2nd Timothy 4 | Guard & Guide: A Life Well-Lived

That song was words.

I'm going to love you to death. Yeah.

How can I say I believe when it's never really been that costly to me?

I want to love you to death. That was the.

That's the attitude of the New Testament.

You'll see the attitude of the of the apostles.

It's the attitude of the Apostle Paul.

I'm gonna love you with my whole life on them.

Love you to death.

And I'm not going to back up.

I'm not going to back off.

And should it cost me everything.

Praise God.

And as we as we wrap up Second Timothy,

we, we read the final words of the Apostle Paul.

He's in the prison in Rome.

He's awaiting his beheading

under Caesar Nero.

He knows he's going to die soon.

He's looking back over his life, and he's writing this

final letter to his his protege, a young man named Timothy, who's

probably in his 30s, pastoring a church, leading a church in Ephesus.

And Paul says, these are the final words, I have

for you.

Because I've loved Christ to death.

He's going to be beheaded because of his testimony,

because of his witness, because of his his work for the kingdom.

He knows that time's coming soon.

And he says, Timothy, these are my final words.

You need to take them to heart. I need to pass them on.

And so Second Timothy, especially

chapter four, is the final words of of Paul.

What we see is this man

who lived well, a life well lived.

I was talking to one of my friends, my friend Jim, this week,

and he told me about his pastor at a former church when he was young,

and the he said these words resonate in, in in Jim's head.

This is his pastor told him, you always have to be ready to pray, preach or die.

BUF Carriker said those words.

You've got to be ready to pray.

Preacher. Die.

It's the same charge for Paul was ready,

pray, preacher die, and now he is going to die

is at the end of his life, a life

well lived.

And so I want to open up this chapter, chapter four,

and look at the words of this dying man.

The big idea for this chapter,

chapter is all about assessing

a life well-lived.

And a life well-lived.

Is this life

to be spent, spent and satisfied

with nothing held back.

It's a life spent

in the Kingdom of God.

It's a life spent on behalf of Christ to the world.

It's a life fully satisfied because a job well done, a life well lived

that has held nothing back.

Paul's at the end of his life.

Like I said, he's

he's not that old.

And he says, Timothy, there are some things

that are going to happen in, in these last seasons of the world

that I want you to be very, very mindful of.

And the last times, these last days, this is what the world's

going to look like, and this is your responsibility in it.

And he would say the same to us.

And what he will tell Timothy is what he will tell us

as he's looking back and looking forward.

It's going to tell Timothy two things.

You need to make sure that you guard

strong doctrine.

You need to guard

strong doctrine.

You need to guard this,

and you need to guide people into it, because there's coming a time

when people will not want to hear

strong doctrine.

They don't want to hear.

They'll come a time, a season

where people don't want to hear what's in this anymore.

And because they don't want to hear this anymore,

they'll wander away from this.

Even people who claim the name of Christ, Paul, will say,

we'll start trimming the edges and softening this.

This is Timothy.

You need to guard this, and you need to guide people into it,

because people won't naturally gravitate to this, though gravitate

away from it.

And so, Timothy, your job is to guard this

and to guide people into it.

And friends, I would tell you this

if you claim to be a follower of Jesus, it doesn't matter

if you're a pastor or not.

The charge

from God in your life over you is to guard this.

Don't drift from it. Don't soften it.

Don't trim the edges.

Guard this in your own life, your own mind, your own heart,

and make sure that you and those around you, our guard, are guided back to this.

Do you understand what I'm saying? You.

And so

verse one of second Timothy four.

I charge you

in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,

who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom.

Let me stop right there, because this is this is setting up what Paul's

going to tell Timothy and what Paul tells Timothy in the final words of his life.

He says, I charge you.

And in the original Greek, there's a word there

I charge you therefore,

and anytime you see the word therefore,

you need to look and see Wyatt's therefore,

and so what he's saying is, I charge you therefore the therefore

is therefore for what he just said in

chapter three, verses 16 and 17.

And what he said in chapter three, verses 16 and 17,

is this all Scripture,

all Scripture is breathed out by God, the breath of God,

and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, rebuking, correcting,

and training in righteousness, that the man and woman of God

will be complete, fully equipped, fully furnished for every good work.

He says, in light of all Scripture being God breathed.

And when Paul uses the words

in light of all Scripture, he's certainly talking about the Old Testament,

because what we know, the New Testament wasn't existing as we know it at the time.

There were letters that were being circulated.

So we certainly talking about the Old Testament.

But this is an indication that Paul knew

that what he was

writing was the inspired Word of God.

And some of the writings that we have in our New Testament from the apostles

were there under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

So he knows that not just the old times, but what is being written

now is also the very breath of God.

He says, in light of that, because this is so good and so profitable,

and because this will first of all, rebuke

this right here, this word will rebuke.

And what rebuke means is it will call out error.

It will say this is wrong and that is right.

There is an objective binding

standard of what is wrong and of what is right.

And Scripture points it out in clear fashion.

And there's going to be a time where people don't want to hear clarity anymore.

It's just.

But in light of what this is, that it?

Is it profitable to rebuke and then to correct?

It's one thing to say this is wrong.

It's another to say, this is how it's right.

Do you understand? You,

a math teacher that tells you got the problem wrong, doesn't do you

any favors until they show you how to solve it.

Rebuking, correcting, and then training.

So now I'm learning a new way of living.

That's what this does, he says.

In light of that.

And then he says in verse one, in the presence of God

the Father and of Christ Jesus, he says both of them,

because this is a statement that Jesus is alive,

because how do you stand in the presence of a dead person

in light of the fact of God the Father and the living Christ,

who will judge the living, the dead will all stand before him for judgment

by his appearing and his kingdom.

This is a military charge from a military leader

who's given a charge to his underling of this is your duty now as a soldier.

This is what he's saying.

Here comes the instruction,

verse two and following preach the word.

That's the first thing Paul says

in light of all this.

Preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season.

Reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete

patience and teaching.

The first charge

because you're guarding this thing or guiding people in this,

he says, proclaim this.

That's what that word means to preach.

Make a proclamation of this.

Don't preach, don't change.

Don't talk about your opinion.

Don't.

If this is not about self-help, it's not about motivation or about Instagram. Post

Preach the Word, proclaim the word.

He says he's going to tell us in verse three, because the season's coming

when people won't want to hear this anymore.

Preach the word.

And he says, be ready in season and out of season.

So stay true to this.

Don't divert from this and be ready in season and out of season.

In other words, be ready in an instant.

Don't be surprised when opportunity arises.

You're ready.

Whether you think you're on or not, you're on

in season and out of season,

at the drop of a hat.

I just had a conversation

with this lady and this random thing and she said,

you know, this whole idea about Jesus he might be aware of is the way.

And it just came out of the blue.

And I said, oh, that's interesting, because what the Bible says,

Jesus, his own word, said, I am the way, the truth and the life.

He's not a way. He's the way.

And if you don't

believe he's the way, we got a problem. You.

It came out of the blue.

But I read chapter four.

And it says, be ready and seize him out of season.

Do you understand?

You don't get a big ramp up sometimes.

Yeah, yeah.

He says this.

Be ready to reprove.

That's that whole idea of calling out.

That's wrong.

Have you ever known.

And please understand, I'm going to talk about this in a little bit later.

But please.

Especially when we're talking

to people who claim to follow Jesus.

Have you ever been in that situation with those who claim to follow Jesus?

And you know they're living in sin and it's like, you know what, though?

It's not for us to judge.

Ever.

Yeah.

Especially if they're close to you.

Yeah. I'm.

And Tim says, listen,

this is profitable for them.

To rebuke and say, look, that's an error.

It's profitable for them.

I want to fight for them.

And how great would it be to go to the doctor?

And you have cancer. It's. I think you're okay.

I mean, who am I to call it as cancer?

But. Right.

But not just to leave you there

for them to correct.

Here's how we're going to address it.

And here's your hope.

Do you understand? Yes.

It's just to me, that's what this is good for.

And in light of that, preach this.

There are things

that have to be called out not for condemnation but for correction.

Because in correction there's hope.

And when Timothy says, reprove, rebuke and exhort, that word

exhort is really important for us to understand what he's saying there.

That word exhort is Paraclete, though

now, if you don't know Greek, that doesn't mean anything to you.

But the good news is, I do.

And that word

Paraclete, though, comes from the word Paraclete.

My wife knows what that means.

The Paraclete is another word for the Holy Spirit.

In the name of the Holy Spirit is our comforter.

The Paraclete comes first of Jesus himself.

And Jesus's words were, it's good for you that I go back to heaven,

because if I don't go back to heaven, I can't send you another Paraclete.

So he was the first Paraclete, our comforter,

because we've attached our lives through him to the father, we're given

the Holy Spirit who is another Paraclete,

to be within us, to be our comforter.

And now Paul is saying this very breathed out Word of God

is your comforter.

Do you understand?

So so, Timothy, this is why this is so important.

There must be times of rebuke.

There will be times of correction for the.

And in the correction comes the comfort.

Do you understand?

He said, that's why this is so important.

Don't divert from this.

This will be your comfort.

And he says, now you approach people through the lens of the word

with patience as you teach them.

You know why you have to have patience?

Because people are people.

Yeah,

people are people.

Wouldn't it be great if we just had to be told

one thing one time and we got it dialed in,

Parents?

Self esteem would be great because the Bible says this.

So there you go.

Like, okay, good. I'm good. No. No problem.

It says, look at you, you gotta have some.

Like this isn't this isn't instant transformation

like salvation is instant once you accept Christ as your Savior.

But everything else.

That's what the Bible calls sanctification.

And sanctification takes an entire life lifelong,

and you're never fully sanctified till you're in heaven.

And Bible calls that glorification.

And so, like, it's going to take a while.

Just be patient, but don't divert from this.

And here's why. Here's why you do all this.

Verse three for the time is

coming when people will not endure sound teaching.

The word is doctrine.

The time is coming when people will not endure this doctrine anymore,

but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves

teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from,

listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

He's saying, look at there's come, there's coming a time and again this word time.

Same what he used in chapter three.

Two words in Greek for time, chronos and kairos.

Chronos is just the passing of time.

Seconds to minutes.

Minutes to hours.

Hours to days, days to weeks.

You understand it, he said.

There's not a date circled on the calendar when this is going to happen,

there is a kairos.

There's a season when this will occur and the season is this

when people will no longer endure sound doctrine,

it's too much for them.

And so they'll have these little ears that are itching for someone

to tell them what they want to hear, because this is too hard.

This is too much.

They'll say things like, well, that was back then, but now

they'll say things.

What this says is a little too extreme.

And so now

like this says God is love.

But now we say love is love.

It doesn't matter who or what.

They won't endure sound doctrine anymore.

Do you understand?

Because this will tell us in the beginning God created male and female.

There's only two.

But they want to do sound doctrine anymore.

So now let's kind of soften that a little bit.

Now there's an innumerable number of genders and expressions.

There's coming a season.

And guess what?

Guess what?

We're in it.

There's coming a season where you know what?

Like, yeah, Jesus was a good moral teacher.

I mean, it's a profound and just a great stuff.

And but I believe this and like the laws are sincere and good people.

Well, that's sound doctrine says I'm the way, the truth, the life.

There's no other way.

There's coming to season.

Well, people will not endure sound doctrine.

Guess what?

We're in it. Yeah.

And so Paul says, preach the word.

Not your opinion, not your Instagram post, not motivation.

Now we'll make people feel good.

Stay clear on this.

So let me tell you.

Think you

thank you that you're strong enough for sound doctrine.

Thank you.

Thank you for preaching.

Yeah.

There's come at a time

and love his words.

When they won't endure this anymore.

But they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.

They'll accumulate for themselves, their podcasters.

They'll accumulate for themselves, their celebrity pastors

who have the great soundbites.

They'll accumulate for themselves.

They'll live in their own echo chamber that softens this and tells them

and affirms how they want to live.

I want you to understand something.

That the size of the audience doesn't

validate the strength of the message. You.

That we got to understand.

Like.

Like.

Friends, please.

Always. And train your children.

Focus on the strength of the doctrine, not the size of the crowd.

The largest churches in America

is run by a heretic who's perverted the gospel.

His name is Joel Osteen. I'm one.

And the size of the crowd would make people say, hey, there's something there.

Yeah. And it's all evil.

We gotta be very careful.

There's some huge churches out there that look like they're pretty solid

Christian churches, but if it wasn't for their band

of their music that they produced, their ministry would be nothing

because their doctrine is horrible.

Just look, this is what's going to happen.

They'll turn away.

Hey, I'm gonna let you just have a little sneak

peek into the life of a pastor in the life of your pastor.

Some will try and way.

And I've heard it before.

And I'll hear it again.

Pastor, I love your teaching.

Mounted solid. It's good stuff.

But you know that church over there?

They just got a killer coffee shop.

You know, what you teach us

is it's solid, but, you know, I mean, their facility, their children's stuff.

And they got all the lights and the smoke machines and.

Like, what you do there to rent is great.

But you know what?

They got pickleball courts.

And so, I mean, how do you argue with that?

Sound doctrine.

Now, if you have sound doctrine

and pickleball courts and a coffee shop, that's awesome.

But nothing replaces sound, doctor.

Yeah.

Amen.

Verse five.

As for you, always be sober minded, endure suffering,

do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

He said, look, Timothy, here's a deal, man.

Like this is what's important.

And as you do this, be sober minded means be calm and collected

because people are going to walk away and people are going

to accumulate for themselves a bunch of podcast pastors,

and it's not going to be you.

So just keep a calm, collected level head about this whole thing.

Don't worry about it and endure some suffering.

That is not the Christian message.

That's that gets a lot of followers anymore.

Endure suffering.

Paul just said in chapter three verse 12, if you want to follow Jesus,

you're going to suffer.

So here's a here's the deal, good friend and Christian.

If we're not suffering for our faith, we're not doing it right.

At some level, it will cost us.

It will cost us relationships.

It'll cost us friendships.

It will cost us money. It'll cost us

because we're doing it right.

And if there's no suffering and no cost, it's not Christlike.

Yeah.

And then he says, what?

What's his charge?

What do you say?

Look at look at the look at your own Bibles. Don't look at me.

Look at the end of verse five.

Do what you do.

What the end of verse five.

What's it say? Read it with your mouths open.

Do the work of the evangelist.

This is his great charge.

Do the work.

Do the work.

What's God want me to do?

He want you to do the work

I don't want to do.

Yeah, you do do the work.

Well. What work?

Evangelism work.

Do you know what evangelist?

Do you know what an evangelist is?

A disciple of disciple the evangelist is someone who shares the good news.

It's the one who brings good news.

That's what the word evangelist is.

So let me help you understand this, dear friend.

The evangelist is one who brings good news

to those who don't know the good news.

Once you've accepted Jesus in your heart,

you're a Christ follower and God leaves you on this earth.

He leaves you on this earth to do what you cannot do in heaven.

Otherwise, won't you accept Jesus?

He just teleport you to heaven,

so he leaves you here to do what you can't do there.

There's only two things that you can do here that you can't do there.

You want to know what they are?

Good.

I'll tell you the only two things that you can do here that you can't do.

There are sin.

And tell unbelievers about Jesus.

And so the reason God doesn't teleport you to heaven.

Would you accept Jesus as your Savior is to do one of those two things here,

which in all your great wisdom do you think he leaves us here to do

as sin

and to tell the good news?

And if that's the only the two things you can't do that we could do here

that we can't do there.

And that's why he left us here.

Of those two things, which do you and I do more of?

I'm talking about disobedient Christian.

Do the work of the evangelist.

Be the bringer of good news.

So let me set the stage for you.

Isaiah 52 seven.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.

Paul reiterated that very thing in Romans 1019.

Here's what the prophet Isaiah was saying back

in ancient times, when two nations would go to war with each other,

they didn't have CNN, they didn't have Fox News,

they didn't have instant post, they didn't have reporters on the ground.

The only way the people back home would know

if there was victory or defeat in the battle was by a runner,

and the runner would find out the news of the battle.

Did we win or did we lose?

Are we destined for life?

Are we destined for security?

Are we destined or are we destined for destruction and defeat and death?

What's the news? And they would.

The runner would find out the news and run back to the nation.

To bring the bringer to be the bringer of news.

We all know how this went down.

It's in our history books.

The Battle of Thermopylae, the battle of of marathon.

We all know how this happened in history.

The interesting thing in ancient times is the one who would bring the news,

would oftentimes suffer the consequence of the news that he brought.

And so that's why in Scripture, when David son Absalom,

was revolting against David in the kingdom and trying to tear the kingdom

out of his hands, King David said, you go find my son,

but don't lay a hand on him, I love him, I want to restore, redeem him.

And David's men found Absalom, and they killed him.

And the one who brought the news of the destruction of David's son.

David's response was, Absalom, Asher, oh, my son asked him how I would have.

How I loved you.

And then he said, put the bringer of the news to death,

suffer the same fate of the news.

They brought.

And so you knew if you were waiting for news to come,

you could tell if it was good news or bad news,

because the one bringing bad news was not running their fastest.

You understand?

But the bringer of good news.

As the nation watched the horizon,

what news is going to come?

And the one who's bringing good news

is one with all their might and all their passion,

as fast as they can, with purpose and priority,

because they know they have the news of salvation,

they have the news of restoration, they have the news of liberation.

And they can't wait to tell the people who are in bondage

and waiting to hear this news.

How beautiful are those feet?

Do you understand?

And so what Isaiah says, and what Paul reiterates is how beautiful

are the feet of those who bring who do the work of an evangelist.

Yeah, yeah.

And so ask yourselves.

How ugly are your feet?

There's a special blessing.

On the feet that bring good news.

Be ready.

In season and our season.

Man, is is about a lot more than you.

Trying to be all you can be.

Be the best person you can be.

Don't ever be the best person you could be.

Be the person God has called you to be.

And the priority of that is the doctrine of fear

and the sharing of good news.

So just ask yourself.

How beautiful are your feet?

When's the last time you talked to someone about Jesus?

When's the last time you, Christian?

Once.

The last time you said, do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?

When's the last time you had a conversation like that?

That said, I don't want to know what you believe about God.

Tell me what you believe about Christ.

You know, probably 90 plus percent of people in this room

have never led someone to Jesus personally.

Actually led them through a prayer

of commitment and confession.

Make it so content of, you know,

trying to be personally obedient and.

It's okay.

People know we go to church.

But as far as doing

the work on an evangelist.

This is the last thing Paul's passed on to Timothy.

This is of utmost importance.

Listen, God

wants people to be in heaven more than you want people to be in heaven.

Second Peter, God's not slow in keeping his promise,

but he's patient, giving everyone a chance to repent.

And then we're told in Matthew that we are

the ones you're supposed to go make disciples.

So if God wants everybody come to repentance and he wants us to be

the ones, the bridge between them,

he's going to make sure that we're able to do what he wants us to do.

Is that makes sense? Yes.

So towards that end, God has already gifted you

with a style of evangelism that we see in Scripture.

There's six styles of evangelism that we see in Scripture.

And he's given. He's made you.

So one of those styles really fits you really well.

Back a few years, I did a teaching on this and it's on our website.

It's on our app on the unfiltered unplugged.

We got a we got a picture about that. Pull that up.

Listen, get scan this QR code, go to our app.

It's unfiltered unplugged. It's how to share your faith.

The six styles of evangelism.

One of them fits you really, really, really well.

Some of us don't have to work at evangelism.

It's a spiritual gift God has given us, and we love him.

We race, and we look for opportunities.

Others of you, you're like each.

And if you're like me, does that mean you don't get to do it?

No, it means you get to do the work

and it's going to be work to develop it.

It's going to be work to embrace it.

You got to put in the time of the work.

And towards that end, I want to help you understand how you're gifted to do it.

And so go to that, listen to that, go through that.

And then I've printed for you in the Welcome Center

a little inventory that you can take that will help flesh out

which of the six styles is more naturally your fit.

I just talk this through with about 40 of our guys yesterday

in our two men's ministry, and they're doing it this month.

We're going to talk about it next month.

And I'm so excited for 40 of our guys to learn to do the work of an evangelist.

I want to invite you into this gift stand.

So pick up that inventory. Go through that.

At least you'll know how you're wired for it.

And then you look for

opportunities to use your wiring in a way that's natural for you.

That doesn't feel weird to do the work to do evangelism.

You follow that instead,

do the work.

Because your feet become beautiful.

I need to go on.

I can talk about this forever.

Did you know that you are God's plan? A

for evangelism and there is no plan B?

There's no plan B, you're. It.

It's not enough for you to be a good person.

It's not enough for you to read your Bible.

It's not enough.

That's not the call.

And you remember when Paul said,

if you choose to follow Jesus, you will suffer?

Guess what?

When you start evangelizing

the unsaved in your world, guess what?

You're going to suffer.

And if you're not

suffering for your witness,

you're not doing it right.

Do the work.

In light of the fact

that this is God breathed.

Will call out error, give correction,

and then give hope. Man.

Fulfill your ministry.

That word ministry is literally, deacon Dark Anita.

It means servant.

And here's what I know about me.

In you, we don't mind serving.

We just don't want to be called a servant,

am I right?

Like, I don't mind helping,

but don't you dare look at me as a servant.

I'm not your servant.

I'm doing this because I'm gracious.

I'm doing this because, you know, I.

I'm like Jesus.

Jesus claimed the title servant.

So guess what? You and I are service.

We're servants.

Fulfill your duty as a servant.

And you served the unsaved by

the proclamation of the sound doctrine.

Says I'm already being poured out as a drink offering.

And the time of my departure is come that drink

offering Old Testament language and imagery as the.

As the priest would give sacrifices to God, they would pour out a drink

offering as an arrow would be consumed and in aroma to God

and sweet smelling and all of that, that this idea of this drink offering.

But there was a Roman idea to it, too.

And the Roman idea in, in Paul's, in Romans was using the Roman imagery.

The drink offering is what a Roman would do after

the meal was finished, the end of the meal at the end of the evening.

The evening is coming to a close.

The meal is done.

They would take a drink and they would pour it out in honor of their God.

And what Paul's saying is, the days ended

and the meal of my life is done.

And I'm pouring this out in honor of my God,

and the time of my departure has come.

I love that imagery.

He's looking at being beheaded and he's talking about it not as death.

He's talking about it as a trip.

Have you ever flown to fly a plane?

They got there early and you're waiting for the plane's departure.

That's the imagery.

There's no bemoaning his death.

There's no regret over what's not.

There's none. There's no.

There's no like.

Oh, Lord.

But please, if you would just. This one more time.

He said, no, no, no, I understand the season,

the time of my departure.

I cannot wait to get on that plane.

There was nothing ending.

There was just an arrival that was expected.

Isn't that a life well-lived?

If we can approach our life in view of our death

and say, I'm going to live in a way

that I'm excited about my departure. Now?

Do you understand how Christian,

how counter culture, Christianity is?

If we do it right?

Verse seven I love the I fought the good fight.

I finish the race. I've kept the faith.

What a better epitaph is there?

I fought the good fight.

I finished the race.

I kept the faith.

Friends, he's telling us.

Fight. Finish.

Keep the faith.

I want you to understand the importance of these three things.

Some of you need to hear this today.

Okay.

I fought the good fight.

It means I discipline my body.

I trained hard, and I kept swinging.

It was exhausting, but I fought it.

And I didn't just fight a fight.

I fought the good fight because there's a good fight and there's a bad fight.

And sometimes we get rough wrapped up in a bad fight.

And Paul says, I fought the good fight.

There's one good fight.

It's for the kingdom.

Yeah.

You train yourself, you work hard.

You put in the time and the diligence

and you keep swinging.

I fought the good fight and I finished the race.

What Paul's talking about here is completion, not speed.

He's talking about the marathon,

not the 100 meter.

I finished the race even though I stumbled along the way.

I finished the race even though I got tired.

I finished the race even though I stopped running and had to walk.

I finished the race.

I didn't quit, I didn't tap out.

I didn't walk off the track.

I finished the course.

I finished the race because it's about completion, not speed.

Here's the thing, my dear friends.

It's not impressive at all to say I finished the 100 meter.

That's a short little race.

Who cares?

But to say I finished the marathon?

It was exhausting.

But I didn't quit.

Don't quit, don't quit.

Finish.

Yes. Crossed the line. Yes.

It says I kept the faith.

This God, this challenged

everything in my world.

This was counter culture to everything that I'm being told.

And I kept it.

I wasn't perfect, but I didn't deny it.

Yeah, yeah yeah.

Fight the good fight.

Finish the rest.

Keep the faith.

So there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness.

Which of the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day?

And not only to me, but everybody who loves his appearing.

There's a crown waiting for us.

The crown waiting for every Christ follower.

The saving crown. The crown.

The represents our saving everyone. Every Christ follower gets it.

But did you know that in the Bible there's not just one crown?

There's like five.

Depending on after faith, depending on how we live on earth, we get these crowns.

One of them is given to martyrs.

That would be awesome.

But, but.

So we're going to get these crowns based on not salvation.

Salvation by faith.

But then based on how we live and what we do, we get crowns.

Can you imagine, like being a Five Crowns guy?

Hey, I just want one crown.

I just want to get in life, I get in, I'm.

But here's the great thing about those crowns.

You know, we're going to do them.

The Bible says we're going to throw them at Jesus feet

as our offering.

Like, Lord, it was my honor and privilege.

It's all for you.

Because I fought the good fight,

I finished.

I kept the faith.

And it's all to you.

And then he gets personal.

Let me just wrap up with this personal stuff that.

That's all.

Like the charge that.

But watch how personal pockets

do your best to come to me.

He's all alone in this prison.

He says for Demas, in love

with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

Christians has gone to Galatia, Titus love dogs

and went to Dalmatia.

Just I added that part.

Luke alone is with me.

He had one guy get Mark and bring him with you, for he's very useful,

very ministry touch I yes, I sent to Ephesus

he names.

And, here's what I want you to see.

He names these people and

and some stayed with them and some deserted him.

And those who start with you aren't always the ones who are going to end with you.

And he calls out one of them, Demas.

He says, in love with this present world he had itching hers.

He didn't want the sound doctrine anymore.

He deserted me. Gone to Thessalonica.

Demas is mentioned three times in Scripture,

and the first time he's mentioned is in the book of Philemon.

He's called a fellow worker with Paul

in the second time is mentions in the book of Colossians,

and in that it just says that he says, hey, what's going on?

And this third time he's deserted.

And Paul says, there's going to be people

that just walk out and they'll desert you,

and there'll be others that aren't with you anymore for multiple reasons.

Some of them get other assignments and God takes some other places.

They just it's just like life happens,

but it's going to feel deserted.

And there'll be those times when you're all alone.

And the truth is,

and in Paul's world, as a as a pastor,

it hurts to hear. You.

You know what that's like?

I know what that's like.

When they're just gone.

And some of them nefarious and mean and evil

and others.

Life has just changed.

And he says,

when you come, bring the cloak that I left with carpus.

It true as also the books and above all the parchments,

he says, bring the cloak, because he didn't have a jacket.

He's in a dark, dank, nasty cell

by himself, and it's cold.

It's cold at night.

And the reason he doesn't have a cloak is because, according to Roman law,

when Roman soldiers would arrest someone,

they could own now the cloak that that person owned.

And so it's likely that Paul got word the soldiers were coming to arrest him,

and they took his cloak off, and he hid it in a drawer somewhere

so they couldn't have.

This is why, in the crucifixion of Christ,

why the Roman soldiers cast lots for his cloak.

Because he was arrested in the garden with it on,

and it was now their possession.

And so he says, bring that, bring the books,

and bring especially the parchments.

This is the Old Testament word of God.

He says, I want to read the prophets again, the hope of salvation,

the assurance of God my father and Jesus the Christ.

And what I know is this.

And we have to understand that in those deepest,

darkest moments of death.

Our comfort.

Even when everybody else walks away.

Our comfort.

Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm.

The Lord repay him according to his deeds.

That is the scariest verse in all the scripture.

For God to repay us according to our deeds.

I don't want God to repay me in court of my deeds.

I want God to repay me according to his grace.

And I love the fact that Paul just calls him out.

Like Paul names, names.

He's like Guy Alexander, you know, the one

with the coppersmith business on Avenue 12.

You know who I'm talking about?

The guy who has a big old four wheel drive and rides around the golf cart.

You know exactly what I'm talking about, right?

Like I said, that guy did me horrible harm.

These terrible.

I love his honesty.

He says, beware of him.

He's no good.

He strongly opposes everything we do.

And my first offense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.

May it not be charged against them.

There it is.

In all this desertion

and all this bad stuff people are saying about me

and all this evil, they're laying against me.

Oh, God,

don't hold it against them.

You know why Paul said that?

Because he knew.

His Lord said that in the garden, on the cross.

Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing in.

And Paul knew what Stephen said.

The first martyr that Paul orchestrated.

Paul orchestrated the martyr of Stephen and heard Stephen's words.

Father, forgive them.

So at the end of Paul's life, because it's been modeled to him,

God, don't hold this against him.

Did you know that the most godlike thing a Christ follower can do

is to forgive someone?

It's not serving.

It's not preaching.

It's not even witnessing.

The most godlike thing you and I can do is to forgive someone.

It doesn't mean they've asked for forgiveness.

It means in your heart you have sacrificed your right

for revenge and for grudge.

And if you've not done that, you've not forgiven.

You want to be like Jesus.

You have to forgive

even the greatest offense.

And you know, let me just say this.

I just thought of this.

You're only able to do that

when you're fighting for and not fighting against.

I fought the good fight.

It's not talking about fighting against anything.

It's talking about fighting for.

And when you fight for the kingdom and you fight for reconciliation,

and you fight for repair and you fight for forgiveness,

do you know how disingenuous it is for us to take communion,

remembering the body and blood of Christ and accepting his forgiveness

without forgive?

The one who has experienced

the greatest offense.

And the one who experienced

the least offense.

For the one who has experienced the least offense.

To accept forgiveness from the one who has experienced the greatest offense

and not forgive another least offender.

It's blasphemy here.

Communion is not just about having relationship with Jesus.

It's about living in a present state of forgiveness.

All that singing we do before communion, guess what

that's supposed to be preparing your heart.

So you can be in this place

seeking and thanking the for if God for his forgiveness

because you've offered it already.

I don't know why I had to say that.

I just felt like I did.

Let me wrap up with this.

I don't even know where I am well versed.

Am I on 17

but the Lord stood by me.

Strengthen me so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed

to the Gentiles, might hear it I, I need to be done, but I just can't.

Like this is so there's too much like he says, look at all this stuff happened.

But God stood by me. Why?

So that the message could be proclaimed like it's about that.

The highs and the lows.

My living in my dying God has never abandoned me

so that the message can continue.

As long as I have breath in my lungs, the message must go on.

I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

The Lord will rescue me

from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.

To him be the glory forever and ever.

He's saying, look, he's not going to rescue me on this earth

this time he hasn't the best, but this time

my rescue isn't going to come in this earth.

My rescue is going to come in the heavenly kingdom.

His mind and heart was set to heaven,

which is exactly what the book of Colossians says.

Set your minds on things above, not on things on this earth.

Our rescue will not

always come in this world, but it will certainly come in that one.

That's where our minds are.

To him be the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

He says.

Greek, Priscilla and Aquila, the household of Vanessa for us.

Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Chaucer, who was ill in mellitus.

This amazes me that he says these words.

He says, I left Troy Smith ill.

He left him sick.

Paul.

It healed all kinds of people in his ministry.

This one he left sick.

You know what that tells me?

Paul had no power.

It was the grace of God that decided who was healed and who was ill.

Yeah.

And Paul was okay with that tension.

And what it also tells me is sometimes

good, godly people stay sick.

Yeah,

sometimes righteous people

stay ill.

That's a tough truth to swallow.

But it's the truth.

And people who don't like sound

doctrine want itching it, want people to tell them what they want to hear.

So they believe myths and fables

that if you have enough faith, you'll be healed, that God desires

to heal everybody in this world and it causes people problems

because you don't understand

this sin.

Some of us, some of you are very godly

and you're going to stay sick.

And I'm sorry.

But we must trust a sovereign God.

And the end of it all

is so that people who don't know Jesus hear about Jesus.

And I am his servant.

And so I'll fight the good fight,

and I will finish this race.

And even when it's hard, I'm not going to

reject the truth.

I'm going to keep the faith.

Do your best to come before winter.

Especially because I need that coat.

It's cold, you believe sends his greetings, as do Putin's and Linus

and the other Charlie Brown characters, and Claudius and all the brothers.

The Lord be with your spirit.

Paul's last written words.

Grace be with you.

May the grace of God be upon you.

What a life.

Yeah, most scholars believe he died at 58 years old.

That's my age.

I know I don't look it.

I can't

imagine at 58, I got so much more to do.

Like, my prayer to God is that he allows me to preach,

teach and coach till I'm 80 years old.

By the grace of God,

he'll grant me that vision and grant me that privilege.

But he might not.

58 years old,

Paul died, one of the greatest servants

of the kingdom of God this world has ever known.

Yet he died penniless,

friendless,

and completely alone.

With no possessions and no earthly comfort,

yet fully fulfilled

and full of joy, full of yours

and completely content.

A well-lived life

is lived with no reserve

and no retreat,

no regret,

no can you say that

about your life right now?

Here's the encouraging part.

If that hasn't been, you decide that it will become you

from this day forward.

No reserve,

no retreat,

no regret.

I will fight the good fight.

I will finish this race

and I will keep the faith.

I will do the work of the evangelist.

I will guard strong doctrine.

I will guide people into it.

This is my goal and purpose for drawing a breath.

To understand

very.

I want you to pray with me.

Father.

Thank you.

You're such a good God.

You've given us yourself.

You've given us your son.

You've given us the words that are breathed out from you.

You've given us a call and a charge

that you've entrusted only to us.

You think so highly of us.

We know who we are.

You know who we are.

And you have accepted us

and chosen us in spite of ourselves.

You are a good God.

Yes, yes.

Father, there are some in this room.

You know.

That maybe their past wasn't so great.

Maybe there's all kinds of retreats and regrets.

Yeah,

but now.

Now they want the future to be different.

For your sake and for your kingdom sake.

If nothing else.

Now, there are people whose hearts are turning

to you and say from this day forward, now.

I will live a well-lived life of no reserve, no retreat, no regret.

I will fight the good fight.

I will finish the race.

I'm not going to tap out to everything you've called me to.

Everything you've asked of me.

You've put me in this position situation.

What? I'm not tapping out.

Yes, yes.

I'm going to keep the faith.

Though I'm weary and tired.

I'm going to keep the faith.

Though I'm beat up and bruised.

I'm gonna keep the faith.

Though it feels like there's nothing but defeat around me.

I'm going to keep the faith.

Yes, yes, yes

I want to be an avenger.

I want to do the work of an evangelist.

I want my life to matter and account.

So this day forward, father.

I'm yours. I'm.

Francis, you've never entered

into a right relationship with the father through the son.

I invite you in this moment

according to sound doctrine of God's word to say.

God, I believe that your son is the only way to get to you.

Yeah.

Jesus.

Thank you for your life, your death, resurrection.

I believe at night shift that I accept your forgiveness.

Make me a new person.

I am yours and you are mine. Now

take that step. Don't.

Don't leave this place without that.

And once that's done, say, God,

I want to be an evangelist.

Give me grace and courage to do it.

I want to do the work.

I'm choosing this day

to fight the good fight, to finish the race, to keep the faith.

This is my clarion call of commitment.

Yes, today, tomorrow changes today.

My future changes.

Today.

Things change.

Yeah.

Give me your grace to enable that change.

Friends. This going to keep you.

Just stay in this moment of prayer.

I did this in the first service.

I didn't know I was going to do it, but I'm going to do it again.

And this one here's the thing.

I want to give you some something

that solidifies a decision.

And sometimes what silver flies the decision is an action.

And so just in this moment, keep your eyes closed.

Don't look around.

I don't want this to be motivated by someone else doing something.

So just in your own heart.

And please feel the freedom not to.

But just as this physical act

of commitment, we're going to sing a song in just a moment.

And if that has been your clarion call of commitment,

God, I'm committing to you and I'm going to fight the good fight.

I'm going to finish race.

I'm going to keep the faith, God, I'm going to do the work of the evangelist.

If this is your clear call, a commitment that as we sing, just stand up standing.

It doesn't do anything for you.

It's just your physical affirmation that this is my decision.

And here I stand

and I can do no other.

Here I stand firmly on this commitment.

Don't look around.

Don't put.

I don't want any pressure to be on anybody.

But I want to give you this, like, definitive physical statement

of I'm standing on

this commitment this morning.

I think the instructions are clear.

Bands

gonna start playing the song when you're ready.

You do that. Let's go. Come on. You.