These Things: Faithfull living for Christ

So we are, you may or may not realize this, but

we are essentially a Southern Baptist church.

That means we are not a denominational church,

right? So Southern Baptists are a mission organization

in which we all participate together with other

Southern Baptists to reach the world for Jesus

Christ. There are a lot of denominations. You've

probably heard about a lot of like... evangelism

or even revival that has taken place in the past.

And great revivals rose out of different traditions.

And Southern Baptists were right at the heart

of that many times since they began. But also

understand that a lot of revival or evangelism

or missions arose out of other traditions. I

want to tell you about one of those today as

we're talking about fasting for the next several

months. A man named John Wesley. John Wesley

became a famous missionary and evangelist. And

in the 18th century in England, John Wesley asked

the early Methodists to fast twice a week. He

said, I would like you to skip breakfast and

lunch on Wednesdays and Fridays and then just

eat a simple meal in the evening and focus on

God during the day on Wednesday and Friday. And

he could have stopped there. But he didn't. He

asked them to take the money that they would

have spent on those meals, whether they would

have cooked them at home or eating out, whatever

that money would have equaled to them. They didn't

have McDonald's back then, obviously. He told

them to take the money that they would have spent

on those meals and give it to the poor of the

city. So this was London and Bristol in the middle

of the Industrial Revolution. Factories were

popping up, supply lines. Modern methods of creating

even, for example, I don't think they quite had

the internal combustion engine yet, but it might

have been toward the end of that period. They

had cheap gin. They had coal smoke grinding poverty

everywhere. And Wesley watched converts start

earning steady wages and then quietly slide back

into comfort, buying nicer clothes, better food

instead of caring for their neighbors. So he

built the discipline of denial directly into

their fasting. Hunger wasn't then just to be

endured like, oh, I can't wait until dinner,

right? So I'm giving up breakfast and lunch today.

But rather it was to be converted into someone

else's bread. The idea is when you go without

something to draw close to God, when you go without

something to practice self -discipline in yourself,

when you are benefiting by going without something,

you got to think about that thing that you're

going without, where can it be beneficial? What

can it do, right? And so he asked them to use

that food that they would not have taken, that

money for that food that they would have not

spent for the poor that were all around in the

middle of that. As instead of, oh, I'm doing

pretty good now and I can go buy this and I can

buy this and I always dreamed I could have that.

He asked them instead, as they fasted, to commit

themselves to take care of their neighbors. And

you know and I know that we are supposed to do

that. The Methodist societies then became known

for exactly this. Small groups of ordinary. weavers,

miners, servants, going without something, and

then pooling what they saved to run schools,

clinics, and relief funds for the poor. Wesley

preached it plainly. Gain all you can. Save all

you can. Give all you can. That sounds like a

model for Christian life. Am I encouraging you

to fast for the purpose of Self -discipline to

fast for the purpose of glorifying God, seeking

God, or God might teach you or seeking God that

God might do something miraculous in you. Yes,

absolutely do that. But let us not forget that

there is an aspect of fasting that leads to a

character that remembers that while you are going

without your steak tonight for dinner, there

is somebody that lives on your block that couldn't

buy a steak if they wanted to. While you are

skipping fast food for a day or a week or a month,

There are those who do not have the money to

buy fast food. They're not skipping it because

they're being disciplined. They're trying to

be disciplined and go without. They're not skipping

it because they think that they'll be better

off in their health. They're skipping it because

they couldn't afford it if they wanted to. And

so let me encourage you that as your character

grows in Christ through fasting, remember that

those very same things that you divorce yourself

from for a time for that benefit could then prosper

somebody else. It's the same movement that 1

John describes. The discipline turns inward first.

Say no to your appetites, the lust of the flesh,

the lust of the eyes, and pride of life, so that

love can turn outward and say yes to your brothers

and sisters in need, to your neighbors in need.

Wesley's pastors didn't just feel the world,

the world's pull loosen on them. They didn't

feel it kind of slip away and realize that they

were separate from the world, but rather than

they let the money that was saved by doing that.

that they would have eaten, go to feed somebody

else. And you can do the same thing. We're going

to pray together at this time, and then we'll

take up the tithes and offerings and a little

more worship. Master Ethan told me, would you

lead us in prayer, and we'll pray along with

you. Father, thank you for another day. Thank

you for the excitement of this morning. A new

life coming into the world. For the gift that

you gave Amalia and her family. And I just ask

you, Lord, to be with her, help her to recover.

And be with those... of our membership that are

also maybe recovered for something. We all know

of somebody that's taken ill or hurt or in need

of something. And I just ask the Lord to be with

us as we help them. I speak the name, because

it's all that I can do. In desperation, I'll

see heaven. And pray this morning, that things

will change. Let the fear inside me flee. In

Jesus' name. In Jesus. In Jesus' name. In the

name of all the Lord. Take care of every promise.

Faithful to me. Having put the book of Judges

behind us in a sense in our long -term study

and breaking it down, it'll never be gone from

our lives, not at this point. I hope never anyway.

Now we come to a period of time where your pastor

gets to do a lot of work early in the week. By

that I mean I get a lot of time praying and studying

and searching out where God would put me, where

he would have me pay particular attention to

the scripture. until that such time as he leads

us to do another book from beginning to end,

which I'm sure will happen. But as of right now,

I started really Sunday afternoon last week and

praying. And the Lord led me very rapidly by

Monday afternoon, my early Monday evening before

softball, which we have softball games tomorrow

night. So if you're a softball player in the

house, you're ready. Doubleheader coming up.

But he led me very rapidly to this text. And

then I spent time where I wrote about three different

sermon basic outlines and sort of was like praying

over them and searching them out and so on. And

then it took final form to what you're about

to at least get the outline of. And the Holy

Spirit always does things like takes me a little

bit here or there or cuts things out, add things

even as I stand before you. So I know it is a

work in progress and the Lord is at work in this

text today. I want to talk to you briefly about

the difficulty that is built into being a Christian.

So, a number of times I've heard pastors stand

up and preach, or evangelists, or whatever, and

they will say this. They will say, It isn't easy

being a Christian. Now, rewind. A number of times

I've heard pastors or evangelists stand up in

front of a church, and they will say, Jesus will

take care of everything and it will be as easy

as if he were really doing the work. You need

to let Jesus do the work. Frog, fully rely on

God. He's got this. Turn it over to him. He'll

take care of it. And it seems to me like those

two things are largely in contrast to one another.

And then if you search the scripture, what you

will find is that they both exist in there. You

can easily find you need to do the work of being

a Christian. It isn't always easy. And you can

easily find the Jesus will take care of everything.

Come unto him. My yoke is easy. My burden is

light. The problem then persists. What if one

wanted to preach a sermon that took into account

both of those things? The reality is they both

exist and they seem to exist in contrast to one

another. And I submit to you that whenever two

things in scripture seem to exist in contrast

to one another, in reality, they define and support

each other. Just the same as if, for example,

we're reading two different translations of the

Bible. You say, well, one translates it this

way and another translates it this way. So since

they are both translations of the original language

and accurate translations at that, I need to

look at what that means. The original language

says that it can say both of those things and

you can be refined in that moment and defined

and grow from your experience of having understood

that the Greek language, for example, could be

interpreted two ways. Understand that original

language, when it was originally spoken, could

be interpreted two ways by everybody who spoke.

Koine Greek in that day. And so we don't want

to get rid of that. We want to let that define

our understanding. And so it's true also of what

it means then to be standing firm in the truth.

Some might say, Jesus will take care of everything,

and if you're saved, you will stand firm in the

truth. And some might say, there is work to be

done as a Christian, and you need to stand firm

in the truth. Some take it as a blessing from

the Lord, and it's going to happen. Others take

it as a work that the Lord gives us to do. and

that we must participate in. So as we look at

the text today, I want you to bear in mind that

both of those things are true in Scripture, and

that I think by the time we're done, we'll refine

them to the point that we can actually do something

about it. All right? So grab your Bibles and

go with me, if you would, to the book of 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. Amen. This is God's Word. What we

read there in 1 Timothy chapter 4, which will

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

only be a small part of a relatively small book

in the Bible, it will... define and refine then

our thinking as Paul wrote this to Timothy. So

real quick background, if you don't already know

this, Paul was the apostle Paul, formerly named

Saul, who had persecuted Christians in his early

walk in God, I guess you could say. He was a

servant of the temple. He hunted down people.

He killed them. He manacled them, turned them

over to the law or the local synagogue to be

punished. He took away people's property. He

threw them in jail. and then met Christ, became

a Christian, struggled a little bit to plug into

the Christian community because everyone was

terrified of him because of all that he had been

doing, learned the gospel from Jesus first himself

and then from the disciples and others very clearly,

and then took that gospel to as far pretty much

as society was reaching and planted churches

all over the place in Christ, and then wrote

many of the New Testament books as have been

retained over the last almost 2 ,000 years, including

this letter to Timothy, who was a younger pastor,

server, called in the church to be a leader.

And Paul wrote these things that he might understand

what it would be like when Paul was not with

him on how to live in Christ. So 1 Timothy chapter

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

4, beginning then in verse 11. Our text starts

in 13, but I want you to see the run -up because

there's a transition that you definitely need

to see. He says in verse 11, prescribe and teach

these things. So he's talking about all the truths

about Jesus without actually getting into them.

He's telling him, teach all those things. And

he says, let no one look down on you, on your

youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct,

love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example

of those who believe. And so before we go any

further, you can see that the speech, conduct,

love, faith, and purity are there. to walk in

and that people then may see you walking in them

and see you as an example of what a Christian

looks like. That's what Paul was telling him

to do. Walk like that and let people see you

as an example of what a follower of Christ is

like. But then when he says, show yourself an

example of those who believe, he's set a standard

in which in these verses that we're now going

on to read, we're going to get a better kind

of direction on what steps to actually take.

to do those things, including what does it look

like to a degree, or how does one walk in speech,

conduct, love, faith, and purity, okay? So that's

where we're headed. This is a bookend statement.

Do those things, be an example, now do these

things to be an example of those things. That's

the structure that we have before us, okay? He

says in verse 13 that, until I come, until I

come, so Paul's saying, until I come back, until

I see you again, until I'm with you, give your

attention, put your focus on, make sure this

happens, to the public reading. In other words,

to the reading out of the word of God, like what

we're doing right now. And public meaning not

necessarily on the streets, right? But not only

in your home. So again, in the worship service,

and for us, that's in the podcast, in your encouragement

calls, in the online streaming, wherever people

will look in our general direction, the public

should see us, number one, reading scripture.

Then he says, to exhortation and teaching. And

so the built -in word there for exhortation is

preaching, not only preaching, but preaching

the word of God. So Paul was telling Timothy,

there should be preaching. You should be doing

it. I have a t -shirt that I made in Arts and

Crafts sometime last year that says, will there

be preaching? Yes, yes there will. And so until

Jesus comes again, people will be called to preach

the word of God, to preach what it means, what

it said, like what I'm doing right now. And you

also are going to be called on as a believer.

Why? How do we know that? Because it is as an

example of what a believer in Christ is. So there's

going to be times you might not be spiritually

gifted to preach, for example, but you're going

to be called on to preach the word of God and

what it means in order to be an example of a

believer. That's what he told Timothy. Reading.

Now, exhortation is not only preaching, it also

includes the concept of encouraging. So someone

might go like, I can't preach. My guess is most

of us who say, well, I can't preach, are actually

preaching sometimes and don't necessarily realize

it, right? Anytime you're putting forth your

basic understanding of what the word is and entreating

somebody to embrace that understanding and to

take certain steps from it. From what you're

telling them needs to be true. Like if you've

ever told somebody, you really need to think

about tithing. Or you really need to think about

reading the Bible. You really need to think about

praying. This is what God calls us to. Or you

want to be an honest person. Or you need to discipline

your body. Or things like that. You tell them

that that's what the word says. And then encourage

them to follow up on it. That is exhortation.

You might not realize it. It might be very short.

It might just be short encouragement. But it's

happening. And so then, that word exhortation

also includes a simple encouragement of another

person. who needs to walk out their faith or

maybe even come to Christ, right? So you could

be encouraging somebody to take that next step.

If you go to the gas station, you share the gospel

with them, and they say, yeah, I believe that.

I'm a Christian. Okay, well, where are you going

to church right now? Well, I'm not going to church

anywhere. I haven't been in quite a while. I

guess I need to get back to. And you say, well,

yeah, you know, if you're a believer and you're

a follower of the Lord, then you know you need

to be in church, right? That's exhortation. It's

a simple encouragement to take the next step

on what they know, all right? Until I come, give

your attention to the public reading, to exhortation,

and teaching. Now, teaching is the explaining.

And so there's quite a bit of teaching going

on right now as I'm delivering this sermon. And

we do that every Sunday to make sure that everybody

in the room has an opportunity to glean whatever

they can out of the text. We try to make sure

everybody understands what it says. So we should

be doing that. And so if you're called to teach,

you may be spiritually gifted in that area. But

even if you're not, like Hebrew says, by now,

you should be teaching somebody. If you are a

follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and following

Jesus yourself, then you should be teaching somebody.

Somebody's looking to you to find out what you

think it means to be a Christian. Somebody's

being taught. And you should be intentional about

that. So reading, exhortation, teaching. Then

he goes on in 14. He says, do not neglect the

spiritual gift within you. And I'm going to take

the comma. All right. So to neglect it would

be to turn away from it, to not activate it,

to not use it, to not embrace it, to not care

for it. You understand what neglect is. You put

a baby under a tree and walk away. That's neglect.

Right. If you plant a plant, if you don't make

sure it gets watered, it goes brown, it dies

because you neglected it. You understand what

neglect is. And he's saying, do not neglect it

in that way. He's also saying, don't neglect

it in that it has a great fruit. It can do something

in you. that nothing else can do, and in the

body that nothing else can do. God gave it to

you for that specific purpose, so put it to use.

To be successful in that, side note, you're probably

going to have to know what it is, or you're going

to stumble into it, and that would be okay too.

But when you stumble into it, you should go,

I think I stumbled into something here. So do

not neglect the spiritual gift within you. He

says, that spiritual gift, which was granted

to you through words of prophecy, that means

somebody spoke it into existence in you. With

the laying on of hands by the council of elders.

So Timothy had this very clear moment in which

they said to him, look, we recognize what you're

calling. We recognize what it is you're supposed

to be doing here. And we're a prophecy God's

going to do an amazing thing for you. And they

laid their hands on him and prayed. So the deacons

in the room, that's pretty clear, right? You're

a servant. You serve. That's what you do. Find

a way to do it. Do not back down from that under

any circumstance. But the team leaders in the

room, the worship leaders in the room, those

of you who know. Beyond a shadow of a doubt that

God is calling you to something, whatever that

might be. It might be as simple as I heard the

Great Commission preached one day, and I know

God wants me to tell people about Jesus. Whatever

that is, once that thing was spoken into you,

you need to embrace it. It has an ability that

you could not find anywhere else to change you,

change the people you know, and change the kingdom.

We'll see that clearly in just one second. 15,

almost done with the text. Take pains. There's

no comma there, but I'm stopping right there.

What does take pains mean? Well, in the Greek,

First of all, it can mean a lot, a lot, a lot,

right? It means you might need to believe. It

means you might need to suffer. It means you

might need to sweat. You might need to get education.

You might need to pay the bill. You've got to

go the distance, whatever the distance looks

like, right? And there's a whole bunch of other

texts in the New Testament that says there's

a job to be done now. You're a believer. Jesus

Christ saved your soul. He gave you gifting.

He gave you a calling. Now there's a job to be

done. Take pains. But it doesn't just say take

pains. It's pretty clear about how or what we're

supposed to do. Take pains with these things.

So what are the things? Well, the things were

not neglecting your spiritual gift. The things

were walking that out, paying attention to public

reading of scripture, to exhortation and teaching.

Those were the things. Take pains. Do what is

necessary. I submit to you, without getting aside

for a second, there may come a time in your life,

it could happen. I've seen it, by the way, in

a number of believers, when the only thing you

have left, literally the only thing left that

you can do is breathe, your heart beats, your

brain is waving, and you can use your mouth.

You may eventually be confined to a bed. You

might be on a catheter and an IV. I know a woman

who was a Christian, a believer, loved the Lord,

and eventually she was on a catheter, IV, and

she would never get up out of bed again. She

was done. And she wasn't like that for hours.

She was like that for weeks, months maybe. And

you better believe that she was active. She was

talking to the people around her. She professed

to anyone who would listen that she was a follower

of the Lord Jesus Christ. And she was encouraging

to everybody that came and visited her in the

hospital. There may come a time in your life

where these are the only things you can do. But

they're not the only things right now. Was she

taking pains? She already had pains. She didn't

need to take pains. She already had pains, right?

And so she was... doing what it was that God

called her to do, that was really all she had

left to do. She didn't eat anymore. She needed

help breathing. She had to plug her trach to

be able to speak. But she was talking and encouraging.

And we were reading the Bible together, right?

So what I'm saying here, there'll come a time

where you can only do that. But right now is

not that time. So now you're strong. You can

lift. You can push. You can step. You can think

outside the box. You can spend. You can earn.

You can save. You can give. You can hug. You

can handshake. You can brush your hair and somebody

else's too. You can do the things that you can

do right now. At some point in time, you may

not be able to do those things. He's saying,

use the things that you can do now that at some

other time you might not be able to do to do

these things. Take pains with these things. He

even goes so far then in the next phrase, and

this is powerful. He says, be, and there's a

certain word here that's hard to translate into

English, but it's really clear in the Greek.

He said, be absorbed in them. Be absorbed in

them. So you know that the New Testament talks

about abiding in Christ, right? In fact, it says

that if you're saved and you don't abide in Christ,

you're not saved. That's what the New Testament

essentially says. You know that we are to walk

in Christ. In John 15, Jesus himself said, in

me, you can do all things. Outside me, you can

do nothing. You're worthless. That's a fact.

This is Paul telling Timothy to be absorbed in

the things of God that he was called to, in the

things of God that will make him, as we'll see

in one second. an example to everyone else as

a believer and that is to you just the same be

absorbed and we're like what i would mean to

be absorbed exactly in the english kind of hard

to say well if you put out some tablet in a cup

of water and pretty soon it's gone and the water

looks like normal water there'd be a hint of

change to it there's some effervescence in there

that's probably to you know make it a little

more palatable when you go to drink it but it's

in there And if you drink it, it will affect

your digestion, theoretically, in a positive

way for some of us, maybe not so much. That's

what it means to be absorbed. And how are we

supposed to be absorbed? Where are we supposed

to be? Obviously, absorbed into Christ, right?

You walk in him, abide in him, and so on. But

that's not what he says. He says, be absorbed

in them. Again, what are the things? The things

are exercising your spiritual gift, not neglecting

it. The things are reading publicly scripture

and sorting and teaching. Those are the things.

I want you to think for a second. If I am absorbed

in Christ and somebody looks at me, what should

they see? And the answer is if you are absorbed

in Christ and they look at you, then they should

see you. If I am in a shed and somebody looks

at the shed, they don't see me, they see the

shed. If I am in my house and somebody looks

at my house, they don't see me, they see my house.

But in seeing that shed or seeing my house, they

should see something about the me that is in

there. You are unique. You are incredible. And

the incredible unique you is meant to be absorbed

in these things that God has given you to do,

for lack of a better way to say it, but I submit

also to be. Do this, he says, so that your progress

will be evident to all. So now listen to me.

That means that if anybody looks at your life,

looks at you, looks at the way that you're behaving,

you hear me? If anybody at any time looks at

the way that you're behaving and questions, Whether

or not the behavior that they're seeing aligns

with their understanding, albeit limited, they

may not be Christians, or extensive, they may

be grown, mature, growing Christians, and they

question whether or not the outside of your shed,

whether or not the behavior that you have put

on does not align, whether it aligns with walking

in Christ, then you have failed to follow this

verse. Because what it says is, take pains with

these things. be absorbed in them so that your

progress will be evident to all. Not just all

believers, not just all Christians, but evident

to all. This is a good place to find the Bible

teaching about our Christian witness, what it

means to walk as a Christian and the advantages

thereof. Last verse from here for the day. He

says then, pay close attention to yourself and

to the teaching. Hold up. Pay close attention.

To yourself and to the teaching. So when the

Bible's being taught, when the devotions are

being done, when the preaching's being done,

when somebody starts to talk about the name of

Jesus, everything else falls away. There is nothing

more important. You say, well, I struggle to

be alert while the preacher's going because it

lasts for over half an hour. Get yourself a pen

and paper. Start taking notes. The Bible says,

pay attention. This is about the God of the universe.

Pay close attention to yourself. What am I doing?

Who am I becoming? What is this? How am I following

the Lord Jesus Christ and how am I not? And what

steps do I need to make sure that the former

is much more prevalent than the latter? Pay close

attention to the teaching. Pay close attention

to yourself. And then he says, persevere in these

things. Keep on. No matter what happens, keep

on. Faithfulness is the measure of the church.

For as you do this, you will save both yourself

and those who cure you. Remember, we said Jesus,

walk in him to the end, you're in. Say you're

saved, walk, quote unquote, in him. Little bit

of excuses, a little bit of not so much caring

about what Jesus really wants on a given day.

Maybe that's not salvation at all. The Christian

life is a sacred stewardship. You have been given

an incredible gift. If you're here and you're

not saved today, and Jesus is not the center

of your life, the leader of your life, on the

throne of your life, he's not your boss and your

savior, then the incredible gift is you're getting

the opportunity today to have that be true. Jesus

is offering you the free gift that could not

be bought with any amount of work. But it requires

a diligent devotion to spiritual growth. That's

the problem with evangelists who stand up and

cry out, just accept the free gift of salvation

today. You'll be saved and spend eternity in

heaven. And it's all good. And Jesus will take

care of everything. And they just really should

have just stopped right before the end there.

Because while it is all good and Jesus will take

care of everything, one of the things that Jesus

takes care of is making you a devoted, hardworking,

diligent servant of the living God. He was, and

you're supposed to become like him. It's a commitment

to remain anchored in apostolic truth. So it

is with the believer. We are planted by the grace

of Christ, but we are called to cultivate our

walk, to make our lives fertile ground. for what

God is trying to accomplish and to guard our

doctrine so that we won't slip a field and add

to salvation something additional. Like you've

got to be circumcised to be saved. You've got

to be baptized to be saved. You've got to do

this or that or the other thing to be saved.

You can't do that. It truly is a free gift of

salvation. Yes, after the free gift of salvation,

you become a steward of great grace so that you

can be diligent. But it is free. and we cannot

make it anything but free. Three things I want

you to see in the text then. The first one, and

it's very, very, very clear. So everybody in

this room should not walk out with anything but

a clear understanding of this simple point. The

Christian life includes hard work. I get it.

We live in the fast food, fast remote, fast entertainment,

fast distraction generation. I'm here to tell

you that fast food, fast distraction, fast remote,

fast entertainment generation, none of that.

will put you in heaven. It'll all put you in

hell. Every bit of it. It's all designed to make

it easier. And yes, so it's good that some things

are easier. So I can spend more time talking

about Christ, more time reading my Bible, more

time focused on Jesus. And for that purpose,

I'll go grab myself a quick sandwich from a fast

food restaurant. So I'll not be distracted. I'll

pray over and ask blessings on this cursed meal

that may pollute my body. But I'm going to do

it. Or I'll go buy something that is quickly

rendered, that actually is a good meal for my

body. And it's quick. I'll grab a salad or whatever,

and then I'll get on to the diligent work of

following the Lord Jesus Christ. But the problem

is, in the midst of how easy all that is, we

don't use the excess generated for hard work

following Jesus. I want you to imagine for a

moment a gardener who plants a beautiful, delicate

fruit tree. He knows that if he simply plants

it and walks away, there will come weeds and

pests, harsh winds. So to see a harvest, he works

willingly. watering, pruning, tending daily,

defending the tree as necessary from predators

that would come and consume it and its fruit.

Sometime he might have to work to fight a little,

but no one or nothing can come and steal that

fruit. That is the kind of life that Christ,

God's Holy Spirit, now Paul, Timothy, and us

are to understand we are called to. We are not

left to our own opinions. If you have an opinion

that is contrary to scripture, I suggest you

put it in the category under this will hurt me.

And instead, inform and enlighten yourself by

what the word of God says. Whenever you say,

well, the word of God says, well, I'm okay to

do this. And you know that it also elsewhere

says that you should not do that. All you're

doing is twisting and warping the word of God

to make it easier on you to avoid a diligent

life. Our spiritual health is directly tied to

the intake of the real scriptures of the Bible.

and in taking them for us to walk them out being

hearers and doers of the word. Just as we require

daily food for physical survival, the soul requires

the pure milk of the word. You can get three

meals a day, seven days a week, and your body

will not die, but your soul will languish a little

more and a little more and a little more until

it's no longer in Christ or never actually was

if you choose to ignore feeding it. with the

word of God. There is a chemical compound that

has been introduced recently within the last,

say, 10, 15 years or so. It's become fairly common.

It's called maltodextrin. Maltodextrin is a substance

made from the leftover parts of corn, wheat,

and other vegetation that's edible. And these

parts are technically edible, but they don't

actually provide you with anything good for you.

They don't have good nutrients, whatever. What

they do is they take this. leftover parts and

they pulp it. They grind it up to the smallest

bits. And then they mix in some water and some

other things. And through hydrolysis, they turn

it into a sort of a paste. I want you to be aware.

Melted dextrin has now made its way into most

potato chips. It's in takis. Have you ever eaten

a taki? Not melted dextrin. Pretty much always.

It's in a ton of foods. And here's why. Because

melted dextrin is what is called flavor neutral.

It takes on the flavor of whatever it's put in.

Side note, you are not meant to be nor were you

created to be flavor neutral. You don't just

go in a room and blend in with everybody else.

Melted dextrin goes in there. It's flavor neutral.

And now it takes on the flavor. So if they can

use up to 10 % of melted dextrin in a product,

their product might still taste exactly. Go buy

Doritos. I believe Doritos now has melted dextrin.

All the cheaper brands of corn chips definitely

do, right? I'm pretty sure Doritos does now too.

Because you can buy that worthless, I'm going

to call it, that worthless crap. left over from

farms, right? You can buy that stuff and you

can put it into the Doritos cheaper than literally

anything else that's in Doritos. So if they can

make your Doritos out of 10 % maltodextrin, then

they get a 10 % higher profit margin. And so

it is invading every food, right? But it's not

real food. And I submit to you that the same

thing is happening with Christianity. There are

a whole bunch of people. who are professing to

build believers in Christ. They're saying, I

love Jesus, and I'm following Jesus, and I'm

following his word, right? But they're 10 % malefidextrin

of the world. They're stuffing themselves with

feel -good teaching or progressive gospel revolution

so that in a year or 10 years or 20 years down

the road, what they're preaching won't have anything

to do with scripture. I've been in churches,

in churches that had church on the wall that

didn't preach the Bible at all. Nobody has to

preach the Bible. Just to call themselves a church,

you just need to be able to put those letters

on the wall. There is a grand movement in the

United States of America right now called the

Universalist Church. They arguably believe that

literally every human being will come into heaven.

No matter what you believe, no matter what faith

you're part of, you will come into heaven by

some means or other. Jesus Christ, however, said

that no one cometh unto the Father except through

him. And so they are in contrast to Jesus, but

they will tell you that they are not. How did

that get started? Well, Jesus loves everybody

and wants to see everybody come into heaven.

And God is sovereign and powerful, right? And

so Jesus loves everybody and wants to see. He

died for everybody. And so you just take that

one teaching that God sent his son Jesus to die

for everybody, that the world might come into

heaven. And you just stretch it a little bit,

honoring surely the power of God and say that

everyone will come into heaven, whether they

believe or not. And pretty soon you're not preaching

the gospel, not the one that Jesus said, I have

come that I might preach to the poor. Not the

one that Paul preached, not the one that the

disciples preached. See, all you got to do is

add that 10 % of quote -unquote maltodextrin,

and then pretty soon, all you have is maltodextrin.

It's a worthless lie. We were called to a diligent

life, learning, preaching, reading out loud,

teaching the Word of God, above all, being absorbed

into these things. If you are a follower of the

Lord Jesus Christ, that is your life now. Turn

it off, shut it down, put it away, get away from

it, and make your life about the word of God

and Jesus Christ who saved your soul false. The

second thing to see in the text then about this

diligent life then is how we have become stewards

of the gift. See, it was a gift given to you.

The gospel, the truth about Jesus, it was a gift

given to you. And if you take a gift and you

don't use the gift or you put the gift in the

closet, you store it away or maybe you break

it the second day. We've all seen a child who

got the gift they exactly want for Christmas

and they broke it on Christmas Day. There is

quite a bit of sorrow along with the fact that

the gift didn't turn out to be the great and

glorious thing that everyone anticipated it would

be. I've known a lot of mothers, quote unquote

mothers, women who gave birth to children. And

then from the day that they gave birth to that

child. They continued to be a mediocre mother.

And eventually it went into the care of children's

services or a grandparent or whatever, because

the children need to be taken care of. You can't

neglect that gift of a child and have it be what

it is supposed to be. Here, Paul tells Timothy,

do not neglect the gift you have. Practice these

things. Immerse yourself in these things so that.

all may see your progress. Every believer is

a priest with direct access to God and is indwelt

by the Holy Spirit. I've said that previously

in the last couple of weeks a couple of times.

But this is not a passive existence. Yes, it's

receiving a gift, but it is an active, empowered

walk. We must be all in, allowing our progress

and holiness to be evident to those around us.

I want you to think for a moment of a professional

athlete. Even Paul used this analogy elsewhere,

right? A professional athlete. I just know that

there are some of these guys, it's in their DNA.

The reality is they have aptitude that other

people just don't have. They are wired a certain

way. It's in their personality. It's in their

DNA. Their skill, what everybody anticipates

or calls skill in the professional sports, for

example, is really a gift. But even though they

have that gift and it's written in their DNA

and in their minds, if basketball practice or

football practice is re... replaced with donut

eating and cocaine -laden parties, then you and

I both know that they never make it. So there

are people out there who have received this incredible

potential, but without grueling daily discipline,

they are called to train, and they've chosen

not to. And there, in 1 Timothy 4 .7, which was

a little before where we started, Paul says,

train ourselves in godliness. I know this is

a contrast. I understand it's a struggle, but

this is what I want you to hear. The greatest

gift that a Christian has been given is a disciplined

life filled with Christ. That is it. That's what

Jesus lived for 33, 4, 5 years. And we get, we

are allowed, we are gifted to be like him. And

the Holy Spirit gift is given exactly the right

one for you. And you begin. to use your Holy

Spirit gift to grow in it, to use it to bless

the body and lift up other believers and so on.

And it ought to be, if you can do something miraculous

in your gifting and you see that, that you never

neglect it after that. Which makes me wonder

if there aren't a lot of Christians who haven't

figured out what their spiritual gift is, because

I see a lot of neglect. Pastors who are called

to preach or young men who are licensed to preach

the gospel. And the time comes where it's their

turn to preach. They're in the rotation. Or maybe

they get called on a Sunday. Or maybe they get

called to pastor a church. And they haven't written

a sermon in weeks or months. I remember when

I was first called to preach at East Toledo.

And Pastor Don says, you know, I want you to

preach every other week at the contemporary service

on Saturday nights. Can you do that? And I said,

well, yeah, I can do that. He said, well, what

do you mean? You know, it's a big commitment.

Now you're not going to be preaching once in

a while when I call on you. But you're going

to be there two times a month. preaching. I said,

brother, I'm called to preach. I'll preach two

times a day. He said, well, you have to write

an awful lot of sermons. I said, I will spend

every waking hour writing sermons. The day that

Sherry had Aaron, I was called to preach at the

contemporary worshipers. That was my time. And

I had written a sermon and I was at the hospital.

And then Sherry was rushing to get the baby.

I had nothing to do with the contemporary service.

She was ready to be done. She said, we're going

to get this process done. And mid -afternoon,

she had Aaron. And that evening I went to the

Contemporary Worship Service. I got there about

five or ten minutes before it started. Alicia

was there. She was going to help lead worship.

It was a long time ago. And one of the men walked

up and they said, Did you bring pictures? And

I said, You better believe I brought pictures.

I got about 20 pictures on my phone. And they

said, We didn't think you were going to be here.

And I said, If you didn't think I was going to

be here, then you don't know me at all. It's

time that we realize that this character that

has been bestowed on us, this gift from Christ

that is diligent and hardworking, will take us

through the moments of struggle. You're not the

purchaser of your salvation. You received it

as a free gift from the God of the universe meant

to be used every single day. And the greatest

gift that God has ever given you is a disciplined

life in Jesus Christ. The third and final point

in the text, we'll go to our conclusion. is that

this is about a defended life. This is about

standing firm in the truth. Keep a close watch

on yourself and on the teaching, he says. John

warns in 2 John 1, 9, everyone who goes on ahead

and does not abide in the teaching of Christ

does not have God. When the gospel is at stake,

the truth of the virgin birth, the exclusivity

of Christ's atonement, the reality of his resurrection,

people start to say, well, I don't know if he

was born, came back to life on the third day

or not. That is not the gospel. He came back

to life on the third day. He was crucified for

the sins of mankind. He was made sin for us that

we might have the righteousness of God. We must

be willing to fight. I want you to get your craw

up. I was at one of the early renditions of Camp

You Can, and Jason was there. And it was, I think,

the second year that we ever went. And they had

this kids for all the young men concession stand

and they gave them all a certain number of tickets.

And all the guys, they thought they were going

to be all all that in a bag of chips. They were

going to go use all their tickets to buy all

the coolest stuff on the first day. And then

they formed a consortium and they sat around

the table and they had all the coolest stuff.

And then they would sell that stuff to the other

kids for more tickets than what the concession

stand would have been. And then they would wind

up with more stuff. They were like. Yeah, they

were making a business out of it. And, of course,

that had to be shut down, and eventually it was

shut down. But in the process, there was a lot

of stuff that was floating around on that table.

Well, Caleb had used his tickets to buy himself

half a case of Mountain Dew or something. I forget

what it was. Was that Powerade? Half a case of

Powerade. And then one of the young men who was

part of the consortium, whether he got confused

or he did it on purpose, he went and snagged

Caleb's case of Powerade and moved it over with

all their stuff. So Jason comes to me and he

says, Well, somebody stole Caleb's Powerade.

And I'm like, well, I don't know if there's anything

I can do about it, really. Because they got Powerade

over there. They put it with the other Powerade.

I was like, what's Caleb's Powerade? What's not?

I had told Caleb like five minutes before that

he needed to keep an eye on his Powerade. Caleb's

pretty young then. Just barely old enough to

go to camp if he can. And I said, I really don't

know if there's anything we can do about it.

And so then Jason walked away. He didn't take

no for an answer. Jason went over there and confronted

the kid who had taken Caleb's powerade. And he

told him in no uncertain terms that that kid

was going to give that powerade back to his brother.

So that's my brother. And if you don't give him

back his powerade, we're going to have a problem.

I'm telling you that there is a time for you

to go to war for your family, for yourself, for

your faith. Somebody says, well, I think it means,

I think it says, I had somebody tell me just

on Tuesday that there is a man who is a professing

Christian, is in their household, that now has

been converted by reading something in Genesis,

which I can tell you right now, it's not there,

right? That he's been converted to being a flat

earther. He now believes there's a flat earth,

right? He also believes that there's nothing

such as outer space or beyond the atmosphere

because he read it in the book of Genesis. Now,

you and I know, because we've been through the

book of Genesis, at least most of us, very thoroughly,

that it doesn't say anything like that. But that

man is now interpreting our Bible to believe

those two falsehoods. And I said, I'm going to

tell you right now, that ain't true. And I'll

tell him to his face it ain't true. And we had

that conversation after Bible study on Tuesday

night. There is a time that we need to defend

the faith. There is a time that we need to defend

our families. You living for Christ, to some

extent, is defending your future family. It's

defending your future connections. And you better

be ready to defend your brother. You better be

ready to defend your wife. You better be ready

to defend your kids. And the Bible doesn't need

us to defend it in the sense that if we don't

do something, it's just going to crumble away.

God will take care of that part. But it is your

job as a Christian to defend the truth when it

is marred. And for you to say, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no. That's not what it says. Let me tell

you what it says. If we compromise the core doctrines

of the faith, according to what we've read, we

lose the very power that saves, that saves us

and saves others we come into contact with. If

you believe a gospel a year after you supposedly

believed the correct one, and now you believe

a gospel that is flawed and wrong, there is a

question as to whether you ever believed the

true gospel in the first place. How did you get

there? Were you not diligent? Were you not a

steward of the gift that God had given you? Did

you not take steps to make sure that this false

teaching did not take root in you and the people

around you? Why would you not do that? It's time

for us to realize that there is a defense of

the faith that we are called to. That brings

us then to our conclusion. And it's kind of a

doozy. There's quite a bit of information here.

Note takers, I apologize in advance. The Bible

says this in Romans 12, 11. Never be lacking

in zeal. That means you're doing things with

energy. But keep your spiritual fervor serving

the Lord. 2 Peter 1, 5 -10, and I'm summarizing.

Make every effort to add to your faith and then

be all the more diligent to make your calling

and election sure. Hebrews 6. We want each of

you to show the same diligence to the very end.

2 Timothy 2. Do your best, study, be diligent.

to present yourself to God as one approved, a

worker who does not need to be ashamed. So then,

2 Peter 3, Dear friends, make every effort to

be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with

him. 1 Corinthians 15, 58, Always give yourselves

fully to the work of the Lord, because you know

that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. And

I would subtext, every other kind of labor is

in vain. Philippians 2, 12, Continue to work

out your salvation with fear and trembling. Luke,

13, make every effort to enter through the narrow

door. 1 Timothy 4, 15, be diligent in these matters.

Give yourself wholly to them or be absorbed by

them, as we just read. The church, us, this people,

we find our strength in faithfulness. 1 Corinthians

12, the body is one and has many members. God

has so composed the body that the members may

have the same care for one another. Romans 12,

4 -8. Different members, different functions,

one body, gifts given to be used faithfully.

Ephesians 4. The whole body, joined and held

together by every point with which it is equipped,

when each part is working properly, makes the

body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

1 Peter 4. As each has received a gift, use it

to serve one another as good stewards of God's

varied grace. Faithfulness, then, as the measure

of the strength and reward that we have received,

Matthew 25, well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful over a little, I will

set you over much. 1 Corinthians 4, it is required

of stewards that they be found faithful. Luke

16, one who is faithful in a very little is also

faithful in much. Galatians 6, not growing weary

and doing good, doing good to all, especially

to those who are of the household of faith. The

unity of what we are talking about, all of us

coming together to this conclusion and deciding

to be found this way as stewards of exactly what

we are talking about, all of us together, that

is what will make us whole. Ephesians 4 says,

two are better than one. A threefold cord is

not quickly broken. Philippians 2, being of one

mind, looking not only to one's own interest.

Colossians 2, the body nourished and knit together

through its joints and ligaments grows with a

growth that is. from God and acts to the early

church's devotion as an example there, shared

life as a picture of collective strength, I actually

could go on. I'm asking you today to realize

that you have been given the greatest gift. You've

literally been invited into the family of God.

Jesus once said, as they were challenging him

about working on the Sabbath, he said to them,

my father is working, has been working always.

That's our God. We're not here just to enjoy.

We're not here just to receive. But we have received

the greatest gift that anyone ever can. The character

of a Christian is marked by a willingness to

labor in grace. What Paul was telling Timothy

to do was to use the things that he had received

to affect his character in a way that when people

looked at him, they would see the progress that

he had made as a Christian. They would see what

it looks like to be a member of the family of

God and choose to do the same. But we must remember,

our work does not earn our salvation. That was

already paid for. It rather flows from our salvation.

We are, as a human race, a fallen, broken people,

unable to save ourselves. Jesus Christ took on

human flesh, lived the life that we could not

live, died the death that we deserved, rose again

conquering sin and death, and now offers eternal

life to all who repent, that is to turn to God

and believe. If you've never trusted Christ,

then your work right now simply must cease. You

need to depend on Jesus for your salvation. If

you've depended on Jesus for your salvation,

you've repented of your sin and turned to the

risen Jesus, then you join the church and God's

people in the holy labor of walking in him. That's

what it means to be a Christian. Somebody asks

you, what does it mean to be a Christian? It

means I have received the free gift of salvation,

which I could not pay for, which my request could

well have been declined for. No matter how many

times I sent away money or how much work I did,

I would not have gotten it. But Jesus Christ

made it happen. I have received the free gift

of salvation. And now, I walk as a steward of

that gift, living my life as an example that

others might see my progress, realize the gift

is offered to them just the same, and accept

it. That's what it means to be a Christian. And

that's hard. And it's also easy. Whoever abides

in teaching, John writes in 2 John 1, whoever

abides in the teaching has both the Father and

the Son. I have two closing illustrations and

I'll be done. The first one is with regards to

salvation. So there is a creek, a stream, if

you will, near Watson, California. I have the

name written down. Watsonville, California. It's

called South Sepuedes. And if you're a Spanish

-speaking person in the room, you kind of already

know what that means. It means get yourself out.

And so the creek, both beds of the creek are

quicksand. And so if a person finds themselves

in the creek, they are in real trouble. It is

deep enough to drown in, and plus quicksand is

very dangerous, and you can drown in quicksand.

The story, as it goes, is that there was a young

Mexican worker who found himself in the creek

prior to the creek having any real name. And

a Spaniard rode by on horseback and saw him in

the creek. And he said to the man in the creek,

he said, Get yourself out if you can. Get yourself

out. Meaning, I'm not going to help you. I'm

not going to get down off my horse. I don't have

a rope. I'm not going to throw you a rope. Whatever.

You're in the creek and you're in trouble. Get

yourself out. You cannot. Get yourself out if

you're in sin and do not have Jesus Christ, his

blood. and his salvation, nor can anyone in the

world. And as Christians, we are not meant to

be going around to saying to people, get yourself

out. So the next time you're talking with somebody,

if they're not professing the name of Christ,

you can stop telling them to pray. You can stop

telling them to read their Bible. You can stop

telling them to come to church and start telling

them to come to Jesus. Now, should they be invited?

Sure. Are they welcome? Sure. Do we want them

to come and sit here? Sure. Absolutely. We're

not chasing anybody out as long as they're not

making it more difficult for others to come.

We want. Everybody here, this is willing. At

the same time, don't walk away from somebody

who's lost without telling them how to be saved.

No polish is necessary. You really could just

say Jesus. It's all about Jesus. Do I need to

read something? It's all about Jesus. Do I need

to do something in particular? Do I get down

on my knees? No, it's all about Jesus. Did Jesus

be your Lord? Will you have that? Will you let

Jesus tell you what to do with your life? Will

he be in charge of you? Will you let his payment

pay for your sins? Will you do that? Is that

enough? Will you do it? But I don't see how that

matters. I don't see how that's going to help.

I don't care if you see how or not. I'm just

asking you, will you do it? I went out evangelizing

in East Toledo with a man who loved the Lord

and he wanted to pray for people to accept Christ.

He was all over the place. And we got in several

conversations. I appreciate this about him because

they would start asking him about doctrinal points

or strange things that were kind of like getting

off the course. And he'd say, listen, I'm just

here to invite you to Jesus Christ as Lord and

Savior. Will you pray right now and be saved?

And then he'd just wait. And they'd say, but

Adam, but Saul, but Cain, but he's like, I'm

just here to ask you to be saved. Do you know

that you have sin? Well, yeah. Do you know that

you need a savior? Well, yeah. Will you be saved?

Are you saved? Will you be saved? And then quite

a few times people would say, well, you know,

yeah, that's what I really need. I really don't

need to know about those odd points of scripture.

What I really need is a savior. And they would

pray to be saved. I'm asking you, I'm asking

myself to do the same thing. Last one. This comes

from popular culture, and it's more about what

it takes to survive as a Christian. You may know

Indiana Jones. You've probably seen one or two

Indiana Jones movies over the day. Well, at one

point in time, Indiana Jones is on the nuclear

testing site out southwest of the United States.

They get ready to set off a nuclear bomb, and

he realizes it. And he locks himself in a lead

refrigerator to survive the blast. And this in

the film industry would forever be known. It's

coined as a phrase, and it's called blowing up

the fridge. because you can't survive a nuclear

blast in a lead -lined refrigerator, right? That's

not actually possible. And so what that term

in the movie industry means is letting your character

do something that by all rights they cannot possibly

do and putting it in the movie, right? There

are actually other movies that had it in the

script that somebody survived a nuclear explosion

in a lead -lined fridge, and they said, we're

not putting that in the movie, and they cut it

out of the script before they made the movie.

But Indiana Jones franchise, and this is toward

the end of the franchise. We've already seen

him do incredible things, and he survived by

throwing everything out of the refrigerator,

getting there, pulling the door shut around him,

and then it blows up. And then in the next scene,

you see the fridge come crashing down into the

desert sands, and he crawls out, and he's perfectly

fine because he was locked in the fridge. And

that's called blowing up the fridge. You can

look it up online if you want. An amazing lead

character is giving an amazing feat that would

not be possible in real life. So fast forward,

it blew up the internet. So blowing up the fridge

blew up the internet, right? Talking all about

everything that they did in this movie and how

he survived by getting in the fridge. Now that's

ridiculous. And scientists everywhere said it's

not even possible, whatever. Finally, way to

the end, 98 % of the way through the argument,

and probably people are still talking about this

today, I don't even know, but on Reddit, a Reddit

user brought up this, and I'm not saying you

get into any of this, by the way, but this is

an interesting thing I learned. And they said,

here's the funny thing. In an earlier movie,

Jones was present when the Ark of the Covenant

was entered. And theoretically, the death angel

was shown in the movie and everybody around him

was destroyed. But he and the woman that he was

with closed their eyes. They didn't look and

they survived, which means that Jones has experienced

the presence of God by the time he locks himself

in the bridge. But it goes beyond that because

in a little later movie, they're searching for

the Holy Grail and Jones drinks out of the Holy

Grail, the cup. that was used theoretically to

catch the blood of Jesus when he died on the

cross. And the Reddit user said, well, you know,

if you've been with God, if you've experienced

God, if you've experienced the blood of Jesus,

and you're willing to do the work, then you can

survive anything. I ask the praise team to come

forward and lead us at this time. If you're here

today and you do not accept Jesus Christ as your

Lord and Savior, I would ask you to do that now.

And if you haven't received that great gift,

then I would ask you to commit yourself now to

a life of labor, of love, doing these things

as an example of a believer to live for Jesus

and when necessary to defend the faith and always

to spread the gospel as it is written in this

word and was preached and taught to you. Amen.

Would you stand with me and sing this song? If

the Lord is leading you to respond, then I would

ask you to do so. And yes, that takes work. And

yes, that takes dismissing some things. And yes,

it takes not neglecting your Holy Spirit to get

this year's salvation. That's a big gift. And

all means, everything will come your way. Do

it bad enough. Will they see you as an example?

Will they see your progress and know that you

are following the holy God in the universe?