House Rules: Week 12, 1 Timothy 4:6-16

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And let's get started.

All right, so hopefully by now you found 1 Timothy chapter 4.

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

Let me explain to you what's been going on in case you're new or in case you missed a couple of weeks, whatever it may be.

In 1 Timothy, let me tell you what it is first.

It's a letter written by a man named Paul.

Paul, kind of the most, probably most significant church leader in the early church.

He wrote much of our New Testament.

He writes a letter to a young man named Timothy.

Timothy is sort of his apprentice.

He has sent Timothy to the city of Ephesus.

There's a church there that Paul started.

Church got off to a great start, but since its beginning, there have been some false teachers coming in teaching poor theology.

In fact, Paul is going to call what they teach today silly.

It's the only occurrence of the word silly in the New Testament.

I checked like four times, okay?

So, um, but he's it's they're messing the church up with their false theology.

And so Paul sends Timothy, who is a younger guy, to the city of Ephesus, to this church, and he says, okay, you are going to get things turned around in this church.

That is not an easy job.

Can we agree?

So Timothy's gonna walk into this church, and in chapter one, Paul says, Here's what you're gonna do.

You're going to identify these false teachers.

In fact, we're gonna throw some of them out of the church.

That's a great way to begin.

That's chapter one.

Then chapter two, he says, and we're gonna straighten out sort of the worship and the structure of this church.

We've got to straighten things out.

And then in chapter three, he says, and we're gonna bring in new leadership.

And we spend a lot of time in chapter three.

It lays out 16 qualities for a pastor.

He says, these are the kinds of people that we're bringing into leadership in this church.

Okay.

And then it's like when we come to chapter four, it's almost like Paul goes, hmm, that's gonna be a lot.

And you think about that for a minute.

Have you ever been involved as you, you know, as you've worked and so, have you ever been involved in an organization where maybe they came in and they cleaned house leadership-wise, brought in all new leadership and so?

Have you ever lived through that, been through that in your professional world?

Many of you have.

That's what Timothy is doing here in this church.

And so, Paul, and when we get to chapter four, he's like, man, that's gonna be hard for Timothy.

He's a young guy, he's probably gonna need some encouragement.

So he decides in chapter four, I'm gonna talk to Timothy about what he needs to do in order to stand firm in the face of just ferocious pushback.

And I don't know about what where you are, I don't know about what your work situation is, where you are in school, but from time to time, as we live our Christian lives, we encounter seasons of tremendous pushback.

Have you ever been there?

It happens to us, doesn't it?

It's easy when uh everybody agrees with you.

I think that's one of the reasons that Sunday is such a nice day, right?

It's so easy.

You come to church on Sunday morning, hopefully not too much stress getting out of the house, getting here.

There's a reason you all come at the 11 o'clock, right?

Or some of you at the 11:15, that's okay.

We get it.

You know, there's a reason you're not coming at 9.30.

I get it.

It needs a little more time.

Just get the motor running, that's awesome, right?

But you got here, hopefully, not too much fuss to get here and be here on time, right?

And then while you're here, you worship, you know, with your church family, that's great.

Everybody's affirming the same kinds of things, not too much pushback.

Hopefully, nobody's like tempted to use the name of the Lord in vain or anything like that at church, you know, it's all good.

And then for you all, you're really thinking about lunch by now.

Oh, yeah, you know, and you're looking forward to it.

You know, you're gonna go out to eat, it's gonna be great.

You get to get you fielder's choice, it's my day to pick whatever, right?

And you're looking forward to that.

And then today is kind of like the day that the NFL really begins in earnest, which is awesome.

Some of you are big NFL fans.

I like the NFL because I find it to be perfect to sleep to on a Sunday afternoon.

It's magic, baby.

Turn on a football game and you get to obey the Lord's command and rest on the Sabbath.

It's fantastic, right?

So being a follower of Jesus Christ on a Sunday, not so hard, right?

Not a lot of pushback.

But Monday, Monday, you go to the office, and people are using the name the Lord in vain, right?

Or you go to school and there's all these competing values and virtues, right?

That, and and all of a sudden you face all this pushback and you're you're processing, you're thinking, okay, I know how to live on Sunday, that's pretty easy, but how do I live on Monday as a follower of Jesus Christ?

Because now I'm facing real pushback.

And if you want to know how to navigate pushback and stand firm in a way that's both faithful and healthy, I want you just to pay attention to what we're doing this morning because that's exactly what we're gonna find in 1 Timothy, beginning in verse uh chapter 4, beginning in verse 6.

Paul's going to teach us how we can stand firm against fierce pushback.

Okay?

And he's gonna get started here in verse 6.

He's gonna kind of lay out for us this first step that we need to kind of uh to take advantage of if we're gonna do it.

He says, first of all, Timothy, you've got all this cross-current, all this pushback coming against you because of all this change you're leading.

The first thing that you're gonna need to be able to do, if you're gonna be able to handle that pushback, is strengthen your soul.

Now he goes on to, he's gonna lay out to him a couple of parts to that puzzle of what it means to strengthen your soul.

But you're gonna be happy to know that what it takes to strengthen your soul is not all that dissimilar with what it takes to strengthen our body.

In fact, he's gonna start off by talking to him about his diet.

That's where this whole thing begins.

Look at verse six.

It says, if you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus.

Look at that next word, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed.

So Paul says, Timothy, if you're gonna withstand pushback, you've got to make the same faithful biblical teaching that you're feeding your church your own diet to.

That word nourish there, it means continuous action.

It means you have to keep on eating and eating and eating.

You've got keep on feeding off of the truth.

Now, if you talk to any top-end athlete, they'll tell you that if you're gonna maximize your performance, you've got to have two things working for you.

Absolutely.

Your diet and what?

Oh, first serve a speech all to death on this thing.

Diet and what?

Thank you.

Y'all are with me now.

Diet and exercise, those two things are essential.

Now, I gotta be honest with you, I don't mind the exercise or the training part.

I actually kind of enjoy that.

I like that, but the diet thing, mm-mm.

No, I don't like you even to talk to me about my diet.

The reason is I am an omnivore.

Okay.

Meaning I will eat anything.

Like chocolate, for example, praise God for chocolate.

Can we just agree?

Chocolate was an incredible idea.

That was awesome.

Barbecue, Pam and I were just in Austin, Texas last week.

It really is good, y'all.

Okay.

And praise God for barbecue.

Pizza, what an incredibly divinely inspired idea was pizza.

Unbelievable.

Mexican, what are we talking about?

It's crazy.

Ethiopian, got to have some Ethiopian last week.

Many of y'all have never had Ethiopian.

You are missing out on one of life's simple pleasures.

It's unbelievable.

Mediterranean, which makes me think of Italian.

All right, there we go, right?

Which makes me think of Chinese because apparently noodles came from China, which makes me think of India because it's just right next door.

And we could just keep on going, right?

Into Indonesia and Vietnam.

And you guys get the idea?

Y'all, I love it all.

I love it.

It's fantastic.

But here's what I know.

As I'm getting older, and as I'm now an over-the-hill cyclist, no matter how many miles I ride, I cannot out-exercise my diet.

Okay?

Here's the bottom line.

If I eat garbage, I'm gonna look like trash.

That's just the way it is.

There's no avoiding that reality.

And that's exactly what Paul is saying here.

He's saying, listen, man, your diet, what you consume, what you nourish on an ongoing basis, what you feed your soul, it really matters.

I want you to think about this because I think that in many ways, Timothy's story is a lot like our own story.

Okay.

Timothy was raised in a God-fearing home.

He was taught the Bible from infancy by his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother Lois.

And they just gave him an incredible legacy of faith.

How awesome is that.

Any of y'all kind of born and raised in church the way that I was?

You know, you know I'm talking about, right?

You know, I tell people, you know, I was in church nine months before I was ever born.

Many of y'all know what that's like, right?

You grew up in church.

Some of you all grew up here in this church.

Some of y'all still have megaverses memorized because Tommy, you know, kind of just helped encourage you and encourage you, encourage you to learn those mega verses, right?

What an incredible legacy.

And if that's your story, by the way, praise God for that.

Praise God for boring testimonies, right?

How did you come to know Jesus?

Well, I was raised in church.

I don't know any other way to live.

And it just became obvious to me that I'm a sinner.

I need to know Jesus Christ.

And so I accepted Christ.

I was baptized, and here I am all these years later.

I still love the Lord.

Praise God if that's your story, right?

That was Timothy's story.

But here's the thing: Paul is saying, Timothy, you can't ride forever on what your mom and your grandmom taught you when you were a little kid, right?

Right?

You can't sit here and say, you know what, I ate a really good meal when I was 12, so I'm good.

I don't need to eat anymore.

If you did that physically, you would starve to death, would you not?

And yet, a lot of us try to do that spiritually, don't we?

I hear people all the time, and they'll say to me, Hey, listen, when I was a kid coming up, I learned all the Bible stories, okay?

I learned all the books of the Bible, right?

I memorized some of the scripture.

I'm good.

I know that stuff.

I don't need to ever go there again.

And Paul says to Timothy, who grew up in that same environment, listen, Timothy, if you want to stand firm in the face of all of the pushback that you're gonna get because of all the changes you're bringing to bear, you had better be nourished on the word in an ongoing, continual fashion.

You better make that a part of your regular diet.

And there's more to this.

He doesn't just stop on, hey, you need to bring in quality content.

And this is where this gets personal for me.

He says, you don't need to be eating a bunch of junk food either.

Okay?

Look at what he says in verse 7.

But have nothing to do with pointless and silly miss.

There's that word silly.

I told you all it was coming, right?

Okay.

So Paul is here referring to the teachers, the false teachers he was talking about back in chapter one.

And here he describes the content of what they were teaching.

And he says, you know what they are doing?

They're teaching stuff that's outright silly.

It's outright pointless.

They're feeding the church junk food, okay?

You're here, you're supposed to be bringing beef to the table.

They're over here bringing Skittles to the table, okay?

What they're doing is absolutely silly, and it's a lot of junk.

Now I want to I thought about that.

Do we have access to spiritual junk food today?

Do we?

I would submit we do.

In fact, I would submit that we've got more access to spiritual junk food than any generation in history.

Okay?

Some of you are getting like PhDs in like TikTok and Instagram and all that kind of stuff, right?

And that's that's where you consume your content.

And if it's where you consume your spiritual content, can't we agree?

It is a dangerous landscape.

There's some great teachers out there.

There are some other teachers who are just peddling real junk food.

Um, you go to YouTube or Instagram, whatever, you can find pastors who it's all prosperity gospel all the time.

You can find others, it's just one conspiracy theory after another, right?

You can find some, and it's like, am I watching a church or am I watching a political rally?

What am I doing here?

The content is all over the map.

There's plenty of junk food.

And Paul says to Timothy here, listen, don't have anything to do with that stuff.

So I would say to you all, as you know, peruse the internet or you know, whatever, looking for content, you need to really listen and watch with real discernment.

And your criteria always needs to be is what I'm hearing biblical?

Does it stand the test of scripture?

Because if you want a healthy soul so that you can stand firm against fierce pushback, you need to be consuming sound biblical nourishment, not just junk.

Okay?

So that's one thing that we need to do to strengthen our soul.

We need a good, sound biblical diet, right?

You got it?

Then he moves on to the next one.

We've kind of told you where this is going.

Okay.

We also need training, right?

We need exercise, right?

Look at it, verse 7.

Rather, he says, train that word train, pay attention to it.

Train yourself in godliness.

For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Now, I told y'all to pay attention to that word train.

Do you see it there?

The word that we have for gymnasium or gym, it comes from the word for train.

It's the same exact word.

So Paul says, listen, man, if you're going to be able to stand firm, you've got to think like an athlete who just relentlessly prepares his body so that he can compete.

Paul says, Timothy, if you want to stand firm, you've got to take your soul to the gym, and you've got to train while you're there.

What are you training for?

He gives that to us here.

Do you see it?

We're to train for what?

Godliness.

Do you see that?

What is godliness?

What does he mean by that?

Some people might think, well, he means piety, right?

You know, just all the you know the right things, and you know.

It's really more than that, though.

Godliness at its core is about relationship.

Godliness is about our relationship with God.

A godly person knows God as their creator, as their redeemer through Jesus Christ.

They know that he is their father because he has adopted them into his family.

And that relationship, that relationship with God, it shows up in everything that we do.

It shows up in the way that we treat people every day.

It's just, it permeates who we are.

You all all probably know that you're a product of your family, right?

Whether you want to admit it or not, you reflect who they are.

When I'm being godly, I'm reflecting my heavenly father.

I'm letting people see that I belong to him.

Now, let me just ask you, does that happen naturally?

Is is responding to adversity with godliness?

Is that our knee flex, uh, you know, kind of knee-jerk automatic reflect reflex reaction?

Is that it?

Let me hear, try this.

Take a hammer when you get home, and take your thumb and lay it on a counter, and then ask ask somebody else to just hit your thumb as hard as they possibly can with the hammer.

What will your reflex be?

Will your reflex to be be to go, well, praise the Lord.

Will that be your reflex?

Your reflex may not be that, okay?

We don't need to get into what it might be, but it probably won't be that.

Okay?

Now, why would I tell you that little silly thing?

It's because your reflect, your natural reflex is to not respond to great pressure, great pushback with godliness.

That takes training, and it takes training in advance before you get into the hard times, right?

It takes training then, so that when the hammer blow falls, you respond with godliness.

Does that make sense?

Okay.

Now I'm by no means a top athlete.

I do ride a bicycle, okay, and I enjoy riding it.

And I train a lot, I ride a lot each week, I do a lot of miles each week.

And one of the reasons that I do that, I've got some friends here in the church who love to ride.

One of the reasons that I do that is if one of my friends calls me up and says, Hey, let's go for a 75-mile ride tomorrow.

I want to be able to say, All right, let's go.

Bring it, Puff Daddy.

Let's rock.

You know, I want to be able to say that.

All right.

I don't want to say to them, could you call me back in six months?

Okay, because you know, I know the body is a temple, but the Philistines have dropped by and I'm not in very good shape.

So can we just push that downrange a little bit?

I don't want to be that guy.

I want to be able to say, yeah.

And in the back of my mind, I'm gonna be honest, because this is my personality, I also want to think, and I'm gonna drop you like a bad habit on the ride, too.

Okay, that's that's where I want to be, right?

And if I want to be there, right, if I wanna be there, what do I have to do?

I gotta, I gotta train.

So Paul says, Timothy, if you're going to, if you're gonna come through this season of adversity, if you're gonna face all this pushback, and and you're gonna come through it with godliness, if you're gonna come through it well, then you've got to train yourself.

And that means that before the hardship ever comes, you've got to practice obedience, right?

You gotta you've got to be about the word, all right, before the difficult moment arrives.

You've got to practice prayer, you've got to practice generosity, you've got to practice controlling your tongue, you've got to practice serving others, you've got to practice saying no to temptation and yes to what is right and good.

And over time, all of those acts of obedience, all of that training in godliness will lead you to the point that when the pushback comes and you're under enormous pressure, who you show yourself to other people, that person that you show is someone who is godly.

That is your reflex response.

Do you get it?

Paul goes on and says, hey, listen, you can train your body, and that has some value.

Notice, by the way, he does not say that training your body has no value.

So if you're hoping this was an excuse not to exercise, sorry.

Okay?

He says it has some value, it has limited value.

Meaning this body, it's one day, as we know it today, it's gonna fade away.

All right?

So it has limited value.

It's valuable, but it's gonna outlive its usefulness.

But when you train yourself in godliness, when your spirit, your soul is strong and healthy, that, he says, that has eternal benefit.

So let me just ask you something very practical tied to all of this.

What are you regularly feeding your soul?

What's the diet?

And some of you might now, you might be thinking, you know, David, if I'm honest, the only time that I read a Bible verse in a given week is when I see it on the screen here in the church in worship.

That's the only time.

The rest of the week, I don't even think about it.

I'm writing on that nutrition I got when I was a little kid.

If I'm being honest, that's that's where I am.

Friend, if that's where you're at, I want to really challenge you on your diet.

Because Paul says that if that's your diet, when you face real adversity, when you face real pushback, you're not gonna be up to it.

You're not gonna be up to it.

What about your training?

What about the exercise piece of it?

Do you have a training plan where you've got yourself saying, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna work this thing, I'm gonna approach this thing like an athlete.

You know, there's the competition out there, and I'm gonna do this, this, this, this, this, and to be ready for it.

Do you approach it like that?

That's what Paul says that we should be doing.

Let me just lay out one idea here, uh, something for you, and you can learn for it in the about it in the pavilion today.

We have a group here at celebration, we call them T groups.

You've had them for a lot of years.

A lot of y'all have been in T groups.

It's a group of either three or four people, men in a group, women in a group over here.

We keep that separate, and you're in that group a long time.

It is a nine-month process, and nine months is pretty good, pretty good time.

And in that, we study 10 things that you should believe, 10 things that you should become, and 10 things that you should do as a follower of Jesus Christ.

I would submit to you.

That's pretty good training, right?

To help you do exactly what we're talking about.

It may not be that's what you want to do, but I'm just saying to you, what is your plan?

Because you're gonna need to train yourself in godliness so you can be ready to respond when the pressure comes.

So you want to stand firm against fierce pushback, then you've got to strengthen your soul.

We talked about that with diet and with exercise.

Then he gives us another way, and that is to leave nothing on the table.

Look at verse nine.

This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance.

For this reason, we labor and strive because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the savior of all people, especially of those who Believe.

Command and teach these things.

So starting off there in verse nine, Paul says, Hey, listen, let me give you some words to live by.

That's what that verse nine is.

It's kind of a common expression.

Let me give you some words to live by.

Let me explain to you why it is that we labor and strive.

Do you see those two words?

Do those two words, labor and strive.

Does that sound fun?

Does that sound difficult?

Yeah, it does.

It sounds like to me, like when I was a younger man in college, maybe, and someone would say, Hey, I am moving into a third floor apartment.

Will you come and carry all of my stuff up three flights of stairs so that I can then give you two slices of pizza?

That's what it sounds like to me, right?

I don't do that anymore.

I'm too old for that, right?

Did you know what I'm talking about?

Why do we labor and we strive?

Why do we do that?

Okay, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Command and teach these things.

Paul says, listen, we labor and we strive because we have this gospel to share.

What is the gospel?

We put our hope in the living God, who is the savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

That's the reason that we're doing this.

That's the reason that you're facing adversity, Timothy, right where you are.

That's why you're going to face this pushback.

It's because we have the job of carrying the gospel, which says that we put our hope in the living God who saves all people, especially those who believe.

And Timothy, that's worth working hard for.

So leave nothing on the table.

Bring it all because it's a big deal and it's not easy.

When Paul talks about laboring and striving, he knows what he's talking about.

2 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul outlines his story, his history in sharing the gospel.

2 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

And he says there that he has been repeatedly beaten, imprisoned, stoned, shipwrecked, exposed to unimaginable dangers, deprived of sleep and food, and burdened every single day for his concern for the churches.

Wow.

Why would he do that to himself?

He's doing all this by choice.

Why would he do that?

Because Paul believed that the living God is actively calling people to himself through the saving work of Jesus Christ.

And it's God's desire to save all people, but that offer of salvation demands a response.

We have to believe him.

And that choice to believe him, that decision is incredibly important because eternity is on the line.

So Paul says, Man, I'm willing to labor for that.

I'm willing to strive for that.

Because everybody needs to know the message that God is seeking you and that Jesus has made salvation possible.

And you're being called to believe.

And with all of that as a backdrop, Paul says, Timothy, you're going to be facing down false teachers.

And you're going to bring huge change to this church.

And I know that it's hard, but never forget how eternally important this work is.

Don't back down.

Don't leave anything on the table.

Pour your heart and soul into it because we have put our hope in the living God.

And you all would leave that has something to say to you and me.

Because so often when we face real pushback, right, the gospel's on the line.

Let me ask you, where is it that that you're tempted to say, yeah, I'm not going there.

I'm just gonna leave, I'm gonna leave the gospel on the table.

I'm not gonna talk about it.

Maybe it's in your workplace, your co-workers, they're a chippy bunch, and you'd just rather not believe it, you know, bring it up.

Maybe it's at school, same reason.

Maybe it's your extended family, right?

Some of them, it's just so much pushback.

You're like, eh, I want Thanksgiving to go well this year.

I'm just gonna hang on to that.

Maybe it's your spouse.

Talking to someone not long ago, they're making real headway in the gospel.

One of their real concerns is their spouse is not there.

Like, I don't even know how I what do I do with that?

How do I you know how do I bring this up?

Paul's challenge is simple.

Don't disappear into the woodwork.

Leave nothing on the table, right?

So if you're gonna stand firm in the face of pushback, you have to strengthen your soul, right?

Diet, exercise.

And you have to decide, I'm not gonna leave anything on the table.

You just remind yourself over and over again the gospel's too important to quit.

I'm not gonna quit.

I'm not gonna leave anything on the table.

And then he gives us one more step here in these next few verses, and that is this you go to work and you earn the right reputation.

You earn the right reputation.

It begins in verse 12.

Take a look at it.

We're gonna read several verses here.

Do not let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity until I come.

Give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching.

Don't neglect the gift that is in you.

It was given to you through prophecy with a laying on of hands by the counsel of elders.

Practice these things, be committed to them so that your progress may be evident to all.

Pay close attention to your life and your teaching, persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Wow.

Now, when Timothy is sent off to this church in Ephesus, most people believe that he was in his either twenties or thirties.

There's some dispute there.

I kind of lean toward more toward late 20s, okay?

But he's facing pushback from people, from church leaders who are considerably older than he is.

And so they're seeking to use his age against him.

Does that make sense?

And so Paul says, listen, you cannot let that be what defines you.

You gotta you gotta capture, if you will, that narrative.

And he doesn't say, here's how you're gonna do it, Timothy.

You're gonna do that by demanding that they give you the respect you deserve, right?

Does he say that?

No, that's not what he says.

What does he say?

He says, hey, you're gonna change that narrative by giving them a life that they have to respect, right?

You're gonna gain their respect by setting an example in your speech, in your conduct, in your love, in your faith, and in your purity.

Now, there's something I think very important here for us, right?

As the pushback increases, we respond to that by putting on a clinic of what godliness looks like.

You get that?

So as the pushback increases, we put on a clinic of what godliness looks like.

So the more pressure that's on, we make sure that as we respond to that, what we say in response to that, what does it reflect?

Godliness.

As the pressure is on, how do we how do we respond?

It shows up in the godliness that we live out.

When the pressure is on, it shows up in that we treat people who are really difficult and hard to like in ways that are godly.

Are you with me?

That's our response to that.

And as we do that, what happens as we as we hold our convictions, as we live for Christ in the face of all of that pushback, what happens is our reputation is enhanced.

And the very people who are pushing back against us will begin to say, Well, I have to admit it, he really is who he says he is, right?

You got it?

I want you to think about it this way.

Think about your reputation as a bank account.

Okay, make sense?

If you want to save or prepare for something, right?

What do you do with your bank account?

You drop money in there every single pay period or whatever it might be.

Pam and I have an account because our kids now live all over the place.

We have an account called travel.

Okay, it's a savings account.

Every single pay period, we drop a little bit of money into that account.

Okay.

We just got through going to Austin, Texas to see my son.

It was easy.

All I did was, Pam was like, hey, let's go to Austin.

I said, that's great.

I don't want to drive.

You don't want to drive?

No, I don't want to drive.

I know let's fly.

How do we afford to fly?

No problem.

We have the account, right?

We're ready to go.

Why?

Because we've been saving and preparing for it on and on and on it goes.

The same thing is true for your reputation.

What you want to be doing is depositing acts of godliness in there.

So every time that you tell the truth when it'd be easier to lie, you're just making a deposit right there.

Every time when it would be easier to lose your temper, right, lose your cool, you keep your cool.

All right, you keep your temper, you make a deposit, right?

Every time that you love somebody who's not very lovable, you're just making a deposit.

Every time you choose purity when it would be easier to compromise, you just make a deposit.

And so you've built up this account.

And then when the pushback comes, what's going to happen is your reputation is going to be exposed.

But what are you standing on?

You're standing on this massive account of godliness because you've been depositing in there and depositing in there and depositing in there.

And that is how a reputation is built, right?

You all, you know this.

You can't build a reputation overnight, can you?

It takes time to build a reputation.

And so just keep chipping away at it, keep chipping away at it.

Okay?

Let me ask you.

What kind of reputation are you building right now?

Right now, today?

If I were to go to your workplace and say, hey, what's their reputation?

What would people say?

If I were to go to your school, hey, what's their reputation?

They claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

What does their reputation tell you?

What would people say?

We would all hope they would say, oh, absolutely.

I see it every single day, right?

I see it in how they deal with adversity and difficult people, and on and on and on it goes.

What are they seeing?

They're seeing the balance of your account, and hopefully it's loaded because your reputation has been built up one step at a time after a time after a time.

Which is why verse 15 and 16, look at those verses, 15 and 16.

Paul brings all this together and he says, practice these things.

Be committed to them.

Let everyone see your progress.

Pay close attention to your life and your teaching.

Persevere.

Watch what you teach.

Watch how you live, right?

Because you cannot teach the gospel effectively if you're not effectively living the gospel.

It can't be done.

You can't sit there and tell people what it's like to be a believer in Jesus Christ when you're standing on a bankrupt account, right?

So earn your reputation.

It will help you face all of that pushback.

You got it?

Now, we've been talking a lot to Christ followers this morning, and that's perfectly fair, isn't it?

I mean, the Bible has a lot to say to Christ's followers and about how we ought to live.

But the Bible also in this passage, it also has something to say to those who've not yet believed in Jesus Christ.

And I just think it would be wrong if we didn't circle back to the verse that I've got in mind and just take one quick look at it.

It's 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 10.

1 Timothy 4:10

Take a look at it.

It says, For this reason we labor and strive because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the savior of all people, especially those of those who believe.

Now, do you see that?

It is God's desire to save all people.

And then Paul says, especially who?

Especially those who believe.

Meaning God has taken every step, every step necessary to save us from our sin through Jesus Christ.

And he calls on us to respond to what he has done by doing what?

By believing, right?

So if you're here today and you're not yet in a relationship with Jesus Christ, I want you just to zero in on those last few words there, especially those who believe.

And then I just I just want to challenge you.

I've been challenging the believers all morning, right?

I want to challenge you too.

Imagine what it would mean to your life.

If you came to the realization, you know what, God, I believe.

I believe that you want to save me.

I believe that you've done everything necessary to save me from my sin so that I have an eternity to spend with you.

Imagine what would happen to your life.

Imagine what would change about your life if through the power of the Holy Spirit you began to pursue godliness instead of ungodliness.

Imagine what it means in your life right now today.

Do you see how this has value both here and in eternity?

Everything, everything can change.

And it all begins with that simple decision to say, God, I believe you.

Let's pray right now together.

Father, we thank you very much for this time to be together in this way, in this place, with these people, with our church family.

We thank you for your word and the power of the Holy Spirit that allows us to understand your word and be convicted by your word.

And I just thank you for the message that you've given to us today so powerfully, so clearly, about how we as believers need to make sure that we're ready to face those times of incredible pushback.

We need to have a good, strong, and healthy soul.

We need to leave nothing on the tight table because the stakes of the gospel are absolutely sky high.

Father, help us to be passionate about the gospel.

And then, Father, we need to just be reminded that we earn our reputation so that when the pressure's on, that's what shines through.

So, Father, as we leave today, I pray that we take that with us.

That we apply what you've taught us through your word and we live differently because of it.

I know that in this room there are those who who right now are going, I've got to change my diet, man.

I've got to change the way that I I strengthen my spirit.

Others are saying, you know what, I can't back away from that conversation at work anymore.

Others are saying, I've got to really think through my reputation.

What have I done?

I've got to bring some repair to what is broken right there.

And then, Father, there are those who are in this room who have not yet believed in you.

I pray that today is the day that they say, Yes, God, I believe that your desire is to save everyone, and that you've made salvation possible through Jesus Christ.

And all you've left for me is to believe.

And so right now, I just affirm I believe that you are the Savior of the world.

Thank you, Father, for the power of your word.

We pray all this in the beauty and power of the great name of your Son Jesus Christ.

And everyone agreed and said, Amen.

Thanks for joining us on the Celebration Baptist Church Podcast.

We hope today's conversation helped you take another step in your faith journey.

For more resources, upcoming events, and to join us live, visit iCelebration.org.

Until next time, keep connecting with God, connecting with others, and living on mission.