Spirit Empowered Ministry (2 Timothy 1:6-14)

Kootenai Church

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Invite you to open your Bibles this morning to 2nd Timothy chapter 1, 2nd Timothy chapter 1 for our study this morning and there is a

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Outline available if you haven't got it yet, maybe raise your hand guys are passing them out I'm working hard at not calling these a handout because that is a little different connotation need one right back here

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These are outlines not handouts. Anybody needs a handout raise your hand More hands went up than four outlines.

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What's going on here? Well, we're a church that's known for our handouts and outlines We're going to be looking at 2nd

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Timothy chapter 1 this morning We won't dig into the entire chapter completely.

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We're going to be looking at mainly verses 6 through 14 and At Paul's last letter to his young Friend and close

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Ministry partner Timothy Also Paul's last words to the church. So it really is what is commonly called

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Paul's last will in Testament and we're going to see some things for him at this morning that I think will be hopefully helpful to us in our own lives in ministry and Before we do let's commit our time to our

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Lord and ask his blessing our father We know that we are able to gather together in the name of our

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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ only by your grace and your providential working and so we thank you for the time that we will share this morning

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We pray that our study would be fruitful That you would be glorified through it and that you would teach us what you would have us learn this morning by your spirit because that is the

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Main import of what we will see this morning the power of your spirit in our lives and ministry

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So I ask your blessing on this and on each one who hears this message here and at Kootenai Church, but also elsewhere

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May you accomplish every divine purpose that you have for it and may you be glorified in it

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And we just ask it in Jesus name Amen So if you have your Bibles open to 2nd

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Timothy chapter 1 we're going to spend a little time this morning on the background of this letter because I think that's going to be helpful and I would encourage you to read through this entire letter sometime in the next two or three weeks, maybe several times in the next two or three weeks because Next Sunday not in Sunday school, but during the worship time

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I'm going to be preaching from the second chapter and then two weeks after that from the fourth chapter

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We're not going to cover every bit of the book in these three sessions But I thought well,

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I'm going to do some background work for this Sunday school class So I might as well preach from it as I fill the pulpit on those two

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Sundays So we're going to spend a little time in 2nd Timothy in the next three weeks or so today we're going to be looking at 2nd

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Timothy chapter 1 and we're really going to focus in on verses 6 through 14 as Paul focuses in on the the absolute necessity of the power of the

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Holy Spirit For ministry and all of life for the believer The year was probably 67 maybe 68

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AD More than 30 years after the ascension of our Lord Paul would have been in his mid to late 30s when he wrote this letter to the young pastor

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Timothy He had left Timothy in Ephesus to do work there and Paul had traveled on to Macedonia Paul had been imprisoned in Rome in about 60

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AD and he was there for about two years his first imprisonment under the Emperor Nero and he was there for only two years because the

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Witnesses from Jerusalem did not show up to testify against him and at that time the Romans Would keep you in prison if you were accused of a crime as a

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Roman citizen and Paul was that's why he appealed to Caesar So he he wanted a all -expense -paid trip to Rome because Rome was the center of Gentile power

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Paul was God's appointed Apostle to the Gentiles. So he wanted to go there and appealed his case to to Rome and they sent him there and But he was there for two years after that the witnesses from Jerusalem didn't show up So they let him go and he was back out on the mission field

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It's not known exactly when the church at Ephesus began But we know that according to Luke's account in Acts chapter 18

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Paul had been there with Priscilla and Aquila and he was traveling back to Antioch during his second missionary journey

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And after spending time at Antioch Paul returned to Ephesus and ministered there for two more years

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Luke's account in Acts chapter 19 helps us understand something of the ministry

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He had there Luke says and it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus Later on the same chapter it says and he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly

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Reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief speaking evil of the way before the congregation

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He withdrew from them and took the disciples with him Reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus this continued for two years

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So that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord both Jews and Greeks Was Paul's habit when he went into a new town to go to the

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Jews first out of obedience to Romans chapter 116 That he said the gospel is the power of God unto salvation

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To all who believe to the Jew first also to the Greek and that was a priority Paul kept and so should we

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Jews are to be the first people that the church Evangelizes and Paul did that every city he went to even when they rejected him if he left and then came back to that city

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He would go to the Jews first. That was a priority that the Apostle Paul kept Ephesus was the capital of and the most important city in the

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Roman province of Asia It was a critical hub of ministry for the Apostle Paul. It was also a pagan city dominated by the pagan temple to Artemis and all that that involved and He administered effectively in Ephesus and probably also influenced farther up into the

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Lycus Valley and what's now western Turkey the geography of that area

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Helped him do that because the mountain ranges run perpendicular to the coastline that created valleys that extended up into the inner parts and it made possible for travel and commerce up into the valleys from the coastline and About a hundred twenty -five miles to the east of the city of Ephesus Which was a coastal city was the little

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Lycus Valley and three churches there that are very prominent in Scripture two of them more prominent than the other one, but they're like a little triangle of cities

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They're Hierapolis Colisee and Laodicea. Paul mentions those in his letter to the

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Colossians And so that was probably also even though Paul didn't go there and plant those churches

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A man named Epaphras did that was probably also influenced by Paul's two -year ministry there in Ephesus And it was an effective ministry.

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He preached he taught he grounded people in the gospel of Jesus Christ and he also trained the elders that were there after Paul ministered there he went on to to Macedonia and as he was heading back for Jerusalem, he did not have time to go visit the city of Ephesus So he called the elders from there to meet him near the coastline at a town called

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Meletus it's recorded in Acts chapter 20 and in that encounter Paul had a very

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Personal and emotional meeting with these men and he said I know that none of you among whom

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I have gone about Proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all

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For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the

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Holy Spirit has made you overseers To care for the Church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

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I Know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock But from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them

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And when he had said these things he knelt down and prayed with them and there was much weeping on the part of all they embraced

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Paul and kissed him being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken that they would not see his face again and They accompanied him to the ship clearly he had spent enough time and effort and energy with these men to develop a

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Close bond a personal relationship with them and to know that they were part in company with him and wouldn't see him again was an emotional

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Event he had made a tremendous investment in the church at Ephesus Investment of time of teaching preaching into the lives of these men and the leadership

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So around five years later when he writes his first letter back to Timothy he tells him to remain at Ephesus Paul was going on to Macedonia and In that first letter, he's extremely concerned about what's going on in the city of Ephesus and the fact that Timothy was there

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Basically as his apostolic representative trying to straighten things out and Paul's words to the elders on at Ephesus of Ephesus that day near Miletus were not just We're not just encouragement.

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They weren't just a warning they were prophetic because eventually men did come in fierce wolves did come in and Assault that church and even from among themselves men arose teaching twisted doctrines false doctrines and Timothy's they're trying to have to deal with these things and Decades later

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God used the aging Apostle John in his great vision We call the revelation of Jesus Christ To warn the churches with the very words of Jesus himself and one of those was the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2

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The Lord says this I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first Remember therefore from where you have fallen

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Repent and do the works you did at first If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent

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He said some positive things about the Ephesian church but by that point in time It had declined and degraded down to where the

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Lord himself has to speak these words of warning and threatening to take away there their lampstand

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So Ephesus was a critical ministry and Paul writes that first letter to Timothy. It's encouragement

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It's instruction, but it's also a warning and Paul captures his purpose in writing that first letter in his third chapter

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He says I am writing these things to you So that if I delay you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the

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Church of Living God Timothy was Paul's protege. He you might say his like his apprentice his ministerial disciple

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If you want an older word his apostolic legate that he had left there to represent him in Ephesus and Timothy was considerably younger less experienced and from what the what

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Paul writes he probably had a little problem with timidity perhaps and Two of the three pastoral letters were written to Timothy the third to Titus and it's important to remember the order that we have them in our in our

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Bibles is first and second Timothy Titus and then Philemon Philemon more of a personal letter from Paul to Philemon who was at Colossae But remember that first Timothy was written but second

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Timothy was written last That was the last thing Paul wrote to Timothy, but also his last words to the church because we know he was executed in Rome Shortly after he wrote that letter

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After his release from house arrest and his first imprisonment In the last chapter of Acts, it's recorded there

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Paul was back on the mission trail resuming his ministry to the Mediterranean and this would have been around 62

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AD And it was during this time that Paul wrote to Titus from somewhere in Macedon from there.

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He traveled on to Rome he went back to Rome and Probably arrived there around 67, but things had changed

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Nero was still the Emperor but Nero Things had gone sour in his administration

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He it was not the same environment when Paul got there the second time many believers at this time took a lower profile they many have sort of Got real quiet concerning the gospel because of the

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Neronian persecution of the Christians we're going to talk about that in a minute and Timothy still back in Ephesus was probably tempted to do the same thing because of this

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This massive persecution against Christians during that point in time but Paul knowing that his time on earth was coming to a close wrote 2nd

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Timothy and This second imprisonment was not like the first and the first imprisonment.

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It was house arrest We're told that it says in Acts 28 He lived in his own rented quarters for those two years until they let him go.

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But here he was arrested and Tried convicted and sentenced to death so he's condemned to the

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Mamertine prison. We're going to take a look at that and This was not a prison as we would think of prisons

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This was essentially a hole in the ground a holding cell for men waiting execution. He was not waiting to go on trial

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He was condemned to death already and he was just there awaiting his Execution and he's right second

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Timothy It's such a personal sad letter and and it's very different from first Timothy a totally different tone

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New Testament scholar William mounts captures that I think very well He says second Timothy is unlike either first Timothy or Titus It is an intensely personal letter written to encourage

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Timothy in his difficult task and to ask him to come to Rome Since it was written to one of Paul's best friends who knew his theology and not to a church who did not know his theology

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Like Titus or to a church who knew his theology but was choosing to ignore it first Timothy When is not surprised a second

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Timothy does not sound like other letters. It was not intended to be a theological treatise

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Okay, very important. So Timothy was experienced a very tough going at Ephesus and Surveying both of these letters tells us of the wide range of issues.

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He had to deal with Church leadership. He had to be involved in that preaching teaching evangelism

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Pastoral care he had to deal with false teachers and their false teachings false doctrine

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And not only that he had to pay attention to his own spiritual life, of course, very important spiritual warfare

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Is never ever fought on simply one front. Have you noticed that it's always multiple problems multiple issues

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When you get one thing settled over here something else pops up over here One new fad comes down the pike and evangelicalism and and the church addresses it

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But then all of a sudden there's another one or maybe two more over here one theologian Likened it to the old whack -a -mole game.

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Remember that and whack -a -mole. I looked it up ahead I couldn't remember but there was only six right six moles that would pop up Theological whack -a -mole is like having a hundred moles popping up all over the place

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You just can't whack them down fast enough, but that's what's going on and Timothy had to deal with it Paul reached the end of his life.

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He knows it but what comes through in this last letter is his is in His concern for the ministry not just of the church but for individual people including

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Timothy for his brothers and sisters in Christ and also for the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ So if we were to compile a list of Paul's instructions for young Timothy from first and second

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Timothy Just from his first letter. It would sound something like this in his first letter.

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Paul says Timothy. I want you to Confront and correct false teachers calling them to repentance a sincere faith and a good conscience fight hard for the truth

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Guarding your own spiritual life pray for the lost no matter who they are and lead the men of the church to do the same in unity and holiness

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Exhort the women of the church to fulfill their God -ordained role of submission to their husbands working in their homes to raise up godly children setting an example in their homes of faith love and holiness

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Carefully and prayerfully select spiritual leaders for the church based on their godliness giftedness and good reputations

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Actively and aggressively discern and expose spiritual error and those who attempt to teach it within the flock of God Always be feeding yourself on the sound words of Scripture staying far away from myths false doctrines and the philosophies of men

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Work hard in your ministry always keeping your hopes set on the life to come in Christ Continuously discipline yourself for the purpose of spiritual growth and godliness

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Boldly and lovingly command and teach God's Word to his people Model the fruit of the

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Spirit so that all can follow you Concerning the Word of God faithfully read it explain it and apply it publicly to the people

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Keep growing in Christ likeness in your own personal life Confront the sins of your people but with gentleness and grace

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Lead your people to give special care for the widows in the congregation Carefully select leaders in the church who demonstrate spiritual maturity and faithfulness

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Take care of yourself physically so that you are strong to serve Christ Teach your people to be faithful and hard workers in the church and in their outside employment

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Honor faithful pastors who rule well and especially who work hard at preaching and teaching the

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Word Apply the Word of God in the church without partiality live your life content with what

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God provides and flee the love of money Instead pursue righteousness godliness faith love steadfastness and gentleness

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Fight the good fight of faith against its enemies keep all of God's Commandments Charge the rich to be generous and to be rich in good works

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Guard the Word of God that has been entrusted to you as a sacred trust all of that For Timothy ministering in Ephesus in just the first letter

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To this young pastor after he was in prison for the second time in Rome on death row as he awaited execution the fall of 67 he penned his last words to Timothy last words to the church very personal letter to the same young preacher in Second Timothy, but he continues to exhort and encourage

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Timothy by telling him to and we're going to be looking at this this morning Fan into flame the gift of God which is in him so he can be useful to the

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Lord That's the Holy Spirit Don't ever be timid fearful or ashamed of the testimony of Christ, but suffer in the strength and power of God follow

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Paul's own pattern of preaching and teaching sound words and guard the truth that has been placed in your care and Take that truth and teach it to faithful men who will also pass it down to faithful men

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So the next generation will hear the gospel Suffer as a good soldier of Christ Keep a single focus on the

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Lord of the church Jesus Christ and don't be distracted by the things of the world lead the flock of God with authority

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Work hard to accurately interpret teach and apply the scriptures avoid useless people who talk about useless things

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Keep your life pure so that you will be useful to the master flee youthful lusts pursue righteousness faith love and peace

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Don't get caught up in foolish and ignorant controversies that just be breed quarrels

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Especially in an election year. I added that last part. That was mine. I confess couldn't resist

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Don't be quarrelsome but kind to everyone able to teach patient correcting your opponents with gentleness

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Be ready to face the dangerous times that will come with a deep understanding of God's Word Know that all scripture is

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God breathed and profitable to equip you for all tasks preach the word and Preach it when it's popular to do it and especially preach it when it's not popular and use it to reprove rebuke and exhort people

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Endure hardship do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry at the end of this letter

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Paul warns Timothy to avoid a man named Alexander the coppersmith and throughout this letter

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Paul Names names people who have abandoned the faith people who have abandoned Paul Paul himself People who've just bugged out he names him and he warns particularly against Alexander the coppersmith and then almost as an afterthought

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Something for himself Come before winter and Bring my cloak and my parchments just need my coat and scriptures

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All of that for this young timid pastor to be equipped to minister in a land far far away a long time ago

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But all of it too very very applicable to us right here right now in North, Idaho in 2024

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But if Timothy was to carry out and it's very formidable list if he was to do it

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God's way He was going to have to rely on some very formidable Power that is not intrinsic to him.

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He's going to have to do his ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit and that's why Paul begins this this list of commands in 2nd

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Timothy chapter 1 with a with a this Encouragement to rely on the power of the

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Holy Spirit any ministry done in the power of the flesh is doomed to failure No matter how impressive it looks to the world and you've seen it.

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You've seen these Ministries with a with a preacher who just skyrockets into prominence and these massive ministries and Satellite ministries and thousands and thousands and thousands of people that involved and that person goes away.

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Have you noticed what happens? The ministry disintegrates, you know, why because Christ didn't build that ministry.

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It was built around a man and a personality But all ministry done in the power of the

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Holy Spirit will have God's eternal blessing no matter how insignificant it looks to the world so there's a little bit of the

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Spiritual and religious and historical background that brings us to this letter. What about the

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Emperor Nero? I think it's worthwhile talk a little bit about the political Context this happens in his name

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Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus He was born on the 15th of December in 37

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AD and he died June in 68 AD.

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So he only lived 30 years. He lived 30 years and he committed suicide the first time

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Paul was Let's see, there we go. The first time Paul was imprisoned He was imprisoned in house under house arrest according to Acts chapter 28

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This is a late 19th century artist rendition of what he thought that first imprisonment might be like it said that Paul is here writing his letter to the

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Ephesians and He's going to send it to this is supposed to be Titicus who was going to take it back to Ephesus But his environment was not nearly what it was later on in his second imprisonment in Rome He's imprisoned in what this place called a

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Mamertine prison This thing was essentially a hole in the ground. You can see the the ceiling

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That's the entrance into this place and the artist in this particular rendition Of course, he had to show you what it looked like So he had to have a little light coming in the ceiling probably wasn't there.

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It's probably just a dark cold stinking place Eventually it was discovered and Cleaned out and you can actually

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I got some pictures of it the tours you can take but Nero was born in AD 37 Died in 68.

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He was Emperor in AD 54 AD 62 AD 68 when he committed suicide

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His mother her name was Agrippina She was the great -granddaughter of the former

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Emperor Augustus and she had a real lust for power Okay, she just she just did and she managed to marry the current

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Emperor Claudius who adopted Nero because she wanted Nero to be in line for the to be

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Emperor so she could Influence things through her son Nero. Well, eventually

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Claudius did die In fact, he died of poisoning and she was implicated in it now he's out of the way and he died when at age 40 when

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Nero was just three years old and a few years went by and Agrippina influenced the people in power at the time and part of that was the

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Praetorian Guard who were influential in selecting the the next Emperor and at the age of 16, he became the

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Emperor of the Roman Empire Here's a statue of him obviously is fairly young in this particular one.

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There's another one of him Anecdotal reports say that Mark Zuckerberg fashions himself after the

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Emperor Nero. I don't know could be Maybe in looks hopefully not in how he handles administrative issues

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There's another one. He's a little bit older. They made lots of busts of each other It was common for the

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Emperors of Rome the Caesars to when they came into power to mint coins of themselves they have visages of themselves on the coin and Even all the way down in Jerusalem, you know the story of Jesus asking for a coin, you know a denarius

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He said whose image is on that and the image of it would have been Caesar The C could have been could have been a coin just like this

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The Jews had to carry those around in their pockets to pay taxes with them and they hated doing that Why because it was an idol they considered it an idol to have the visage of a man on there and there was various statements

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Proclaiming their their status and their power and so on on these coins Here's one here with Agrippina in the background, which she always was trying to influence him she was pretty successful at it.

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They they minted silver coins and gold coins and here's another one so during the 14 years that he was in power a whole series of different coins were were minted and Here is again the

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Mamertine prison that he put Paul in and condemned him to death The early years of his rule were considered kind of a golden age because he made a lot of reforms he had returned a lot of the power back to the

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Senate that had been taken away from them by the Previous emperors and so it pleased them to do that.

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He constructed vast palace complexes lush gardens He really liked to build things very anort

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Immaculate Building projects that cost a lot of money so he raised taxes on the populace He loved to compete in the

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Olympic Games His personal hobby was making personal appearances where he was sort of the main character you know the star of the show he appeared as a poet an actor a musician an athlete and Again, he was raising taxes on people to pay for all this lush construction and for a while he was fairly popular, but eventually the

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Senate and others around him began to begin to conspire to get him out of office and so he just simply had him arrested and executed which didn't help his popularity with those folks and So at the age of 16 he's going through all of this and his mother's behind the scenes

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Influencing him eventually that war kind of thin and he began to resent her influence in his administration

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And eventually he moved her out of the palace He denied her the protection of the Praetorian Guard and even forbid her to come to any of the gladiatorial games

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Well, she didn't like that too well, of course, so she began to favor his stepbrother and to promote him to be the next emperor and eventually

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Nero just simply to solve that problem murdered his own mother he was married several times several of those wives were murdered or exiled and Over time with all the plots to kill him and all the various rebellions and insurrections

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Nero became increasingly paranoid and Vindictive, but the great issue that happened during his reign was in 8064 a massive fire broke out in the city of Rome.

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It destroyed much of the city ten out of fourteen of the Provincial regions in the city were destroyed and the people blamed

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Nero They thought he he lit the fire himself in order to be able to turn around and rebuild some of his buildings.

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Well Amazingly and maybe in the providential working of God Two of the prop two of the areas of the city that did not suffer much damage were occupied predominantly by Christians and so Nero in order to have a scapegoat and get the blame off of him began to blame the

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Christians and The Christians weren't real popular anyway with the populace because they were considered

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Sort of not being interested in participating in much of the pagan social

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Activity that was going on much of it just perverted types of things And they didn't participate in it and also they considered

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Nero the Antichrist The Romans would say Caesar is Lord. And of course

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Christians would say Jesus is Lord and so they were not very popular so it was real easy to persecute them and Eventually, that's what happened and Paul arrives in Rome during this period of time

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He's immediately immediately recognized as the a ringleader as he was called

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Even the Jews in Jerusalem said he's a ringleader. Of course He's arrested condemned to death and put in a mammoth in prison eventually executed in 68 so This is the background the history of what is going on there with this letter

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Let's look together in the time we have left at 2nd

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Timothy chapter 1 and I'm just going to read down through it starting in verse 1

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It says Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God According to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus now right there when

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I read that I think you know Here's a man sentenced to death right and he mentions that right in that opening opening sentence and So oh by the way, here's here's the contemporary view of the

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Mamertine prison the Catholic Church has located this eventually and they built the church on top of it and a little closer view of the front of it here they of course have excavated it and It has obviously artificial light in there now you can still see the hole in the roof and Here's what it looks like Contemporary pictures they have put a staircase down into it so that they can do tours and have embellished it with the altars and various other things

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And so you can go and have a tour you get a little idea of how cramped and crowded this thing might have been with A few prisoners inside of it people taking a tour

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But this was no prison as we know prisons and Paul is there waiting to die

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So he says, you know By the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus to Timothy my beloved child

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Grace mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord I thank

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God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day as I remember your tears.

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I long to see you that I may be filled with joy I am reminded of your sincere faith a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother

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Lois and your mother Eunice and now I am sure Dwells in you as well

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He's used the word as the same root four times here in these verses

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He says I remember you constantly. I remember your tears I am reminded of your sincere faith, of course, there's a man getting ready to die and he knows it.

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What's he doing? He's reminiscing right, but he doesn't stop there He says in the very next verse and he uses the very same root word for this reason

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I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands

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For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self -control

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This is Roman numeral one on your outline Fan into flame the gift of God I just simply use the imperative commands that are in this passage as the outline and Paul understands and we should understand that the first one is

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Foundational to carry out the other ones or anything else. He says in this letter This letter also is full of full of commands fan and to flame the gift of God Some have said well, this is the spirit that's in Timothy and just his own spirit but the best understanding of it is that Paul was talking about the

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Holy Spirit of God and you can demonstrate that Exegetically here part of that is which he says which is in you through the laying on of my hands

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Remember that Timothy was a Gentile even though his mother and his grandmother were Jews His father was a

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Gentile and you were considered a Gentile or a Jew based on your father not your mother and father

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So he was considered by the Jews He would have been considered a a Gentile and you remember when Paul met with Cornelius in Acts chapter 10

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And he preached the gospel to Cornelius Cornelius was a Gentile He was what is called a a

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God fearer, which means he's a Gentile convert to Judaism But Paul had to carry out his mission and part of that mission was to demonstrate the movement of the gospel from Jew to Gentile Okay, this is a critical massive issue in the

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New Testament. It's huge they have been had to have the Jerusalem Council to Officially decide that the gospel is going to Gentiles and the

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Gentiles don't have to become Jews in order to be saved They're saved just like Abraham was by faith alone.

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That's Paul's whole argument through Romans and even in Galatians So in order to when he was preaching to Cornelius Cornelius is saved when he's preaching and when

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Paul lays hands on him He's gets the baptism of the Holy Spirit Why because it's important for them to make that connection of the gospel going from this

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Jewish apostle To the Gentiles and making that transition and once that happens

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It's not no longer necessary for it to happen again, you know Once you cross the bridge, you don't need to go back and cross it again and again and again and again

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That's what that was for and it was an audio visual demonstration of the movement of the gospel from Jews to the

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Gentiles and it was also critical for them to connect this with Apostolic teaching all kinds of teaching going on but the church needs to focus on apostolic teaching

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So that's the same thing that I think is happening here with Timothy And this is why it's the work of the

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Spirit that's so important for Timothy The Holy Spirit did not give us or you a spirit of fear

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Remember the persecutions going on and Timothy's probably getting a little hinky about this whole deal you know because Paul's going to get executed and a lot of people are abandoning

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Paul they're bugging out on him and Paul says not you Timothy Fan into flames stir into flame.

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The idea is to rekindle the gift of God the Holy Spirit Which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

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The Holy Spirit did not give you a spirit of timidity or or being scared of things but of power power to do all that he asked you to do power to love and Also self -control all of these things very critical this concept of self -control is sometimes translated sound judgment sound mind or Self -discipline all of these things are a work of the

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Holy Spirit in the life of a believer And one of his functions is to control our minds our minds which were damaged fallen in the fall

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The judgments or thought processes even the idea of being courageous under persecution is a work of the

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Holy Spirit Faithfulness that is a work of the Holy Spirit. And of course love. What's the first fruit of the

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Holy Spirit Paul mentions love that's a work of the Spirit all of these things are there and This moves us to Roman numeral to Stir up the

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Holy Spirit stir up his work and remember the Holy Spirit is a person he can be quenched He can be grieved.

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He can even be lied to we know that from Acts 5, right? Remember Ananias and Sapphira they lied to the

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Holy Spirit. So all of these things come into place when we want to Accomplish what

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God has for us. And so in verse 8 Paul says do not be ashamed

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Therefore Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord nor of me his prisoner

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Stop right there in verse 8 Paul says because the Holy Spirit is in you and he's there to empower you to do your

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Ministry don't be ashamed of the gospel. That's a real issue all the way through this Well, it should be because there's a massive persecution going on and a lot of people are bugging out

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Don't be ashamed of the gospel and don't be ashamed of me Paul himself

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Okay, and so this is only going to be done by the power of the Holy Spirit Other men were ashamed of Paul look down in verse 15

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You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me among whom are figelis and Hermogenes this is something

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Paul he also mentions names here and He says over in chapter 4 verse 9 and Following do your best to come to me soon for Demas in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica Crescens has gone to Galatia Titus to Dalmatia Luke alone is with me get mark and bring him with you for he is very useful for me

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Titicus I have sent to Ephesus and so on but Paul is pretty much abandoned

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He's almost alone. Luke is there at least when he's writing this. It's thought that Luke probably wasn't there very long after this

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Eventually Paul would have been done would have died all by himself but but the flip side of the coin of not being ashamed and Paul uses the strongest contrastive term in the

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New Testament translated in our language, but do not be ashamed But he says

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Roman numeral three share in Suffering share in suffering. He says in the in the last part of verse 8

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Share in suffering for what Paul for the gospel and how am I going to do that by the power of God again?

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Once again, it comes back around to the power of the Holy Spirit. What's the power of God the power of God's the

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Holy Spirit That's how you share in Suffering and it's for the gospel by the power of God over in chapter 2 verse 3

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He says the very same thing share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus This is an echo of Philippians 1 29

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Paul said there to the Philippians to you it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in him

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But also to suffer for his sake You don't hear much about it in evangelical circles nowadays, especially here in America, right?

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But Salvation and suffering are linked in Scripture and not just in these passages over and over again our

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Election we like to talk about our election. I'm elect, you know chosen by God Yeah chosen by God to believe but also chosen by God to suffer for his sake those two cannot be separated in Scripture they go hand in hand and Even though we don't see that much of it in our own generation at least not like that We don't know what the future holds we don't know what's going to happen and it may not just be suffering for your faith

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There's all kinds of ways we can suffer. We can suffer physically we can suffer emotionally all those things But if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, your

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Savior will be there for you to meet you with the grace necessary During whatever suffering he calls you to go through.

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This was Paul's great goal again to the Philippian Christians he said that his goal in life that I may know him and The power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering

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Being conformed to his death You don't hear about it too much or think about it too much maybe but Paul's fellowship with Jesus he considered the fellowship of suffering to be real fellowship and it's so important and with The mention of the gospel there in that verse.

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It's almost as if Paul just can't Resist just talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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He just sort of explodes into a rehearsal of the elements of the gospel It's like he says there's a great big package here called the gospel and I'm going to open it up and I'm going to show

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You the parts and the pieces. I'm fighting a clock here a little bit It's down at the bottom the glorious gift of the gospel

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He just unwraps it in verses 9 through 10. Our salvation is by the power of God and there again

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That's the end of verse 8. That's the Holy Spirit, right? We're saved by the power of the Holy Spirit Our salvation is unto a holy calling being set apart for God and God's purposes and God's work

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Our salvation is not because of our works 9b our salvation is because of God's purpose and grace and Again, our salvation is a gift in 9d which he gave us right

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Salvation is a gift and he gave us that gift in Christ Jesus And our salvation is was before ages began.

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It's like whenever Paul talks about the gospel He talks about it personally, of course, but he also just sometimes just stands back and looks at this

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Incredible panoramic view of salvation like it is in Romans chapter 8, right? What's commonly called the golden chain of redemption whom he foreknew these he also these he also these he also

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And he ends up at glorification. He just wants to wants to see the panoramic view of salvation.

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Nothing's in question there There's no contingencies There's no question as to whether or not if God foreknew you in eternity past you will be glorified

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It's one of the greatest statements of the security believer in all of Scripture and Paul does the same thing here our salvation is was before ages began very literally before times of ages and Our salvation is manifested because our

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Savior Jesus Christ Appeared apart from him. There's no salvation. There's no salvation apart from Jesus Christ and Last our salvation is because Jesus abolished death and brought life

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What do you think that meant to Paul at that stage of his life? You better believe it he's thinking about the eternal life that he has in Jesus Christ and If you flip your paper over it was for the gospel

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Paul says that I was Appointed he was appointed a preacher an apostle and a teacher all of those things and Paul had completed that task

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That God had given him and this is why he says he's suffering But Paul says

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I am NOT ashamed all these other people are all these other people that he mentioned.

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They're gone They're ashamed of the gospel Timothy don't you be ashamed of the gospel because I'm not and He says because he is trusting

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Christ to guard what Paul has entrusted to him Now the ESV is not a real good translation of that better translation there

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I just reproduced it for you. There is a the legacy standard Bible He says I am NOT ashamed for I know whom

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I have believed and I am Convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

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Paul had made a Deposit it's commonly called with God in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ and he's convinced

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God's going to going to be able to take care of that and guard that and I'm not ashamed of the gospel and This this is all every single one of those elements

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Paul is Believing that and achieving that by the power of the Holy Spirit in his own life

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Which brings us to Roman numeral for verse 13? Follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus Paul is very concerned for Timothy that he was going to take the gospel and Continue to teach it and preach it so that the gospel can go on Accomplishing its powerful purposes the word follow there in the

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ESV That's a little vanilla. Okay. The word is actually whole

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And hold on tight. It's a present active imperative hold fast Timothy hold fast.

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Hang on tight and Hang on tight to sound words words that are sound

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Who gain us in the Greek we get the word hygienic from that? Okay Transliterate it right over hygienic that which is clean that which is pure that which is not

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Contaminated has that concept same thing with the Word of God don't proclaim the Word of God that's been contaminated or that's been

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Adulterated with the human philosophy preach and teach the pure Word of God and Paul says

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Which you have heard from me? He's talking about apostolic doctrine. Don't teach or preach anything else.

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That's not what we're about We're about teaching and preaching Apostolic doctrine and hold fast to that it's been deposited in your life and in your mind

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You need to continue to put that in other people's life as well and the power to guard it dwells in us

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Again back to the Holy Spirit. The power to guard is the Holy Spirit Follow the pattern of sound words.

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Hang on to sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus it's the gospel verse 14

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Paul says and here he just comes right back around to the Holy Spirit This is why

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I'm convinced the reference to the Spirit is the Holy Spirit of God Because he just comes back around to it by the

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Holy Spirit who dwells within us Guard the good deposit entrusted to you guard it

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Follow the pattern of sound words be obedient to it and guard what? Has been deposited in you and you're only going to be able to do that and so are we by the power of the

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Holy? Spirit So in summary by rekindling the power of the

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Spirit in his life Timothy and we as well Will have the infinite power of God to not be ashamed of Christ But to share in any suffering

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God calls us to and we don't know what's going to happen in the future I'm not a prophet or a son of a prophet

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But I know that God's power through his spirit will meet you at that point of need no matter what the suffering is you encounter in your life

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Hold fast to the pattern of sound words the truth the Word of God and for us This is apostolic doctrine right here the

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Word of God and No matter what it cost or what we have to endure guard the good deposit the treasure

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God has placed in our trust Okay, any thoughts or comments or questions you might have on that.

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It's kind of a whirlwind of data Yeah, okay,

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I either totally muddied the water yes, sir Yes, did

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I you're you were right about me misspeaking if I said that yeah his his

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Ethnicity would be determined by his father who was a Gentile so he was considered a Gentile by the rest of the

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Jews you're right Thank you for clarifying that No, Timothy was considered a

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Gentile because of his father being a Gentile By the rest of the Jews by the culture

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That's why when Paul They got so upset at him for thinking he was going to take

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Timothy into the temple at that point in time So that the that your ethnicity is determined by your by your father's ethnicity

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What's up in in that day the the ethnicity would be determined by by the father not the not the mother it's

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That's why again, that's why he was considered a Gentile and had could not get entrance into the into the

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Into the temple, that's why they had that wall separating the God fearers from the rest of the temple

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They were still considered to be Gentile Ethnically, yeah, well

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Paul did that as an accommodation to them He wouldn't have had to circumcise him if he would have been considered a

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Jew in the first place He would have would have been considered a Jew. Okay, anything else?

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Well In just a minute or two we have left. How about some practical principles? Certainly if you read back through this you can think of some other ones, but here is just a few

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Regardless of the social political or religious environment. We are to fearlessly pursue our biblical mandates in the power of the

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Holy Spirit Apart from empowering the of the Holy Spirit We are helpless to do

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God's work God's way and we are doesn't matter what our background is what our education is what our experiences every time we minister we have to minister in the power and strength and encouragement of the

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Holy Spirit and Third the gospel of Jesus Christ is the heart of our message and is to be proclaimed within the whole council of God or Sound doctrine in the power of the

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Holy Spirit. The gospel has a context and it's the entire Word of God Very important to remember that Forth our sanctification is in and through the truth

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John 17 17 his high priestly prayer He prayed to his father sanctified them in the truth.

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Your word is truth Okay, so we are to focus on the truth and It's empowered by the

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Holy Spirit of God And fifth we're to proclaim and guard the Word of God and trust that God will guard what we have placed into his trust and do

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That by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us Okay.

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Amen Let's pray father.

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Thank you for our time in your word today. We thank you that we can trust all things to you

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Especially what we have entrusted to you our eternal destiny our eternal souls We know that you have entrusted us with the

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Word of God and so while we are here in this life help us to be faithful as Paul was to Proclaim your word unashamedly to preach and teach the

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Word of God to take advantage of every Opportunity we have to share Christ with others and now father as we gather to worship you to fellowship together

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We pray that you would bless this time that we have be with those who would lead through music and through preaching your word in a very special way give them power and joy as they lead us and We just thank you and praise you in Jesus mighty name.