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Elisha Yale, a pastor who addressed another pastor at his ordination, said this,
My dear brother, it was but a few days ago that I was by the grave of a beloved Christian minister who had just finished his work and laid down his commission at the feet of Jesus Christ.
In view of that grave, I would now address you. In the name of Christ, at your entrance upon the duties of this sacred office, of all the undertakings of men, none are more important than the work to which you are this day set apart and consecrated.
Its appointment is not from men, but of God. The investiture of this office is by human hands, but the office itself is of divine authority.
This morning we have a historic event in the life of our church. We have our sixth pastor in the history of Bethlehem Bible Church.
The installation and ordination service of Pastor Steve Cooley. I asked
Steve to sit up front, and he is sitting right there, so when I give these charges to Steve, I don't have to look around to try to find out where he might be.
I've so looked forward to this day, Steve. I'm very proud of you. Why are you laughing? It's a very serious, solemn event.
And I'm very thankful to the Lord for his work in you. What is ordination? What is an installation?
It starts when a man is called by God unto salvation. You say, well, when was
Steve saved? Steve was saved in many different time frames. He was saved in eternity past when the
Father and the Son and the Spirit jointly decided that Steve Cooley would be born and then saved unto glory.
Steve was saved at Calvary when Jesus Christ died for his sins. Steve was saved years ago when the
Spirit of God regenerated him and made him alive. Steve is being saved now. He is being sanctified and set apart.
And one day he will be saved and glorified when he stands before God. Ordination continues with the affirmation of teaching gifts by elders, in this particular case by our own elders and the elders at Grace Community Church.
The man then goes to seminary. Steve has been to the Master's Seminary. Then two years of pastoral ministry full time here at Bethlehem Bible Church.
Then the ordination examination that was two weeks ago. I thought he did a great job on that.
If you haven't listened to that, it's online. And then today there is an installation charge. It is a charge from the pastor, from the
Word of God to the ordination candidate. You say, well, why should we ordain anyone anyway?
Why don't we just go to ordination .com and be done with it? You can do that, by the way.
Not in my presence, but you could do that. Certainly we have lots of pastors and the issue is not quantity, but quality of pastors.
That's what we're looking for. People just can't decide to become leaders on their own and take up their own mantle and say,
I'm a pastor like you could a CEO. Some kind of organizational theory and communication technique placed upon yourself.
No, this is a God -initiated call, a God -appointed call. And there then the church critiques and almost like an x -ray machine examines the candidate.
It limits pastors from just appointing themselves. And it affirms in the presence of all that this man has been set apart by God unto the faithful preaching of Christ Jesus and His Word.
You say, well, why do we do this in public? This morning Luke asked me, he said, the sermon is this morning for Steve Cooley, right?
Pastor Steve? Yes. No one else? Yes. He just got a big, huge grin on his face.
For all the days that you hear a sermon preached from the pulpit and you would hope in your mind that it's not for you, but it's for the person sitting next to you, this is that sermon.
It's only once every few years. And we will talk soon and I will explain quickly that the sermon is for you and it is to Steve.
It's a public charge because there is gravity behind this. Steve is preaching and teaching eternal things.
It is public because we want to charge him so you as a congregational member would understand what is a pastor, what is his role.
It will manage your expectations. Is Steve a buddy? Is he a friend? Or is he, first of all, a preacher of the
Word of God? It will help Steve because he might soon be in the troubled waters of ministry and he will hearken back to this day to say, even though I'd like to quit the ministry, even though I'm outnumbered,
I'm surrounded, God, why did you call me to this place and to do this kind of ministry, yet I know
I've been affirmed by the church and affirmed by the leaders and the elders of this church. It has been said of pastors that make sure you're called into the ministry because there will be days where that will be the only thing that keeps you in the ministry.
It will give Steve accountability. Writer Higgs said, is the culture clamoring for a different message?
Are people upset? The ordained preacher is a man under orders.
As an ordained minister, you can say, long before I met any of you, I was given a direct charge by God to tell the truth,
His truth. Given the choice whether to disappoint you or Him, I must abide with Him.
Today, Steve, I will charge you publicly, personally, and biblically from the book of 2
Timothy. So as a congregation, if you'll turn to the book of 2 Timothy, a pastoral epistle written from Paul to Timothy to charge him in the ministry.
Certainly, Steve, I could probably say, I want you to be faithful to the ministry because you owe me. I've invested some of my life into you.
I could say other men have invested their lives into you. I could say what you do publicly reflects upon what
I do and who I am. But all those fail in comparison to charge you what
God says in the word that you must abide by as a gospel minister. This morning,
I'm going to teach all of 2 Timothy. 83 verses. 27 imperatives.
And I will try to do it within the allotted time frame. It's been taking me two weeks to go through a verse, and now
I'm going to try to teach through all of 2 Timothy. I thought, what do you charge a man who is going to be installed as a pastor?
What do you charge him with? And I thought, well, this would be good, and then that would be good, and the list kept growing.
I thought, we might as well just teach all of 2 Timothy. And my purpose this morning is to lay the weight of God's holy word on Pastor Steve's mind, soul, conscience, and will.
It is my desire as a congregation that you would understand what a pastor's priorities are, who he is supposed to be, and you could take each one of these charges and make them into prayer requests, if you will, for the pastor.
God will charge him from Mount Sinai, as it were, and you can sit there and say, this is what a pastor is to be.
This is a pastor's job description, and the only way Steve will be able to fulfill that is by the grace of God.
And so, for the congregation, let's have these be prayer requests for Pastor Steve Cooley.
This may be the most important message I preach in this church. Eight charges to Steve Cooley from the book of 2
Timothy, chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4. Just to give us an introduction, if you look at verses 1 and 2 of 2
Timothy, Paul writing, it says, Paul, an apostle by Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved son, grace, mercy, peace from God the
Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. One of Paul's best friends.
Paul knew Timothy well, and Paul is going to lay the gauntlet down to Timothy. Paul is most likely rotting in jail in Rome.
There's two different jails there. I've had the opportunity to be in both of the cells that we think he might have been in, but he certainly was in jail, and he's now going to write the letter to Timothy before he soon loses his head on the
Austin Way, and he is going to say, I am an apostle. God has charged me with the commission of the gospel, and who is going to preach it when
I move on, when I'm glorified, and here is the charge to Timothy, his son in the faith.
Paul's last will and testament, and one man said, it is impossible to read these words without being profoundly stirred.
Eight ordination charges from this book. Again, there are 27 imperatives. I'll boil it down into eight, and each one is for Steve Cooley, in particular, to motivate him, to reassure him, to scare him, and to give him resolve that this is what the gospel charges him to do.
Charge number one. Steve Cooley, remember your Christian heritage and your past faithfulness to Jesus Christ and His gospel.
Remember your Christian heritage and your past faithfulness to Jesus Christ and His gospel. That's what
Paul did with Timothy. Do you see that in verses 3 through 7? Paul is basically saying, remember your heritage,
Timothy. Remember who you are and what's been invested into you. He says in verse 3,
I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience, the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers, night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.
Most likely, Paul was remembering that time when he was at Ephesus and he had the meeting with Timothy. And maybe like with the
Ephesian elders, when they got down on their knees and prayed, and then it says in Acts chapter 20 that they wept freely and thanked
God. So too, Paul and Timothy, when they were going to split up, they must have got on their hands and knees and praised
God and then just wept and wept and wept, knowing that they would split up to preach the gospel.
And he says, verse 5, For I am mindful, Paul to Timothy, of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother
Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. I've been reminded by an external source, maybe a letter about your faithfulness,
Timothy. And for this reason, he says, I remind you, in verse 6, to kindle afresh, stir it up.
Every fire needs some coals to be stoked. The gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
Watch out for the fire of your heart. Stir it up, Timothy. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
Paul says, Timothy, I am thankful to God for you, for who you are, your past faithfulness.
And because of your past faithfulness, he says, I want to encourage you to be faithful in the future. And I want to do the same to Steve now.
Steve, you have been given a great heritage. I was thinking about that last night. Some of the heritage that you've been given includes men who were faithful to preach the law -free gospel to you as an unbeliever,
Edwin and others. You've been given a solid Bible -teaching church and maybe the best expositor in the entire world,
John MacArthur, to learn from. You have been given a fair Bible study leader and initial discipler, me.
You have been given a warm pastoral mentor, Bill Shannon. You have been given a great seminary background, maybe the best in the world, with men like Dr.
Thomas, Dr. Roskup, Dr. Farnell, Dr. Barak. You have been truly blessed.
How could you let them down? The past faithfulness you've run this far. God has helped us thus far with the
Ebenezer. And can you imagine a day that you would have to call Dr. Barak and say, I have defaulted in the gospel ministry?
Paul encourages Timothy. He said, you've been faithful this far. Stay faithful. Don't forget your heritage.
Don't blow it now. And sadly, many, many pastors fall from the ministry.
Don Whitney wrote this article called The Almost Inevitable Ruin of Every Minister.
Ministers get ruined all the time. Don Whitney says, Almost everyone knows someone who used to be in the ministry.
Almost everyone knows someone who shouldn't be in the ministry. And every minister knows another minister, if not several, he does not want to be like.
And Whitney says, Ministers are ruined by money. They are ruined by sex.
They are ruined by power. They are ruined by pride, cynicism, and success.
And even in 1 Timothy, Paul says in verse 6 of chapter 1,
Those who have turned aside to fruitless discussions. He says later in chapter 1, Some have suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.
Chapter 4 of 1 Timothy, He says, There are people who are filled. They're hypocrisy. They have lying sly or seared in their own conscience.
Chapter 6, Three occasions of people who have not been faithful. And like the great winner of the
Kentucky Derby several weeks ago, One false step and you're done. Can you imagine 1 ,200 pounds of muscle?
Great winner. One day you're just getting decked with roses and the next minute you're glue or close to it.
Steve, Through the words of the scripture, Remember what you have been given. Remember your past faithfulness so that you'll be faithful in the future.
Charge number two, Steve Cooley, Not only remember your Christian heritage and your past faithfulness to Christ, but number two,
Suffer courageously. Let's look at 2 Timothy chapter 1 verses 8 through 12. If you'll take a look and even congregation, if you look at verse 8 and 12, you see kind of the front and back.
If you look at verse 8, he's talking about ashamed and suffering. Verse 12, he's also talking about the same thing, suffering and being ashamed.
He's bracketing this section because Christian ministers suffer. Certainly Christians suffer, but Christian ministers especially suffer.
And he is going to charge Timothy and I charge you through the book of Timothy to suffer courageously.
To suffer well. Verse 8, Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me as prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the epiphany or the appearing of our
Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which
I was appointed a preacher, an apostle and a teacher. For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom
I have believed and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.
Steve, you will suffer and Paul charges Timothy and therefore I charge you to suffer well and to suffer courageously.
Without getting into all the details, there have been times where Kim and I have been alone, together, crying, thinking to ourselves, why have we ever signed up for a job like this, a ministry like this?
And God is calling Timothy and therefore I am calling you to suffer in a way that would be godly. And he says some things here that are very encouraging.
He says in verse 8, the cause is worth it. Steve, for you to suffer, it's worth it.
Do you see why he suffered there in verse 8? For the gospel according to the power of God. That's something worthy to suffer for.
He says further there in verse 8 that God will enable you in suffering. Of course you can't do it on your own, but right there at the end of verse 9 do you see it?
For the gospel according to the power of God. God helping in suffering. One of the best verses in all the
Bible, I think, in pastoral ministry is found in verse 9. Temporal suffering cannot change
God's eternal plans. God charged you into salvation. When? If you take a look at verse 9, according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.
How could temporal suffering somehow affect the eternal decree of God before time began?
Suffering could never change God's eternal plan. And by the way, the worst thing that can happen to you is that you die in your suffering.
And there in verse 10 He says, death is now a fangless foe. It still hurts, but it's neutered.
But now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus who has rendered ineffective, who's rendered inoperative death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
And Steve, even though you'll suffer, if you look at verse 12, your
Savior can be trusted even when you suffer. Paul said, I'm not ashamed. I believe. I'm convinced.
He's able. Therefore, I've entrusted. Number one, Steve, remember your past heritage.
And number two, suffer courageously. Charge number three, congregation, each one should be your prayer requests.
Charge number three, Steve Cooley, be faithful and loyal to the once delivered faith found in verses 13 through 18.
Steve, do you remember your first sermon that you ever preached here about eight years ago? Nobody else remembered it, but I remembered it.
Do you remember what you preached on? What your topic was? Jude verse 3 and 4.
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith.
And here too, Paul is telling Timothy, and therefore I am telling you, you are to be faithful to this
Gospel. Verse 13, retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you.
No additions, no subtractions, no modifications. You are to guard this. And this implies that people are what?
Attacking it. They don't like the Gospel. They don't like Christ. And you are to guard the
Gospel. And Paul further impresses upon Timothy that not everybody does guard the
Gospel. Look at verse 15. You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are
Phygelus and Hermogenes. There are people who turn away. Not everyone is faithful to the end.
But some were. That's encouraging. Verse 16, the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus.
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.
The Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.
Certainly, Steve, you are loyal to your wife and your kids, to myself, to my children.
But you are above all to be faithful to the Gospel. And not everyone is going to want to hear the real
Gospel. And they're going to want to hear a Gospel that is short on wrath, not too much sin, contour
God's righteousness a little bit. You can fill a church a lot faster if you kind of water these things down.
Paul is charging Timothy, and therefore I charge you to be loyal to the Gospel. When I was given the doctoral degree last week,
Dr. Mohler charged us with these words, and I charge you with these, Steve. In the presence of God and these witnesses, do you promise to hold your ordination so that no loss will come through your holding?
Faithfulness to the Gospel. Number four. You didn't think we'd get through 2
Timothy, did you? We're not there yet. Charge number four.
Not only should you remember your Christian heritage, not only should you suffer courageously, not only must you be faithful to the once delivered faith, but Steve Cooley, you must be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus so that you may persevere.
You must be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus so that you may persevere. 2
Timothy 2 verses 1 through 13. He says there right from the gun. He says for the
Greek students, Sude, you therefore, and a lot of other people aren't, but you therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
God will provide the strength. You can't do it on your own. There are lots of tasks to be completed.
You have to pass things on. Verse 2. The things that you have heard from me and the presence of many witnesses entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
And then he uses three pictures that only by the grace of God you could do. And we all know these pictures and so do you.
The first one is a soldier. Verse 3. Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Soldier, self -disciplined, single -minded, must persevere. They can't be bogged down with trivial pursuits.
There's another thing there he says. Verse 5. Not only a soldier but an athlete.
If anyone competes as an athlete, Christian ministry is not just like a soldier but it's an athlete. He does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.
You can't just make things up as you go. God prescribes things. We obey.
Verse 6. Not only as an athlete and a soldier but a hard -working farmer. By the way, as an athlete or as a soldier, there may be some accolades, some applause, some people saying,
Yay, way to go, good for you. Congratulations, you did it. Thank you for that ministry. And here we see the hard -working farmer, no excitement, no applause, nothing except perseverance and hard work.
He ought to be the first to receive his share of the cross. And then, very, very interestingly, and only because of what
God the Spirit can do in our lives, consider what I say, verse 7. For the
Lord will give you understanding in everything. It will take God the Holy Spirit to illumine your mind so you can understand the depths and riches of these commands.
Then one of the weirdest verses in all the Bible, verse 8. Do you see that, congregation? Do you see that,
Steve? This is weird. Remember Jesus Christ. How about that for a ministry command?
You're in ministry? Remember Jesus. Why would they ever say that? Why would Paul ever say that?
How could he forget? But O too, like Israel, they soon forgot the
Lord. Sometimes ministers remember everything else except Christ Jesus.
All the tyranny of the urgent, all the other issues that go around, and here Paul says to Timothy, and therefore
I say to you, remember Jesus. And he's the God -man, by the way, risen from the dead.
He's God. He's also man, a descendant of David, according to my gospel for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal.
But the word of God is not imprisoned. There will be some things that won't get you through the night and won't get you through hardship, but remembering
Christ Jesus, he will. And when he was tempted, and when you're tempted, rather, you think of Christ Jesus, the greatest example of suffering hardship for a worthy purpose.
And then he gives a saying in verses 10 and following. The saying doesn't come up until 11, but if you see in verse 10, for this reason
I endure all things, for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with it eternal glory.
And this is a popular saying here in verses 11, 12, and 13, to encourage hardship.
It's a trustworthy statement, for if we died with him, we'll also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
See, ministry will only become more complex, more demanding, more time -consuming, more hardships, and therefore,
I charge you to remember Christ Jesus. Robert Murray McShane, the great Scottish preacher who died at age 29 said to ministers,
Take heed to thyself. Your own soul is your first and greatest care.
You know a sound body alone can work with power, much more a healthy soul. Keep a clear conscience through the blood of the
Lamb. Keep up close communion with God. Study likeness to him in all things.
Read the 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. Be easy of access, apt to teach, and the
Lord teach you and bless you in all you do and say. You will not find many companions. Be the more with God.
My dear people are anxiously waiting for you. The prayer for all praying for you. Be of good courage.
There remaineth much of the land to be possessed. Remember your heritage.
Suffer courageously. Be loyal to the faith. Be strong in grace. Number five, and a big one, found in 2
Timothy 14 through 26, Steve Cooley, be approved in God's eyes so you don't have to concern yourself with what others think of you.
Be a God pleaser, not a man pleaser. I'm not going to read every one of these verses, but if you take a look at verse 14, you'll see in the presence of God.
15, approved to God. 24, the Lord's bondservant.
You are to work and minister in such a way that you please God. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
You are cutting the pathway through the jungle with your machete of the word, and people will follow you, but you do it for God to be pleased and not men.
Not everybody is like that though. Verse 16, there's whirling empty chatter. It leads to ungodliness, and their talk will spread like, isn't this picturesque?
Do you see that in verse 17? Gangrene, when tissue is destroyed because there's no blood supply.
Men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.
You are to be a man pleaser? Never. God should be pleased. I would like you to be what
Spurgeon has as an attitude, or had. Here's what
Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher said. When people would ask about his preaching, what do you think of that man?
What do you think of that pastor? What do you think of Pastor Steve? Spurgeon said, I do not care two straws what you think of me, but I do care a whole world what you think of Christ, and of yourselves, and of your future estate.
And as Baxter said, if you were going to please men, Steve, you're in for a heap of trouble.
Baxter said, remember that all men are so selfish that their expectations will be higher than you were able to satisfy.
Once you turn from God pleasing to men pleasing, you could never satisfy them. Baxter went on to say, you have abundance to please that are so ignorant, unreasonable, and weak that they will take your greatest virtues for your faults and not know when you do well or ill.
If you become men pleasers, then people will say, well, he didn't please me properly, and he had bad motives when he tried to please me too.
Baxter said, men have such great mutability to please that one hour may be ready to worship you as gods, and the next to stone you, or count you as devils as they did
Paul, and then Christ himself. Please God. So replete in the New Testament.
We've been approved by God, 1 Thessalonians says, to be entrusted with the Gospel. So we speak not as pleasing men, but God who, what, examines our hearts.
At the end of the day, and often, Steve, I do this, I say to myself, I could have done better, could have studied more, but God, I've discharged my duty to you, and I have commended the people to you, and I've done my best, and I've done it for your glory,
God. No one else's. Charge number six. Three charges to go.
Six, seven, and eight. Getting very hot in here.
Are you staying awake? Have you ever heard a sermon preached for someone, not you, stayed awake?
Jack, when are we going to have this air conditioner done, by the way? Do we have a deadline yet? Charge number six.
Steve Cooley, don't be shocked at how bad things are, or how bad they will get. Second Timothy chapter three, one to nine.
We are certainly in these last days. The Bible would speak of the last days in between Christ's first coming and second, and he says in chapter three, verse one, to a pastor.
Pastors need to know this. Certainly, the congregation does, but pastors especially. But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come.
This is the God -ordained area and arena of time in which he has called you to minister.
Not only difficult times, but look at difficult people. Verses two, three, four, and five. Nineteen descriptions of the people that you get to minister to.
And here is your world of ministry. Verse two, for men will become what? Lovers of self.
You get to minister to these people. Lovers of money. Boasters.
They brag a lot. Arrogant. Proud. Revilers. They slander.
Amazingly, disobedient to parents. Are we not in the last days? Ungrateful.
They are not thankful. Unholy. They are secular. Unloving. Literally, no family affection.
Irreconcilable. They don't forgive. Malicious gossips. Without self -control.
They are brutal. They are savage and fierce. Haters of good. Treacherous.
Means a traitor, like Judas Iscariot in Luke 6. Reckless. They fall headlong.
They are hasty. They are rash. Conceited. Lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God.
And holding a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Welcome to the ministry. And sadly, you will minister to people who are gullible to these kind of treacherous ones.
These kind of people go around like wolves. And for among them are those who enter into households and captivate little women.
It's literally, weak women who are weighed down with sins. Led on by various impulses. Some of those are like verse 8,
Janice and Jambres. Steve, don't be shocked. But Steve, may I charge you that these people are not the enemy.
These people are not the enemy. You are to love the ungodly. You are to tell them the truth with the word of God.
And you are to keep it out of its scabbard and to proclaim to them the truth. It was 1999, and I was taking
John MacArthur around in the car, as you know. And I was telling him that 80 % of the people in New England are
Roman Catholic. And 80 % of the people, therefore, do not understand the gospel. And I was sadly kind of just complaining to John, this is where God has placed me.
Popped me right here. And John MacArthur said something very interestingly to me, and he said,
Mike, is not the gospel powerful enough to save people in New England?
And can you imagine the power of the gospel to save those that have a resume with those 19 points?
The gospel can transform anyone because there's a power in the gospel.
Charge number seven, Steve, be a preacher. Steve, be a preacher.
Sometimes when you hire an associate pastor, you hire an associate administrator, and they just do all the busy work.
They get all the flyers, and they take care of all those things. Myself and the other two elders, we have determined that Steve is not to be primarily any of those things.
There's not even a senior pastor, associate pastor. Bifurcation in the Bible. Pastors are preachers, and Steve is to teach the
Bible morning, noon, and night. That's his ministry. Os Guinness quoted a Japanese businessman who said this,
When I meet a Buddhist leader, I meet a holy man. When I meet a
Christian leader, I meet a manager. You are to continue in the word because it's your only tool.
Verse 10, But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance. He talked about persecution in verse 12.
You, verse 14, however, continue in the things that you have learned and you have been convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
And then verses 16 and 17, Congregation, I don't know if you understand these verses here. These verses have application for you, but they're not to you.
What do I mean by that? Let me read them first. All scripture is inspired by God. True?
God breathed. And profitable. For teaching, this is the way God wants things.
For reproof, stop doing it that way. For correction, you're knocked out by doing those things that will pick you up, dust you off, point you in the right direction.
For training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
Is this not a pastoral epistle? Is not a man of God in the major prophets in the
Old Testament someone who is a preacher? This verse is for preachers. Of course, if it's good for preachers, it's good for the congregation.
But here Paul is telling preachers, you've got one tool to use and that's the word of God and you preach it so that the man of God, the preacher, may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
Steve, you should preach the word. Not only would you get kicked out of this church if you don't, but there's something worse than that.
I don't care if you're a sheriff or not. Can you think of any other verse in the
Bible like this in verse 1 given to all preachers to keep them up at night, to cause them to be struck mute if they're going to get up and give some kind of man -centered pablum to people week in and week out?
I solemnly charge you, courtroom talk, in the presence of God, even of Christ Jesus.
Who is this Christ Jesus? Who is to judge the living and the dead by His appearing and His kingdom.
What? Preach the word. What a solemn charge that is.
Legally testifying under oath in a law court. Preach the word. I went to an emergent church about two years ago and took the kids in.
And it was very interesting because all the lights were down and there was these big pictures of the ocean up on the wall and incense everywhere and there's the prayer room over there and you could go take communion up here anytime you wanted and all these other kind of things.
And then some lady got up and talked for 17 minutes. I knew because there was a clock on the back of the wall. It didn't have anything to do with the
Bible. And afterwards, I met this very popular and very published emergent church pastor and we walked out.
By the way, when I brought the kids in and I said, this is church, they even knew better as a nine and eight year old.
And I don't know why this always is but I just kind of, I'm not looking for a fight, honestly, but I just find myself in the middle of them often.
We were walking out and I was so mad because Christ's name has been so, just made popular, just made kind of common and just vulgar.
If you can't preach, just get up and read the Bible. And so the pastor said to me, a very famous pastor, he said, welcome to the church.
How are you doing? I figured that was a real question. I said,
I'm not doing very well. Why is that? I said, because this place is a shame to the gospel. He said, well, today was different.
It was a special thing. I said, how do you get around this, sir? I solemnly charge you in the presence of God, even
Christ Jesus who is coming to judge the living and the dead by His appearance and by His kingdom, drama the word.
How do you get around those things? You don't answer to me. I'm a no one. I just happen to show up to see what kind of carnival bizarre thing
I could see. But you are under orders to preach the word. We preach for God.
Steve, you preach for God. That's why Spurgeon, the great Spurgeon, he said, there is not a
Sunday night when I do not come on this platform in such a state both of body and soul that I pity a dog who has to suffer what
I have under the terror and weight of the awful responsibility of having to preach to such a crowd as this.
Before I come to address the congregation in this tabernacle, I tremble like an aspen leaf. And often in coming down to this pulpit have
I felt my knees knock together. My deacons knew it at Exeter Hall that they scarcely ever had an occasion in which they left me alone for 10 minutes before the service, but they would find me in a most fearful state of sickness produced by that tremendous thought of my solemn responsibility.
And I know Steve does and I do too. Every Sunday I sit there thinking, I can't believe I have to preach today. I can't believe
I have to stand up here on the holy desk and say, Thus saith the Lord. And Steve, you should preach the
Word because that's your commission. You should preach the Word because that's what you've been taught. You should preach the Word because the elders demanded.
You should preach the Word because now the congregation knows better. They get rid of preachers who don't preach the Word. But you preach the
Word because you preach for God and you will be judged. And do you see the passage there, congregation?
Preach the Word as a herald. Hear ye. Hear ye.
By the way, we don't get up from this pulpit and preach it this way. Well, we all struggle. I struggle.
You struggle. We all struggle. Now occasionally, we admit some of our weaknesses, but if you don't know that we're weak already, then you just need to come over to our house a few times.
The preacher gets the message from God, from the Word, and stands up with a herald -like kerux in the
Greek to say, You. We have a message from the King. And the person who was down on the street corner to the herald did not say,
Now we just all need to kind of understand what the King wants. He wants you to give a happy life and He loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
Thus saith the King. And that's how we preach. You herald the Word. You don't engage the culture.
Got the latest Christianity today. I call it Christianity astray. You have to engage the culture.
Here's engagement to the culture. Here's the Gospel. You're not to make
Christianity relevant, Steve. You're not to say take it or leave it.
You're not to share. I just want to get up and share. Not to give up and give speeches.
You are the friend, not the bridegroom, and it should be your greatest joy to see
Christ's fame increase and glory be magnified and it is done through the proclamation of the
Word of God. The spotlight is not yours. The applause of the crowd is not yours.
You are to decrease as Christ is increased through preaching the Word. You are to be a homo unius libri, a man of one book, who then preaches that book.
And you preach it even if nobody wants to listen. You'd be like John Bunyan. Hey, you can come out of prison if you stop preaching the
Gospel. Hey, if you let me out, I'll preach again tomorrow. Then go back to prison. Bunyan said, all right,
I will go back and stay there if need be till the moss grows on my eyelids, but I will never deny my Master. And it's not preach a word.
It is preach the Word. That's why Paul said in Acts 20, Therefore I testify to you on this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
For I did not shrink from declaring to you all the love and patience and goodness of God.
No, all the love and patience and goodness of God and His righteousness and His wrath and His holiness, the whole purpose of God.
And if my kids were little and I said, there's a pastor, they should go running up to you and say like they used to say. What?
Wheat the wood. That's exactly right. Elisha Yale, who
I quoted at the beginning of the sermon, said, the doctrines you are to teach are not the investigations of reason, but the dictates of inspiration.
The duties you are to enjoin are not the commands of men, but the laws of Jehovah. The threatenings you are to denounce are not the expressions of human displeasure, but the thunders of divine wrath.
The results of your ministry are not to be the happiness or misery of empires and ages, but the happiness or misery of immortal beings forever.
And look how you preach in verse 2, in season and out of season, when they want it and when they don't.
When you want to, when you don't want to. How could you be blasé about the sinner's plight under the judgment of God and the sweet aroma of Christ's perfect sacrifice?
You preach ways like this in verse 2, reprove, rebuke, exhort. People don't like that.
Reprove means this is sin. Rebuke means you're the sinner.
And then you've got to encourage people. You've got to exhort them. And if people sin with hard hearts, then we have to reprove them.
We have to encourage them with patience. You must preach the Word patiently.
Do you see that in verse 2? With great patience and then also what? You have to preach with doctrine.
You have to preach with instruction. Statements about divine fact. You know all these things.
We give the teaching. We talk about sin and salvation and redemption. The working out of God's preordained plan.
But I'm telling you, Steve, right now, verse 3, you'll experience these times for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside to myths.
May you never be one of those people. Heaped up teachers. I like what
Vincent said. Teachers of all kinds swarm like the flies in Egypt. The demand creates the supply.
The hearers invite and shape their own preachers. Listen, if the people desire a calf to worship, a ministerial calf maker is readily found.
Not you. You, Steve, verse 5, but you,
Sudei, be sober in all things. You're going to have to keep alert, cool -headed and wide awake in this generation.
Endure hardship. That's been in 2 Timothy often. Do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry.
Did you notice that there, Steve, in verse 5? Fulfill your job. Fulfill your job.
You've got a job. No, it says ministry. I love this anonymous poem.
A job is one you choose. A ministry is one Christ chooses for you. A job depends on your abilities.
A ministry depends on your availability to God. In a job, you expect to receive.
In a ministry, you expect to give. In a job, you give something to get something.
In a ministry, you return something that has already been given to you. A job well done has temporal remuneration.
A ministry well done brings eternal rewards. And then lastly, Steve, charge number 8, congregation, you didn't think we could do it, did you?
There's much more to be said on this book as 50 sermons in a series in years to come will soon show.
This is the jet tour of 2 Timothy. Steve, finish well.
2 Timothy 4, 6 to 22. Finish well. On a website just posted several days ago, with statistics gathered from Barna and focus on the family said this, 1 ,500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
Can you imagine that? 1 ,500. 50 % of pastors' marriages will end in divorce.
80 % of pastors and 84 % of their spouses feel discouraged in their role as pastors.
50 % of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but they have no other way of making a living.
I have a lot to say about that. Not because I want to do that, but what shall
I do with my life? Oh, I can't do anything. I'll be a preacher. That kind of attitude is horrible. 70 % of pastors constantly fight depression.
80 % of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
You've been here too. 70 % of these said they only spend time studying the
Word when they are preparing sermons. Pastors' wives, it was surveyed, 80 % of pastors' spouses feel their spouses overworked.
80 % of their pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession. And the majority of pastors' wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and their family was the day they entered the ministry.
But, Steve, I want you to finish well. Paul's going to die, and he said, verse 6,
I'm already being poured out as a drink offering. The time of my exodus has come.
By the way, just as a side note, poured out like a drink offering is one Greek word, it's spendomai.
I've been spent. Spendomai, that should be easy to remember. Spendomai. Paul's fate is sealed.
And this is my prayer for you, Steve, that on that day, that day that you are on your deathbed about ready to be glorified,
I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course.
I have kept the faith. In the future, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but also all who have loved His appearing.
And then he gets very personal with some issues there at the end. Steve, I want you to finish well.
Two years, excellent service. We thank you for that. We commend you for that. But still, only two years.
The only way you'll finish well is to keep your eyes on the Lord. Because you know what happens?
It's easy to get bitter in the ministry. You see in verse 14, Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm.
Verse 11, only Luke is with me after all the years of his life. Verse 10,
Demas has loved the present world. He's deserted me. Everybody's gone.
People don't do what you think they should do. And it's easy to get bitter. People will hurt you. People will say things about you.
And Steve, I want you to finish well. Don't be a tozer. Don't be an A .W. Pink. Crabby and bitter.
Can you imagine? On the 9 ,000th time someone asks you to try to reconcile divine sovereignty and human responsibility or just how free is free will.
But you're always to be a pastor. You want to finish well. And God, in His mercy, as you focus on Christ, will help you.
Verse 17, God helped Paul proclaim these truths to Timothy. But the
Lord stood with me and strengthened me so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished and that all the
Gentiles might hear and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom.
To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. And then he says a few other things.
And then in verse 22, he says, The Lord be with your spirit. You'll need it, Timothy. Grace be with you.
You'll need it, Timothy. Well, Steve, if you just come right up here to the platform right now,
I'm going to just give you several charges and you can answer them with the statement, Yes, I will, by the power of God.
Yeah, up here. If I had any sense, I'd have you stand up on a chair or something, make you high and even nervous, more nervous.
Not too close. And it's hot in here,
I'm telling you. Now, what
I'm going to do is I'm just going to charge Steve with these eight charges from the sermon and ask him if he will, by the grace of God, with labor unto sweat, agree to fulfill these.
And please answer, Steve, Yes, I will, by the power of God. Steve Cooley, will you remember your
Christian heritage and your past faithfulness to Christ Jesus and His gospel? Yes, I will, by the power of God.
Steve Cooley, when you suffer, will you suffer courageously? Yes, I will, by the power of God.
Steve Cooley, will you be faithful and loyal to the once delivered faith of Jesus Christ?
Steve Cooley, will you be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus so that you will persevere in ministry?
Steve Cooley, will you labor to be approved in God's eyes so that you don't concern yourself with what others think of you?
Yes, I will. Steve Cooley, will you not be shocked at how bad things are or how bad they will get in your ministry?
No, I won't. He had that smirk on. I knew something was coming.
I'm trying to create the serious ambiance and it just won't work. Steve Cooley, will you be a herald of divine revelation?
And Steve Cooley, for your sake, for your family's sake, for the church's sake, and for my sake, will you finish your race well?
Well, other elders, Pastor Dave and Louis, would you please come up here as we have already done this once before, but that was at the ordination examination.
We don't make preachers. Nobody makes preachers except God. We just recognize them. And that's what laying on of hands is.
It's not some kind of energy that goes out of our hands into the preacher and somehow they get the anointing or something strange.
It is a recognition that we affirm that God has worked in the life of a man and his family, and he is a preacher, and therefore when it talks about the laying on of hands, in 1
Timothy 5, it says, Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily, and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others.
Keep yourself free from sin. If you go around telling people, Yes, these are gospel ministers, and those gospel ministers don't know the gospel, don't preach the gospel, then you, the elders who have laid your hands on this man saying,
Yes, we affirm he's a pastor, are sinning as well. That's why it's a big deal to ordain someone, and that's why it's taken a long time.
Dave read this earlier. He said this, And finally before we pray for you Steve, I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the proper time. He who is the blessed and only sovereign,
King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion.
Amen. Why don't we come up here and then each of the elders I'd like you to pray please for Steve.
Go ahead Steve, why don't you stand right there. Bow with us congregation.
Our Heavenly Father, we come before you today with our brother Steve to affirm and acknowledge that you have anointed him to the ministry.
You have called him to the ministry. You have given him this charge and that no charge that we add adds to that in any way.
It is simply an affirmation that we recognize your work in his life. We thank you for him
Father. We praise you that you have sent him here to this particular expression of the body of Christ.
We pledge Father that we will support him, we will pray for him, we will uphold him and we will place ourselves under his leadership.
Father again, we thank you for him. Be with him, bless him, encourage him and indeed
Father, lead him to the end and may he finish well. We pray this in Jesus name. Father what a privilege to be able to witness the workings of God in the church which you are raising up.
Lord we thank you for this man, for our brother Steve and we just want to be grateful and be careful to recognize the preciousness of not only the gift of salvation which has come to him and has changed life but the calling to ministry.
We pray for his protection. Lord that you would keep him. Lord I pray that he would just ever have a mindfulness as he walks and lives in the fear of the
Lord to keep himself morally and doctrinally pure. Lord that he would always and ever live with a love in his heart for you and for the people that he serves.
That he would give himself and as the apostle Paul said to spend himself in such a way that it would be evident that he labors night and day for your people.
I pray that you would strengthen him and just uphold him and keep him. Lord in all that he does
I pray that you would use him mightily in the salvation of sinners and the sanctifying of the saints and the strengthening of the church.
And Lord that he may be able to say at the end of his days with the apostle Paul I have fought a good fight.
I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Lord it will be done for the glory and the honor of your son our
Savior Jesus Christ. Father we would bless you with all our souls and everything within us.
We want to bless your name because you are good. Because you are long suffering.
Because you are kind and you bestow many good gifts to us because you are generous. And thank you that that generosity is like Ahasuerus' scepter to Esther.
Except that scepter is like Christ Jesus. That you have extended grace to us.
That you have extended your face to shine upon us because of Christ Jesus' work. His death at Calvary, his resurrection, his ascension and his soon return.
And Father if you have given us the greatest gift, forgiveness of sins, you certainly will give us every other gift including faithful men.
Not by their own faithfulness, not by their education but by your working in them.
And we are thankful for those gifts. We are thankful for the gift of Pastor Steve Cooley and what you have done in his life.
We are thankful for his wife and his children. We pray that you would prevent them from being one of the statistics
I read about earlier that the ministry would not be destructive but the ministry would be yes hard but encouraging.
That they would live for your glory and live for Christ Jesus' name to be exalted. Father help keep
Steve faithful. Help us as an elder board to not only encourage Steve but correct him if we need to do so.
Father I pray that the love of our congregation might increase for Steve and Steve for the congregation.
May he love the people that he preaches to and ministers to. And Father we recognize this morning that you are a
God who starts something and then finishes it because you are faithful. Thank you for your faithfulness and thank you for your faithfulness in the form of a teacher and a pastor and a brother and a friend.