Marching Orders - [2 Timothy]

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Well, as some of you know, I love graveyards. I love to go visit them, walk, pray.
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I love to take the men who are in my discipleship class right across the street, and there's a little cemetery right over there, and I love to have them open up the
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Bible and preach to the tombstones, teaching them valuable lessons about unless God opens up the eyes and hearts of the people you're preaching to, you're preaching to dead men, you're preaching to bones.
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I wish I could do it today, but we're not going to. I wish I could say, let's file out row by row, and we're going to go across the street to that tombstone area, that cemetery, because I want to preach a sermon to a person in light of their grave.
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Sometimes you'll go to a burial plot, and you'll see a person there buried, and it'll say 1901 to 1998, but then it'll have one of their children, and it'll say 1940, dash, and then there's nothing there because they're still waiting for the person to die.
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Today I want to preach a sermon to Dave Jeffries, and you're all just going to listen in.
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And I wish I was standing by Dave Jeffries' grave when I preach this. By the way, I can't find
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Dave. Dave, where are you? I'm going to need to know. Oh, you're hiding behind Bartlett. Nice. Pick a big guy to hide behind.
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I'm not big on church calendars. Let's pick a Mother's Day sermon, Father's Day sermon.
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I'm usually into just exposition sequentially, but once in a while in the life of a church, for ordination, there needs to be a special sermon.
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And for the sending of a faithful pastor, there needs to be one as well. And so today
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I'm going to preach to Dave Jeffries with all of you listening, and I wish I was standing at Dave Jeffries' grave, because Dave, you're in the fourth quarter, and I want you to finish well, and in light of meeting
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Christ Jesus one day, and standing at the beam of judgment, I'm going to give you several charges from 2
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Timothy so that you might be found faithful by the Spirit of God. So let's turn our Bibles to 2
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Timothy. This is like a graveside sermon for Paul as he preaches it to Timothy, because Timothy knows as he reads this book,
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Paul's going to die soon. Paul himself knows it. And so this morning, not an ordination message, but a sending message for Dave Jeffries and, of course,
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Deb as she goes with him, as she helps him do his duties.
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You say, well, why should I listen? I'm not an elder. I'm not leaving. I'm staying here. I'm one of the elect people who are staying at Bethlehem Bible Church.
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It's good for you to know 2 Timothy, isn't it? It's good for you to know what is required of pastors.
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Every one of these ten charges you could easily turn into a prayer request for the leadership at Bethlehem Bible Church, or if you're visiting today, for one of your leaders.
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It's good to go through 2 Timothy to see what does God require in a man of God.
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You'll find out very quickly it's not friendship. I like my pastor because we're friends. That's good, but that's not what you'll see in 2
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Timothy. I like him because he's a buddy of mine. He's a CEO. He's a coach.
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He's a life coach. I think you're going to be very surprised as you see Paul writing on his deathbed.
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What would you tell people on your deathbed? I've already imagined it. All my kids are around me and my wife, and I'm laying there and I'm thinking, what do
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I tell them? Am I like the fool in California when asked, what are your last words before you're executed?
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And he said, go Raiders. You'll find this much different.
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It's much more different when Paul with solemnity, with a very personal approach, gives a charge to his child in the faith,
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Timothy. And as you sit and listen, you'll say to yourself, that's what a pastor should be. That's what
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I need to pray for, that my pastors would stay and remain. And certainly, if pastors are to hold the word up, aren't you two as well?
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Absolutely. So this morning, we're going to look at 2 Timothy as I talk to Dave, and I have a lot of people who are just eavesdropping as I give the marching orders to Dave and his helpmate.
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Before we start, let's go to 2 Timothy 1. I'm not going to preach through everything, but I'm just going to pick out 10 salient, charges for Dave as we send him off.
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By the way, this would be a good sermon to send to any church that has a search committee needing a pastor.
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What do you look for in a pastor? You like his style, you like his accent, he's friendly, he's got management experience, he's a good coordinator, he's been a
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CEO. What do you look for? He could do all those things, but if he's not involved with these things, then he's not a man called of God.
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Now, today is going to be a little different as well because I'm going to switch between the ESV and the
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NAS. So if you're wondering what's going on, I'll just tell you ahead of time.
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Before we start, look at verses 1 and 2 of 2 Timothy 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child, grace, mercy, and peace from God the
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Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul didn't stop preaching
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Christ Jesus for 30 years. The Damascus Road experience had not changed him, he hadn't gone on to bigger and better things and now here comes the charge.
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How about Paul's last words? What would he say? Ten charges for you,
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Dave Jefferies, ten prayer requests for Bethlehem Bible Church to pray for their pastors.
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By the way, we'll need more of your prayers now because every time there's a kind of a chairman of the board, kind of an elder statesman elder, we happen to send them off to populate other churches.
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Just it was what, two years ago, three years ago when Louis Brown went and left and then now Dave, Pradeep, I don't get any ideas.
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But that's just what we do, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Martin Luther said there are four slits in your hand, one, two, three, four, why?
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To hold money and people loosely. We don't own each other, the
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Lord does and he moves people at his own good pleasure and so now Paul is going to die and he gives with great solemnity these charges filled with emotion to Timothy and so therefore
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Dave, I give them to you. Marching orders for Dave Jeffries and anyone who would dare call themselves a pastor, for anyone who would love to be a pastor or an elder or a leader.
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Number one, Dave, remain loyal to the gospel. Remain loyal to the gospel.
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Let's go to chapter one verse thirteen. This book is full of all kinds of imperatives, all kinds of commands.
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This is very military in the sense that there's a superior officer giving commands to the lower officer and the expectation is going to be obedience, jump how high.
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It's going to be, you know, yes sir or no sir or I don't understand sir but it's going to be very crisp, very clean, very full of commands and look at the first one in verse thirteen.
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Follow or retain the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
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By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
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Dave, your job is to retain the gospel that God has by his will given to you.
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To keep it. It's your responsibility to hold on to it, to preserve it.
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All the things that you've been taught from the scriptures by all your pastors to keep and retain and what else are you to do?
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You are to guard this. Timothy was probably feeling a temptation to slack off, to loosen up, to modify his message and then
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Paul said, Timothy, no you're supposed to keep it. As my brother would say, with a white knuckle grip.
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You've been taught something, somebody has entrusted their lives to you because God has sent them into your life, taught you the scriptures and you're to keep it for yourself.
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To keep it yourself rather, not to keep it for yourself, but to keep it yourself. Not by your own strength,
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Dave, not by your own power, verse 14, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
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But not just keeping it yourself, not just keeping it, but guarding it.
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You see the next verse? Verse 14, guard the gospel.
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Just the other day I thought about this illustration. If I as the senior pastor am the aircraft carrier,
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Dave has many different ways that I could describe him, but Dave's like a destroyer.
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Destroyer Dave. Okay, he's like a battleship. And his job is to guard, not only to retain the gospel, so he can preach it of course, but to guard it.
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There are enemies of the gospel. There are people trying to infuse works into grace. There are people that are trying to say
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Jesus isn't God. And as an elder, Dave Jeffries, as you go with false teachers and with false teaching, your job is not to turn the other cheek.
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Your job is to guard and to protect and to pummel and to bury the ideological ideas of false teachers.
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If I could say it this way, Dave, when it comes to false teaching, you cannot be a pacifist.
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You cannot be a pacifist. Your job is to murder false doctrines with premeditation, with thoroughness, crushing them out.
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I'm not saying he should murder false teachers, but there are imprecatory
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Psalms. But for today, Dave, I want you to murder with premeditation.
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Anything that would take away from the glory of Christ and his majesty and his sufficiency. Paul says to Timothy, and I say to you, you have to guard it.
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It is an imperative. The gospel in people's eyes could be lost or damaged.
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And your job, not by your own strength, but the spirit of God's strength is to protect it. It sounds like,
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Jude, beloved, I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation. I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered for all.
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Sadly, some have been affected by the false gospel. Look at verse 15. This is why pastors need to protect.
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This is why pastors need to guard. Paul gives both negative and positive examples of what he just told
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Timothy to make it more relevant. You are aware of the fact, verse 15, that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are
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Phygellus and Hermogenes. Some people didn't want to retain the gospel.
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Some people didn't want to guard it. Some people turned away from it. But thankfully, wonderfully, not everybody did.
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Verse 16, the Lord grant mercy to the house of Anesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me.
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Dave, today, in the attitude of Brian McLaren and love wins and universalism and everything else, guard the gospel.
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Fight off the wolves. Number two. Okay, the first one took 10 minutes. I got nine to go. Didn't you do that when you were younger?
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Somebody said, I have four points, and you thought, okay, the first one took 15 minutes, extrapolate it out. Do you ever do that? But there's a little secret.
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Preachers always preach the first few points with more time involved, and then the last few, it's just speed dial.
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It's just, you've got to finish. Since Dave won't be back next week, I have to finish all 10. Number two,
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Dave, don't rely on your own resources or your own power or your own smarts. In other words, be strengthened by the grace that is found in Christ Jesus.
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That's exactly what Paul says to Timothy, 2 Timothy 2, verse 1. This job is too big, being a pastor, being an elder.
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Who can do it? You then, my child, be strengthened, ESV is way better than NAS here, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
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Continually, it's a present passive imperative, present ongoing, passive, it's done to you, imperative, it must be done.
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It must be your attitude, Dave, to have a continual dependence on God for your work.
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You can't do it without him. Jesus said, without me, you can do what? Nothing.
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And if you look backwards in the epistle, retain, you can't do that on your own. Guard, you can't do that on your own.
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If you look forward in this epistle, you can't train, you can't preach, you can't do anything on your own. Keep on being strengthened,
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Dave Jeffries, by the grace that is found in Christ Jesus. Be a man of prayer, be a man strengthened by Christ Jesus.
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Number three, pass the baton to the next generation. Dave, remain loyal to the gospel.
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Dave, don't rely on your own resources. Number three, Dave, pass the baton on to the next generation.
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And by the way, you're probably thinking right about now, that's what Dave has done already here at Bethlehem Bible Church.
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That's true, but how does God motivate people? How does God keep people on the straight and narrow?
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How does God make people excel even more? Answer, through the preaching of the gospel, through the preaching of the word.
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May we never come to the text and say, well, we already do all that, we already get all that, I don't need to read any more scripture like that.
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Passing the baton on to the next generation. Look at verse two of 2 Timothy. This is for Paul to Timothy, but then it goes right on down the list to Dave Jeffries.
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The things which you heard from me, Paul said, in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
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You've got to take the baton that's been given to you and pass it to the next generation. Because my guess is,
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Dave, in about ten years after you've trained other men there, it's time to move back to New England. You want to go fortify that church, solidify it, and then come back.
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Wouldn't be the first time. It's a neat little story.
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Dave probably knows the exact dates better than I do. But it was about 25 years ago,
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Dave was an elder here at Bethlehem Baptist Church. And Dave did not want to cause any kind of division.
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When Bob Bowman was the pastor, and there was a few issues of theology that they just didn't line up in agreement with.
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But Dave said, I want to be a support, I don't want to divide, and I'll gladly step down. That was when
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Bob was preaching through Ephesians. And then years later, Dave came to visit, and I was preaching through Ephesians.
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And then here Dave is. And so I'm really praying that when he goes to Dallas and finds a new church, the pastor says, we're going to start a new series.
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It's going to be Ephesians, please open your Bible. Dave, by teaching, by example, by illustration, pass on the baton.
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Look down at verse 14 as well. This has us do with the same idea here, remind them.
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2 Timothy 2 .14, remind them of these things and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good but only ruins the hearers.
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Remind those that are going to teach to others, remind those that influence hearers to do the same thing.
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Passing on, discipleship. Dave, I think you're great at this, but the charge is still there.
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Continue to pour your life into the hearts of men who want to be in ministry.
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Number four, Dave Jeffreys, suffer well. Marching orders for every pastor and today at our church for Dave Jeffreys, suffer well.
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Would you like to have that for a command from Paul? Would you like to have that for marching orders?
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Suffer. Look at verse three. If you're a member today of the church or a visitor, part and parcel of Christianity is suffering.
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Everybody suffers. Every Christian suffers. Verse three, suffer hardship with me.
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Undergo affliction with me. Here's an imperative again, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
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Soldiers suffer. Soldiers of the cross suffer hardship. I can't think of any other model of a person with a job description who suffers more than men in Afghanistan on the front lines.
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They suffer many hardships. Yet, what does the soldier do?
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He's single -minded in his approach. He's got blinders on. And even though he's suffering, he's got one aim, one view,
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Christ Jesus' glory. He's not thinking about all kinds of other things.
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I thought this was fascinating, Dave. One commentator said, servants of Christ are not merely to be well -rounded dabblers in all types of trivial pursuits.
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They've got one thing that they're focused on. And with a perseverance of a soldier.
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Or take a look at verse five, the analogy of the athlete. If anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.
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Athletes suffer. Try to find someone who's trained for the Olympics. They suffer. If you wanted to be in the
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Olympic Games back in the old days, you had to have strict training for 10 months as you would swear an oath before the false god,
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Zeus. Farmers suffer. Verse six, a hardworking farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.
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He says, consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Jesus suffered.
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Verse eight, remember Jesus Christ, Dave? This whole thing is about suffering.
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Look down at verse nine. Paul suffered for which I suffer hardship. This is all connected. Paul says to Timothy, you're going to suffer.
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Suffer for the glory of God. Remember verse eight, Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David.
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According to my gospel, he suffered. But he's the one who had the cross first and then the crown.
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He's the one that died on the cross first and then there was glory. And that's the Christian life. And mark this congregation.
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When somebody tells you it's glory without the cross, you know they're a false teacher. It's always the cross and then glory, the cross and then the crown.
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Never, oh, you get it all first and then you don't have to suffer. Jesus suffered. And now in context, look at verse nine.
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Paul suffered too, for which I suffer hardship, even to the imprisonment as a criminal. But the word of God is not imprisoned.
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Jesus suffered, but he was raised from the dead. Triumphed over suffering, which should motivate
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Timothy, which should motivate Dave Jeffries. Dave, I have a question for you.
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Do you think the gospel is worth suffering for? I think Christ Jesus and his gospel is.
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Listen to what John Calvin's preface to a Bible translation said.
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Without the gospel, everything is useless and vain. Without the gospel, we are not Christians. Without the gospel, all riches is poverty.
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All wisdom, folly before God. Strength is weakness and all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God.
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But by the knowledge of the gospel, we are made children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, citizens of the kingdom of heaven, heirs of God and Jesus Christ, by whom poor are made rich, the weak strong, the fools wise, the sinners justified, the desolate comforted, the doubting sure and the slaves free.
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If you take a look at the text, verse 8,
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Paul even arranged Jesus's names in the way that you would see his humanity first, his suffering first.
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When you say Christ Jesus, you're saying the Messiah, the person of Jesus. Now, in an odd way, you don't see
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Jesus Christ listed in the pastoral epistles like this very often. And so when it's Christ Jesus or Jesus Christ, there's a reason.
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Why is there a reason for it to be Jesus Christ now? Because Jesus, the humanity in his humanity is put up front, because in his humanity,
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Jesus suffered. And you suffer for the glory of God, Dave, but do you know who else you suffer for?
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For the elect. For the elect, verse 10. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of thee, what?
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Elect. For the sake of those chosen, NAS says. Pastors suffer with a view towards Jesus's suffering, but also because the payoff is wonderful in the lives of Christ's blood -bought people, the ones that Jesus picked in eternity past, suffer for them.
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It's amazing that they also, verse 10, may obtain salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
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It's worth it, Dave, the eternal glory that's shown in the face of people as God has chosen them in eternity past, and then the
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Spirit of God illumines their mind, it quickens them, and they believe, and you say, ministry is worth it.
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That's Paul's ministry in Titus, isn't it? Paul said, why do I exist? Here's why I exist. I have three reasons why
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I exist. There are a lot of people out there who have chosen that haven't believed yet, therefore I preach. There are a lot of people who believe and who need to be sanctified, therefore
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I preach. And there's a lot of people out there who need to be glorified, and therefore I preach. Maybe there are some people even here today that you aren't a believer, but God has called you in eternity past, and so we preach for you.
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It's worth everything for the sake of those God has chosen. People say all the time, well,
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I don't like this election, and I don't get predestination, and I don't get this other stuff. Well, you just keep reading your
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Bible, because then you'll get it. If you say to yourself, I will bow to Scripture, you'll start getting it.
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God chose Israel, He didn't choose anybody else. God chose some angels, He didn't choose them all.
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God chose Jacob, He didn't choose Esau. God chose Moses, He didn't choose Pharaoh.
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God chose you, and He didn't choose your friend. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. So, Dave, for the glory of Christ, suffer well, and for the elect, suffer well.
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Number five, Dave, study like God is watching you. Boy, this will be good for Sunday school teachers,
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Awana teachers. I hope you're not the ones that get up in the morning at about 8 .35 and driving frantically to church saying, what am
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I going to throw up to the kids today? I have a little bit of advice for you, kind of a side note, since people like rabbit trails at Bethlehem Bible Church, at least
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I do. Repent of that, or drop out. If pastors are supposed to study well, that means everybody else is supposed to study too.
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Look at verse 15. I mean, talk about weight and gravity. By the way, this is the verse,
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Dave, that when I'm studying, I say to myself, oh, I know that Greek word. And then I say, well, I think
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I do, but I better double check. It's worth opening up the book again to make sure. Be diligent, verse 15.
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Do your best, ESV says, to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
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Dave, Calvin said some preachers study like they were playing some kind of game. Paul says to Timothy, I want you to study diligently, sweat, have due care.
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It's difficult, but Paul says that word be diligent or do your best means to spare no effort.
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To spare no effort, or you will be ashamed by, well, it would be horrible if I got up and preached something that wasn't in the
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Bible and you gave me shame because you said, you know what, Mike didn't really do a good job. That would be bad. I would not like that.
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But that's not what the text is alluding to here. This passive ashamed means don't be forced to be ashamed.
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Who's going to force you to be ashamed? And the text here alludes to being disapproved by God himself.
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Dave, human popularity, human applause will come and go. But you want to know when you rest your head down at night after discharging your duty from the pulpit,
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God was pleased. And you have to cut things straight. You have to study.
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You have to sweat. You have to toil. Expository preaching is an exacting discipline.
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Maybe that's why it's not very popular. Number six,
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Dave, be encouraged. Dave, be encouraged in the gospel. What do you mean?
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Well, we've got some stuff here that's going on. Be loyal, guard, pass a baton, trust, suffer.
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There's some encouragement in gospel ministry. I'm very glad for that. Let's go to verse 16.
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There's going to be more discouragement, but then you'll see the encouragement. You're going to say, how is this encouraging? But we're going to get there.
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But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lend or lead to further ungodliness.
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Verse 16, irreverent babble, the ESV says. I just keep thinking of people who go to baseball games.
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I never played baseball when I was a kid, and it shows today. But I do remember going to the little league games, and they're saying, hey, batter, batter, batter, batter, hey, batter, batter, and doing all that stuff.
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I'm thinking, irreverent chatter, chatter, irreverent chatter, chatter, just this kind of all this talk that means nothing. It just leads people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gang green.
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A zombie -like sore eating itself, leprous green, gang green. I've seen gang green in the operating room before they have to amputate somebody's foot because it's gangrenous.
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And the smell of gang green you won't soon get over. These people's talk is like gang green.
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Think, how is this encouraging? Verse 18, men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place.
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Don't you know it? They upset the faith of some. So, Dave, even though the church, universal, and the church that you go to, there could be some people in there upsetting the truth of some, dabbling with the faith of others.
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We all ask the question, can the church stand up to the world these days? The answer is yes.
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Look at verse 19. Oh, this is great. It's like the pastor's favorite verse. If you've got a card that you're going to give to Dave Jeffries at the end of this service, quick open it up and write in there 2
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Timothy 2 .19. Four pastors, four elders in the midst of this gangrenous talk and this chatter, chatter, chatter.
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Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands.
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God's going to build His church. Having this seal, the Lord knows those who are His. How great is that?
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Sometimes I don't know that. Sometimes Dave doesn't know that. Who are the sheep and who are the goats? False teachers have all kinds of inroads.
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And he says, Dave, the work and the permanence of the work of the gospel is sure.
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He wants to encourage Timothy. And then he says at the end of verse 19, let everyone who names the name of the
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Lord depart from iniquity. Where's that from? Where's he quoting? From which book of the
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Old Testament is he quoting? There's all kinds of cancerous attacks in Israel.
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And will we make it? He's quoting Numbers 16, Korah's rebellion.
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Did it completely devastate Israel? Or was there a remnant? Were there a few people that didn't buy into Korah's horrible gangrenous rebellion?
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And so Paul uses Numbers chapter 16 to say, Paul, as the
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Apostle Timothy, you listen to me. There's going to be a great stability. God's church is going to be built.
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And Dave, how great is it that the gates of death cannot stop every elect person from coming to faith?
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Number seven. Dave, be patient with people.
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Now, I first wrote this down maybe in a little no -compromise style. My first note down here,
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Dave, was be patient with fools. Now, in one sense, unbelievers are foolish, aren't they?
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The fool has said in his heart, what? There's no God. Look at how the pastor has to deal with unbelievers.
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Sometimes I'm tempted to just want to whack them. Kind of there's a theme to today's message, isn't it?
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Hitting, murder, whacking, killing, destroying, Dave the destroyer. There's a soft side too.
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And you can think of Jesus as you go through here. I mean, as I'm looking at the pastoral epistles and preaching about this, you could just think of Jesus passing the baton on.
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You can think of Jesus suffering well, guarding, retaining. You can just think this is exactly what
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Jesus would do. And Jesus, when He was around self -righteous people, He whacked them.
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And when He was around people who knew they were sinful, He did what? Just came right alongside of them and was patient with them.
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And here, verse 24, Dave, the
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Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents.
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Talking about unbelievers with gentleness, correcting his opponents with gentleness.
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God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. In other words,
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Dave, people aren't the enemy. Unbelievers are just exactly what you were 30 -some years ago, unbelieving, dead and blind, until God brought somebody to preach the gospel to you.
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And so Paul says to Timothy, be patient. What's the goal?
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To win the argument? To decimate them? No, you want to preach the gospel so that they might believe.
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It's a great way for all of us to evangelize, because what do we want at the end of the day? Verse 26, that they may come to their senses.
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It's the most crazy thing in the world not to believe that Jesus is the creator. We want them to come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
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The biggest scheme in all the world is people have free will, when right here the Bible says Satan is making people do their will.
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Unbelievers say, I have a free will, and they're doing Satan's will. And so the gospel preacher comes alongside with patience, with gentleness, with doctrinal clarity, and preaches to those who are in opposition.
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By the way, as I think of that, I think Dave does a great job of doing that very thing. Number eight, three more.
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Dave, don't be shocked at how bad things are or how bad they'll get. 2
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Timothy 3, verses 1 and following. Friends, pastoral side note, the more you watch
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CNN, the more you read Real Politics, the more you read Slate, the more you read all that other stuff, the more you watch
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TV, the more you watch Fox News, I'm telling you, you're going to sit and say to yourself, it's only getting worse, it's getting worse, the world's going to hell, it's worse and worse and worse.
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The same amount of time you spend dabbling into those people's minds, and by the way, most of them do not have the fear of the
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Lord. They don't know Revelation 22 says Jesus comes back and we all what? We win.
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Everybody likes to be on the winning team. This is the most important winning team. We win. So all these people, how would you act if you didn't have
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Christ, you didn't have the hope of glory, you had only your own wisdom?
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Well, I'm telling you, that's enough to make you agitated and anxious. And Paul is saying to Timothy, it's going to get worse before it gets better.
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So when we wake up and the world is worse, worse today than it was yesterday, when it's bad today, and it was okay yesterday, and it's even more horrible tomorrow, we shouldn't be shocked.
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Look, there's faithfulness everywhere. Faithlessness, rather. Realize this, verse 1, in the last days, all the days after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, after these last days, savage times will come.
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That's the word. Savage, ruthless. These ages and epochs are going to come, difficult times with difficult people.
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Verse 2, verse 2 of 2
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Timothy chapter 3, for people will be, what's at the top of the list? Lovers of self.
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Dave, don't be shocked when the world is imbibing itself with self -esteem and everything else.
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The list just goes on and on, I don't have to describe them all. Lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, fearless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self -control, brutal.
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And now we go back to the love issue. Not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God.
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Dave, people are born to worship God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. And if they refuse to worship the
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Lord God, then they'll worship somebody else with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. And don't let that deviate you.
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God is sovereign over everything. I picked up MacArthur at the airport 10 years ago, how's ministry going?
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Well, struggling in this area and that area. So many people, they know the word
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Jesus here in our culture, but with their background and with their religion that they're in now, it's a different Jesus.
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It's a Jesus that if you said, is his death sufficient, they would say no because week in and week out, they have to slay
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Jesus again. And I just said, it's very difficult in this environment to preach the gospel, to see people get saved.
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What am I going to do? I should've never asked that question to John MacArthur. He said,
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Mike, do you think the gospel is powerful enough to save people in New England? That's Fenway Park right there,
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John. It's an old, very famous ballpark, one of the originals. So Dave, it doesn't matter how bad things get.
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By the way, in Texas, it probably won't be as bad in New England externally, but on the inside, it's probably worse because everybody will go around saying,
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I'm a Baptist, I'm in heaven. Two more. Charge number nine for Dave Jeffries.
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Prayer request number nine, if you'd like to pray for your pastors. Dave, herald God's word.
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Preach the word. Listen to what Oz Gennes said. Whenever I meet a Buddhist leader,
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I meet a holy man. Whenever I meet a Christian leader, I meet a manager. Since scripture verse 16 of chapter three is
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God breathe. Since it is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. Since it does make preachers and everybody else adequate, equipped for every good work.
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Then what? Verse two of chapter four. Preach the word. Herald the word.
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It's military language. Do you notice this doesn't say, engage the culture.
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Be authentic in your relationships. Drama the word.
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Debate the word. It says, preach the word. Dave, and I know you know the
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Bible. And when I hear you pray, I just comes out of you. But be the man of one book.
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Homo unius libri. A man of one book. You didn't make yourself a pastor.
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So you don't choose what you preach. You preach the word. John Stott said, no one has the liberty to invent our message, but only to communicate the word which
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God has spoken and has now committed to his church as a sacred trust.
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I'll just read some of the verses because we're basically out of time. Is it hot in here or is it just me? Burning up, man.
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For the 42nd day in a row, I think it's 100 degrees in Dallas. So let's go. This is all language, yes, with military crispness, but with standing before the judge.
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I'll never forget going to Berlin and in the Pergamon Museum, you walk into where Nebuchadnezzar's palace was.
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And alongside of his throne room, you can see the lions that they've unearthed from Babylon brought to Berlin.
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And you think everything about standing before the king or standing before the judge as he says, this is what you better do.
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I've got marching orders for you. It's very solemn. It's very weighty. And that's why this verse in chapter four, verse one, it's few and far between, but because it is so stifling almost, it just takes the wind out of you.
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I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus. Now there it's the Messiah Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, meaning judging you too,
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Dave, by his appearing in his kingdom. He's coming back. Preach the word.
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Preach, be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, tell people this is sin. Rebuke, tell them you're doing that sin.
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Exhort or comfort with complete patience and doctrine. There's no time for the weak people.
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This is no time for people who want to go AWOL. Verse 13, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine.
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Having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. They'll turn away from listening to the truth.
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Interestingly, Paul says, you just keep preaching anyway. You just preach anyway. You don't say, well, they're not listening, therefore
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I won't preach. I'll just be a pragmatist and we'll try to do something else. Maybe they'll like this new movie that we have and we can approach it that way.
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Paul says, I don't care if they listen or they don't. Matter of fact, they won't listen. Keep preaching anyway. And then he says, for you always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of evangelist.
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Which brings me to the final charge. Number 10. Is that number 10 in congregation? I think it is. I told you
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I could do it all 10. Dave, finish well.
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You're in the fourth quarter now. Finish well. It was only about eight weeks ago,
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I got a phone call from someone and said, Mike, one of your pastor friends that you know and love and have ministered to has been unfaithful to his wife.
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And Dave, whether it is marital fidelity or doctrinal fidelity, Paul says,
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I want you to finish well. When it comes to burnout, I did some study this week on pre and post pastoral burnout.
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Do you know what, congregation? Most everyone that starts as a pastor doesn't finish as a pastor.
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It's just too much to take. It's too discouraging. It's too hard. 1 ,500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
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Many pastors' marriages end in divorce. This is gathered data by Barna and Focus on the
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Family. 80 % of pastors and 84 % of their spouses feel discouraged in their role of pastors, as their role of pastor and wife.
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80 % of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
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Wives of pastors, 80 % of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
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And then with just sadness, it says the majority of pastors' wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day their husband entered the ministry.
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Paul's fate was sealed. He knew he was going to die, verse six. Marty B poured out as a drink offering.
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And according to tradition, not very much longer after that, he was killed for his faith. And so Dave, our prayer for you is with your dear wife,
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Deb, when I come and bury you in 20 years or whatever that is, we can say these things about you because you have been strengthened by the grace of God.
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God did work this in your life. Verse seven, I fought the good fight. I finished the course.
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I have kept my faith. No, I have kept the faith. Verse eight, in the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the
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Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day better than disapproval of congregation, better than being discouraged.
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It's all worth it. And not only to me, but also all those who love disappearing. Dave and Deb Jeffries. Of course, some people encourage.
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They're not all like Demas is in verse 10. Dave, you've got your Lukes. You've got your
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Tychicus's. You've also got your Alexander the Coppersmith's like in verse 14.
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We never want to get that phone call. Pastor Mike, are you seated? Are you sitting down? Did you hear about Dave Jeffries?
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And so Paul uses these words, not because it's going to happen, God forbid, and I know you, but to keep you from the enemy, to keep you from being discouraged, to keep you from falling away.
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Isn't the Lord good to pastors? Look at verse 17. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.
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That's what we want for you, Dave and Deb. So that through me, the proclamation might be fully accomplished.
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It's not about Dave Jeffries. It's about the Bible. It's about the gospel. And that all the Gentiles might hear is rescued out of the
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Lord's mouth. And then Dave, just to take one verse out of context.
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So we can say it happened during this sermon. Verse 21. Make every effort to take
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Deb to Dallas before winter. The Lord be with your spirit.
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Grace be to you. I leave
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Dave with these words from Robert Murray McShane. Dave Jeffries, take heed to yourself.
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Your own soul is your first and greatest care. You know, a sound body alone can work with much power, much more than a healthy soul, much more healthy soul.
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Keep a clear conscience through the blood of the Lamb. Keep up close communion with God. Study Him in all things.
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Read your Bible for your own growth first, then for your people. Expound much. It is through the truth that souls are to be sanctified, not through essays upon the truth.
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Be easy of access, apt to teach. And the Lord teach you and bless you in all you do and say.
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You will not find many companions. Be the more with God. My dear people are anxiously waiting for you.
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The prayerful are praying for you. Be of good courage. There remaineth much of the land to be possessed.
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Be not dismayed for Christ shall be with thee to deliver thee. Let's pray.
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Thank you, Father, for the time we would have to look over Second Timothy just at a 35 ,000 foot level.
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And now we would pray that you would help the elders of this church, those who'd like to be elders, the deacons, the fathers, the mothers, the children.
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They would all get a glimpse of what it's like to be a pastor. And then they would have the same passion as pastors would have for Christ Jesus, the lamb to be displayed, to be proclaimed.
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As we'll pray in just a few minutes. Father, bless the Jeffreys. Help them to sell the house.
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Help them to find the right church. Give them opportunities for ministry. Give Deb the same in Jesus name.