
No. That's why Paul says,I don't want you to be strong in yourself,
Timothy, and not even in your faith,not even in your devotion,
not even in your Bible,not even in your prayer life.
I want you to be strongin the grace of God,
be strengthened
by the grace of God.
In other words, you know says,be strong in the grace of God.
(12:33):
Literally increase your strength
in the grace ofGod, not in your abilities.
This isreally important for us to understand.
And this is such good news
because if you have a testyour life to Christ,
(12:54):
he now lives in you.
And so this is accessible to every Christfollower.
The grace of God,
the grace of God.
Let me tell you what that is.
That's the undeserved and unmerited favorand assistance of God.
As a Christ follower,
(13:14):
you have at your accessthe undeserved and unmerited
means you can't earn itfavor and assistance of Almighty God.
And Paul says, oh,that's what I want you to be strong in.
He will say, and he has already saidin Second Corinthians 12,
my grace is sufficient for you.
God says, for my what?
(13:36):
My power is made perfect.
In what?
In your weakness.
So don't try to be strong in yourself.
Be strong in my grace, because my graceis sufficient for your weakness.
You have access to my assistance by grace,
so don't try to be strong enough.
(13:57):
Don't try to be good.
It's your test. You're going to fail.
So press into the grace of God.
I can rely on the divinehelp of God Almighty.
His unmerited assistance of me,
not because I deserve it,
but just because of his undeserved grace.
(14:21):
See, I become weakwhen I see by my strength,
I'm going to do everything rightbecause I can't.
And the moment I thinkI'm strong enough to do everything right
and I don't, the only thingI'm reminded of is my weakness.
You understand?
And so I become strong when I saywithout earning it and without deserving
(14:43):
it, I have the full love and favorand assistance of God.
I haven't done anything to get it done.
It is just mine.
Do you know how strong that makes me?
And everyChrist follower has access to this?
And that's why Paul tells Timothy,be strong in the grace of God,
(15:03):
not in your ability,not in your own faithfulness,
not in your discipline.
See, it's strength through grace,
not strength through grind.
And so many people trying to follow God,
just grind it out.
(15:23):
Just grit their teeth and would do it
even if I don't like it.
I'm. And the people like that.
We call them religious peopleand they're just mean, nasty,
bitter, angry people.
Nobody likes them.
(15:46):
And Paul says, look,his strength isn't through your grind.
It's through the grace of God.
You can't do this on your own.
You have to rely on the grace of God,his undeserved, unmerited
favor and blessing,his assistance that you don't deserve.
But if you're in Christ, it's yours.
Press into that.
You rely on that prayerand he says, he says.
(16:10):
So verse two,
and what you've heard from me,in the presence of many witnesses, entrust
to faithful menwho will be able to teach others also
everything that a pastoror a minister does.
He should train someone else to do.
(16:31):
That's what that's what Paul Saint
well, you've heard fromyou goes from me to you
and then from you to someone elseand from that person to someone else.
And so what he's saying isthink for generation,
to think for generations.
Timothy is the second. There's Paul.
Paul gives to Timothy.
And he said, give it to other peoplewho give it to other people.
(16:52):
So Paul's thinking to Timothy,think for generations deep.
Listen, dear Christ follower,
our responsibility is not to grow inthis ourselves
is to grow in this ourselves,so we can give it to someone else and to
train them to give it to someone elsewho would give it to someone else.
And that's what this whole thing is about.
(17:12):
It dies on the vine and starts with us.
This is one thing and one reason I'm
so proud of of our T2 group,second Timothy two and Titus two.
It's based on this principle
that I will teach others, who willteach others who will teach others.
The first iteration of this was last year.
Me and 12 guys.
(17:34):
The second generation, which is the thirdgeneration, is this year.
42 others now,
and some of those in the first iteration.
The second generation are all hopingto lead the third generation.
And the following year we'll do it again.
And those who will teach the understandI'm saying this is what we do.
This is one reason why I do so much,
(17:55):
training with church planters.
The next generation,they'll plant a church,
the next generation,they'll punch the next generation.
And I love thefact this says what you've heard from me.
All this stuff.
Pass it on.
What do you say to qualified man?
Does he say that?
Gifted man.
You say that creative man.Does he say that?
(18:17):
Strong man. Does he say that?
What he say?
Faithful men,
faithful.
Just be faithful to what this word says.
Be faithful to passing it on.
Be faithful to these thingsthat he's going to tell us.
You want to know who the faithful men arein this church.
(18:39):
It's the guys who are doing this
and passing it on to other faithful men.
I'm so proud of our two guys
and you should be proud of them. Two.
They're the faithful ones
passing it on.
Not now.
Let me look at verses three and four.
(19:00):
Let's let's look at this.
Just be strong.
And God's grace, not your own ability.
Share in suffering.
As a good soldier of Christ Jesus,no soldier gets entangled
in civilian pursuits.
Since his aim is to pleasethe one who enlisted him.
An athlete is not crownedunless he competes according to the rules.
(19:23):
It is a hardworking farmer who oughtto have the first share of the crops.
So he says, Timothy, this is the
I want youto emulate these three vocations,
if you will, the soldier,the athlete and the farmer.
There's qualities about all three of thesethat you need to emulate.
If you're going to follow Jesus,
he says, the first thing that you have to
(19:44):
understand is as a soldier,as an athlete, as a farmer,
suffering is going to come.
So you better endure it.
All right.
That'swhat he says. Your share in the suffering.
There has to be an expectationfor the Christ follower
that at some point we're going to
experience ill treatment.
(20:07):
A Christ follower
that wants to avoid illtreatment is not following Christ.
Jesus said the world hatedme, is going to hate you two, treated me
bad, is going to treat you bad.
You just we just have to expect it.
A faith that avoids ill treatment
is not a Christian faith.
(20:27):
And I realize thatmost of the preaching that goes on
is not about enduringand embracing suffering.
It's about God loves youand has a wonderful plan for your life,
and you invite him into your life.
He'll make your marriage better,
make your finances better,make your kids better,
and make your car better and make a dogbetter. He'll just make everything better.
And it just doesn't seem to bewhat Paul says.
(20:48):
Paul says as a follower of Jesus,the first thing you gotta do is you
share in the suffering.
It has to be an expectation that there'sgoing to be some suffering as I follow
Jesus, and I can't let it shake me.
I have to embrace sufferinglike a good soldier.
How many,
how many people going to boot campcarrying a bean bag in their PlayStation?
(21:09):
You don't do that. Why?
Because you go to boot campexpecting to suffer, right?
Right, right, right.
Oh, former marine,
I don't. You were at Pendleton,weren't you?
I was at Pendleton.
How many of the guys went to Pendletonwith, you know, their little pillow
in hand and their little Gatorade canteen,a catering and a care package from Mama.
(21:35):
That didn't happen in Pendleton, did it?
No. It'swhy you're freaking Marines, right?
You know,it looks like we're just going to this.
Is this our expectation?
This is what we're going to do.
Josh?
The same way you're at Pendleton, too,right?
Yeah.Which one was in the Marine Corps first,
I wonder what's it?
Oh, same timeyou always know an old marine
(21:56):
because there's disdainfor the young marine like you.
Well, backwhen I was in the corps, you know,
and there's almost an honorin the suffering that I'm going to suffer.
Well, there's an honor.
And this is what Paul's saying in
share in the sufferinglike a good soldier.
Oh, what's the priority for a soldier?
(22:18):
What's the soldier's priority?
Mission accomplished.
Carry out the commands of your commandingofficer right.
That that's your priority.
The priority of a soldieris not the a civilian's life.
You say goodbye to the civilian lifeonce you enlist as a soldier, right?
(22:40):
You say goodbye to that.
And that's what he sayshere in the services, a good soldiers cry.
No soldier gets engagedin civilian pursuits,
since his aim is to pleasethe one who enlisted him.
There's
nothing wrong with the pursuits,pursuits of a civilian.
Until those pursuits entangleyou from your commanding officers.
(23:02):
Commands.
There's nothing wrongwith the pursuits of a civilian life
until those prevent youfrom being a good soldier.
Do you understand the connection, friends?
Do you?
There's nothing wrongwith the pursuits of life until
they entangle you and distractyou from being a good soldier,
(23:27):
serving the kingdomand the commands of your commanding
officer.
Embrace suffering.
Can you imagine?
Can you imagine a military
whose soldiers gave upwhen stuff got hard?
(23:48):
Can you imagine?
Well, what kind of military would that be?
Did you say the Navy?
The Army, of course, ofmarine says it would be the army.
Okay.
So here's here's what he's saying.
(24:09):
Don't interweave.
Go back to that.
Don't enterwith your life with things that are not
of the interests of the kingdom,nor of your commanding officer.
Just don't
interweave your life with that stuff.
If it's not the interests of the kingdomor the commands of the commanding officer,
don't let that intermingle with your life,is what he's saying.
(24:30):
You cut ties with the civilian world
because you want to please your commandingofficer.
And athletes not crownunless he competes according to the rules.
Verse five.
Now Paul's talking in the differencebetween a professional athlete
and an amateur athlete.
And in that context, you'retalking about Olympians,
those training for the Olympicsand those who were just weekend warriors.
(24:52):
And he says, you can't competeif you don't do it according to the rules,
like there's a right way to do thisand there's a wrong way to do this.
And you,he says, you can't. You gotta do it right.
And actually, for the Olympic athletes,
they couldn't even compete in any typeof athletic activity until they had signed
an affidavit that they had traineda properly for ten months beforehand.
(25:17):
Because if you don't trainappropriately beforehand
and then you try to compete,you lessen the standard
and the quality of the competitionand the games and the title of an athlete.
Do you understand
sin? So listen,if you're going to claim this title,
then you gotta put the work in.
Because if you just try to work it out,when it's time to work it out,
(25:40):
you're going to lessenthe standard, you're going to lessen
the quality
of everybody who came before you
and claim the same title.
You feel this is.
It's.
(26:03):
When I was
thinking about this, I thought, Carl,I don't know
how much I say and how much I don't say,but I might say anyway,
I was thinking about this.
I thought, you know, thisjust just reminds me,
basically what Paul is sayingis don't be a poser.
Yeah. Just don't be a poser.
And we are back in, in Boston or standing,
(26:27):
in, in, just outside of Lexington,standing in Concord of the bridge
where the redcoats and the
and the militiamen and minutemen met.
And our guide was saying, you know how,
the British armorcall the rebels not British?
Because he said,
because, you know, we're we're all Britishanyways, where we came from.
(26:48):
And and this one guy,I don't know, because I'm American.
And I thought this, this is
this is what I had in mindwhen I, when I thought of this analogy.
There are.
(27:09):
There are poser preppers.
Those guys
that can't run a mile under ten minutes,but they sure look good
wearing a sidearm.
And I thought,
that's that's what Paul saying.
There are poser disciples
(27:31):
who don't serve and don't lead,but sure look
good carrying a Bible.
You know what I'm saying?
He said, don't, don't
don't be one of those guys.
Don't act like you'rethis almost patriot guy.
You can't even, like, run like, don't.
(27:53):
What defender are you?
Preaching.
And I think Paul would tell Timothy.
Look, unless you're putting in this.
Unless you really are,
don't try to look good. Carrying a Bible.
To make sense? Yes.
(28:18):
And he says it's
the hard working farmer who ought to havethe first share of the crop.
Shares were saying,
look, you got to put the work in first
and you need to eat.
You have the first share the crops.
And if a farmer,
unless you're taking it and consuming it
(28:38):
from here to here,you can't give it out there.
It's got it.
First share here.
It's got to be, planted herebefore you can plant it there.
And the farmer
who it isn't doing this first withthe Word of God has nothing to give.
There. Amen.
And the interesting thingabout these three the soldier,
(28:59):
the athlete, the farmer, nowall three of them suffer.
We have to understand that
all three of them so.
But, but but but listen, listen.
When we settle for lesser
things we forfeit greater victories.
When the soldier settles for lesser
(29:20):
things and comfort,he forfeits greater victories.
When the athlete settles for lesser thingsof, of,
of not competing, not training.
Well, he sells for lesser victories.
You understand this?
The soldier and the athlete,
they get an immediate reward.
(29:42):
The farmer.
They toil
and they don't seeany fruit of their labor for a long time.
And even the fruit of their laborthat they see, they don't experience.
It's on behalf of somebody else.
The athlete and the soldier.
They do it for crowds and their heroes.
(30:05):
The farmer does it in anonymity,
in the dark hours where no one sees.
And what he's saying, he's saying,Timothy, listen,
you have to embrace the suffering.
Yeah, because as a soldier,you're going to suffer and you have to
let go of the civilian stuffwhen it entangles your commands.
(30:27):
As an athlete, you have to train hard
all the time.
You can't just show up and play.
And as a farmer, it'sgoing to be in the shadows.
It's going to be lonely.
Nobody's going to cheer for you,and you might not see
the results of your labor for a long time,and you may never really enjoy
(30:49):
the full benefit of it, because it'sfor someone else who will never tell you.
Thank you.
You understand? Amen.
And so share in that suffering.
This is what it means to be a disciple.
To share all three of them.
All three of them.
(31:10):
Will settle
for lesser victories if they tap out,
you know,
all three of them.
Have to endure suffering.
What I know is this
wholeness is when my life is aligned
with my mission, not my distractions.
(31:34):
Now he's saying, soldier,
don't get distracted by civilian stuff.
Athletes don't get distracted.
Farmers don't be distracted. But
wholeness comes when my life is aligned
with my mission.
Not my distractions.
And so, friends, let's make sure
(31:58):
that we're not getting distracted
by distractions.
You follow me on this?
Yeah.
Don't live for lesser things
and for greater victories.
You're a soldier. You're an athlete.
You're a farmer.
Don't live for the lesser things.
(32:21):
Share in the suffering that it requires.
Because they're
great victories and great producethat's coming.
Share in this.
All three of these will endure suffering.
So must you.
And I.
And we can't think thatbecause we're suffering, God is against
(32:42):
us, has given us, or we've donesomething wrong.
Matter of fact, if we've done it right,suffering will be a part of the mix. You?
Oh yes.
Let me press on here.
Verse seven.
Think over what I say, for the Lord willgive you understanding and everything.
And basically what he's sayingis just like,
(33:03):
just don't let this likecome on one ear and out the other.
Like think about thisbecause as you contemplate
this, God will give you throughthe whole of your understanding to it.
There's a lot more understandingcoming for you
than what I'm giving you right now.
As you continue to think through thisand ponder this and consider this
and the implications for your life,
the Holy Spirit will start to fleshthis out, is what he's saying.
(33:24):
Press friends, please press into this.
Verses eight and nine.
Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead,the offspring of David as preached
in my gospel, for which I am suffering,bound with chains as a criminal.
But the Word of God is not bound.
He's saying, and also rememberJesus Christ.
And he says two things aboutJesus what you say
risen from the dead,the offspring of David.
(33:46):
He's claiming two things about Jesus.
He's claimingJesus's full divinity and full humanity.
And this is what sets Christianity apartfrom every other religion.
It's what we call the hyper static union.
This this truth that in Jesusthere is full
God and full human, fullyGod and fully human.
It's called a hyper static union,the only one that this has ever existed in
(34:10):
being fully human.
He knows what it is to be tempted like youand I, yet without sin being fully God.
He's the only ransom for our sinon the cross.
He's the only pure holy sacrificethat's settled.
All the sacrifice,all the sacrificial system.
And he's saying, Jesus, this one,fully God, fully human, remember him.
He is unique.
(34:34):
For which I amsuffering, bound in chains as a criminal.
But the Word of God is not bounded.
You know,the Bible has been the most maligned,
the most attacked,the most burned book in the world.
Yet it is without failand will never go away.
It can never be bound.
And Paul says, Even I'm in chains here.
I'm going to be beheaded soon.
(34:54):
But the Word of God endures forever.
And remember this.
And I love the factthat Paul expected suffering in his.
He wasn't one of those preachers
that sought a life of ease,some life of privilege.
(35:15):
He wasn't a pastorthat had his own private parking
spot or a green room to retreat to.
He was a pastor.
So look, this is just part of thesufferings, part of the gig,
and I know I'm doing it right.
When I embrace suffering, it'sgoing to come.
It's all right.
But look at what he says.
Therefore, I endure all of thisfor the sake of the elect, that
(35:39):
they may also obtain the salvation is inChrist Jesus with the eternal glory.
I would expect him to say,I endure all the suffering
for God, or I endure all this for mebecause of what Jesus went through for me.
Or I endure all the sufferingbecause it's for the kingdom,
or I endure all this sufferingbecause God told me to.
He didn't say any of that because I endureall the suffering for whom?
The elect, those who will accept Christ.
(36:01):
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying, I know that my sufferingand how I go through
suffering is a benefit for youbecause as you watch me
be strong in the grace of God,not in my ability to handle it,
not in my own effort to give through it,but on the grace of God.
Because it's bigger than what I am.
(36:21):
It's heavier than what I can carry.
But I'm reliant upon the grace of God,the power of God.
This made perfect in my weakness.
Other people will see me go through thisand to realize there's
something different about thisJesus that I follow.
Yeah, it's for your sakethat I endure this suffering.
You know, you have seen people
go through hell on earthas a Christ follower,
(36:45):
and they've endured it with such grace.
Yes, yes.
And they've endured it with such patience
and an element of joy in their suffering.
And you've watched themwalk this road of faithfulness
with the embracing of sufferingbecause of the grace of God given them.
(37:07):
And you look at them,are these something's different.
Oh, and when people who claimthe name of Jesus
look just like the world, when we gothrough suffering difficult times,
it tells the worldthey nothing special about Christ.
He says, sorry for your sake
I will endure this
(37:28):
relying on the grace of God.
Yes, his undeserved merit and favor
for methat gives me strength when I am weak.
Yeah.
And I want you to watch me suffer.
Isn't that what Jesus did?
Yes, yes.
The lamb before the shears opened.
Not his mouth.
(37:52):
That they may obtain the glory
of eternal life.
Look at verse 11.The saying is trustworthy.
For if we died with him,we will also live with him.
If we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we deny him, he will alsohe will deny us.
If we're faithless, he remains faithful.
Listen. He's saying,listen, here's the deal.
(38:13):
If you die with Christ,you're going to live with him.
What's he talking?
What do you mean, die with Christ?
Well, one thing you talk about martyrdom.
Do you live your life in such a waythat you suffer the point of death?
Guess what? There's a special rewardfor you in heaven.
Martyrdom is a spiritual gift.
It's a gift you only use once.But it's a spiritual gift.
Well, Celebes a spiritual gift.
(38:34):
Celibacy is a gift to you. It's a giftyou never use.
So, I mean, there are those things.
If it's also if you die with Christ,
Paul will say in baptismyou died with Christ.
In baptism you were raised with Christ.
So when you profess your faith in Christ,you live with him.
(38:55):
And it's seen by othersin baptism, baptism, water.
But he says,if we endure, we'll also reign with him.
Some of you,you got to know that the endurance now
is leading to reigning later,so you endure it now. Why?
Because what's coming is greater.
But if we deny him, he'll deny us.
(39:15):
This is a twofold thing. Here.
One of it is, look, as a Christ follower,I cannot be faithful all the time.
And that's why he will say,if we're faithless, he remains faithful.
Praise God.
But if I deny God,
he is so faithful
that he cannot
(39:38):
acknowledge me.
If I deny him.
So when he says, when you're up
for he cannot deny himself
so, so, so this whole idea,if we deny him, he'll deny us.
If we're faithless, he remains faithful.
It's by the grace of Godthat he is faithful to his promises 100%,
even when I'm not faithful to him.
(39:59):
But if I deny him,
he is so faithful to His Word,
he cannot acknowledge me.
You understand?
So be careful.
This is the warning.
(40:20):
Verse 14 remind him of these things,and charge them before
God not to quarrel about wordswhich does no good,
only ruins hearers.
So, Timothy, your job is just simplyto remind them of Scripture,
to remind the people of good,solid doctrine and the gospel of God.
He said, there are some things
that that that that can ruin each other.
(40:44):
These
when we get in these stupid, ridiculousquarrels and arguments about stupid stuff
that have nothing to do with the gospel,nothing to do with God's Word.
And unfortunately, churchpeople are famous
for getting into stupid argumentsabout stupid stuff.
They have nothing to do with the gospeland nothing Luke
(41:04):
and Paul says to me,just keep the main thing, the main thing,
and keep telling your peopleto keep the main thing, the main thing.
You understand that.
That'swhy I will never preach the front page.
You understand what that means,like whatever's hot on the news.
But I'm not going to preach thatit's front page preaching.
And Paul says all that's going to dois ruin people.
Just keep the main thing, the main thing.
(41:25):
There's plenty of otherchurch of the preacher front page.
You want one of those churches?Go, please.
I welcome you to gothere. I'm not preaching the front page.
I'm gonna stick true to the gospel.
Do your best.
Verse 15 to present yourselfto God as one approved.
A workman who has no need to be ashamed,rightly handling the word of truth.
(41:45):
Do your best.
You know, the best way to refute erroris to embody
the truth of God's Word yourself.
The best way to refute error
is to embody God's Word in your life.
It says, do your best to present yourselfto God as one approved.
Literally, he said, make haste to this.
(42:05):
Make this year prior to get this right,get to it,
and exert yourselfto show yourself as approved to God.
When he says, make thisyour prior to be approved of God.
That word approved his use regarding moneyand he's saying don't be a counterfeit,
be the real deal.
It's the thing
they would use to prove what is legitimateand what is illegitimate.
(42:29):
Listen off.
He's talking about authenticity overimitation.
Do the work to show yourselfas the authentic one,
not the poser one, not who looks legitbut has no real value
to the kingdom.
And rightly handle the word of truth.
(42:50):
Make the road you cut
by this word so apparent
that all deviations are obvious.
Like this is the standardand it cuts a straight line.
And when this is firmly cut,that line is straight.
All deviations become apparent.
You understand that
(43:12):
this is the guide.
Now listen.
Rightly handling the word he says
there is a correct interpretationfor all of Scripture.
It is illegitimate for us to say, well,the Scripture means this to me,
and it means that for you.
And I mean whatever it means foryou is right. It's not right.
There's a
(43:32):
legitimate right interpretationto the Word of God and Christ.
Followers need to be under teachingthat rightly discerns
and interprets the Word of God,so that the line that is cut
in life is straightand all detours are apparent
and obvious.
(43:55):
When he says,
present yourself as one approved,
I mean, think about it.
How embarrassing is it
to have your work inspected by your boss,
and have your boss disappointedwith your work?
Do you understand?
(44:17):
He's saying you press into this Timothy
so that when it is inspected,
you got nothing to be ashamed of.
Let me finish this out.
Let me jump down to verse 19.
God's firmfoundation stands bearing this seal.
The Lord knows who are his.
And let everyone who namesthe name of the Lord depart from iniquity
(44:41):
is in the foundation.
And all this is built on is two thingsone, that the Lord knows who he is.
He's talking way backin the Old Testament, the Book of numbers,
chapter 16 called Coras Rebellion.
Read it sometime later.
And he says, this whole sound isbased on two things God knows who are his.
Let God sort out who are hisand who's are like, that's not our job
(45:04):
to determine who are who, who God'skids are like, God will take care of that.
That's first thing. Like he is sovereign.He knows.
The second thing is everybody who claimsthe name of Christ has to depart
from iniquity.
I mean, you gotta get awayfrom those things that entangle you.
You have to choose to departfrom iniquity.
He says.
(45:25):
So therefore,
if anyone cleanses himself, verse 21,from what is dishonorable,
he will be a vessel for honorable use,set apart as solely useful
to the master of the house, readyfor every good work said so.
There are some thingsthat you have to cleanse yourself from.
We rely on God's grace first.
Salvation, forgiveness.He does all that work.
(45:45):
But our responsibility
is to cleanse ourself from everythingthat is dishonorable to God.
And as we cleanse ourselffrom those things that are dishonorable
to God,we become ready for every good work.
Do you understand that?
Like God, he expects us
to do our job of cleansing ourself.
We're forgiven by his grace,but we are cleansed by our choice.
(46:09):
You understand?
And we have responsibility to that.
It means literally
to purge yourselfof everything that dishonors God,
everything that dishonoringto your commanding officer,
everything that's dishonoringto the kingdom.
We're to purge ourselves of all of that.
(46:29):
Here's what here's what I'm saying.
If it dishonors God, it deforms me.
If it dishonors God, it deforms us.
True joy comes
when I let go of it, dishonors my creator.
(46:57):
We have, our difficulty
is seeking in something
a joy and a peace that that thingwas never intended to give us.
Only God was.
And when we seek those things
to bring us joy, contentment, and peace,
(47:19):
it dishonors God,
and it deforms me, and I
will never have joy.
To understand.
So then, Timothy,
verse 22, flee youthful passionsand pursue righteousness, faith,
(47:41):
love, and peace,along with those who call on the Lord
from a pure hearthave nothing to do with foolish,
ignorant controversiesand rabbit holes and posts online.
You know that they only breed
quarrels with your friends and family.
The Lord's servantmust not be quarrelsome.
(48:05):
But be kind to everyone.
Even those we disagree with.
Do you know that we can disagreewithout being disagreeable?
Yeah.
Able to teach
patiently enduring evil.
Endure it patiently.
(48:28):
It doesn't say riot and revolt.
There's some bad stuff in this world.
Patiently enduring evil.
Correct your opponents with gentleness.
That's meekness.
You know what meekness is?
Meekness is strength under control.
It's an uncaged lionthat chooses not to devour you.
(48:48):
That's.
That's meekness, strength under control.
It looks.
Just because you're right doesn'tmean you have to prove it all the time.
Just because someone wrong doesn'tmean you get to beat them up all the time.
You understand,
can win an argument and lose a heart.
That's not right.
God may perhaps grant them repentance,leading to a knowledge of the truth,
(49:09):
and they may come to their sensesand escape
from the snare of the devilafter being captured by him to do as well.
They just might.
When we live this way,people just might come to their sentence,
to their senses,because they've been deluded.
The Bible says by the influencers.
(49:30):
There are minds
that are deluded by the influencers.
And when God's people live this way,
they just might come to their senses.
And so, dear friends, flee
those things that dishonor Godand that entangle you.
Flee means to run away fromand get out of the danger zone.
(49:54):
Quit flirting
with stuff you're flirting with, he says.
Quit letting this stuff entangleyour life.
It's screwing you up. It dishonors God.
It deforms you.
And pursue faith and agape love.
Pursue Christ.
It means you run fast to catch them.
(50:18):
And by doing that,
some people may come to their senses.
Because they've been duped
by influencers.
It's just so pertinent to our worldright now.
It's so pertinent to our lives and so.
(50:41):
Here's the questions.
We end where we started.
What you flee determines your purity,
and what you pursue determinesyour destiny.
So the question is,
what must you flee?
(51:03):
What must you flee?
There are some things you need
to run away from fast.
There's some thingsthat are even good things,
but it entangles you fulfillingthe command of your commanding officer.
Flee!
Quit flirting.
(51:25):
Quit acting like it doesn't matter.
Quit playing around.
You're a soldier.
You're an athlete.
You're a farmer.
And what must you pursue?
Or better said, whom must I pursue?
Christ.
(51:48):
Without him, we can do nothing.
And so.
Amen.
You okay?
Yeah.
Let's pray.
I've said enough.
(52:10):
I expect the Holy Spirit to speak now.
Yeah.
You've done a good job listening to me
do a better job listening to him.
Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
And say, Holy Spirit, what must I flee?
(52:39):
Bible says, ask and you will find her.
Ask and you will receive. Seekand you'll find.
Knock and there will be opened.
Ask him right now.
Seek his voice right now.
Holy spirit, what must I flee?
(52:59):
Listen to what he's saying.
Holy spirit, what must I flee?
And when you hear his voice respond.
Say, father,
I hear you telling me I must flee.
(53:23):
Whatever this is.
And by your grace, not my strength.
I choose to run away from it right now.
I choose to reject its powerand its hold on my life.
By your grace,
I am free.
(53:46):
Free?
What must you pursue?
And if you've never pursued Jesus.
You pursued religion. You pursued church.
You pursued being good,but you've not pursued Jesus.
Bible says you will find mewhen you seek me with all your heart.
(54:07):
Yeah,
for God is not far from any of us.
If you've not pursued Jesus yet,I wouldn't encourage you in this moment
to pursue him, because he will be found.
And to say, God, I need you in my life.
(54:29):
I need you,
Jesus.
I want you,
and I receive you,
and I trust you as the leader
and liberator of my soul. You.
Thank you for your forgiveness.
I accept it.
(54:51):
And I will choose to do
what I can do with my responsibilityas a soldier,
as your athlete, and as your farmer. You.
Father.
Thank you. Thank you that you love us.
Thank you that when we are faithless,you remain faithful.
(55:13):
Thank you that you cannot deny yourself.
That we've attached ourselves to.
You will never be denied.
Thank you, thank you, thank.
Holy spirit,I pray that you continue to speak
to us.
Calling us to flee those things.
We need to flee.
Pursuing you
(55:34):
with our whole heart and souland mind and strength
and father, for that will give you thanks.
In your name I pray.
Amen.
Let's not love you, Second Timothy.
It's good, isn't it?Yeah, it's good words.
Good words.
This and this week read second Timothytwo again and let it challenge you.
(55:55):
Paul just told Timothy like he'll give youunderstanding as you apply yourself.
So read it again and pray through
and let the Holy Spirit
talk to you in the kind of fleshthis stuff out and within you.
That makes sense.
You understand like,let this keep living on.
Remember, you're Nancy, you got ten monthsof training before you get to compete.
So train hard this week. You got that?
(56:17):
Don't walk from hereand be a militiaman, right?
Like warfare.
You got youryour your musket in your gunpowder.
Like be a minuteman.
Press into this training.
All right.
You good?
All right. We got one more song. Right.
This is about Jesus.
Jesus, that's a good song.I like that song.
(56:38):
I love that song. That stand up and sing.
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