1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:05,720 Good morning church. We are in the book of second 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:10,200 Timothy chapter 1 verses one through 7. 3 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:13,800 If you're using the Bible, that's underneath your chair. 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:20,200 It's on page 934. Paul, an apostle of Christ 5 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,160 Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of the 6 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:28,800 life that is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my beloved child, 7 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:34,840 grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our 8 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:38,560 Lord. I thank God whom I serve, as did 9 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,160 my ancestors, with a clear conscience. 10 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:46,120 As I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day, as I 11 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,600 remember your tears, I long to see you that I may be filled 12 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:54,240 with joy. I am reminded of your sincere 13 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:58,560 faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and 14 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,560 your mother Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well. 15 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:07,920 For this reason I remind you to fan into the flame the gift of 16 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,760 God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 17 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:17,480 For God gave us a spirit, not a fear, but of power and love and 18 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:19,920 self-control. This is the word of the Lord. 19 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:29,440 What's going on Port City family and friends? 20 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:31,080 How we doing? Good. 21 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:32,720 My name is Tanner. I'm one of the pastors here. 22 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,840 The lead pastor here is a joy to be with you and y'all. 23 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,160 I'm pumped for a new series. Every series feels like the most 24 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:41,760 important one of all time and none feels more true to me 25 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,320 personally than this one. Y'all, no book has more shaped 26 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:48,880 my life in the last three years and still feels as applicable as 27 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:51,240 Second Timothy right now in my life. 28 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:54,920 Y'all just to put the context of like what it is to receive this 29 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,240 letter as a as a church that the spirit had a man named Paul. 30 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,360 Write it down. Y'all. 31 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:04,440 Paul is like Yoda, like in the in the spirit with the Lord. 32 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,920 He's like that guy. He has been beaten for his 33 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:09,960 faith. Even if you don't believe, you 34 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,400 would probably admire somebody who was willing to be killed, 35 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,480 beat down, stoned. The things Paul has been 36 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:17,200 through. You would respect him if he 37 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:18,680 walked in the room. Are you with me? 38 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,080 He's that kind of guy with that kind of credibility. 39 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,440 This is his last letter. This is it. 40 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:28,640 He's leaving it all on the field in this letter to his main 41 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:32,160 protege, Timothy. He's in a prison cell that you 42 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,440 can visit in Rome. Tradition tells us he's in the 43 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,360 member time prison there in Rome, writing this letter. 44 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:39,840 He's probably hungry, he's tired, he's cold. 45 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:41,240 In chapter 4 he says don't forget that. 46 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:42,760 Cloak. Bring me them books and that 47 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,200 cloak. He has names, major receipts in 48 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:48,360 this book of people that have shipwrecked their faith. 49 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:50,680 Demas fell in love with the world and walked away. 50 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,200 This is Paul's letter begging Timothy that at the end of his 51 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:59,880 life he could say, like Paul, I have finished the race, I have 52 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:03,320 kept the faith. Paul's going to say I pour, I've 53 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:05,280 been poured out like a drink offering. 54 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,760 If you imagine just a drink, Paul's life, he viewed it as 55 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:11,960 something that was being poured out for King Jesus down to the 56 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,400 last drop. And can I tell you something, 57 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,680 Port City family. And I know not everybody here is 58 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,640 and some of you don't even follow Jesus, but hopefully what 59 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:22,840 I'm saying feels real to you. OK. 60 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:26,840 I want you to make it. That's what I want for you. 61 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:33,400 I want you to love Jesus more in retirement, more in the hospital 62 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,360 bed when it's about to be over for you, than you do right now. 63 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,800 I don't think we have to settle for a slow fade where Jesus 64 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:44,640 feels less relevant day by day and year by year, and the things 65 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:46,160 in this world seem more relevant. 66 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,400 I think it's possible to love Jesus more in 30 years than you 67 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,920 do now. I think that's possible, but it 68 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:59,040 takes tremendous amounts of grace, empowered effort, Y'all. 69 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:00,600 I don't want you to waste your life. 70 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:04,800 Somebody say waste your life. There's a lot of ways to waste 71 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,640 your life. The biggest one is to miss out 72 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:09,040 on Jesus totally. OK. 73 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:13,000 And if you're not a believer, I want you to know Jesus. 74 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,200 He's not a concept, He's a person. 75 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:17,720 He made you. And I pray that as you're around 76 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,360 the port city community, you're learning the Word of God, that 77 00:04:20,519 --> 00:04:22,600 God would make himself clear to you even today. 78 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:26,600 But the other way to waste your life is the way Timothy was in 79 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,640 danger of wasting his ministry is to shrink back. 80 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,640 It's to maybe have this much. Potential, but through fear and 81 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:37,600 circumstances just settle. Does that make sense? 82 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:40,760 We would not be. Here today, if Timothy didn't 83 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:42,400 take seriously what Paul's going to say to him. 84 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,880 This letter is not complicated. It's very simple, but it's hard 85 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,920 to live and he's going to. I could break this whole letter 86 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:52,160 down into let me make sure I'm saying the right amount of 87 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:57,520 words. 3 words. OK, y'all ready fan the flame? 88 00:04:57,520 --> 00:04:59,160 We're going to say that together. 89 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:01,760 Ready. Fan the flame. 90 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:03,320 He's going to say it a lot of different ways. 91 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:05,320 He's going to say guard the Gospel, That's the name of our 92 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:06,920 series. He's going to say follow the 93 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:08,600 pattern. He's going to say it a lot of 94 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:09,920 different ways. He's going to tell him you're a 95 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:12,280 soldier, you're an athlete, you're a farmer. 96 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:17,920 He's saying get to work, my guy. And the main way in 2026, you 97 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:19,960 can waste your life. I tell you this a lot. 98 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:20,880 I'm going to say it a lot in this. 99 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,840 Series, There is some simple stuff you can fall into, and 100 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:26,640 there's a whole lot of silly stuff you can settle for. 101 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:28,960 Y'all, the NBA Finals ended last. 102 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:30,160 Night. And I'm like, good, I won't be 103 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,760 as addicted to my phone. Except we're in the World Cup, 104 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:36,360 and then it's the US Open this week at golf. 105 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,400 Oh, man, Scotty got to get the, he got to get all four. 106 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:40,840 So I'm like, I just can't. Do you? 107 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:42,560 Do you see the problem we run into? 108 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:46,640 You can waste your life through silly settling for things that 109 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:49,480 you know, don't matter that much. 110 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:54,040 You know it, you can say it. And yet our habits, our 111 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:58,120 addictions reveal that we're much more settling than we want 112 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,960 to admit. And we might not be afraid of 113 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,400 dying for our faith. So the the ways that Paul's 114 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:06,480 letter is going to hit us might be different than how it hit 115 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:09,040 Timothy. The stakes might feel different 116 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:13,320 in terms of your physical well-being, but the stakes are 117 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,000 just as high. There are coworkers you have, 118 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,960 friends you have, there are things going on right in front 119 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:22,880 of you that the Spirit of God is actively involved in church. 120 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:25,280 And one of the main things happening to the American church 121 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:29,960 is we're just going to sleep. We just sleep, we walking around 122 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,640 just as addicted to all the things and devices gamifying 123 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:35,240 gambling. I know tons of Christians don't 124 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,080 even think about these things and we're so afraid of being 125 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,280 legalist to say let's chill out on some of this stuff that we 126 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:44,160 just walking around useless in the faith and in the ministry. 127 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,880 So my feeling in this letter is that the stakes are quite high, 128 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:50,760 just as high as they were for Timothy. 129 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,040 I think they're that high for us and for Norfolk. 130 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,200 If we want to make an impact in our community, in our city, in 131 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:59,080 our workplace, y'all we have got to. 132 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:04,560 Fan the flame all my survivor fans should know. 133 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:08,200 Fan the flame. OK, the basic idea is you got a 134 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:13,960 flame, it could be tiny, and what you do dictates how hot it 135 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:15,880 burns and how much light. It gives off. 136 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:19,640 Because in the ancient world, fires did two things, heat and 137 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:21,960 light. It was it's pretty modern in 138 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:23,840 history to get light without heat, right? 139 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,000 And even when you go. Touch a light bulb your hand is 140 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,200 going to if it's been on a while because the idea was fire. 141 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:30,760 Did both are y'all tracking with me? 142 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:33,440 If you wanted a candle at night, think about it. 143 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:35,640 A candle. Burns, heat and light went 144 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:41,320 together so y'all fanning the flame is an invitation to use 145 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:45,040 the means you have to stir up your passion for and love. 146 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:47,800 Of Jesus for the Jesus followers, you have a. 147 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:52,480 Flame to fan and it impacts how much heat you give off and how 148 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:53,960 much light you give off. Are y'all tracking? 149 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,120 If you don't know Jesus, I'm not telling you. 150 00:07:57,120 --> 00:07:59,080 Let. This little light on mine, I'm 151 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:00,800 gonna let it shine. The Bible would say you don't 152 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:04,840 have a flame yet to fan. The invitation to you is accept 153 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:08,480 Christ, repent, believe. But for the believers in the 154 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,880 room, fanning the flame means activate the gifts, activate the 155 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:14,280 calling, the passion that God has put in you. 156 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:16,720 It's the gift of God that you're fanning the flame of. 157 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:19,520 It's not inherent to you. It was a gift that you now 158 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:21,000 fanned the flame of. Are y'all with me? 159 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:24,280 Y'all? I don't want you to waste your 160 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:26,440 life. I don't want you get to the end 161 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:27,840 and say, man, I could have done more. 162 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:29,040 I could have left more on the field. 163 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,080 I want you to get in like Paul and say my life was poured out 164 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,760 like a drink offering and you don't need my job to do that. 165 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,600 We need Christian plumbers. And I joke with you all the the 166 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:42,159 pipe ain't a Christian pipe. You, a plumber who is a 167 00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:43,880 Christian putting in a pipe? You need to. 168 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:46,600 Be fanning the flame of all the gifts God has given you in the 169 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:48,600 passions. You don't need a ministry job. 170 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,440 OK in this letter the most 1 to 1 application is for ministers 171 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:55,960 of the gospel but is applicable to every Christian no matter 172 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:58,800 your vocation that you fan the flame of the gift of God. 173 00:08:58,800 --> 00:08:59,920 Where you're at are y'all with me? 174 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:02,280 The stakes are really high, y'all. 175 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,360 The concept is not difficult. So what I want to do is I want 176 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:09,920 to pray and then we're just going to walk through the verses 177 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:13,280 1 by 1. Doom scrolling is what we often 178 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:15,960 do is what I've been doing with this NBA Finals. 179 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,640 We need to do some life scrolling and that's the word of 180 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:20,120 God. Just strolling through it like a 181 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:22,800 walk in the park. OK, so let's pray and then we'll 182 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:24,840 we'll get to strolling our Father. 183 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,600 We do beg you just to move. God help just breakthrough the 184 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,840 the tradition, the sitting in services, the the parts of us 185 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:33,200 that are just going through the motions. 186 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:38,120 God is Paul just lays out his heart to his young friend, his 187 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:40,640 child in the faith and he says fan the flame. 188 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:43,000 I don't want you to shrink back in fear, Timothy. 189 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,400 I don't want the people under the sound of my voice like 190 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:47,520 demons to fall in love with this present world. 191 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:52,440 God, I want us got to get to the end and say we poured out our 192 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,200 life like a drink offering. We fought the fight, we finished 193 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:59,040 the race, we kept the faith. So Holy Spirit, you've got to do 194 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:04,240 that in US. God, may we grab the reins of 195 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:06,320 fanning the flame in the midst of the mundane. 196 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:10,520 Got even some of my friends just have to believe that you are at 197 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:16,680 work in their daily life. You are so God right now, please 198 00:10:16,680 --> 00:10:19,840 by your spirit bring to life this word that you wrote to 199 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:22,520 Timothy, but you, Holy Spirit wrote to your church for all 200 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:24,400 times through Paul's writing to Timothy. 201 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,640 God to use it as you've used so many times what we know not 202 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:29,080 right now. Would you teach us what we have 203 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:30,640 not? Would you give us who we are 204 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:32,160 not? Would you make us let the words 205 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:35,080 of my mouth, the meditation of my heart, be pleasing in your 206 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:36,920 sight? Everybody who agrees with that 207 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:42,240 said Amen. All right, y'all first one, 208 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:44,920 Paul. Let's stop right there, Paul. 209 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:50,240 Is a former Jewish leader. He used to go by Saul. 210 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:52,600 OK, let's talk about this with Casey the other week. 211 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:57,760 His name did not change, OK? The Hebrew rendering is known as 212 00:10:57,760 --> 00:10:59,880 Saul, the Greek rendering known as Paul. 213 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:02,560 So he came to be known as Paul because most of his ministry was 214 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:06,160 to the Greeks, not to the Jews. Paul, also known as. 215 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:10,720 Saul used to be a religious leader who was viewing this 216 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:13,840 Christian movement as a sect. Let me break that down for you. 217 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:17,080 He viewed it as a cult. He viewed it as a weird side 218 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,000 thing. OK, and many of your friends 219 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:21,160 think you as a Jesus follower are weird. 220 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:23,640 You're in good company. That's how the early church 221 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:25,360 started. It literally was just a few 222 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:26,960 people. The Roman Empire looked at them 223 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:29,920 like they were crazy, OK, and Paul thought they were crazy and 224 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:31,880 in the way of true belief of Yahweh. 225 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:35,160 So Paul's on his way on the Damascus Road to go handle some 226 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:37,680 of them and throw them in prison when he literally was the first 227 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:39,960 person in history blinded by the light. 228 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:43,560 Paul gets knocked off the horse, he can't see, and then God 229 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:47,120 restores his sight a few days later and Paul's conversion to 230 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:51,600 the Christian faith became a prototype of what every believer 231 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,280 in all times and all places will experience, though not physical 232 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:58,520 at a spiritual level. You are going this way, Christ 233 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:00,040 invaded. Now you're going that way. 234 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:04,920 And followers of Jesus, you have that testimony, even if it's a 235 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,400 boring testimony where you heard the faith from your mom or your 236 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:10,720 grandma, as we'll see here in verse 5 with Timothy through his 237 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:12,840 my grandmother Lois, his mother Eunice. 238 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:15,880 That's still AI was this way and then I was that way. 239 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,280 I became that way. God intervened in Paul's life. 240 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:22,400 He's an apostle of Christ. Jesus, somebody say apostle. 241 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:27,080 I want to be very clear. The apostles are done and gone. 242 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:31,360 Paul was an apostle. To be an apostle was to be an 243 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:35,200 eyewitness of King Jesus. OK so there was 12 Judas 244 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:39,280 betrayed Acts chapter one. They threw the the the lots to 245 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:41,480 to land on Matthias being the replacement. 246 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:44,560 And then Paul became an apostle because I just told you he had 247 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:47,240 an eyewitness interaction with King Jesus. 248 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:52,920 The Apostolic office is closed. So your grandma is not an 249 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,320 apostle. I'm sorry, there is. 250 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:58,400 No such thing as a modern day apostle. 251 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:03,720 OK, they have Apostolic gifting. That gifting refers to somebody 252 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:05,840 who is gifted at. Taking the gospel into new 253 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:10,320 territory, but the Church has agreed in different regions of 254 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:12,200 the globe. And through the Council's Church 255 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:15,120 history, you need to come to equip to learn your theology and 256 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:18,720 your history is that the Apostolic office is closed. 257 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:23,280 I am not an apostle. I do not have more access to God 258 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:25,200 than you. If you are full of the Spirit, 259 00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:28,880 y'all. My job is to expose the Word, is 260 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:31,200 to teach, is to teach what's there. 261 00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:34,360 Does God do the extraordinary and give dreams of some of these 262 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:36,320 things that give prophetic utterances? 263 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:38,920 Absolutely. Are those on the same 264 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:40,920 authoritative level as the Word of God? 265 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:45,480 Absolutely not. OK, so even as God gives some of 266 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,400 those extemporaneous things, we hold them up to God's Word and 267 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:51,240 in community full of the Spirit, and we test it as the New 268 00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:54,040 Testament tells us to. But if Paul knew that people 269 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,560 were running around call themselves apostles today, he 270 00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:58,160 would flip out. Does that make sense? 271 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,960 Not because he's proud of his title, but because that is 272 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:03,280 closed. Are y'all with me? 273 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:07,600 He's an apostle of Christ Jesus. I've told you before, anytime 274 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,520 you see the word Christ, you need to think King and our 275 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:12,680 vernacular. He's the King, the anointed 1, 276 00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:15,640 the chosen one. He's an apostle of King Jesus. 277 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:20,760 By the will of God, Paul did not sign up for that class. 278 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:24,440 Paul, if he had his way, would still be chasing down weird 279 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:26,320 people from that weird sect somewhere. 280 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:30,560 If you are a follower of Jesus is by the will of God. 281 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,640 Which is good news because it means if he chose you, he ain't 282 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:36,920 going to let you go. OK. 283 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:41,120 And yes guys, God has a will. God is a person. 284 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:43,040 It's going to say here in a minute. 285 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,000 It's going to refer to God the Father and Christ Jesus our 286 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,520 Lord. God is 1 essence in three 287 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:51,720 persons. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, I'm 288 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:53,640 excited. In the new year this year we're 289 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,800 going to do a series all on the Trinity, 4 sermons on the 290 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:58,320 Trinity. I don't know why it's not 3, but 291 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:01,960 it's 4 OK. But y'all God is 1 essence in 292 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:04,760 three persons, OK? He is, He has one will. 293 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,760 They are a community within themselves. 294 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:09,880 They're one and three. When I see the one, I see 3. 295 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,000 When I see the three, I see one, OK. 296 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,400 And this God has a will, and this God will, that Paul would 297 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:20,360 be an apostle of King Jesus according to the promise of the 298 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:22,280 life. That is in Christ Jesus. 299 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:27,480 Somebody say life, y'all, there's life in King Jesus. 300 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:33,840 Water is wet. Jesus is life, y'all, Jesus is 301 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:36,720 life. He doesn't just give it, he is 302 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:39,560 it. We know a lot of Christians who 303 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:43,400 do not, Christians who do not resemble that they have the life 304 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:46,760 of Christ in them. Y'all, let's not get this 305 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:48,560 twisted. We celebrate. 306 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,680 Every Sunday, as I love how Pastor John points out, we 307 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:55,800 gather on Sundays because it's the day he rose from the dead. 308 00:15:56,080 --> 00:16:00,800 This is a religion of life. It's not a system of thinking. 309 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:07,000 It's a person who is a life. There is life in Christ Jesus. 310 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:10,680 And if you are considering the Christian claims at the center 311 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:13,680 of them all, we are claiming that the one God in three 312 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,640 persons. Is alive and King Jesus stepped 313 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,640 in and he offers you life. Paul is not wasting his words is 314 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:24,240 what he's saying. Verse 2 to Timothy, my beloved 315 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,960 child Timothy. You can write down Acts 16. 316 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:32,040 That's where he meets Timothy in the city known as Lystra and now 317 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,200 Paul. If you go read first Timothy, 318 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:38,560 first Timothy, he makes it clear that Timothy is an elder. 319 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,120 He's the pastor at the church in Ephesus. 320 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:45,160 OK, So what Paul would do is he would go start churches and then 321 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:47,560 they would appoint elders, pastors over them. 322 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:49,000 And then he would check on how they're doing. 323 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:52,720 OK, So a lot of the 13 letters are to churches and a few of 324 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:56,400 them are to people like Timothy. OK, so the first letter to 325 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,120 Timothy was kind of like, here's how to do church. 326 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:03,840 So First Timothy think how Second Timothy think who this 327 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,520 letter is all about who Timothy is becoming. 328 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:09,119 First Timothy is about how he's running things. 329 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:11,960 Are you with me? So he's writing to Timothy, and 330 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,440 I love to take comfort that Timothy is an elder in Ephesus, 331 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,400 but he's from Lystra. Sometimes I can feel some 332 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:20,599 imposter syndrome because I'm not born and raised in Norfolk. 333 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,800 But it's OK to hear that God uses people not where they're 334 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:27,319 from in a in a meaningful way, OK? 335 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,600 And you might not be from here, but God still wants to use you 336 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:32,640 here. And we need a lot of the born 337 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:35,520 and raised Norfolk people to be a part of our fellowship because 338 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:38,800 the church is a combination of people who've been here, not 339 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,840 been here, people on their way, people who go and stay, which I 340 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:43,640 hope to for for the rest of my days. 341 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:44,720 Amen. OK. 342 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,040 So he's saying, Timothy, you're my guy, Timothy. 343 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:49,920 Timothy. You are my God. 344 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:53,160 I love you. Grace, mercy and peace from God 345 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:55,280 the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. 346 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:59,440 Grace, mercy and peace. I don't know what it is you 347 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:04,600 think you need from God. You need grace, mercy and peace. 348 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,440 I love how Paul's letters start with grace, end with grace. 349 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,440 Turn your Bible over one page and look at the last verse of 350 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:12,760 the letter of Second Timothy. Just go look real quick. 351 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:14,920 Don't take my word for it. Just look. 352 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:21,760 Chapter 4, verse 22, the Lord be with your spirit, grace be with 353 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:24,640 you. Paul's letter starts with grace. 354 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,520 It ends with grace. He's got some stuff he wants 355 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:30,240 Timothy to do. The stakes are high, but it's 356 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,520 not high in a way where you've got to earn it or you're this is 357 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,080 all about you. It's grace to start, grace to 358 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:37,840 end. He hasn't told, He doesn't tell 359 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,080 Timothy to do anything until verse 6. 360 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:42,680 He just tells him how much he loves them the next few verses 361 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:43,840 and he's going to tell him one thing. 362 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:49,720 Fan into flame, the gift of God. Verse three, I thank God whom I 363 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,840 serve, as did my ancestors with the clear conscience, as I 364 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:55,800 remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 365 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:58,160 Yeah, I remember where I told you Paul was. 366 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,840 He was in a prison cell. When you have a bad day, do you 367 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,480 get in your feelings? Let's be honest. 368 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,640 Let me ask that again. When you are having a bad day, 369 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:11,840 if the coffee ain't hitting or you have to go to the dentist or 370 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:14,680 your boss is annoying you, do you get in your feelings? 371 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,920 Yes. OK, Paul is in a prison cell and 372 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:23,520 what's on his mind is not woe is me, it's the glory and goodness 373 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:27,160 of God and his love for Timothy. Do you see how what the gospel 374 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:31,080 does, friends, is it delivers you from self to God and others, 375 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:32,760 God and neighbor. He loves God. 376 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:36,200 I thank God for you. His mind in this prison cell, 377 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,120 while cold and probably hungry is on others. 378 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:42,440 Isn't that amazing? It's the gift of salvation in 379 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,920 many ways is to be consumed not with yourself, but with God and 380 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:49,000 your neighbor. Paul says I serve God with a. 381 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:50,520 Clear. Conscience. 382 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:54,880 God has given you a conscience. The conscience is a powerful. 383 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:58,200 Thing it you know many people have come to faith over the 384 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:00,720 centuries we'll talk about Agustin a little bit he has a 385 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:03,160 famous story of stealing a pair he didn't need the pair but he 386 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,360 stole it OK Elizabeth Elliott she had a story as a nine year 387 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:09,240 old that eventually led to her conversion where she stole 388 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:12,240 something I've known many young people who have like a. 389 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:15,600 A testimony where they just did something little, but they knew 390 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:18,800 it was sinful, not because Mama told them, not because somebody 391 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:21,760 was trying to make them feel bad, but their conscience. 392 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:25,240 It's like it's seared. It's like it's given to you by 393 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,160 someone who made you in his image, that that's a part of 394 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:29,960 what it means to be made in God's image. 395 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,560 And Paul saying I have a clear conscience. 396 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,920 So is Paul saying I'm living so sinlessly that I have a clear 397 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,160 conscience? How does the believer in Jesus 398 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:42,560 have a clear conscience? And unbelievers, I want to be 399 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,360 very clear. We don't have a clear conscience 400 00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:48,600 because we live sinlessly. Y'all we've been. 401 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:51,640 Gifted a clear. Conscience and we still have 402 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:57,120 indwelling sin but with our eyes fixed on Christ on what he's 403 00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:02,200 done we can be free and live light and clear and get to the 404 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:04,360 end and say I poured it out not because we're going to live 405 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:08,200 sinlessly for the next 30 years, but it's like we're it's on 406 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:12,120 Christ and neighbor in such a way that even as we sin it's 407 00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:15,720 possible through the gift of God by the Spirit in light of what 408 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:19,160 king Jesus has done to have a clear conscience. 409 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:21,760 Some of y'all right now are in this room because your 410 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:26,600 conscience is weighing you. Sometimes people will hear the 411 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:28,720 the just. Simple words of the gospel 412 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:30,680 spoken over them. They're filled with anger and 413 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:31,720 they want to leave the room. It's. 414 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:35,600 Happened in this room and it's because their conscience is 415 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:39,640 doing a work on them. So if that's you, don't run from 416 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:43,040 that. There is a God behind the giving 417 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:44,880 of your conscience who wants to know you. 418 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,600 And it's possible to have a clear conscience, not because 419 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:49,880 you are pure, but because Christ who was pure. 420 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,360 Died for you? Verse 4 As I remember your 421 00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:57,120 tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 422 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:03,120 Paul just wants to see his guy. Y'all I love this image that in 423 00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:05,640 the end what really matters is your people. 424 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:09,320 Paul is a single man. The church should elevate 425 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,120 singleness and not make people feel like you have a less than 426 00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:15,080 human life if you ain't married because it's not true. 427 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:17,280 Two of our greatest heroes, obviously. 428 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,680 King Jesus was single and Paul, he lived a full life and at the 429 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:25,320 end he had people, people that felt like children in the faith 430 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,480 because he had given so much to them and he wants to. 431 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,880 Be with his guy. He's like, I just want to be 432 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:33,880 with you man, and I got some stuff for you to do, but more 433 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:35,560 than anything I want to move towards you. 434 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:37,120 Isn't that what the gospel does, friends? 435 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:42,120 That God doesn't tolerate you. Believer, do you believe? 436 00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:45,280 Right now that God himself would look at you and say I want to 437 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:48,840 see you, that I may be filled with joy, That your presence 438 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:51,480 could bring God joy. Isn't that crazy? 439 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:55,200 That's the gospel. It's not that he shed his blood 440 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,560 to tolerate you and on a technicality you get into 441 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:01,760 heaven. Christ came so that he might be 442 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:05,000 with you and we are the same in our ministry of the gospel. 443 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,320 We don't just share the gospel with people so we could say we 444 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:09,160 did it. We love our neighbors and our 445 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,920 friends and we long to see them. We want them to know Christ. 446 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:17,280 Verse 5 I'm reminded of your sincere faith of faith that 447 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:20,240 dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and 448 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,440 now I'm sure dwells in you as well. 449 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:26,040 He says I'm reminded of your sincere faith. 450 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:30,160 Somebody say sincere the word in the Greek here, it gets that 451 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:36,200 idea of like an unhypocritical, genuine, sincere, undivided 452 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:38,080 faith. OK, And I want to be clear. 453 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,440 He's not like, oh, Timothy, your faith is so cute. 454 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,880 And if he was like a a sincere Buddhist faith, that would be 455 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:47,480 cute too. No, your faith, the object of 456 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:50,640 your faith, Timothy, is in King Jesus, which is beautiful in the 457 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:55,720 right objective faith, OK, And in that right objective faith, 458 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,680 you are living it out sincerely, authentically. 459 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:00,520 Here's how we say that at Port City. 460 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:05,360 The gospel changes everything. Turn to your neighbor and say 461 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:10,160 the gospel changes everything. OK, now do this. 462 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:12,680 I want you to say everything with a question mark, 463 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:17,200 intonation. You all ready everything and 464 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:18,920 then say everything like everything. 465 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,280 Well, the gospel changes everything. 466 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,040 Paul is saying your faith is sincere. 467 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:32,000 It changes everything you do. One of the issues in our 468 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,160 country, the reason your friends don't take your faith seriously 469 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,240 is they know another believer who the gospel didn't change 470 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:40,960 everything. Listen, unbelievers don't need 471 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:42,840 us to live sinlessly. They don't need us to be 472 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:44,680 perfect. They do need us to be sincere. 473 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,080 What that means is it's changing everything. 474 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:48,680 It's not. I'm listening to praise music, 475 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:51,320 get out the car, and then just RIP into my coworker. 476 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,200 That's insincere, OK? It's this idea that it's 477 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,200 changing how you do what you do. I'm not asking you to be 478 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:00,800 perfect, but the gospel, the message of Christ, who he is and 479 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,120 what he says comes to bear on how you parent. 480 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,400 It comes to bear on how you do marriage, how you do singleness, 481 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,120 how you handle a Zoom meeting where you get blamed for 482 00:25:09,120 --> 00:25:12,400 something you didn't do. Does the gospel change 483 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:16,320 everything or do you have parts of your life that are off limits 484 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:19,400 from the Gospels influence because the stakes feel too out. 485 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:21,160 Well, if I do that, I won't get promoted. 486 00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:28,240 Oh, OK, so so you can't follow? Jesus, in real life, we'll keep 487 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:30,720 it on Sunday. You can't do it in the workplace 488 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:32,720 because you might not get what you want. 489 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:37,080 Yeah, I think there's this thing called faith and trusting the 490 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:40,640 Lord where sometimes. Actually, how He gets glory is 491 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,960 when we're mistreated or things don't go our way, when we let go 492 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,000 of control of the outcomes. What if what you want most is 493 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,320 God's glory, not your promotion? And if God has in mind your 494 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,760 promotion, He's going to get you there through His way, not your 495 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,680 way. So if you have to bypass God's 496 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:57,880 word to get what you want, that's your invitation to 497 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,960 recognize the gospel is not changing everything. 498 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,840 Somebody say everything, everything. 499 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,480 And if that is not your experience, you're invited into 500 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,280 greater joy by giving God more of your life and living a more 501 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:12,440 sincere faith. And he says this. 502 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:15,240 Faith dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother 503 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,960 Eunice. So we learn in Acts 16 that 504 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,080 Timothy is half Jewish half Greek. 505 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,920 Don't you love how the first generation of the gospel was 506 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:25,800 fluid between Jew and Gentile? God knew what he was doing 507 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:27,560 y'all? Which is why we have to be 508 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,160 committed to being a multi ethnic multicultural church 509 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:33,760 because the gospel is always united people that shouldn't be 510 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:35,160 together. Are you with me? 511 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:37,840 We're not after tokenism diversity. 512 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:43,040 We are after robust Jew, Gentile, all the nation's creeds 513 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:46,400 languages together in the same way it was in the the 1st 514 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,720 century. OK, so grandmother Lois was 515 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:53,160 probably Jewish and mother Eunice and then the gospel 516 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,040 converted them from Judaism to Christianity. 517 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:58,280 And then Timothy's dad was Greek. 518 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:00,600 We learned there in Acts 16. And I just want to say to some 519 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,960 of the moms, isn't it such a cool testimony that Lois passed 520 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,120 down the the stuff to Eunice who passes it down to Timothy. 521 00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:10,840 Some of y'all praying for your kids and you ain't seeing fruit 522 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:12,480 yet. Keep praying. 523 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,080 I mentioned Augustine earlier. Augustine is probably the most 524 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:20,320 famous example in history of a mom who would not stop praying. 525 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,840 Mom got around the Bishop of Ambrose one day and Bishop 526 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,720 Ambrose one day and just was begging him about her son. 527 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:32,800 Augustine, who was just living wild and reckless and wasn't, 528 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:34,160 wasn't converted to the faith yet. 529 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:36,840 And he had this line, I'm going to butcher it, but he basically 530 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,360 was like, don't you worry, it is not possible that a child could 531 00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:43,120 be lost with a mom praying those kind of prayers. 532 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:45,720 Basically it was like you weeping so much and praying so 533 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:46,880 much. I know God's going to give you 534 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:49,440 your prayer. And we can't take that in like a 535 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,640 formulaic way. We really don't know the ways of 536 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,200 the Lord. But y'all, there are many 537 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,600 praying mothers in history who have prayed their kids into the 538 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:00,320 faith. I just love this lineage right 539 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:02,320 here. And I, I pray that over many of 540 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:06,600 the families in our church. Here we go, verse 6. 541 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:08,840 He hasn't told him to do anything yet. 542 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:11,400 Isn't that crazy? He's just like I love you. 543 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:14,320 Shout out to Lois Eunice. I love y'all gospel. 544 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:16,360 I'm an apostle. I remember you. 545 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:19,280 I love you. Here we go For this reason. 546 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:20,720 What reason? I love you. 547 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:22,200 And I know your grandma and your Mama. 548 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,760 I love you. For this reason, your faith is 549 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:29,800 sincere. For this reason I remind you to 550 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:33,480 fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the 551 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:37,640 laying on of my hands. For God gave us a spirit, not of 552 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:41,200 fear, but of power and love and self-control. 553 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:46,240 OK, we get into my actual point soon. 554 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,760 OK, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God. 555 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:51,880 First thing I want to say is this and what kind of clothes on 556 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:53,120 this? So just bookmark this. 557 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,720 Isn't it interesting that his remembering Timothy leads to him 558 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,040 reminding Timothy? Y'all see that when you remember 559 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,080 people before God in prayer, you remind them when you're with 560 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:05,000 them. This is what church community is 561 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:06,720 supposed to be. The church should be a place 562 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:08,840 where it's like, yo, I've been remembering you in prayer. 563 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,520 I love you. And I want to remind you to fan 564 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:13,080 into flame the gift of God in this way. 565 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:16,560 There's this sense that you're supposed to belong to a group of 566 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,800 people that are on your heart and prayer, the way Timothy's 567 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:22,120 was for Paul. And that's part of what our 568 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,280 application is going to be for the church here today is just 569 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:27,000 who is God remembering that you need to remind? 570 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:29,240 Does that make sense? Who are you remembering that you 571 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:31,880 need to go remind? But he remembers him, so now 572 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,800 he's reminding him to fan into flame the gift of God, which is 573 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:36,160 in you through the laying on of my hands. 574 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:39,040 Let me explain that. If you go read first Timothy, 575 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:42,280 what you'll see is that basically I kind of explained to 576 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:45,360 you that Paul and the other elders laid their hands on 577 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:49,680 Timothy to kind of signify you are the, the, the pastor of this 578 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:51,040 church. And the, the Holy Spirit 579 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:55,200 confirmed that moment. So Paul did not lay his hands on 580 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:56,320 you or me. Amen. 581 00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:01,600 But this letter still applies to us because the gift of God means 582 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:04,280 a couple of things. First, it just means salvation. 583 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:10,400 Ephesians 2 To be saved is the gift of God is to know. 584 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:12,040 God to be in relationship with Him. 585 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:16,160 You have received a gift. I mentioned earlier you got to 586 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:18,880 have a flame to fan to fan the flame. 587 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,640 Amen. For those of you who are not in 588 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:27,440 Christ, you are invited to receive the gift of salvation. 589 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:29,840 It's a gift, man. That's the amazing thing about 590 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:32,120 the gospel is you don't earn your way in. 591 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:35,800 It's a gift and God wants to give you that gift of knowing 592 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:39,120 him and he sent his Son Christ Jesus to die that you might 593 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,520 receive the gift of life in Christ. 594 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:46,080 The other gift here is sort of just ministry gifting. 595 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:49,800 Generally all believers are gifted by the Spirit, all of us. 596 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:52,720 And that's something that the church works on together is to 597 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:55,240 figure out what are your spiritual gifts that all 598 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,880 believers are given and also just how God's personality he's 599 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,720 given you and your story and your gifting plays out and how 600 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:04,680 you live. OK, so all of us have the gift 601 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:07,320 of God of salvation in Christ. If you're a believer. 602 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:10,360 And we also have like gifts like we're good at things like 603 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,240 teaching or serving our administration or whatever it 604 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,320 is. So fanning to flame that gift. 605 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,360 So if you all imagine a a fire right here right now. 606 00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:22,560 Has anybody ever been camping anybody? 607 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:24,440 I've really not been that many times. 608 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,880 I remember one time I went with like a high school youth group 609 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,560 situation. I was not in Christ. 610 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:32,000 And now I know neither were the two guys at this campfire with 611 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:32,760 me. Amen. 612 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:35,640 My man Zaive and Jeffrey. And we stayed up all night 613 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:37,520 because we were too scared to go sleep in the tent because it 614 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:40,120 just blows my mind that raccoons could just come into my tent. 615 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,640 So I couldn't sleep. And I just remember like our 616 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,640 strategy all night with this fire was just to throw pine 617 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:49,760 needles at it. For those of y'all who've done 618 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,520 fires before, I meant like every 8 seconds we had to throw some 619 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:54,960 some pine needles at it. You know the idea with the a 620 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,960 flame is you got to build it with strong things, with wood, 621 00:31:57,960 --> 00:31:59,800 with kindling, with. Yeah, you could use. 622 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:04,200 Some pine needles or whatever, but a like pine needle fed flame 623 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:06,680 ain't really a flame and it ain't that hot and we just, I 624 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:08,560 mean literally and it's pitch black. 625 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:10,840 So we were just grabbing pine needles and throwing at it all 626 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:12,920 night. Fan into flame. 627 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:16,360 The gift of God means maximize the flame. 628 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:19,520 Like if you wake up the next day when you do go camping, usually 629 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:23,480 even hours later, you'll see a few embers under the fire. 630 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:25,640 Like kind of buried. There's some ash, but if you 631 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:27,040 were to stir it, it would start to go. 632 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,200 And I mentioned Survivor earlier. 633 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:32,200 Basically at the end of the game, two people to have a 634 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:36,000 chance to win, make a fire, and the second the flame starts, 635 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,240 your work is actually getting started because they have to 636 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,280 build with wood and all this stuff and burn this thing down. 637 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:43,080 And the first person to burn the rope wins. 638 00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:47,600 The idea is fan the flame, make it a strong effective fire. 639 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:52,000 So take your gift of salvation. Take the gift God has given you, 640 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,880 the Holy Spirit, and dwells you if you're a believer. 641 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:57,480 And the gifts you have like you're teaching and you're 642 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:01,240 serving in your administration and you're, you know, your walk 643 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:04,280 with the Lord generally and activate it, stir it up. 644 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:06,640 And does anybody see in the text? 645 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:08,200 What will keep? That from happening. 646 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,960 Look with me, what's going to keep the flame from being fanned 647 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:18,840 according to verse 7, I'll give you like 5 seconds for God gave 648 00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:24,080 us a spirit not of fear. Somebody say fear. 649 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:30,680 Y'all fear is the the quencher, the squelcher, the the, the the 650 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:35,720 the stamper on the flame. Fear is that agent that just 651 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:38,120 takes what could be vibrant and makes it dormant. 652 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,040 If you are a believer, you cannot lose your salvation. 653 00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:45,000 That's Amazing Grace, but the work of the enemy in your life 654 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:49,040 is to minimize your impact, to minimize your flame, to 655 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,440 minimize, to just entice you with worldliness, with 656 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:54,520 silliness, with sinfulness. But in general, the goal is you 657 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:57,040 make minimal impact. That's what he's after. 658 00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:59,280 He does not want your flame burning. 659 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:03,120 Are you with me? So fear takes what could be 660 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:05,280 vibrant. It just makes it minimally 661 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,080 effective. Give off his little light and 662 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:11,120 heat as possible and fear is the main thing that does that. 663 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:14,320 Recently I was in a situation with some roller coasters with 664 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:17,679 my kids. Roller coasters, man. 665 00:34:17,679 --> 00:34:22,080 Like people are either like let's get it or or just no like 666 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,840 absolutely not. Here's another fear. 667 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,560 Recently I saw going to the beach in the water feels a 668 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:30,960 little cold when the water when I do that toe tap and I'm like. 669 00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:33,920 No, no, no, no, no, no. And then you have to get in. 670 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:36,520 Has anybody ever done this where you walk in and you're like 1 671 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:40,120 inch per 10 minutes and then somebody splashes like 5 inches 672 00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:41,760 higher than you're ready for and you want to kill them? 673 00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:44,040 You know what I'm talking about? And then you keep going and then 674 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:45,239 once. It's the belly button. 675 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:47,480 You're like, come on, man. Like the belly button is kind of 676 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:49,760 the cut off line of like just get in. 677 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:52,120 But then every once in a while when you know the stakes are 678 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:55,239 high and you got to get in that water, you don't do the toe tap. 679 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:57,840 You just Sprint in or you dive in, right? 680 00:34:57,840 --> 00:34:59,240 Like my my favorites? Just go to the. 681 00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:01,320 Deep end and dive in because I know it's going to take me about 682 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,840 45 minutes if I start down by the ladder y'all that's sort of 683 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:08,480 what I what comes to my mind that beach pool imagery with 684 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,880 fanning the flame. God has not given us a spirit of 685 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:16,280 fear where we step back, shrink back, toe, tap, count the cost, 686 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:19,520 play chess in our. Mind do all the the calculations 687 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:24,120 he's given us the the spirit of power and love and self-control. 688 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:28,600 Somebody say power? Y'all power is that focus is 689 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,520 that intensity is that take control is boldness is diving 690 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:33,520 in. Are you with me? 691 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:38,680 It's this idea of like I'm going for it and the the odds in front 692 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:41,480 of me aren't what dictate my risk. 693 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:43,360 It's who's with me, who's behind me? 694 00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:44,760 That's. What the Spirit does in your 695 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:48,480 life, he reminds you, Not that you have the skills and the 696 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:51,920 sauce, not that you are sufficient in your cells, but 697 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:57,080 the Spirit in dwells you. Go for it, take the risk. 698 00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:00,040 OK, he's also given us a power of love. 699 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:01,600 He's going to. Say in First Timothy, he says 700 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:03,280 the. Aim of our charge is love. 701 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:05,360 We're about to talk about this here in a second. 702 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:09,320 And lastly, self-control. I was reading Proverbs 16 this 703 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:12,240 morning. Says that to have control over 704 00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:15,320 your spirit, I'm paraphrasing, is better than the ability to 705 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:19,160 take over a city. It's more valuable to have 706 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:22,440 control of yourself than the ability to take over something 707 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:25,920 else. It says in Proverbs I think 27, 708 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:30,520 that a man without self-control is like a city with no walls. 709 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:35,480 Self-control is a big deal, but in our cultural moment, not. 710 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:37,160 Having self-control is actually cool. 711 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:41,280 Have you noticed this is what masculinity is, is my ability to 712 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,560 just say what I want and I'm a grown man. 713 00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:45,400 If I could say, and that's the truth that you deal with it. 714 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:48,160 I'm not talking about you should be willing to say the truth to 715 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:50,560 stand up for. I'm talking about being a punk 716 00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:53,760 and then saying that you're a man by being the punk. 717 00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:57,480 You see what I'm saying? It's how bold I am, is the level 718 00:36:57,480 --> 00:36:59,240 of my. I'm like, listen man, you got no 719 00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:03,360 self-control and you're boosting your platform off of your lack 720 00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:05,880 of self-control many times, which is kind of sad, OK? 721 00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:09,400 I want to give you 3. Ways to fan the flame, and then 722 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:11,440 we're going to be done. OK, Fan the flame. 723 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:13,160 What does that mean? I'm going to try to tell you as 724 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:14,920 best I can. All right, here we go. 725 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,440 Fan the flame by focusing on how you train. 726 00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:22,880 I'm going to make them all rhyme because that's what we do OK, 727 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:26,120 Fan the flame by focusing on how you train. 728 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:28,960 Here's what I mean, y'all. There is an element. 729 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:33,200 If the Spirit of God indwells you and the the, the gospel has 730 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:35,480 grabbed your heart. You love Jesus, you agree with 731 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:38,040 him that you're a Sinner and you know God. 732 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:43,120 You have to read the Bible, you have to pray some of those just 733 00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:46,040 basic layups, free throws of the Christian faith. 734 00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:50,200 You got to do it. You have to read the word. 735 00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:54,800 It has to be more important than your Instagram feed. 736 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:59,240 It has to get more real estate in your heart than any other 737 00:37:59,240 --> 00:38:02,280 form of content. It just has to you got to sneak 738 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,640 it in through music and through signs and through stuff. 739 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,840 Some of y'all do such a good job at this, but y'all, it's it's 740 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:11,520 fundamentals for a reason. OK, We got to be in the Word. 741 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:15,360 Yes, there are things like fasting and Sabbath and all this 742 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:17,560 stuff is good and I I do have a point. 743 00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:19,360 I have a mini Tanner rant coming. 744 00:38:20,720 --> 00:38:21,880 There's something about the Christian. 745 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:23,080 Community. We love to train. 746 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:25,760 We actually love it. Tell me to do hard things. 747 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:27,080 Tell me to read the whole Bible in a day. 748 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:29,360 I'll do it. Tell me the hard stuff that you 749 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,560 know we want to be told. To train a little bit. 750 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:34,600 Some of you don't you're like no and y'all need to train. 751 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:37,560 Then others of you like tell me the hardest thing with the Bible 752 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:40,560 I could ever do and I'll do it by next Sunday and then I'll 753 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:43,640 name drop that I did it. With someone, OK, tell me to 754 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:47,840 memorize everything and listen, some of that stuff is good and 755 00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:50,440 you need to do it. Memorize the scriptures. 756 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,800 That stuff, again, it's just sort of baseline stuff you're 757 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:55,120 standing on. It's not what you show people, 758 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:56,440 but it should be your foundation. 759 00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:58,560 Does that make sense? I hope you're growing and 760 00:38:58,560 --> 00:38:59,960 fasting this habit of some of these things. 761 00:38:59,960 --> 00:39:03,040 I really do. And the longer you walk with 762 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:05,640 God, the more everything feels like training. 763 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:09,400 I remember a group of seminary students one time asked this, 764 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:12,280 this kind of Yoda figure, Dallas Willard, like, what discipline 765 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:14,280 are you working on right now? What's your training right now? 766 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:19,280 And they wanted to hear, I fast for eight years straight every 767 00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:21,320 year. You know, they wanted that. 768 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:25,160 And he said that, you know, I've been working on not having to 769 00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:28,240 have the last word and just walked off. 770 00:39:28,240 --> 00:39:29,160 And I'm like, what does that mean? 771 00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:33,120 It means that everything matters when you're following Jesus, 772 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:34,840 your heart posture, your motives. 773 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:39,400 He was practicing not having to always say the last thing and 774 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:41,840 fix what you think could be wrong about what he said. 775 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:43,440 He's letting you think what you think. 776 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:46,480 He's practicing that. What if all of your life is 777 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,120 training ground, not just when you're holding the Bible? 778 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:52,200 Are you with me? So sometimes as a pastor, I feel 779 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:55,000 like I want to tell you, read this thing, devour it, just 780 00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:57,400 destroy it. And also all of your life is 781 00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:58,680 spiritual. Does that make sense? 782 00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:00,720 So it's both, not either or it's both. 783 00:40:00,720 --> 00:40:05,800 And all of life is spiritual. Which leads me to point #2 fan 784 00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:09,520 the flame by focusing on your aim. 785 00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:11,960 Does that say that right on your life's aim? 786 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,280 Somebody say aim? See, I set y'all up. 787 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:17,600 This one should have been first, but it's second because I know 788 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,160 we like that training stuff. So I want this to be in your 789 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:21,760 mind more than the training. So check this out. 790 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:27,080 Paul says in First Timothy 1, the aim of our charge is love. 791 00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:32,400 Somebody say aim, You know, like aim is what you're going for. 792 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:35,000 Y'all. The way the Bible envisions a 793 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,800 New Testament Christian is what you're aiming for is the glory 794 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:42,800 of God, the good of others, OK in your joy? 795 00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:46,080 And when I say others, the good of others, it envisions that you 796 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:48,840 are a part of a local church fellowship of people and you're 797 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,680 living on mission. At Port City, we say up, we say 798 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:54,200 in, we say out. We're living with God. 799 00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:58,840 We have a church family, sibling relationship inwardly, and then 800 00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:02,520 we live out on mission. In my experience, the average 801 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:04,680 American Christian, we intuitively get I need the 802 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:09,800 radio, I need to live with God. And then when we think of loving 803 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:12,040 others, we tend to jump all the way to out. 804 00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:14,520 OK, maybe I need to be in a Bible study. 805 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:16,360 I need to invite my Co workers to church. 806 00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,200 And that's a good impulse. And you should The one that 807 00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:22,200 Americans can take or leave. Is that in one? 808 00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:27,560 The aim of our charge is love of your church family neighbor and 809 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:31,120 your lost Co worker neighbor. Are you tracking so like the? 810 00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:32,960 When the New Testament says love your neighbor, it's. 811 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:35,920 Envisioning kind of two groups. You're living missionally, 812 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:39,160 outwardly, but you're also accountable and living one 813 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:41,640 another, bearing one another's burdens. 814 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:43,760 Those one another's have a name and a face. 815 00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:46,320 Are you with me? So like God envisions that the 816 00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:50,200 aim of your life is God. Word church, Word mission up and 817 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:51,120 out. Are you with me? 818 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:55,200 Some of y'all? We're still one or two of those 819 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:56,360 3. And I'm just like, hey, it's not 820 00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:59,400 about perfection, but it's about aiming the way God wants you to 821 00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:01,000 aim. And then the training fits 822 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:02,600 within that. And This is why I set y'all up. 823 00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:06,120 If you take the. Training apart from the aiming, 824 00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:08,320 you end up where you're just focused on yourself. 825 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:10,800 Does that make sense? What's happening in the church 826 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:12,840 if I put out a book right now? And here's 12. 827 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:16,360 Ways to be a better Christian. We devour it and most of them 828 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:18,160 are. That's more Sabbath, more. 829 00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:20,120 It's the 12 things you need to do. 830 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:22,640 But it's not keeping in mind the aim. 831 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:25,120 Does that make sense? That's not the fault of the 832 00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:27,880 author writing it, so don't hear me saying that. 833 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:29,920 And a lot of those books are a gift and I've read them all. 834 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,440 But I want to say to the church as they pick it up, are you live 835 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:36,880 in the three directions? Because if not, actually the aim 836 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:41,120 being oriented right might have more impact on who you become 837 00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:43,280 than if you do the training apart from the aiming. 838 00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:47,840 Does that make sense? Hair training with aiming, don't 839 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:51,680 train with no aim or you just working on your own frame for no 840 00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:55,120 point but your own fame. Does that make sense? 841 00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:57,320 And we don't think about it like that because yeah, it's a good 842 00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:00,440 thing to go fast, the Sabbath and all that, but for what it 843 00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:02,760 should be, the glory of God and the good of your neighbor, does 844 00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:05,160 that make sense? It's not just so you can say 845 00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:07,360 you've memorized X or fasted or whatever. 846 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:11,760 It's for the point of those people that you know, and for 847 00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:13,160 the lost people, the glory of God. 848 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:15,760 Are you with me? Train with the right aim. 849 00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:19,600 When you aim, then you train, get the aim right, then you 850 00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,240 train right. OK, that's the idea. 851 00:43:22,240 --> 00:43:23,480 And here's the third one. Most. 852 00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:24,840 Important than either of those two. 853 00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:29,000 I set you up again. Fan the flame by focusing on 854 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,520 what you acclaim. I thought for a long time about 855 00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:33,080 how to make it rhyme. I'm sorry. 856 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:36,680 It's a fancy way of saying what you most care about. 857 00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:39,800 What you acclaim is what you most care about. 858 00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:45,080 More important than anything in your life is what you care 859 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:47,840 about. God cares about what you care 860 00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:49,320 about. He knows what you care about. 861 00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:55,400 Your heart is a desire factory. It craves. 862 00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:58,400 It cares. It wants, it longs. 863 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:00,800 God made you that way. That's not a bad thing. 864 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:05,080 But the Christian, the Spirit filled believer who knows Jesus 865 00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:07,240 and has seen his love for them on the cross. 866 00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:11,120 To become a Christian is to say you're better than anything 867 00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:14,200 else. So fanning the flame more than 868 00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:19,000 anything just means don't grow cold in your love for Christ. 869 00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:23,400 What we do in this Christian life is we get in with God and 870 00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:26,440 we just start walking. And there's a disappointment 871 00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:28,240 here. The Lord didn't do that the way 872 00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:29,840 I thought it would, and the disappointment there. 873 00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:33,680 And the older we get, we get jaded and cynical and 874 00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:36,240 frustrated. Now we got some church hurt. 875 00:44:36,240 --> 00:44:40,400 So I'm going to, I'm just going to slowly fade my expectations 876 00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:43,840 of how good I think God is, how much I'm committed to His 877 00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:45,560 church. I'll still do some training here 878 00:44:45,560 --> 00:44:48,720 and there on my own. But we've become a guarded, 879 00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:51,000 cynical person. And guess what has happened, my 880 00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,400 friend? You are not as effective as you 881 00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,920 once were for the Kingdom, though I understand it has 882 00:44:55,920 --> 00:45:00,040 happened to me too. That's why we have to fan the 883 00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:01,200 flame. Does that make sense? 884 00:45:01,720 --> 00:45:06,480 It's not allowing the love for Christ, the passion for Christ. 885 00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:11,320 What's most important about you is what you most long for and 886 00:45:11,320 --> 00:45:14,920 everybody around you can see it. That's what's crazy. 887 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,040 Just go ask your Co workers what you love most based on what they 888 00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,760 hear you talk about or your friends or your your teammates 889 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:22,160 or your classmates. They know. 890 00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:26,360 They know what you acclaim. Well that dude has talked about 891 00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:29,200 this 88 times. Oh yeah, he did tell me that one 892 00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:31,480 time about this over here. Which one do they think? 893 00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:33,680 You know what I mean? Like there is not that difficult 894 00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:37,600 to do that calculation. So I just want to call you 895 00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:41,480 behind all of this, behind every training, behind all the aiming 896 00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:45,560 is just what do I want? And Paul is just begging his man 897 00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:46,880 Timothy. He's like, Timothy, I love you 898 00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:49,320 so much, man. You're my guy. 899 00:45:50,720 --> 00:45:54,800 Fan into flame, the gift of God that is in you. 900 00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:56,600 And I just want to call our church to that. 901 00:45:57,360 --> 00:45:59,840 I want to call you to that. If you don't know Jesus, there's 902 00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:03,160 a flame God wants to give you. He wants to gift you salvation. 903 00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:05,880 He wants you to know King Jesus. Y'all. 904 00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:08,960 Isn't it amazing that in this letter is everything we desire? 905 00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:12,360 You desire to be wanted by somebody else the way Paul is, 906 00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:15,400 just like you're my guide. Like intimacy is what we crave. 907 00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:17,680 We crave a purpose like Paul has. 908 00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:20,080 We crave relationships like he has with Timothy. 909 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:25,640 Everything you want is found in Christ and it's a gift. 910 00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:27,320 You can't earn it. It's a gift. 911 00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:30,240 Salvation is a gift. The cross is a gift. 912 00:46:30,240 --> 00:46:33,760 So today as we close, I just want to call you to turn your 913 00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:37,400 eyes back to the thing that actually fans the flame. 914 00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:41,520 It's God's love for you. It's the cross. 915 00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:44,240 You're not going to guilt yourself into fanning the flame. 916 00:46:44,240 --> 00:46:47,120 It's going to be a response to seeing his love for you. 917 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:51,080 Timothy can't read this letter under a guilt of Paul's mad at 918 00:46:51,080 --> 00:46:52,480 me. He's reading it knowing Paul 919 00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:55,320 loves me. It's all grace and it's the same 920 00:46:55,320 --> 00:46:57,720 for us. We don't leave here, but with 921 00:46:57,720 --> 00:47:00,720 the list of a bunch of to do's and thinking God's frustrated 922 00:47:00,720 --> 00:47:03,320 with us. We leave here knowing there's a 923 00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:07,520 God who wants you to finish well, who is fighting for you 924 00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:09,120 and calling you to fan the flame. 925 00:47:09,120 --> 00:47:11,760 And the way you do that isn't by looking inward, it's by. 926 00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:14,480 Looking at him. That's what this whole letter is 927 00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:17,480 going to be over and over and over is a call back to where 928 00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:20,640 this thing started back to the fundamentals, back to the I told 929 00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:24,920 you it's not difficult, it's simple, but it's hard to live 930 00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:27,560 with your eyes locked on Christ. Are y'all with me? 931 00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:33,120 Y'all don't waste your life. Fan the flame, pray with me. 932 00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:37,160 Our Father, we love you. Thank you for the gospel. 933 00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:40,400 Thank you that Christ Jesus died in our place that God while we 934 00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:42,080 were sinners, Christ died for us. 935 00:47:42,080 --> 00:47:46,240 God, may we never grow cold. May we never grow tired of that 936 00:47:46,240 --> 00:47:49,000 being the flame that we fan. God, please. 937 00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:52,960 And there are many actions this church needs to activate and 938 00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:55,080 there are words we need to share with each other and there's 939 00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:57,880 there's burdens to bear and there's things to confess and 940 00:47:57,880 --> 00:47:59,720 there's practices to put into place. 941 00:47:59,720 --> 00:48:03,600 There's aiming to get realigned God, and there's some people I 942 00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:06,000 believe you want to save even today and through this series, 943 00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:09,000 God by just showing them that that any life apart from Christ 944 00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:13,360 is a wasted life. So God do these things, help us, 945 00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:15,960 we need you, we love you, we pray in Jesus name, Amen.