Men of the New Testament: "Timothy" by Caden Hammer - Part 5

Yep, I got it. Can y'all hear me all right?

Is it on? All right.

Good evening, everybody. A couple months ago now,

I got a text in a group chat from Neil,

and the text said, please pick your character and

your week. And it had an attachment with it with several different New Testament

characters. I guess Hiram hadn't had a chance yet to

ask me to do this class before Neil got to send the text,

so I didn't know if I was supposed to be included or not.

So I called my dad because he was also in the group

chat, and I asked him if he knew whether or not I was supposed to

be in it. He said he didn't know, but he figured that they probably

did mean to include me. So, you know, we're We're

sitting there on the phone talking about all the characters and what weeks would work

for us and just about teaching a class. And then he asked me which character

I would pick. So I'm looking through all of them, reading some off.

You know, Peter was in there, Paul, James.

And then I saw Barnabas and I started to think that I

think I'd pick Barnabas. And I'm giving him my reasoning.

You know, there's a lot you can say about encouragement and stuff.

And while I'm explaining why I think I would pick Barnabas, I get a text

in the group chat that's from my dad that says,

I'll take Barnabas. So I didn't

get to pick Barnabas, but I did get Timothy. So that's who we're talking

about tonight. When we think about Timothy,

what is usually the first thing that we think about?

Yep, yep, he was young. That's what I had down.

Usually that leads us to discuss, you know, the importance of

young people in the church, and we are going to talk about that a little

bit tonight, but there's a lot more to the life of

Timothy and a lot of lessons to be learned from him.

I've got 4 main points I want to talk about tonight,

the first one being Timothy's upbringing and the value

of training young people. Are young people important

to the church? Are they necessary for Christianity to

continue? Obviously, they are incredibly important

to the church, and the church would quickly come to an end

if we lost all our young people. Now, let's ask

ourselves, do you think that young people know

how important they really are? Do we make it a point

to tell them that they are important to us?

When we look at the life of Timothy, I think we often overlook maybe the

most important thing that we can learn about him, and that is how he

was able to accomplish so much at such

a young age. Timothy was probably in his 20s when

he began to work with Paul. He was mentioned 24

times and in 12 different books of the Bible, and indirectly mentioned

many other times. Timothy played a huge part

in the success of the early church. So, what was it that

enabled him to be so successful? It started with a

good foundation. So, in Acts

Acts 16:1

16:1, it's the first time we read about Timothy.

If you would, go ahead and turn over there to Acts 16.

Verse 1,

it says, Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra.

A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who

was a believer, but his father was a Greek.

So, in Acts 16, we're introduced to Timothy, and in his

introduction to the New Testament, we're told that his mother was a believer,

but his father was not. Then in 2 Timothy 1:5,

2 Timothy 1:5

we find out that his grandmother was also a believer.

I'll read that real quick, 2 Timothy 1:5.

2 Timothy 1:5

Whoops,

that's 1 Timothy.

2 Timothy 1:5, I am reminded of your sincere faith,

2 Timothy 1:5

a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois,

and your mother Eunice, and now, I'm sure, dwells in you

as well. Turn over to 2 Timothy

3 real quick, 2 Timothy chapter

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

3. I believe the reason that his mother

and grandmother are mentioned here and described as believers

is to show us how important a good spiritual upbringing

can be. Let's read, 2 Timothy

2 Timothy 3:14–15

3:14-15, But as for you,

continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from

whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted

with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through

faith in Christ Jesus.

They taught him the scriptures from a young age, and they

also taught him about how to be saved. They taught him

about all of the stories of God's faithfulness, all of God's promises.

How important must that have been for Timothy's faith?

So, when Paul shows up to Lystra and he's looking for someone

to travel with him, Timothy was ready because someone

had already invested in him spiritually.

Timothy saw the sincere faith of Eunice and Lois and

decided to embrace the things that they had taught him.

This foundation is the reason that we still read about Timothy today.

There was a study done less than a year ago by Pew Research that

was trying to figure out why people left the religion that they were

raised to believe in. They asked people 4 questions about

the overall religiousness of their household.

The first one, how often did you attend a religious service?

How often did your parents talk about religion?

How often did you attend religious activities?

And then what they would say about the religiousness of their

household. They found that 82%

of people who grew up in what they called a highly religious

household remained in that religion.

77% of those in a medium to high level

religious household remained with that religion.

62% of medium to low level religious

households remained with that religion. And 47%

of people in low level religious households remained

with that religion. Now, I know this study isn't necessarily

specific to just Christianity, But I still think there's

a lot we can take away from it. Clearly, the way that parents

raise their kids in their religion has a huge impact on whether

their kids decide to stay or leave. We all

know that there's only so much that parents can do for their kids,

because even if you look at the study, not all of even the

highly religious households retained 100%.

But a child's spiritual foundation is incredibly important,

and it's the best way to build a child's spiritual foundation

is in the home. Eunice and Lois accepted the

challenge of teaching Timothy about the faith,

and it led to him being one of Paul's closest companions and

one of God's greatest servants. So, as parents,

grandparents, and other family members in general, We are

all responsible for building a good spiritual foundation for children.

Now, Eunice and Lois weren't the only people that had an impact on

Timothy's faith. Um, Paul took a

great interest in him, and he made it a point to take him under his

wing and to mentor him. He clearly

thought that it would be worth his time and effort to bring Timothy along with

him on his journey and to train him. Let's read

Titus 2:1-8.

Titus 2:1–8

Titus 2:1-8,

Titus 2:1–8

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified,

self-controlled, sound in faith, in love,

and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent

in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.

They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love

their husbands and children, to be self-controlled,

pure, working at home, kind, and submissive

to their own husbands, that the word— that the word of God may

not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works,

and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,

and sound speech that cannot be condemned,

so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to

say about us.

Paul showed Timothy all of the attributes that we just read about in

Titus 2, He showed him how to be a Christian.

Our responsibility as Christians is to help those

younger Christians. The next thing I want to talk

about is Timothy's personality. What do we know about

Timothy's personality?

He was timid, yep, yep. He's known for having a

more timid, shy personality.

And the reason we know that, there's a couple of passages that I'm going to

read real quick that kind of let us in on this fact. The first

is 1 Corinthians 16:10-11,

1 Corinthians 16:10–11

when Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he

is doing the word— the work of the Lord as I am. So let

no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace,

that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the

brothers. And then in 1 Timothy,

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 4:12

4, verse 12, Paul says, let no one

despise you for your youth, but set the believers an

example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith,

in purity. And then in 2 Timothy 1:6-7,

2 Timothy 1:6–7

for this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which

is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave

us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

All of these verses, when we read them, they lead us to believe that Timothy

was a very a pretty timid, shy person and that he maybe even

lacked some confidence. But I think this might be the most

impressive thing about Timothy. He didn't let these traits

and confidence issues stop him from doing what needed to be done.

What are some things today that we let hold us back from serving

God? Fear.

Confidence. Yep. What about— are

we ever worried about criticism from other people?

Do we ever doubt our abilities to do something?

Are we ever intimidated by older Christians?

Timothy had to deal with all of that, and it's the same stuff

that we can deal with today. So how did he

overcome these things? First,

he accepted the mentorship from Paul.

We just talked about the importance of us mentoring younger Christians,

but there's a flip side to that. We need to accept

mentorship from other Christians. Timothy allowed Paul

to teach him and help him grow in his faith.

Timothy listened to what Paul had to say, and let it actually change

him? How often do we think we have everything figured

out or that we know better than the person that's trying to teach us something?

Let's read Proverbs 1:2-7.

Proverbs 1:2–7

Proverbs 1:2-7.

Proverbs 1:2–7

To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight,

to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness,

justice, and equity, to give prudence to the simple,

knowledge and discretion to the youth. Let the wise hear and

increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.

To understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles,

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools

despise wisdom and instruction.

Timothy listened to Paul, and it helped him overcome

his lack of confidence.

Another way that he overcame was being faithful

and obedient. Now, who are some other Bible characters that

you can think of other than Timothy that struggled with confidence

issues? Moses.

That's who I had written down. Anybody else you can think

of? Yep.

Elijah. Yep. Yep. I wrote

down Moses. Moses kind of

reminded me a lot of Timothy in how he was approached to do

something. When we read about Moses and God approaches him in the burning

bush, God asked him to go back into Egypt

to lead the people out. And what does

Moses say? He didn't want—

He felt like he couldn't speak well.

Yep. Yep. He didn't think he could speak well enough.

Moses eventually obeyed, and he went back to

lead the people out of Egypt, but he wasn't excited about it.

And he even resisted it at first. But Timothy didn't do

that when Paul approached him. Paul came to Lystra,

and when he asked Timothy to come with him, he didn't have any excuses ready

for why he couldn't do it or why he wouldn't

be the best choice for Paul to take. He didn't

groan or complain or try to get out of doing something.

It just says that Paul took him, And they went.

He was obedient, and it led to his success.

Timothy teaches us that you don't have to be the most outgoing,

extroverted person to make a difference.

I'm sure Timothy was never the loudest person in any room or the

life of the party anywhere, but he was still effective in spreading the

gospel. He teaches us that being confident doesn't always

come easy to everyone, But it doesn't have to hinder us

from doing what we're supposed to do.

The next thing I want to talk about is Timothy's reputation,

and his reputation is something that I don't think we talk enough about.

When I turned 16, Mom and Dad, they bought me a truck,

and Dad made me get a giant Hammer Homes logo put right on the back

glass, of that truck. The first reason being was because

it was technically a company truck, but he also told

me that he hoped it would keep me in check and remind me to

not do something stupid when I drove around because there might

be someone who knew who I was, and also it

could hurt his company's reputation. I tell that

story to say our reputations are very important.

The choices that we make tell people who we

are. Before Paul even invited

Timothy to come along with him, Timothy already had a great reputation

in the local church and community. Turn back over

to Acts chapter 16,

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 16,

Acts 16 · chapter mention

and let's read verses 2 and 3 again.

He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.

Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised

him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew

that his father was a Greek.

He was well spoken of by the brothers there.

When Paul came to Lystra seeking someone, the people

there thought of Timothy first and they recommended Timothy to

Paul. They probably knew about his timid,

shy personality like we just talked about. They probably

knew that he might have struggled with his confidence some,

but they still recommended him to Paul. Now,

why do you think the people there recommended Timothy?

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Anybody else? Why do you think the people there recommended

Timothy? Well, they were familiar with his character, and so they could recommend

him and know that he would be able to do what

Paul needed. Yep, that's right. Yep, I had, because they knew

his character and his devotion to God, they trusted him They

respected the way he conducted himself. And to

me, that says more about Timothy probably than anything else.

When I read verse 2, when Paul— when it says

he was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium,

it made me think, would the people here think about me

the same way the people of Lystra and Iconium thought about Timothy?

I think we could all ask ourselves that. We should

all be trying to achieve that type of reputation within

our church and within our community.

His reputation wasn't built overnight though. It took

him making good choices day after day to build that kind of

reputation. Let's read Philippians 2:19-22.

Philippians 2:19–22

Philippians 2:19-22,

Philippians 2:19–22

Paul says, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon,

so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I

have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your

welfare, for they all seek their own interests, not those of

Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth, How,

as a son with a father, he has served with me in the gospel.

Can you imagine getting that kind of compliment from Paul?

He had no one else like Timothy.

Timothy didn't have a great reputation for being the greatest preacher

ever or for doing tons of miracles; he

had a great reputation because he genuinely cared about the people,

He wasn't serving for attention. He loved

Jesus and the gospel message. He was trustworthy.

He was loyal. He was humble, and he was devoted.

Are these things that we're capable of being today?

Of course they are. Wouldn't you love for Paul to speak about

you like that? Now, I don't think Paul's going to show

up and ask around about everyone's reputation,

but I do know that our fellow Christians and people we're around in

our everyday lives, they know our reputation.

Wouldn't we all like for our brothers and sisters in Christ to think

of us like the people of Lystra and Iconium thought of Timothy?

Now, can we think of some people in the Bible that had a bad reputation?

Jezebel, yep. Saul,

yep. Anybody else?

Paul, yep,

yep. One person I thought

of was Zacchaeus.

He had a bad reputation because he was a tax

collector who cheated people out of money.

He ultimately found Jesus and he repented of what

he had done. And now when we think about Zacchaeus, we don't think

about how bad of a person he was or how bad of a reputation he

has. We think about how great of a redemption

story it is because he turned away from the bad things he was doing.

One other person I also thought about was Judas.

Judas has basically the exact opposite character arc

of Zacchaeus. He was always known as one

of the people that was in Jesus' circle. He was one

of the 12. But one decision ruined

Judas' whole reputation forever. He will never

be remembered as a guy that was a close companion to Jesus. He'll be

remembered as the person who betrayed him.

Judas shows us how important our decisions are to our reputations,

and Timothy shows us how impactful a good reputation

can be. The next thing

I want to talk about are some traits that Timothy

displayed that, that got him the kind of reputation that

we just talked about. First, Timothy was dependable.

I know we just read Philippians 2:19-22 when

Philippians 2:19–22

we were talking about his reputation, but I want to go just a little bit

deeper into the passage to talk about his dependability.

So Paul wrote the book of Philippians to the church at Philippi

while he was imprisoned. Paul had a great relationship

with the church there, and we can read about that in Philippians 4.

If you'll turn over there, Philippians 4:14-17,

Philippians 4:14–17

Paul writes to them, yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.

And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I

left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and

receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica,

you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek

the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

He obviously had a very close relationship with the

church there. So when Paul's in prison and he's unable to

go see them, he sent the best man he had to go check on them,

and that was Timothy. For I have no one like

him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.

Paul had so much confidence in Timothy that he sent him to

check on some of his favorite people.

In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul entrusts Timothy again.

1 Corinthians 4:14-17,

1 Corinthians 4:14–17

he says, I do not write these things to make you ashamed,

but to admonish you as my beloved children.

For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers,

for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

I urge you then, be imitators of me. That is

why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child

in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach them

everywhere in every church.

Again, in 1 Thessalonians,

1 Thessalonians 3:1

Chapter 3, verses 1 and 2,

Therefore, when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind

at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker

in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort

you in your faith. And then once again in

1 Timothy chapter 1,

1 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

1 Timothy chapter 1,

1 Timothy 1:2–4

Verses 2 through 4, Paul says,

To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace,

mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our

Lord. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia,

remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons

not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves

to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations

rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

Paul trusted Timothy to handle things the way that they needed

to be done. He didn't have to wonder if Timothy would actually go do

the things that he was asked to do. He didn't have to wonder

if Timothy would teach the right things. He didn't have

to wonder if Timothy actually cared He cared about the people.

He knew that Timothy would get things done.

Just like we talked about with our reputations, being dependable doesn't

just happen though. Paul said that Timothy had proven

himself. Think about someone in your life that

you find dependable. Did you decide that

because of one thing they did or one promise that they

kept? Probably not, or at least I hope not,

because it takes more than just one action to be considered

dependable. Another trait Timothy showed

was his devotion to God. We talked just

a little bit about his faith when we discussed how he overcame his confidence issues,

but I want to really look into his faith and how devoted he

was. If we go back and look at 2 Timothy,

3:14-15 and 2 Timothy 1:5 again,

2 Timothy 1:5

it tells us that Timothy had been studying and learning the Scriptures from

a young age, and he had a sincere faith.

His walk with God didn't begin when Paul showed up

and asked him to come with him, and it didn't end when Paul was in

prison and could no longer be with Timothy.

He understood the importance of being faithful and devoted when he

was young, and he understood the importance of continuing to learn and

study to grow his faith.

I think sometimes as Christians, we can fall into one

of two traps when it comes to our faith.

The first being when you're young or when you're a newer Christian,

we tell ourselves that, you know, we don't know enough yet.

We tell ourselves and others that we can't

help out with anything because we don't know enough Bible or

we don't understand everything in it completely. We start turning

down opportunities to serve and to be a part of the Christian community.

Now, the other trap is when we get a little older and have been a

Christian for a while, we can start to think that we know everything.

We start to think that we've read enough Bible or been to enough

classes or heard enough sermons, and so we don't need to

read our Bibles anymore or study or continue to

try to grow our faith. Both of these traps

can lead us to have a stagnant, unmotivated faith and devotion

to God. Let's read 1 Timothy

4. 12 through 16.

1 Timothy 4:12

1 Timothy 4:12–16

through 16, Let no

one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech,

in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture,

to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect

the gift you have, which was given to you by prophecy when the council

of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things,

immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a

close watch on yourself and on that teaching. Persist in this,

for by doing so you will save both yourself and your

hearers. Timothy devoted his

whole life to God. It wasn't a

small part of his life that you could only see if you were really close

to him. It was what his whole life revolved

around. I'm going to assume that pretty much everyone in

here knows who Michael Jordan is. He's a 6-time

NBA champion, a 6-time NBA Finals MVP,

a 5-time NBA MVP, a 2-time

Olympic gold medal winner, and arguably the greatest basketball player

ever. He didn't accomplish all that out

of sheer luck. He devoted himself to basketball,

and look what he achieved because of that. Now,

just for the record, I don't think if anyone here went out and started

training your hardest to be a basketball player that you'd become the next Michael Jordan,

because on top of his devotion He was a gifted athlete.

But let me ask you, what would happen if all of

us became as devoted to God and being a Christian as Michael

Jordan was to basketball? What,

what do you think would happen in our community? What if

we all looked at Timothy's devotion and said, I want to live my life like

that? That Jordan will always be remembered

as a basketball player. Timothy will always be remembered

as one of God's greatest servants. The next

trait I want to discuss about Timothy is his selflessness.

I want to start back in Acts 16 where we meet Timothy,

and I want to read verse 3 again. Acts 16:3,

Acts 16:3

Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took

him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places,

for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

Now, I'm not sure if Paul told Timothy when he first

met him that he was going to have to be circumcised,

or if he told him later, But either way, Timothy agreed

to it. Now, remember, Timothy's dad was a Greek,

so while every other Jewish boy had already been circumcised,

Timothy wasn't, and it was probably because of his dad's beliefs.

He was willing to go through that painful operation just

to have a better chance at converting the Jews in the area.

Now, we're not going to be asked to do anything like that today, But we

do have to make sacrifices in order to be faithful Christians.

What are some things today that we might have to sacrifice

in order to be considered a true faithful Christian?

Family, our friends. Mm-hmm.

Yep. Time. Time.

Yep, yep,

yep. Timothy not only endured that painful procedure,

but he also gave up some of those things. He left

the comfort of his home and his family. He was already respected

in his community and in the church there. He could

have just stayed where he was and lived a quiet life, but he left

and chose to help spread the gospel.

Timothy made it his life's mission to teach people about

Jesus and the great sacrifice he made for everyone, and he

was successful because he embodied the sacrificial spirit that

Jesus had. He had heard all the stories about

Jesus, and he had heard about his death, and he said,

I want to live like Jesus.

Does anybody have any questions or comments on that?

Okay, in the last few minutes, I want to go

back over some of the things that we already talked about.

First, it is our job as parents,

grandparents, and other members of a family to

give a child the best spiritual foundation we possibly

can. What all goes into that

as family members? How are ways— what are some ways that we can

build up our children's spiritual foundation?

Make sure they're at church.

Yep. Need to see it in us. Yep. Yeah, it says the sincere faith that

Eunice and Lois had. Any other ways

that we can build up children's spiritual foundation?

What? Reading Scripture.

Yep. Yep. Sacrifice,

sports, stuff.

Again to do it themselves. Yep.

Yep. Anything else?

Yeah. As Timothy learned from his mother and grandmother,

it wasn't just that they brought him to services,

if you will. They— he learned those things from

them directly. And so I think we have to be engaged not

just in bringing our kids to services, engaging in

Bible study at home.

Yep. That's kind of what I was going to say. A good example.

What kids see is what kids are going to do.

And I think the example we set is going to follow them all the days

of their lives. Yep. You talk a lot about

devotion. When I think of devotion, I think of another— and

numerous times through both letters, 1 and 2 Timothy,

Paul kind of almost

commands him to commit what's committed

to him. Over in chapter 2,

or 2 Timothy 2, not only those things

were committed to him, he was to commit those to others. He was mentored by

Paul. And in chapter 2, verse 2, the things you've

heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men. That chain needs

to keep going. Yep. Paul knew it, and I know Timothy knew it. It doesn't

stop with Timothy. Continue. Yep.

I think in our society now, we— I mean, young people,

they need to be involved in Lads to Leaders and go to camp.

They need to be with like-minded other kids.

Help them be involved in those

type of things. Yep, keeping them around the right type of people,

the right things, and giving them opportunities to

expand their talents.

Yep, yep. So we got attend worship services,

uh, even if it means missing an event like sports,

or maybe it's just hanging out with friends.

That's huge for kids to see that. Going to different

church events, like you just said.

And it also— it doesn't just show the kids that church is

important going to those events. It also shows them that there's a great community

to be a part of. And then just

talk about your faith. I think a couple of people mentioned it, but make

an effort to talk about something spiritual. Even if

it's at dinner or on a car ride,

make it known that you have faith.

Sometimes in, in a family setting, you, you don't think that you need to bring

that up because, you know, you go to church and you believe the same things,

but it's important to, to let your kids know

that you have faith. It's also our

job as Christians to be a good mentor to younger or newer

Christians. Now, what are some ways that

we can help those newer Christians or just young people in general?

How can we help bring them along and grow their faith?

Expectation. And so, challenge.

Yep. Yep.

Any other ways we can help younger Christians?

Helping them that they need to recognize good of the kingdom.

Yeah, Paul told Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God.

Yeah, Paul did in Timothy, you know. I mean, he had really

got Timothy in small ways,

you know, like we even do singing sometimes with the young kids here, or if

you're involved in a, you know, in a leaf project, you're sweeping.

I know, yeah, it doesn't take much. It doesn't—

you know, you're not asking them to be a pulpit preacher when they're 6.

Right, yeah. But little things, little steps.

Yeah. Anything else? I think the first thing that we could do that's

easy is just speak to them. You know, how many times

on a Sunday morning and Wednesday night do we walk past a 6-year-old and say

nothing, don't even think about it? You know, I've started recently talking

to Kara. Every time I see her, I make a point to talk

to her, ask her how her week was, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

And I think at the very least we can just— Yeah,

yeah. I was going to say too, like,

we're thinking youth in the sense of a young person,

but it's also youth in the sense of a new Christian, right? Because like Like,

whenever I became Christian, I had 2 boys

at the same time. So I was growing in my faith

as a father at the same time that my boys were young.

So it was— they're seeing me grow at

the same pace at what, like, a younger person would be. So if you see

a younger father who is new in the faith,

help be a mentor to not only him but also

his children, because he's not really probably at the place where, you know,

his kids are gonna not have maybe the same mentorship as someone else

who is more mature in the faith. It's gonna

be a kind of like a void there, so that the good mentorship

in that aspect is very helpful as well. Yep,

yep. Just talk to them. Let them know

that you see them. Don't let them feel invisible,

especially not just the younger kids because they get attention sometimes,

but new Christians especially. Don't let them go unnoticed.

Encourage them. Try to get to know them. Make them feel

like they have somebody that they can rely on to tell

them the truth and just to be there for them.

Next, we can't let our personalities stop us from

doing God's work. There's always places for people to

work and jobs to be done. You don't have to be the most

outgoing person to be a good servant.

I would encourage you, though, to step outside of your comfort zone sometimes.

You know, I'm sure Timothy wasn't comfortable doing everything that

Paul was asking him to do. Especially the first couple times

that Paul asked him to go somewhere and teach somebody something or, you know,

discipline a church, it probably wasn't comfortable.

But he still made an effort to try. You know, along that line,

it just kind of spoke to me here. I'm just going to mention it because

everybody's familiar with this verse in Timothy. But of course,

Paul had the thorn in the flesh. It says in

the classic in 5:22, Paul to Timothy,

no longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's

sake and your frequent infirmities.

So it shows Timothy didn't have a— it

wasn't always easy. Right. Yep. He had health issues too

that he had to deal with even as a young man.

Yeah, it wasn't just his confidence issues. He had some other problems.

Yeah. Don't forget

about how important your reputation is.

You know, when we're going through life, try to imagine that

you have a big sign on the back of— on your back that

says, I'm a Christian, kind of like I had a big Hammer Home sign on

the back of my first truck, because our actions reflect

back on the church. And they reflect back on God. When somebody sees you

just in your everyday life and they see your actions,

that's how your reputation gets built.

Be dependable and trustworthy. Don't be the person

that no one asks anything of because they just don't

think you're dependable. Be a person that people can rely on to get the

job done the right way. Be faithful and

devoted. When you're a brand-new Christian or you've been a Christian almost

your whole life, don't stop learning. Don't stop studying God's

Word and building your relationship with him. Don't let

Christianity just revolve around your life. Try to make your life

revolve around Christianity. And finally,

we need to be selfless.

Timothy had such a strong faith in Jesus that the

cost to him to follow him looked small. He didn't

see it as a huge burden all the time. He saw

it as a gift to be able to serve others.

Timothy teaches us a lot, but he learned it from his mother

and from his grandmother and from Paul, and they learned it

from Jesus. Really quick, let's read Matthew 16:24.

Matthew 16:24

To close, Matthew 16:24 says,

Matthew 16:24

then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him

deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

And I think Timothy was a great example of

how to do that. Thanks for a good class,