Don't Be Ashamed of the Gospel - 2nd Timothy 1:8-10

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April 25, 2025 Faith Bible Church Morning Service, Sacramento, CA Don't Be Ashamed of the Gospel - 2nd Timothy 1:8-10

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Well, welcome to Faith Bible Church and there's some visitors here today and we welcome you and glad you're here and Those that are watching
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Hello from your church family. Hope you're doing well and staying in the word and staying close to the
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Lord as well being separated from the body is a difficult time in place
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So we just our prayers are with you and I'm sure your prayers are with us as well as we continue on And so thank you and glad that we could join in worship and fellowship together today
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I wanted to repeat last week and in case you were away or didn't hear the video see the video
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Pastor Iljin Cho and Lauren have accepted the position to be our next pastor full -time pastor here at Faith Bible Church and we're excited about that that will be probably and They'll be moving the beginning of July when they're begin actually begin ministry standing right here
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We haven't talked about that first things first, right? So And I just thank everybody for their prayers.
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It's been a road to get to this point but through Pastor John and a number of different people that have been strategic and bringing that together
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We're thankful for the Lord's work that way and as we kept saying we're waiting on the Lord We're waiting on the
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Lord. Well, you know, we continue to wait on the Lord because we're supposed to do that And that's like that's a lifelong endeavor one to read
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Psalm 62 5 6 62 verses 5 through 8 my soul waits silently for God alone
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For my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation
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He is my defense I shall not be moved in God is my salvation and my glory the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God Trust in him at all times you people
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Pour out your heart before him God is a refuge for us and indeed he is and and has been and We wait on that and we put our faith and trust in that because we're called to do that We're commanded to have faith without faith.
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We are really nothing so Why don't you join with me in prayer? Lord God, we thank you for gathering us together this morning father to to worship you to learn more about you
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And your character and and your attributes father Through your word father because you have given that to us as a gift that we might not
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Be a go astray that we might Understand more fully of the depth of our responsibility before you
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But Lord the gift and the treasure that you have given us in your son Jesus Christ So father today, may we honor you may we bring you glory and everything that we do that we exalt your name
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Above all things and that our hearts would be glad that we could put aside those things that distract us
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Lord and and focus on your Glorious wonder father, so we thank you for this morning.
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We commit our time to your care in Christ's name. We pray. Amen So if you would join with me, we're gonna sing to the
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Lord Oh come thou fount of every blessing, so please join with me in standing
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Mortal Invisible and you need to help us out on those high notes because Harold's a down here guy and every some of these notes are up here, so Sing it out, okay
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My job, please be seated
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Morning Scripture reading this morning is taken from a second temp second
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Timothy chapter 1 Verses 8 through 18
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Second Timothy chapter 1 verses 8 through 18
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Therefore Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord Nor of me his prisoner
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But share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling?
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not according to our works But according to his own purpose and grace
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Which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began But has now been revealed by the appearing of our savior.
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Jesus Christ Who has abolished death? And brought life and immortality to light through the gospel
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To which I was appointed a preacher an apostle And a teacher of the gentiles for this reason
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I also suffer these things nevertheless. I am not ashamed For I know whom
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I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep What I have committed to him until that day
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Hold fast the pattern of sound Words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus That good thing which was committed to you keep by the holy spirit who dwells in us
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This you know that all those in asia have turned away from me among whom are figelis and homogenes
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The lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus for he often refreshed me
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And was not ashamed of my chain But when he arrived in rome He sought me out very zealously
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And found me The lord grant to him that he might that he may find mercy from the lord in that day
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And you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at ephesus May the lord add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his holy word
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Okay, if you would stand with me again, uh, we're going to sing two more Hymns, the first one is stand up And bless the lord
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Oh Please be seated pastor john
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Good morning So, um, I don't know if you've ever
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Flown on an airplane Got on southwest or some well -known airline and the captain
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Comes over the intercom Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We want to at this time.
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Thank you for flying southwest airlines And I just need to give you a quick safety announcement before we go any further
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The door is still open So if you need to depart it's okay, but this is the first time ever flown an airplane
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How would you feel? well As you know, my wife and kids are gone
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And I was just telling victor for the past couple of days Like if this is my normal sort of path in life,
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I feel i'm about three and a half inches to the left I broke a coffee cup
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Okay, if my daughter's watching this They'll be back late tonight. I broke her favorite coffee cup
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I've been drilling holes on a project Three out of every six holes that I drill
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I drill in the wrong place And this morning I was trying to print out the notes for the sermon
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And there's some format in microsoft word I tried everything
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I went I mean, I know how to use a computer and I could not figure out so I couldn't print because The sermon that was to be one
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Day sunday turned into a two -part sermon. I'm not done You better open your bibles to second timothy because this morning as I left the house for our church
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Service I threw away my sermon It's in the recycle can right outside the kitchen door
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So when I was joking with you about doing it from memory A little did I know that last week's sermon is in my binder
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So fortunately because Some pastor friends of mine over the years Have shared with me how their house was broken into You know because somebody's watching because they leave every sunday and they're back by a certain time
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I bring my computer whenever I leave on sunday. I always have my computer So the reason
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I told you about flying a plane for the first time This is the first time that i'm going to be preaching from an electronic copy of my message so whether This works or not
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It's not my comfort zone. Amen So second timothy chapter one if you have been here the past few sundays, you know that we started a series of messages on Digging into god's word and we're going to be specifically
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Camped in second timothy for quite some time. How do you stand firm when you live in perilous and difficult days?
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Standing firm We know that our country Our nation our world
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We're living in difficult days. You don't have to turn on Virtually any news network or go on twitter or do whatever you do for your news to know
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These are very difficult and challenging times And we find this simple truth here in second timothy chapter one verse five
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When the apostle paul says to his beloved son in the faith verse five
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When I called a remembrance The genuine faith that is in you Which dwelt first in your grandmother lois and your mother eunice and I am persuaded in you
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Also see timothy and paul were living in difficult days And one of the effects on timothy
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Was that he had become scared? Even embarrassed or Frightened of being a christian
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Which is why paul says in verse eight Therefore Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our lord
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Nor of me as prisoner But instead share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of god
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So what started out as a one sunday message is now two parts. So the message title is don't be ashamed of the gospel
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See friends if you look carefully at verse eight, this is a reminder To us That kings and presidents and legislatures
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And governors Please listen are not the cure for what is ailing our country
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The cure for what is ailing our country is the gospel of jesus christ
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It is men and women being born again changed That's why paul says in verse seven
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For god has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind see
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Brethren believers Are not of this world We are citizens of heaven if we've been truly born again
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We are in this world, but we are what not of this world See when people are born again, and they're saved everything about them changes because they're what born again
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Their values change their priorities change and they begin to Live out and think like paul tells the colossians in chapter three verse one
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If then you have been raised with christ meaning you have been truly born again
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Seek those things which are above where christ is Sitting at the right hand of god
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Set your mind on things above Not on things on the earth
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See one of the effects on timothy In terms of the perilous days in which he was living was that he had become afraid
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Which is why paul says in verse 7 god has not given us a spirit of fear I'm telling you
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I talk to people all the time. They're afraid They're afraid of all kinds of things in the days in which we live they're afraid of losing their house
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They're afraid of losing their job There's a hospital In texas that has said if you don't do certain things you will be fired
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And a guy in our church this morning told me that the county is considering this very same thing
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If you don't get a vaccine you will be fired but see god has not given us
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What a spirit of fear? But of power and of love and of a sound mind
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So here in verses 8 through 11, which is where we will be this morning And god willing next week
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We get help When it comes to not being ashamed of the gospel I'm going to tell you the number one thing
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That the state of california and the united states of america and I mean this as serious as I can be
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Is not a new governor and a new president. It needs the gospel of jesus christ Please listen to me
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The church needs to be preaching the gospel Believers need to be in the world sharing the good news of jesus christ
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That is what will change our country Am I being a little firm?
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Yes, we need to do the things that we need to do we need to vote and so on The number one thing we need to do
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Is walk with the lord and share the good news of jesus christ You might ask yourself this morning as a backdrop of this message
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When is the last time that you shared the gospel with somebody sat down and have given somebody the gospel the good news of jesus christ
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If we are not doing it Friends if we are not doing it
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We can look at ourselves. Amen Because it's a command. I know we don't lie.
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We don't cheat. We don't steal right because we love god And we obey god Well part of being a christian is sharing the good news of jesus christ so We see in verses 8 through 11
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This this help In dealing with this issue of being ashamed or embarrassed or afraid of the testimony of our lord
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And we see it in three ways by understanding paul's admonition to timothy that we will see in verse 8 and verse 9
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His affirmation of the gospel Which is part of verse 8 and part of verse 9
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And also understanding the apostle paul's appointment as an apostle so affirmation
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Affirmation and appointment and before we go any further. Let's pray Father god, we are so thankful for this day
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For the rich truths of your word We understand that we do not live by bread alone
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But by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of god That faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god that you have not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of a sound sober mind
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Lord, we've prayed for this service. We've prayed that hearts would be prepared We ask that the holy spirit might be our teacher that I would be even with No sermon manuscript that you would give me the grace to be clear father that Your word would indeed be implanted in our hearts that it might bear fruit
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For the kingdom of god and the glory of god. We pray in jesus name. Amen now one of the things that you want to do and I don't know if you
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Accepted my challenge last week to read through this letter. If not do it this week But one of the things you want to do is you are studying second timothy is to always throughout the letter keep in mind the historical context of of and the setting for this letter
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It is written from the apostle paul to his beloved son son in the faith timothy Is a pastor he's serving in the city of ephesus
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He's young And this is essentially the apostle paul's last will and testament as far as we know
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These are the very last words of the apostle paul that we have in writing He is in a cold and damp roman prison
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Uh It is not the kind of prison that you see on tv today very uncomfortable very cold
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And basically he's waiting for the executioner to come for the guards to come and say it's time
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And he's going to die a short time after he wrote this letter According to history he's going to be died.
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He's going to die a martyr's death for the sake of the gospel rather than deny christ and the purpose of this letter is to instruct and to warn
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Timothy and the church Within the context of living in difficult times Which is how jesus and the rest of the new testament describes the last days.
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Remember the last days Is the period in time from the resurrection of jesus christ until what he comes again and the scripture is very clear
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Very very clear that the overall trend of culture society and the world will be from Bad to worse we understand
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I drew the chart it'll get up a little bit there might be some revival But then it'll turn around we've had revival in this country an amazing thing under the preaching of a of a the former princeton
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President named jonathan edwards if you've never read anything about him. It's just an amazing thing. He was a former president
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He preached a famous sermon called sinners in the hands of an angry god uh
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And god just began to work under the preaching of george whitfield and others Our country began to really love jesus and share the gospel.
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So this is true all over the world in countries. Okay? There's this overall trend towards more and more wickedness
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Timothy is afraid People in the church were looking down on his youthfulness
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He was apparently sick often paul says, you know, take a little wine We'll get into that if if we have time before july when ilging comes
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He was no doubt discouraged And I believe that we can identify with that, right?
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Getting discouraged in the days in which we live So right here in verses 8 through 11 We find what might be best described
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As a comprehensive theology of the gospel in three verses So in three verses
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This reflection of the good news of jesus christ in miniature It's like paul has taken the first 10 chapters of romans and chapter 2 3 and 4 of galatians and and and squeeze them down and put them through some kind of distillation process and Given into us as a sandwich size
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Mre pack right one of those meals ready to eat that you might have in the garage for that day when the bomb drops
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It's vacuum sealed But when we open it up and pour in a little water that thing all of a sudden we have a meal, right?
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So paul tells his beloved son of the faith to stop being ashamed in verse 8
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Stop being embarrassed of the gospel and he's telling them to put off this fearful embarrassment of his faith
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And of this fear about paul being in prison and friends we have the same charge
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What is the number one reason why people do not share the gospel of jesus christ the number one reason if I took a
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If I took a silent survey right now, right or anonymous Had you fill it out on a piece of paper and nobody gets to see your name
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The number one reason why people do not share the gospel fear They might not like me they might get mad at me
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They might hit me over a head with a baseball bat Friends we must not be ashamed of the gospel
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That's the verse and the way out for timothy The path and route that paul gives him to put off this fear and to put on courage
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Is his faith in christ and the power of the gospel and those same truths those same tools
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Are are what believers today and in any age
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Of of of human history since the resurrection of jesus christ in order to stand firm
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So what can we learn in these verses? About how the gospel applies to standing firm in difficult days and Not being ashamed of the gospel not being afraid to tell a co -worker or a neighbor about the good news of jesus christ if timothy
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Listen if timothy a disciple of paul right a young man that was
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Mentored and tutored and and taught by the apostle paul himself Possibly as long as three years
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If he can become embarrassed or ashamed of the gospel, is it possible?
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We might have the same issue please Yeah, and we could meet once a week not every day
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So, how can we learn To put off being ashamed of the gospel and our testimony of christ and put on this boldness and courage for the gospel number one by understanding paul's admonition to timothy
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So how can we learn to put off being ashamed of the gospel and put on boldness and courage for the gospel?
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First of all by understanding and applying to ourselves paul's admonition to timothy and this is what we find in verse eight paul says
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Now you have to look back at verse seven, right? You have to look back at verse six therefore see the word therefore right big important word in any language
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God hasn't given us a spirit of fear And it's assumed, you know from reading the text that timothy is afraid he's embarrassed he's ashamed
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But god hasn't given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind therefore
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Therefore Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our lord Nor of me his prisoner but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of god paul saying never be ashamed to tell others about our lord and don't be
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Embarrassed or ashamed about me in prison So paul first says do not be ashamed the idea with this word
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Is to be embarrassed or afraid? And the actual greek word was used in the first century
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When referring to experiencing a painful feeling
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Or sense of loss because of some kind of event, you know when something horrible when you hear
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I mean Just think through your own life and maybe some really really bad news
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I think most of you know my sister some of you my sister recently Moved to north carolina.
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She sold her house in orangevale But I had to go over and pick up one last piece of furniture from her and I walked through the house and I I took a picture of the empty house and sent it to my mother and my mother said
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She said son. I have just the most empty horrible feeling I may never see my daughter again
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I may never see my sister again That's the idea here it's the the word embarrassed here is tied to how events around us have impacted or affected us
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Where we almost feel numb And paul says don't be that way
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And then he says it again in verse 12 For this reason I also suffer these things
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Nevertheless I'm not ashamed I I don't have Those feelings and then he says it again in verse 16
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The lord grant mercy to the house of anisporous For he often refreshed me and what?
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was not ashamed of my chain of my imprisonment And so the repetition of this word helps us to see and understand that the major message of this section of the letter
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Has to do with this condition of being ashamed or fearfully embarrassed
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Which was a feeling that timothy was experiencing but paul And anisporous by the way anisporous you can read about if you wonder who in the world is anisporous
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Please don't ever name your child anisporous Can you imagine in this day and age?
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Yeah, this is my son anisporous What? Anisporous you read about in the book of philemon
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He was a runaway slave that paul had led to christ in rome Who under roman law could be arrested?
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and executed For running away and he takes that letter to philemon, right?
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He's got that parchment from paul Another one of paul's very end of his life kind of letters and he goes all the way back
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To the church in colossi to philemon and gives him this letter. It was just he read it sometime.
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It's amazing It's short by the way So in context
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Inside the church there were problems in the church at ephesus People were looking down on timothy's youthfulness and don't do that to ilgen when he comes
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He's 27, but he's listen I'm telling you the truth. I've spent a lot of time with that young man.
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He's probably 10 times smarter than me He's tutoring people in the greek and the hebrew and he gets excited
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When he's translating daniel from the aramaic I get excited when I can read my sermon from a computer
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I mean, he's just really he's such a sweet young man really very very special So in context, right there's problems in the church at ephesus.
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Paul had warned about it in the book of acts that it was going to happen Right people are looking down.
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They're getting mad at him And he basically was doing what most of us would do when things are really we they withdraw he wasn't answering his text messages
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People are texting him. They're calling him. He's not answering his phone that ever happened to anybody here I mean, you know the feeling right?
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That's that's what's going on outside the church. What was going on the roman empire? nero
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Paul on death row about to be executed So paul is exhorting timothy listen despite all this
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Don't be afraid. Don't be ashamed to share the gospel Be like what a misforest?
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Now why might timothy be ashamed well, it might have cost him his life
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You understand he might be arrested like paul so instead of being afraid
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Or fearful timothy is to be the opposite of that which is brave and courageous and how
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Well, he can put off his fear. He can put on his courage. What look at verse seven According to the power of god because that's what god has given believers, right?
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because in christ by faith through the gospel God has given us a spirit of power
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God has not given his children a spirit of fear of cowardice of timidity but of power
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And see this power Is is is rekindled.
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It's recharged as we are reminded again Of the gospel of jesus christ, right?
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So it's activated by the gospel So when god saves someone
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He comes in and he takes residents up in that person and he gives them a spirit or a component
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That their personality can actually Manifest the power of god in them.
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They're not little gods, but they have god's strength That's why paul says in philippians.
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I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, right?
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So standing firm in perilous days Paul's admonition to timothy and all believers is to not be ashamed
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Of the gospel or the testimony of christ and secondly paul's admonition is to join paul in suffering
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It's not just that timothy Must not be ashamed of the testimony of the lord. But paul is also admonishing to join with paul and what if needed
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To take his share of suffering for the gospel See weak as timothy was in himself discouraged afraid ashamed
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He could be fortified by the power of god to endure it paul says share or join with me
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In the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of god
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So when it comes to guarding against the danger Of being ashamed or afraid of the gospel
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We need to be comforted encouraged that if we find ourselves feeling this way But man
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Even this week you think of that person that you've been going to that bank teller that Grocery cashier that neighbor that you say hi to And you're afraid man
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He's going to think i'm some kind of kook God has opened the door two out of five unsaved neighbors
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That we have for us to start Gospel conversations. And listen you know the moment that God is not opening the door, because what do they do?
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Oh, that's nice. You know the wall comes up. Hey, the Lord has not opened the door to give them the full
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Gospel. But you can ask a simple, do you ever think about spiritual things? Do you ever think about going to church?
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You can say something like that. This just happened to me this past week. I can't even remember where it was.
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I just brought up the Gospel to this person and next thing I know, I mean literally within 45 seconds the conversation was over.
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Guess what? I'm not going to give them the Gospel and tell them they're on their way to Hell. I'm going to pray for them.
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Amen? They shut the conversation down. So, how can we learn to put off being ashamed, or embarrassed, or afraid of the
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Testament of the Lord? And learn to put this off and put on the boldness and courage of the Gospel. First of all by understanding and applying
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Paul's admonition to Timothy. And secondly by understanding Paul's affirmation of the
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Gospel. In verse 8 Paul admonishes Timothy to not be ashamed, or afraid of the testimony of the
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Gospel. Then he turns again to affirming the Gospel by coming back again to affirming salvation by grace through faith in Christ.
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He says, therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me
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His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the Gospel according to the power of God.
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Now look at verse 9, who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our
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Savior Jesus Christ who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the
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Gospel. So, Paul comes back again to the power of the Gospel. What he says in verses 9 -10 it isn't a complete statement of the
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Gospel, it is the Gospel in miniature. Notice how he puts it.
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He says, Gospel in verse 8, right? He says,
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Saved in verse 9. And then in verse 10 he comes back again to the
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Gospel. You see those? See those bookends? So, Paul's aim and purpose in this letter is to encourage
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Timothy and any believer living in difficult times. He's encouraging believers to remember and understand that the
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Gospel does not stop at salvation. See, the power of the Gospel saves, but it's also the
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Gospel that can help and empower believers to not be ashamed of Christ, and to live in difficult times without fear.
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Which is why what we have to do is we have to take what Paul says here about the
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Gospel into the exegetical laboratory of God's Word, and seek to lift out of these verses the key
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Gospel truths that Paul as he was guided by the Holy Spirit has embedded in these verses, and would have resonated with Timothy, and need to resonate with us.
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Okay? Because they would have strengthened, and they would have encouraged Timothy. Now, what does
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Paul affirm about the Gospel in these verses? Well, if you look carefully through them there's at least five pillars of truth about the
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Gospel when it comes to standing firm in perilous and difficult days.
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Now, there's every indication, just to give you an idea of the power of the
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Gospel, there's every indication that Timothy did indeed heed the words of this
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Gospel, I mean of this letter. Because we find out in the book of Hebrews chapter 13 that Timothy was actually imprisoned for his faith.
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And we get that little hint, that little clue because in Hebrews 13 .23 it reads, take notice.
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This is why some people think that Hebrews was written by Paul, which we could debate the rest of the morning and not come to an answer.
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Right? So, don't worry about it. Don't lose any sleep over not knowing who wrote Hebrews. But it says in Hebrews 23, take notice that our brother
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Timothy has been released. So, it's very possible he heeded the instructions of this letter.
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Right? Began to be bold again for the Gospel, and was arrested for his faith, and then eventually not martyred, but released.
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So, what does Paul say, and not say about the Gospel that Timothy would have been thinking about as he read the opening verses of this letter that would have enabled him by God's grace to put off this fear and put on courage.
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Now, what we have to do before we dig into those is we cannot put the cart before the horse.
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Which means that we must first have a grasp, this is kind of review, we first have to have a grasp of Timothy's condition, and anyone's condition apart from saving faith.
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Okay? And that's why if you go back to verse 5 Paul talks about the genuine faith that is in him.
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That first dwelt in his grandmother Lois, also his mother Eunice, and Paul is persuaded is in him that is
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Timothy also. So, in order to understand what Paul talks about the
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Gospel in verse 8, 9, and 10, we have to go back, what does he mean by saved?
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What does he mean by called? To get the significance of that we have to have the antecedent to what he's saying.
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This means we have to know and understand what comes before these things, before salvation, before the call, right?
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What was Timothy's? What is anyone's condition before they come to faith, and are saved, and are called?
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So, in verse 5 Timothy is saved. Paul is convinced, he's persuaded that he is. But friends, what was his condition before that?
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Go to Romans 3, Romans 3, because there's a number of things.
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And we covered most of this early in the year when we dealt with this whole series of messages on the biblical
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Gospel, right? Friends, what comes before the Gospel? What is anyone's condition before saving faith?
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The Bible first of all says that all men are sinners, they're all blind, and they're literally dead in their trespasses and sin,
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Romans 3 .10. There is none righteous, no, not one.
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You mean that nice person that gives all their money away to the poor? No, if they're doing it for the wrong reason, right?
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Not because of Christ. They're not righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God.
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They have all turned aside. They have all together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not one.
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You mean giving to the poor, and serving at the soup kitchen?
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You mean helping the little lady with her groceries into the back of her car, that person that does that?
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No, no. Without Christ, apart from Christ, apart from saving faith, all that good works means what?
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Nothing. Okay? Yes, there are good people in the world, amen? You understand? That doesn't mean they're a born again
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Christian. My mother is a very, very sweet lady. She's very generous.
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She's very loving to everybody around her. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit.
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And then he summarizes, I won't read it all, verse 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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That's the summary. What is anyone's condition before sin? What was Timothy's condition?
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What was Onesiphorus' condition? What was Paul's condition? What was my condition?
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I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. You go to John 12, back just a couple of books, through the book of Acts, they are in sin, everyone.
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And also John 12, 40, they're blind.
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John 12, 40, He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts, and turn so that I should heal them.
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2 Corinthians chapter 4, a lot of people the last year, why?
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How can anybody listen to that news conference? How can anybody read that news story and believe what they're being told?
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Here's why. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 4, whose minds the
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God, little G, notice that, of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
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Dear friends, who would have thought ten years ago?
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Who would have thought even two years ago that Americans would accept, would accept so much of their freedom being completely taken away?
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One of the reasons I believe in a personal antichrist that will come in and deceive the world is because of what's happened in the past year and a half.
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How can somebody come on the world scene and deceive the entire world?
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We're experiencing it, and will set himself up in Jerusalem and say,
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I am Jesus Christ, and will die and rise again just as Jesus did. And Jesus warned, many will say, there he is, there he is.
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He said, do not listen to them. And you know what? Jesus warns because iniquity, please listen to me, this is not me.
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He says in the gospel of Matthew, because iniquity abounds, because sin is so rampant, it will be possible even for the elect to be deceived, even
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Christians. Everyone born since the fall, since what happened to Adam and Eve, are born in a sin.
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They're sinners. They're blind to spiritual truths. And third, in terms of Timothy's condition before he was saved and called, and Paul's condition, and anyone else,
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Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, just a book or two over, Ephesians 2, they're dead.
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Ephesians 2, He made you alive, who were dead. Remember me saying what's dead mean?
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Dead. Can't hear, can't breathe, can't see, right? No pulse, dead.
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That's how we're described. We're dead, what? In trespasses and sin. We're living and breathing.
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Timothy was living and breathing. His mother, his grandmother, Paul were living and breathing.
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We can see. But in terms of our relationship with God, in terms of being born again, we are dead, which is why he told
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Nicodemus, you must be what? Born again. Chapter 5, awake you who sleep.
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How can people be so deceived? Awake you who sleep. Arise from the dead and Christ will give you light.
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So, obviously we're not talking here about being dead, like when someone is buried in the ground.
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When you see this in context, when Jesus talks about it, when Paul talks about it, when any
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New Testament writer talks about it, we're talking about, listen, we're talking about the person's native ability to understand the
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Gospel. That's why you can give the Gospel to somebody, which
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I've done. Maybe you have too. Just a couple of years ago at Christmas I was talking with a gentleman, and I just, there's this blank look on their face, and I go through, you know there's a heaven and a hell, and we're all going to die.
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And I just, Johanna started the whole conversation. Amazing.
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We continued this conversation for 5 or 10 minutes, and then I was watching the person, and they just had this blank, and I said, you really don't care do you?
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You know what they said? They're dead. They cannot understand the seriousness of going to hell for eternity.
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That hell is a real place. Unless God opens their eyes, and opens their ears.
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Friends, they're not concerned. This is the condition of everyone born since the fall.
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They're a sinner. They're blind. They cannot see spiritual truth.
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And they're dead. No life. That's why the
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Bible tells us no one comes to the Father unless the Father, what? Draws them. The word call that we'll get into next week.
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So beloved, everyone born since the fall is also an enemy of God.
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Psalm 110 says, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
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The Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion, saying, rule in the midst of your enemy.
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Friends, fallen man is an enemy of God. This does not mean that God doesn't love everyone, right?
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But their status before God is that they are an enemy.
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This is how God sees them. I love you, but apart from saving faith, you're my enemy.
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And see what's amazing is somebody, if you think about the insanity of being blind and dead, right?
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Is a person can say, I believe in God. And you say, but you're
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His enemy. Why would anybody want to be an enemy of Almighty God? Unless what?
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They're blind, and they can't see, and they can't understand. Do you get it? This is the amazing truth of the
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Gospel, because by grace through faith that all changes. It's a wonderful thing.
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Romans 5, look at this, Romans 5, it's hard not to get excited about eternal life.
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I'm sorry. Especially when you're preaching from your computer, and not a manuscript. Just keep your seat belts fastened, okay?
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Right? Turbulence is coming. I'm trying to do this, and it's like my glasses are not set up for this, so I'm, as my kids say,
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I'm freestyling. Have you heard that? Romans 5, 9, much more then, having now been justified by His blood.
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By the way, you see why I told you in 2 Timothy it's a miniature, the Gospel in miniature. And if you go to Romans 1 -10 it begins to shed light on what
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He says there. That's why. But I can't read all of Romans 1 -10 because we'd be here, we'd have to call in dinner, or something.
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Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life.
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You see where Paul is going, back in 2 Timothy, where Paul is going.
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Put it together in your mind. God has not given us a spirit of fear. That was who you were before Christ.
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But see in Christ He's given you a spirit of power. And see this is the bad news. These are the truths about the
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Gospel that Paul was taking Timothy back to in verse 5 when he reminds him of his sincere faith.
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Almost by implication, don't you remember how you were before that? You see, sometimes it's good for us, especially when we do the
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Lord's Table, to think back. When's the last time you did that?
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Of what you were and who you were before Christ. What your priorities were.
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What you live for. Has that changed? And again this is a review.
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I took two or three Sundays to go through that I think, maybe two Sundays back in January.
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So, Paul reminds Timothy about his sincere faith. That's the starting point. Behind that is this train load of Bible truth that Paul never forgot, and neither should
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Timothy. Now, secondly Paul affirms and reminds Timothy that it is the power of God that saves people who are
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His enemies. See people are saved by the power of God. And that's why this word saved is so important, who has saved us.
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That's why it's so important. Verse 8 ends with the difficult circumstances in which
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Paul is living. It's a reminder that he's suffering for the Gospel, right?
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But according to or by means of the power of God. So, Paul passes from a reference to the
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Gospel to the central affirmation in verse 9 that God has saved us.
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And by the way that's an active voice. God has saved us. He's done it.
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And the link that Paul makes is this, you cannot talk about the
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Gospel in one breath and not talk about salvation. That's why he says in Ephesus, I mean in Ephesians, the
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Gospel of your salvation. So, these words here, saved, they're majestic.
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They're majestic. They're wonderful. They're divine.
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They're like alpine fresh air in smog filled Los Angeles.
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And as we look at them behind them are the pristine ranges of biblical truth being saved.
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Salvation denotes and declares the comprehensive purpose of God by which
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He justifies, and He sanctifies, and propitiation, and atonement.
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That word saved behind it is all this Gospel truth. Saved is
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God's pardoning our offenses, and sins, and accepting us as righteous in His sight through Christ.
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So, then from that starting point of sincere faith, saved as God progressively transforms us by His Spirit into the image of His Son until we finally, we finally become like Christ in Heaven, with new bodies and a new world.
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And see the point is when Paul refers to his sincere faith in verse 5, and he calls
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Timothy back to salvation who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling.
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The whole point there, if I can remember where I am, is
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I don't know. So, Paul affirms how
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God pours out His grace, saves us simply by faith. And Timothy and all true believers have a great salvation, not a spirit of fear.
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And third Paul affirms that the same power of God that saves also calls believers with a holy calling.
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Another big word, called. And this isn't a phone call.
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This isn't a text message. It's not an email. It is a divine call. So, as Timothy is reading these words from Paul, his father in faith there is no doubt they are resonating within him in a very powerful way.
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They are taking him back to the days when the flames of his gift were burning bright. So much so, as I already said, that they rejuvenated him.
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They revitalized him to the point that he was no longer afraid and wound up in prison for his faith.
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Go to Colossians chapter 3, back just a book or two, General Electric Power Company, remember that?
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Colossians 3 .1. Timothy's sincere faith wasn't grounded in trite sayings like it's a
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God thing. That's what people talk about today, it's a God thing. It wasn't
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Jesus is the reason for the season. The way out of the timidity and fear that gripped him, and his embarrassment about his testimony, and Paul's imprisonment was not going to be solved by some quick prayer.
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See, remember when it comes to standing firm in the last days God has not given us a spirit of fear, right?
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But of power. I spent 45 minutes last night on the phone with a gentleman in another church, one of the board members of another church, and had a chance to pray.
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The phone rang, I was studying, and I recognized the call, and I took the call, 45 minutes on the phone, and they're afraid.
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Their church is afraid. God has not given us what?
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A spirit of fear, but of power. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, unto sanctification.
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The Gospel doesn't just save, it also delivers, it also empowers. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory.
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And again, keep in mind the context, right? Think about what was going on in the ancient near Middle East, what was going on in the church, what was going on in Paul's life when he wrote this letter.
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And think about our country for a moment. Think about the church in Canada still with a fence around it.
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Standing firm in difficult and perilous days means not being ashamed of the Gospel. Only the
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Gospel shared by believers to a lost world who are enemies of God will change the world in which we live.
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And God willing we'll finish up this section. But I want to close with these verses, and give you just a few moments of time to pray, and to think about the
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Gospel being saved, being called. But really in the context of what Paul says here to the church at Colossae.
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By the way Philemon's home church where Onesiphorus went.
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Take a look at Colossians 3, verse 1 and this will be just what I want you to keep your
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Bibles open to, or your phone app, or whatever you're using. And as we pray, and as we get ready to close the service this is really what
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I'd like you to reflect on. This really puts teeth and feet to what we have been studying this morning.
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If then you were raised with Christ. And by the way that word if in the
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Greek sometimes can be translated since. The assumption is since, not if, conditional.
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And it could be conditional here. It's hard sometimes to tell for sure. There are certain places we know for sure where that preposition in the
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Greek means since. So, this could be calling into question having people examine themselves, am
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I really born again? Do I really understand what
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John is talking about this morning? When I read God's Word does it really, is it making sense to me?
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Or does it mean nothing to me? If it means nothing that's an indication that you're not a believer, and you need
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Jesus. If then you were raised with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.
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Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
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And I'll tell you something, church listen to me. This is a wonderful tool, but it's very easy to let your mind get set on the things on Twitter, and Instagram, and Facebook.
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You hear me? And not on things above. Did you hear me?
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Hey, guilty as charged. Oh, John you're a pastor it doesn't happen to you.
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Yes, it does. I have Twitter. That's all I have. I don't want all that other stuff.
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Hey, don't listen to me. Please, please listen to God. Set your mind on things above.
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You mean I'm never supposed to watch the news again? I didn't say that. Did I say that Barb? And I didn't say throw the
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TV out the window did I? Although that wouldn't be a bad idea for some people. I love you.
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Just kidding. Keep those cards and letters coming. Look at verse three.
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If you're truly saved, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
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When Christ who is our life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.
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Amen. So please take a few moments to reflect on those verses on your life and then spend this next few moments in quiet prayer.
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And then I will close in prayer and then Harold will come and lead us in a closing hymn.
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Let's go to the Lord personally, quietly. Heavenly Father, our knees are bowed.
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We look at you this morning in humble adoration and praise that if we are truly born again, you have saved us.
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You have called us with a holy calling. You know,
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God, that there's not a one of us here, including myself, that do not fall short when we look at these verses about setting our mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
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Especially, Father God, when we turn on the news or whatever we do,
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God, to find out what's going on in the world and we hear the latest situation and we wonder how much worse can it get.
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And God, we pray by your grace that if you convicted our hearts this morning when it comes to sharing the gospel, you might give us the boldness.
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I know, Father God, that that is Pastor Iljin's heart to reach the lost with the gospel.
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That's what our church needs. That's what our country needs. I pray specifically this morning,
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God, just for the 30 or 35 views that we get on our YouTube channel.
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I don't know, we don't see those people, but they're watching. I pray for them,
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God. I pray for them that the gospel of Jesus Christ, that they would understand that there is a holy
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God and that their sin has separated them from this holy God. No matter how good a person, we're all born into sin.
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And God, they might come to realize their sin. Even if there's someone here this morning, not born again, not saved, that they either through just something that the
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Holy Spirit did this morning, or through the reading of your word, they have come to realize that they are a sinner.
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Yes, indeed, they are lost. They are blind. But God, you have opened their eyes this morning.
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And God, that they might choose to run to Christ by simple faith.
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Yes, just simple faith. The gift is there. You mean all I have to do is just take the gift? Yes, it's there.
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And God, that they would come to realize that they have truly been born again.
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And then purpose, Father, from this day forward, to live a new life. They might write our church, call our church,
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God. They're confused. They want clarification that our church would be able to help them,
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God. We stand ready to do that. And as we leave this place today,
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God, might your word that has been implanted today, indeed, begin to bear fruit in our lives.
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Most importantly, Father, to see the lost come to Christ. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen? Amen.
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Harold? I don't think Pastor John skipped a beat.
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Did he? I don't think so. So, John, rest in that, okay? Because I'm sure in his heart, he's thinking,
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I wish I'd done it. You know, I know John and wonderful heart.
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So, let's stand together. We're going to sing, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Singing and let us not be ashamed as we go out.
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You know, we have this mighty God standing behind us. You know, we're about this big, but he's about this big and we have nothing to fear.