Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Tender Words from a Mentor │ Msg 214 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Tender Words from a Mentor │ Msg 214 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: The Word of God is alive and active, and sharper
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Speaker 1: than a two edged sword. It is able to pierce
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Speaker 1: beyond the soul and spirit, even beyond the joints and
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Speaker 1: the marrow, and is able to judge the intentions of
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Speaker 1: our hearts. I've said for years that God's word can
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Speaker 1: touch where no surgeon's scalpel can ever reach. There is
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Speaker 1: no such thing as surgery on the soul. Only God
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Speaker 1: can do that. Every time we open the scriptures, we
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Speaker 1: are opening the living and powerful Word of God, no
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Speaker 1: matter what section of the Bible we are in. Today,
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Speaker 1: we're in the first chapter of the second Letter Paul
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Speaker 1: wrote to Timothy. We know it as simply Second Timothy.
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Speaker 1: It represents the final will and testament of Paul's writings.
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Speaker 1: If he lasted days, perhaps only hours after he signed
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Speaker 1: off this letter, his head was severed from his shoulders
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Speaker 1: as he was martyred for his faith under the brutal
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Speaker 1: and perverted rulership of Nero, the fifth Emperor of the
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Speaker 1: Roman Kingdom. Today, we're grateful that God's word lives on
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Speaker 1: even when his messengers are taken from us. If you
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Speaker 1: brought your Bible today, will you open it? Please? In
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Speaker 1: the New Testament to the Little Letter of Second Timothy
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Speaker 1: tewod Timothy chapter one. We have looked at a survey
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Speaker 1: of this letter in the previous time we were together,
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Speaker 1: and today we're going back to the first seven verses
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Speaker 1: of Second Timothy chapter one. You will find an outline
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Speaker 1: in your worship folder which you can use as a
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Speaker 1: guide for our time together in the Word. Just hold
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Speaker 1: that nearby and we'll come back to it. Out of
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Speaker 1: respect for the scriptures, will you stand with me as
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Speaker 1: we read these first seven verses of tewod Timothy chapter one.
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Speaker 1: Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of
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Speaker 1: God according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus
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Speaker 1: to Timothy, my beloved son, Grace, mercy and peace from
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Speaker 1: God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God,
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Speaker 1: whom I serve with a clear conscience, the way my
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Speaker 1: forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers
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Speaker 1: night and day, longing to see you, even as I
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Speaker 1: recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.
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Speaker 1: For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you,
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Speaker 1: which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice,
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Speaker 1: and I am sure that it is in you as well.
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Speaker 1: For this reason, I remind you to rekindle afresh the
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Speaker 1: gift of God which is in you through the laying
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Speaker 1: on of my hands. For God has not given us
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Speaker 1: a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
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Speaker 1: May our Great God be honored as we come to
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Speaker 1: know this passage better and to live it out in
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Speaker 1: our lives. Please be seated. May we bow together from
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Speaker 1: all over these United States, and from all about this
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Speaker 1: great state in which we live, and from the community
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Speaker 1: and beyond this community in which we find ourselves. Today
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Speaker 1: we come before you as one body, our Father, joyfully,
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Speaker 1: We adore you. Joyfully. We come to sing our praises
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Speaker 1: and to learn truth, to live by, truth that is
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Speaker 1: housed in an inspired book, preserved for us now in
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Speaker 1: our own tongue, ready to be understood and applied. We
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Speaker 1: come from a pressurized world we experience these days, our Father,
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Speaker 1: the downturn of an economy we experience in our country,
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Speaker 1: unrest in some places, borderline chaos. We come from the
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Speaker 1: news that's filled with another act of terrorism, lives lost,
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Speaker 1: people crippled, many maimed, all touched by that terrible act
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Speaker 1: deep within their soul, specially family members who grieve the
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Speaker 1: loss sudden as it was, of those they once talked
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Speaker 1: with and set alongside of. Thank you for protecting us
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Speaker 1: thus far. Thank you for preserving our liberty and those
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Speaker 1: who do that on our behalf in uniform, carrying heavy,
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Speaker 1: deadly weapons, living around land mines an enemy that will
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Speaker 1: stop it nothing to take their lives and to take
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Speaker 1: our liberty. Guide us as a people, our Father, to
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Speaker 1: walk humbly with you, and to remember, greater is he
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Speaker 1: who is in us than he who is in the world.
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Speaker 1: Some come to day filled with joy, answers to prayer,
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Speaker 1: ministries they've been involved in that have been marked by
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Speaker 1: your hand of favor, soul saved. Thank you for the
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Speaker 1: sports program and the faithfulness of our ministry there. Thank
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Speaker 1: You for these over a hundred who have entrusted their
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Speaker 1: lives to the Ministry of Stonebrier. Thank You for the
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Speaker 1: things we will learn from them, from the things they
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Speaker 1: will learn from us. We joyfully meet together to give
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Speaker 1: to you, our Father, from our treasure. Compared to this
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Speaker 1: world at large, we are a body of very wealthy people.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for your blessings, even in our need, we
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Speaker 1: have more than most. Thank you for the homes in
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Speaker 1: which we live, the vehicles we drive, the health we enjoy,
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Speaker 1: the church in which we sit, the beauty of great music.
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Speaker 1: How blessed we are. Thank you, Father for preserving your
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Speaker 1: word to guide us like a lamp in the dark night,
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Speaker 1: a lamp for our feet and a light for our eyes.
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Speaker 1: May it guide us this day as we see ourselves
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Speaker 1: reflected in the mirror of your word. May it remind
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Speaker 1: us again that just as you were at work in
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Speaker 1: the first century, you are at work in the twenty first,
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Speaker 1: and your providence is unfolding in its own mysterious and
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Speaker 1: sovereign manner. Out of this context, our Father, we joyfully
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Speaker 1: give to you from our gifts that you have provided
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Speaker 1: in abundance. Hear from us as we give first ourselves
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Speaker 1: and then our offerings with great joy, in the name
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Speaker 1: of Jesus, our Master, whom we adore. In his name,
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Speaker 1: we pray. Every one said Amen. Words mean more to
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Speaker 1: us when we learned the context in which they were written.
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Speaker 1: I've discovered the more painful the context, often the more
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Speaker 1: meaningful the words. There was a hanging at Flossenburgh in
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Speaker 1: the gray dawn Monday morning, April ninth, nineteen forty five,
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Speaker 1: as the lifeless and limp body of Dietrich Bonhoeffer swung
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Speaker 1: from the rope, suddenly the words he had written took
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Speaker 1: on a whole new meaning. Suddenly, though he was dead,
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Speaker 1: they came alive with a fresh burst of hope and realism.
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Speaker 1: Dietrich Bonhoeffer had been a faithful pastor, a careful and
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Speaker 1: keen thinking theologian, trained for ministry, and then could not
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Speaker 1: find himself able to leave his beloved Germany, not even
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Speaker 1: when the Third Reich began their move in the wrong direction.
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Speaker 1: He saw the evil of the man who led that
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Speaker 1: horrible organization, and he therefore became a marked man in
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Speaker 1: the eyes of Heinrich Himmler, who began to watch him
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Speaker 1: and to notice his turn and the delivery of his messages.
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Speaker 1: And little by little the SS troops could no longer
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Speaker 1: ignore him, because by now he not only was a
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Speaker 1: part of the confessing Church, he had joined the resistance movement.
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Speaker 1: They were unable to tolerate that. Therefore, his church was
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Speaker 1: shut down by him, and finally he was imprisoned, first
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Speaker 1: in Berlin Blukenwalden, then Schoenberg and finally Flussenburg. Hemmler thought
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Speaker 1: he could silence the man by putting him in prison,
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Speaker 1: and he was shocked to learn that even though he
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Speaker 1: was in prison, his writings continued to go on as
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Speaker 1: he ministered to those around him. Other inmates as well
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Speaker 1: as couriers would secretly take his works and carry them
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Speaker 1: to his family and friends who were out in the
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Speaker 1: environs of Germany and countries beyond. It was decided he
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Speaker 1: would no longer have contact with the outside world, and
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Speaker 1: they closed off that as well, and finally his life
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Speaker 1: was contained in the cells at Plassenburg, where he ministered
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Speaker 1: to various nationalities Russian English speaking. There were Frenchmen in
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Speaker 1: it as well as as Germans, and one English officer
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Speaker 1: who was in that group, to whom Bonheffer Minister took
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Speaker 1: the time to write of the last scene of his life.
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Speaker 1: Boneffer always seemed to me to spread an atmosphere of
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Speaker 1: happiness and joy over the least incident, and profound gratitude
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Speaker 1: for the mere fact that he was alive, writes this officer.
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Speaker 1: He was one of the very few persons I ever
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Speaker 1: met for whom God was real and always near. On Sunday,
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Speaker 1: April eighth, nineteen forty five, Pastor Bonheffer conducted a little
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Speaker 1: service of worship and spoke to us in a way
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Speaker 1: that went to the heart of all of us. He
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Speaker 1: found just the right words to express the spirit of
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Speaker 1: our imprisonment. The text on which he spoke on that
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Speaker 1: last day was with his stripes we are healed. He
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Speaker 1: had hardly ended his last prayer when the door opened
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Speaker 1: and they said, prisoner Bonoffer, come with us. That had
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Speaker 1: only one meaning for all prisoners the gallows. We said
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Speaker 1: our goodbye. He took me aside and whispered, this is
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Speaker 1: the end, but for me it is the beginning of life.
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Speaker 1: The next day he was hanged. He was thirty nine
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Speaker 1: years old. The irony of his tragic and what we
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Speaker 1: would call premature death is that in only a matter
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Speaker 1: of days the Allied troops arrived and liberated that death camp,
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Speaker 1: as well as the others in a few days time.
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Speaker 1: In God's mysterious and unexplainable providence, he chose to delay
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Speaker 1: the liberation until Bonoffer was hanged. Why quite likely because
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Speaker 1: as only the Lord would know his words, the words
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Speaker 1: written by the man who was not taken would take
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Speaker 1: on a whole new meaning. If you love to read
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Speaker 1: as I do, you have read ethics written in prison,
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Speaker 1: letters and papers from prison, the Martyred Christian and his
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Speaker 1: best known work The Cost of Discipleship, as well as
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Speaker 1: Life Together. I confess to you, just this past week
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Speaker 1: and reading again Life Together, I couldn't get out of
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Speaker 1: my mind's eye the dreadful thought that there was that
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Speaker 1: body swinging from the gallows on that April dawn, nineteen
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Speaker 1: forty five. That's the one who wrote these words. Words
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Speaker 1: mean more when we learned the context in which they
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Speaker 1: were written. It was Bishop Hanley Mool who said it
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Speaker 1: is almost impossible to open the pages of Second Timothy
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Speaker 1: without a mist forming on one's eyes. Why would he
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Speaker 1: say that? Because words mean more when we learned the
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Speaker 1: context in which they were written. This letter to Timothy
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Speaker 1: was not written from a prison camp or a death camp,
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Speaker 1: but a death dungeon, a small, foul smelling cell where
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Speaker 1: the great Apostle Paul spent his last hours under the
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Speaker 1: streets of Rome as existing like a rat for an
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Speaker 1: undetermined period of time, during which, under candlelight, with his
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Speaker 1: physician by his side, named Luke, he wrote his friend
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Speaker 1: Timothy this letter. Whenever you read Second Timothy, always put
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Speaker 1: yourself in that dungeon. It will make the letter come
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Speaker 1: to have new life as you see the context in
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Speaker 1: which it was written. If you've not yet done so,
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Speaker 1: please open your Bibles to Second Timothy one and try
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Speaker 1: to imagine Timothy when he is ministering hundreds of miles
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Speaker 1: away in the city of Ephesus, far removed from the
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Speaker 1: dungeon in Rome, beyond the Adriatic, through Greece, beyond the Aegean,
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Speaker 1: all the way to what we know today as Western Turkey.
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Speaker 1: They're in a pastorate in Ephesus. A knock comes at
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Speaker 1: his door, and some courier hands him a scroll that
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Speaker 1: has made its way out of a dungeon. It bears
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Speaker 1: his name. I can't imagine how thrilled he must have
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Speaker 1: been to get this letter from his enduring companion, a
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Speaker 1: man he has known now some eighteen to twenty years.
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Speaker 1: He's traveled with him, He's seen him in pain, he's
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Speaker 1: watched him malign, he has heard him teach, he has
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Speaker 1: learned his theology standing in the way, in the shadows
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Speaker 1: of Paul's life, and now he has a letter written
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Speaker 1: to him and He knows from the grapevine that Paul
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Speaker 1: is short lived, and so he reads the first word
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Speaker 1: and smiles. Paul Us, how often he must have called
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Speaker 1: that name, Maybe in the middle of the night, perhaps
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Speaker 1: when feeling forlorn and lonely in their travels, he would
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Speaker 1: call that name. Now Paul introduces himself as apostle of
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the
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Speaker 1: promise of life in Christ Jesus. Now I ask you,
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Speaker 1: since Timothy knew him so well, they had traveled all
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Speaker 1: those years together, why would Paul take the time to
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Speaker 1: give us his credentials? I mean, this is an authoritative
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Speaker 1: first verse. This is not just a friend writing a
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Speaker 1: son in the faith. This is an apostle called by
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus according to the will of God. Well, you see,
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Speaker 1: Paul knew in his own mind that this letter would
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Speaker 1: find its way beyond the church at Ephesus and into
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Speaker 1: other churches, and through the decades and finally the centuries.
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Speaker 1: It would be preserved, he didn't know, but it would
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Speaker 1: be finally put into who knows how many languages today
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Speaker 1: and ultimately all the way to the twenty first century.
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Speaker 1: It finds its way to our hands and our hearts
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Speaker 1: sitting here in this place. What you may not know
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Speaker 1: is that his apostleship was being questioned. There were those
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Speaker 1: who saw him as sort of a self appointed apostle. Furthermore,
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Speaker 1: how could a man who had been that hostile for
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Speaker 1: that long to that many Christians now call himself of
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Speaker 1: all things? Well, of course we know the answer to that.
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Speaker 1: It's the grace of God. God can pick up any
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Speaker 1: worthless thing and turn it into something golden and beautiful
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Speaker 1: by his grace, and he has done that with Paul.
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Speaker 1: And so Paul identifies himself as as an apostle. Apostoloss
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Speaker 1: means messenger, one sent forth with extraordinary status on a
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Speaker 1: special mission. That's the idea of an apostle. Furthermore, he
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Speaker 1: was one gifted with supernatural abilities. Apostles could do miracles
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Speaker 1: at will under the power of the Holy Spirit. Apostles
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Speaker 1: had seen the risen Christ. There are no more apostles.
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Speaker 1: I don't care what individuals may call themselves and whatever
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Speaker 1: church they're a part of. Apostles are no longer in existence,
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Speaker 1: will no longer see the risen Christ. People no longer
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Speaker 1: can do miracles at will. All of that has passed
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Speaker 1: now that we have his word for our learning and instruction.
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Speaker 1: But for Timothy, he is an apostle of Christ Jesus,
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Speaker 1: by the will of God, according to the promise of life.
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Speaker 1: Those words promise of life is a reference to the Gospel.
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Speaker 1: The good news of Christ is the promise of life.
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Speaker 1: In Him is life, and the life is the light
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Speaker 1: of men. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
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Speaker 1: No one comes to the Father but through me. So
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Speaker 1: the apostle is saying, I am one sent forth with
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Speaker 1: a message on this mission to make Christ known as
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Speaker 1: the giver of life, and I have been sent by
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Speaker 1: God to do it. Just as an aside, no extra
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Speaker 1: charge for this comment. But there are people today who
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Speaker 1: sort of appoint themselves to ministry. That kind of individual
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Speaker 1: always troubles me. Only those who have been called by
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Speaker 1: God should be seen as ministers of the Gospel. It
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Speaker 1: is a calling. It is a supernatural thing. It is
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Speaker 1: a divine act for the Lord in his providence to
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Speaker 1: reach into the life of an individual and to call
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Speaker 1: him out from the ranks of everyday life and to
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Speaker 1: place him into ministry. I read the humorous story this
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Speaker 1: past week of a seasoned old pastor who was in
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Speaker 1: his eighties by then long since stopped preaching unfortunately, and
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Speaker 1: as he was sort of going from one church to another,
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Speaker 1: he found himself at a church pastored by a young
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Speaker 1: man who had sort of appointed himself to the role
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Speaker 1: of the preacher, and his message was about himself had
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Speaker 1: very little depth. When you were all through, you were
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Speaker 1: a little better off. Having heard all of that, the
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Speaker 1: preacher sort of endured it as he listened. Finally most
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Speaker 1: of the people had left, and the older man walked
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Speaker 1: down front. Not an educated man, but what he lacked
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Speaker 1: in education and made up for in guts. He looked
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Speaker 1: at the young man and said, hey, Sonny, want to
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Speaker 1: ask you, was you sent or did you just went?
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Speaker 1: I love that question. Everybody needs to ask himself. Was
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Speaker 1: I sent or did I just went? Did I just
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Speaker 1: dream this up? Or is this something I couldn't do
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Speaker 1: even if if I tried to stop it. This is
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Speaker 1: what God has called me to do. And the apostle
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Speaker 1: Paul is saying, it's by the will of God. Don't
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Speaker 1: go over that too quickly. When it is by the
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Speaker 1: will of God, then the will of God gets accomplished
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Speaker 1: through that messenger. Your heart is touched by that messenger.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't mean the messenger has no accountability or cause
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Speaker 1: all the shots. It simply means that messenger happens to
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Speaker 1: be in a that few people are in in the
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Speaker 1: plan of God, and in that role he must conduct
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Speaker 1: himself accordingly. Well as much as that meant to Timothy,
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Speaker 1: can you imagine what he felt like when he read
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Speaker 1: his own name Paul to Timothy. Have you ever stopped
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Speaker 1: to think what it would feel like to have a
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Speaker 1: book of the Bible written to you or a letter
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Speaker 1: written to you? Imagine that, First of all, we're all
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Speaker 1: grateful the Bible is no longer being written, since it
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Speaker 1: would contain a lot of personal things that we hope
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Speaker 1: nobody ever finds out about. In the Bible, all of
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Speaker 1: these things are set forth, and you know these people,
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Speaker 1: warts and all. And here is Timothy sitting here wherever
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Speaker 1: he was, pulling aside from his responsibilities and unrolling the scroll,
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Speaker 1: and he sees his name to Timothy. Now Paul is
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Speaker 1: anything but formal. He calls him my beloved son. Literally
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Speaker 1: the Greek term is child to my beloved child. Paul
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Speaker 1: isn't looking down on Timothy, He's just remembering his conversion.
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Speaker 1: Because of Paul's ministry at Listra eighteen twenty years earlier,
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Speaker 1: Timothy came to Christ and as a result, Paul, in
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Speaker 1: chapter sixteen of Acts, asked Timothy to begin to travel
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Speaker 1: with them. Had him circumcised since he was of mixed family.
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Speaker 1: His father is a Greek and his mother is Jewish,
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Speaker 1: and so Paul wanting him to travel with him, and
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Speaker 1: his ministry invites him to do so. When he sees
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Speaker 1: him now as his child, it's a term of endearment.
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Speaker 1: And if that isn't enough, he says to him, grace,
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Speaker 1: mercy and peace. Is an interesting when we begin to
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Speaker 1: read a letter like this, we start to move over
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Speaker 1: that party too quickly. Paul so to Timothy, Grace, mercy, peace. Okay, goes,
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Speaker 1: and now let's get down of what it's really saying. Wait, wait,
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Speaker 1: every word is important, every turn. First of all, I've
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Speaker 1: impressed that he doesn't say pain, mistreatment, and misery accompany me.
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Speaker 1: I'm impressed that he doesn't say, if you only knew
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Speaker 1: how dark it is in this dungeon at night, if
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Speaker 1: you only knew how unfair the trials have been, if
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Speaker 1: you only knew how painful it is, to live with
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Speaker 1: these scars and the broken body that I now have
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Speaker 1: as a result of making Christ. It's none of that.
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Speaker 1: It's not about Paul. When you're called of God by
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Speaker 1: the will of God, your message isn't about yourself. It
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Speaker 1: is about grace, God's gift to the worthless. It is
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Speaker 1: about mercy, God's ministry to the helpless. It is about peace,
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Speaker 1: God's love to the restless. Don't ever forget that He
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Speaker 1: chased your mind, placed tricks on you from time to time,
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Speaker 1: and you wonder if it's worth it to get up
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Speaker 1: and get dressed for church. Why not sleep in like
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Speaker 1: a lot of other people. Remember, this is one of
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Speaker 1: the few places where we, as a gathering, will learn
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Speaker 1: of the grace, mercy and peace of God. This is
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Speaker 1: one place where we can sit together, each one of us,
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Speaker 1: reviewing in our own mind, our lives, the world in
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Speaker 1: which we have lived, the struggles from which we have come,
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Speaker 1: and we sit bathed in the grace and the mercy
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Speaker 1: and the peace of God. Don't you love it that,
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Speaker 1: in spite of all the pressure, there is not a
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Speaker 1: hint of bitterness here or ever in the Great Apostles
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Speaker 1: writings pressure do I describe your world with that one word.
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Speaker 1: Husson Taylor had buried his second wife in the prosen
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Speaker 1: land of Inland, China. He was left with his little children, motherless.
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Speaker 1: Now drew the little curtain between them in that cold
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Speaker 1: basement that night, and writing of his father, his son
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Speaker 1: includes this reminder that that night he remembered his father
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Speaker 1: writing in his journal, it does not matter how great
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Speaker 1: the pressure is. What really matters is where the pressure lies,
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Speaker 1: whether it comes between you and God or whether it
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Speaker 1: presses you nearer his heart. Pressure is not necessarily an enemy.
29:12
Speaker 1: It's a tool. If used correctly, it brings grace, mercy,
29:21
Speaker 1: and peace to light as it presses us nearer the
29:26
Speaker 1: heart of our God. Now the refreshing power of encouragement.
29:35
Speaker 1: I love it that Paul, before he begins words of
29:39
Speaker 1: exhortation and even some commands, spends time telling Timothy how
29:44
Speaker 1: much he appreciates him. Easy to forget doing that in
29:49
Speaker 1: this busy world, isn't it? After all? Very few people
29:52
Speaker 1: tell us, and after all people have to sort of
29:56
Speaker 1: do their own encouragement. Not really, I think some people
30:01
Speaker 1: today are dying on the vine for lack of encouragement.
30:04
Speaker 1: You may be one of them. Timothy may be one
30:08
Speaker 1: of them. Those words come from a man who knew
30:14
Speaker 1: grace and mercy and peace, and how they must have
30:18
Speaker 1: soothed Timothy's soul. I don't know the last time you
30:26
Speaker 1: received a letter that brought a soothing sense of God's
30:32
Speaker 1: warmth and encouragement to you. But it happened to me
30:35
Speaker 1: night before last a member of a former church who
30:40
Speaker 1: had been a special part of my life and the
30:46
Speaker 1: lives of our ministry there, who had gone through a
30:49
Speaker 1: horrendous experience of sexual abuse, and she had no one
30:56
Speaker 1: to turn to, and no one knew. And when it
31:00
Speaker 1: became known to me and to some of us on
31:07
Speaker 1: that pastoral staff, I made the very unpopular decision to
31:13
Speaker 1: deal with it openly and directly. And even though I
31:19
Speaker 1: was warned that there could be lawsuits and all sorts
31:23
Speaker 1: of media engagement in that sort of thing, I said,
31:28
Speaker 1: we're not going to worry about lawsuits. We're going to
31:30
Speaker 1: do what's right. And I had the elders alongside me,
31:36
Speaker 1: some of them a little nervous, but they were there saying,
31:39
Speaker 1: let's do this, and we exposed it all publicly. We
31:43
Speaker 1: dealt with it. She was one of sixty four young
31:47
Speaker 1: women who had been sexually abused by the perpetrator. Years
31:52
Speaker 1: had passed years, and the other evening I was handed
31:59
Speaker 1: a note written by her. First thing I thought of
32:03
Speaker 1: when I saw her name was this, this dark, dark
32:09
Speaker 1: phase of her life, and she wrote me to thank
32:13
Speaker 1: me for doing what was right. All of a sudden,
32:20
Speaker 1: there was a moment of well, I have to tell you,
32:24
Speaker 1: I was sort of swallowing the tears as I remembered
32:27
Speaker 1: the events, but there was a great moment of grace
32:32
Speaker 1: and mercy and peace that came over me. Here is
32:36
Speaker 1: a life along with the other young ladies, now women,
32:39
Speaker 1: now married, most of them mothers, now going on with
32:44
Speaker 1: their lives. Timothy, whatever, maybe it had been his situation.
32:51
Speaker 1: I think it's easy to pass quickly over words like this.
32:54
Speaker 1: They're almost a cliche in the New Testament, Grace, mercy,
32:57
Speaker 1: and peace from God our Father, in the word, let's
33:00
Speaker 1: don't do that. Grace to you, Timothy, Mercy upon you, Timothy,
33:13
Speaker 1: Peace from the Father to you. Peace I leave with you,
33:20
Speaker 1: regardless of my circumstances, are yours? Peace? Peace to you, Timothy.
33:29
Speaker 1: One of the few places in the time of stress
33:32
Speaker 1: and pressure where you will hear words of peace is
33:34
Speaker 1: in a gathering like this, where we come for worship,
33:41
Speaker 1: where you have a chance to slow get away from
33:44
Speaker 1: that plugged computer, a turn off that plugged phone, get
33:51
Speaker 1: rid of the pager for a few minutes, well some
33:54
Speaker 1: of you, get away from it and to just take
33:58
Speaker 1: time for the peace to come in. We need moments
34:03
Speaker 1: like this. Timothy needed a moment like that. So Paul,
34:12
Speaker 1: before he even gives words of encouragement, has a mentality
34:16
Speaker 1: that has removed him from the dungeon and prepared him
34:20
Speaker 1: for affirmation. What is that mentality? Look closely. It begins
34:27
Speaker 1: with a spirit of gratitude. I call it an attitude
34:31
Speaker 1: of gratitude. I thank God. Isn't that create What would
34:40
Speaker 1: be your opening line if you were writing from a dungeon?
34:43
Speaker 1: How about I got some things I like to ask
34:45
Speaker 1: God when I see him. How about oh my, this
34:51
Speaker 1: is miserable rather than I think God. You see, Paul
35:00
Speaker 1: isn't surrounded and preoccupied with the severity of his circumstances.
35:07
Speaker 1: He's focused on the living God. He is caught up
35:11
Speaker 1: in the memory of his friendship with his friend and
35:15
Speaker 1: others he will name in this letter. So he begins
35:19
Speaker 1: with an attitude of gratitude. May I say you will
35:22
Speaker 1: never be an affirmer of others until you have cultivated
35:25
Speaker 1: an attitude of gratitude, because encouraging others requires a generosity
35:30
Speaker 1: of spirit, and a generosity of spirit is prompted by
35:35
Speaker 1: a heart of gratitude. Show me a grateful person, and
35:38
Speaker 1: I'll show you someone who spends a good deal of
35:41
Speaker 1: their time encouraging other folks. They have no pity parties,
35:48
Speaker 1: as Paul, I thank God. So he begins with an
35:51
Speaker 1: attitude of gratitude. Second, he has a heart of worship.
35:55
Speaker 1: Look at what you read here. I thank God whom
35:57
Speaker 1: I serve.
35:59
Speaker 2: See the serve.
36:00
Speaker 1: It's from a Greek word that couldn't be rendered worship worship.
36:07
Speaker 1: Attitude changes our perspective. Worship directs our focus. When you
36:15
Speaker 1: mix gratitude with worship, it's remarkable what it does to
36:21
Speaker 1: your whole spirit. Can I say it again? Attitude changes
36:26
Speaker 1: our perspective. Worship directs our focus. I thank God who
36:34
Speaker 1: my worship, think of that night and day, who my
36:43
Speaker 1: worship with a clear conscience, the way my forefathers did.
36:49
Speaker 1: There's the third. Clear conscience relieves our anxiety. If attitude
36:58
Speaker 1: changes our inspect If worship directs our focus, then a
37:04
Speaker 1: clear conscience relieves our guilt. And believe me when your
37:09
Speaker 1: perspective has changed, when your worship is directed, when your
37:13
Speaker 1: conscience is clear, your mind is freed up, and you
37:16
Speaker 1: are removed from your own world, and you are, for
37:20
Speaker 1: some strange and amazing and divine reason able to identify
37:25
Speaker 1: with others in their world. Ket Hughes and his fine
37:30
Speaker 1: work on the Pastoral Letters First and Second Timothy and
37:34
Speaker 1: Titus writes this in the early part of his commentarium,
37:39
Speaker 1: tewod Timothy, listen the old warriors chained in a dripping
37:45
Speaker 1: winter cold dungeon, awaiting the executioner's acts, and as he
37:50
Speaker 1: surveys his life his conversion. Then the kaleidoscope of sermons preached, shipwrecks, confrontations, deliverance, stonings, beatings,
38:01
Speaker 1: and victories. His conscience is absolutely clear. There is no guilt,
38:10
Speaker 1: no weight of unresolved sins, nothing to confess. He has
38:16
Speaker 1: been true to the Gospel and his calling. He was
38:19
Speaker 1: not perfect, but he was blameless, and he was faithful.
38:24
Speaker 1: Love those words. Don't think that a clear conscience means
38:28
Speaker 1: you're perfect. It means you're blameless. It means you've kept
38:33
Speaker 1: short accounts, and you've dealt with the things that would
38:36
Speaker 1: otherwise bring guilt and shame. And that's the apostle. He's
38:40
Speaker 1: got hours in the dungeon in which to search his soul,
38:44
Speaker 1: and you can be sure if there has been anything
38:47
Speaker 1: in the trail of his past that has plagued him,
38:51
Speaker 1: he's come to terms with it. Here. One of the
38:54
Speaker 1: benefits of solitude is searching our own souls and finding
39:00
Speaker 1: in that search those things that need to be addressed.
39:03
Speaker 1: Paul says, I'm writing with a clear conscience, a heart
39:07
Speaker 1: of worship, and I also have this attitude of gratitude
39:12
Speaker 1: when I write you. Now, if you have your outline handy,
39:15
Speaker 1: I want you to see the area where we call
39:18
Speaker 1: it the refreshing power of encouragement. Let me have you
39:22
Speaker 1: notice from the text itself four lines. I don't create them,
39:27
Speaker 1: I don't make them up. They're all four right here
39:29
Speaker 1: in front of us. You'll see all four in verses three, four,
39:34
Speaker 1: and five. First of all, notice, he says, I constantly
39:41
Speaker 1: remember to pray for you. That's verse three. I thank
39:45
Speaker 1: God whom I served with a clear conscience, as my
39:49
Speaker 1: forefathers did as I constantly remember you in my prayers
39:54
Speaker 1: night and day. I constantly remember to pray for you.
40:05
Speaker 1: Good time to Paul's and ask the direct question, for
40:08
Speaker 1: whom do you constantly pray? Surely you have a few.
40:17
Speaker 1: If you have none, it's no wonder your life has
40:20
Speaker 1: become so empty and self serving. If you have a few,
40:26
Speaker 1: you are rich for your link together in intercession. And
40:32
Speaker 1: among those for whom Paul has prayed day and night
40:36
Speaker 1: is Timothy. Paul's hold walking being was a spirit of
40:42
Speaker 1: intercession day and night. Isn't it great? We can do
40:45
Speaker 1: that at any time. Next time you awaken and can't
40:49
Speaker 1: go to sleep, pray, Hey, it'll put you to sleep
40:53
Speaker 1: like nothing else. Next time you lay down and you
40:57
Speaker 1: can't quite fall asleep, pray it does wonders for you.
41:03
Speaker 1: Next time you find yourself troubled over something that's ahead
41:06
Speaker 1: of you, pray pray for someone who is in an
41:10
Speaker 1: even more difficult situation. Cynthia and I get messages from
41:14
Speaker 1: individuals and they help in many ways. But one of
41:18
Speaker 1: the best ways is often their situation is far more
41:21
Speaker 1: difficult than ours, and we're prompted that day to pray
41:26
Speaker 1: for them. So he says, I constantly remember to pray
41:32
Speaker 1: for you. How that must have thrilled Timothy. Here's the
41:36
Speaker 1: second read on longing to see you, even as I
41:41
Speaker 1: recall your tears so that I may be filled with joy. Second,
41:46
Speaker 1: I long to be with you right there in verse four,
41:52
Speaker 1: long to be with you. We had a wonderful thing going,
41:57
Speaker 1: didn't we, Timothy. Those years we travel again, I long
42:02
Speaker 1: to be refreshed for the memory of that as we
42:04
Speaker 1: sit and talk together. There's nothing quite like your presence,
42:09
Speaker 1: and I miss you. In case you wonder of the
42:11
Speaker 1: intensity of his longing, go to the last chapter, locate
42:16
Speaker 1: chapter four, verse nine. He mentions this twice in this
42:20
Speaker 1: chapter four to nine. Make every effort to come to
42:25
Speaker 1: me soon. Remember, Timothy is way over here in Ephesus.
42:31
Speaker 1: Check your own maps and you will see that far
42:34
Speaker 1: away Asia Minor as they called it in those days.
42:37
Speaker 1: You needed to cross the Aegean, go under Greece, which
42:41
Speaker 1: is a treacherous journey, cross the Adriatic, and get to
42:45
Speaker 1: Italy and then come up to Rome. That's quite a journey,
42:48
Speaker 1: says I long to see you, Timothy. I long to
42:52
Speaker 1: be with you. Make every effort to come to me.
42:54
Speaker 1: And in case you wonder how intense verse twenty one,
42:58
Speaker 1: make every effort to before winter. One of my favorite
43:02
Speaker 1: phrases in the New Testament. John R. W. Stott points
43:06
Speaker 1: out that because travel was so treacherous, traveling below Greece,
43:11
Speaker 1: which was known as a sailor's graveyard, he knew that
43:15
Speaker 1: if he waited until the winter winds, it'll be impossible
43:19
Speaker 1: for him to sail in that manner, and he wanted
43:23
Speaker 1: him to come quickly. This also gives us some idea
43:26
Speaker 1: of the season of the year it was in Paul's life.
43:30
Speaker 1: Come before winter. Back to chapter one. I long to
43:33
Speaker 1: be with you. You see, he was the son Paul
43:37
Speaker 1: never had. He was his sole son. Now the third
43:44
Speaker 1: line is in verse five, I am mindful of the
43:47
Speaker 1: sincere faith within you, So let's use these words. I'm
43:51
Speaker 1: aware of the faith within you. I've traveled with you,
43:56
Speaker 1: I've gotten to know you, I understand you, I realize
43:59
Speaker 1: how you're put together, and I am aware that within
44:03
Speaker 1: you there is great faith. In fact, he even knew
44:08
Speaker 1: of the family, the sincere faith within you, which first
44:12
Speaker 1: dwelt in your grandmother, and he names her and your mother,
44:16
Speaker 1: and he names her first Lois, and then Eunice. Your
44:23
Speaker 1: grandmother Lois was a woman of faith, and your mother
44:26
Speaker 1: Eunice as well. John Calvin has a great line that
44:31
Speaker 1: always makes me smile. Timothy was reared in his infancy
44:36
Speaker 1: in such a way that he could suck in godliness
44:39
Speaker 1: along with his mother's milk. I've always loved that. As
44:43
Speaker 1: she held him to her breast and nursed him, she
44:46
Speaker 1: also sang to him the songs of Zion. She whispered
44:50
Speaker 1: to him, the prayers of Moses. She built into him
44:55
Speaker 1: the principles of Joshua and David. Never underestimate, as a
45:04
Speaker 1: parent or as a grandparent, the impact of your spiritual
45:09
Speaker 1: touch on your grandchildren and your children. Never underestimate it.
45:16
Speaker 1: Why do you think he's let you live this long?
45:20
Speaker 1: It's for someone else, isn't it? Pour your life into
45:23
Speaker 1: her or into him? If you have no children, there
45:27
Speaker 1: are others who would be just as open. So here
45:33
Speaker 1: is a solid model of faith in Timothy. You fall
45:35
Speaker 1: in line, and I want to encourage you with the
45:39
Speaker 1: fact that I know you are. You're a man of faith.
45:42
Speaker 1: In fact, look at the end of the verse. He
45:44
Speaker 1: didn't have to add this except under the unction of
45:47
Speaker 1: the spirit. He says, I am mindful of your faith,
45:51
Speaker 1: and that I am sure it is in you as well.
45:55
Speaker 1: It was in your grandmother, it was in your mother,
45:59
Speaker 1: and I I notice it is in you as well.
46:01
Speaker 1: Here's the fourth word of encouragement. I have great respect
46:06
Speaker 1: for you. I have great respect for you. I can't
46:12
Speaker 1: speak for you, but I can tell you whenever I
46:14
Speaker 1: have a mentor of mine, take the time to tell
46:18
Speaker 1: me that he respects me. It gives me new years
46:23
Speaker 1: on my life. It gives me encouragement like little else.
46:28
Speaker 1: Now you say, well, I'm no mentor. Well, no offense here,
46:33
Speaker 1: But you're older than others, right right, I'll answer for you.
46:39
Speaker 1: You are older than someone else. Someone else is younger
46:43
Speaker 1: than you. Someone else can learn from you. Know more
46:45
Speaker 1: things than others that are around you in areas of
46:50
Speaker 1: a walk with Christ. Right, how many are you have
46:53
Speaker 1: under your wings?
46:54
Speaker 2: One?
46:55
Speaker 1: Great? Two? It's even better try to gather more than
47:01
Speaker 1: five at a time, But mentor a few. Start with
47:05
Speaker 1: your own children, and then as they grow and leave
47:09
Speaker 1: the nest, then you have others that come near. Paul
47:13
Speaker 1: had had several. One of them is Timothy, and he said,
47:16
Speaker 1: I I hold you in high regard. Timothy, you've got
47:19
Speaker 1: the faith that your grandmother and your mother had. Now
47:24
Speaker 1: verse six, look at these words. Here's a reproof for
47:30
Speaker 1: this reason. For what reason? For what reason? Well, because
47:34
Speaker 1: you have this faith in you, because you have such
47:37
Speaker 1: deep and godly roots. For this reason, I remind you, Timothy,
47:42
Speaker 1: rekindle afresh the gift of God within you, which was
47:50
Speaker 1: laid on you at the laying on of my hands
47:52
Speaker 1: at your ordination. That remarkable thing occurred, and the giftedness
47:58
Speaker 1: is there, not, Timothy, I urge you, you stir it up.
48:01
Speaker 1: This is the only time in all the New Testament
48:04
Speaker 1: that the original term translated kendl afresh appears. It's an
48:09
Speaker 1: riching word. Listen to the various ways has been rendered.
48:13
Speaker 1: Phillips says, Stir up that inner fire. Eugene Peterson renders it.
48:18
Speaker 1: Keep it ablaze, Fan it into flames, says the living,
48:25
Speaker 1: keep at white heat. The gift in you, writes William Barkley.
48:31
Speaker 1: Stir it up. It isn't that the fire has gone out.
48:34
Speaker 1: It's that it's now it's it's now down to embers.
48:37
Speaker 1: And you know how you'll stoke the fire to get
48:39
Speaker 1: the flame going again. In the fireplace or at the
48:43
Speaker 1: at the camp site, that the stirring of it brings
48:46
Speaker 1: the brings the flame back. That's that's his point, Timothy.
48:50
Speaker 1: You have these gifts God has given you, and and
48:54
Speaker 1: I urge you to stir them up. Sometime. The younger
48:58
Speaker 1: need words like that from those of us who were older.
49:04
Speaker 1: If I were a teacher of piano, I would say
49:07
Speaker 1: to my students, keep practicing, even the best students, keep practicing.
49:13
Speaker 1: If I were a mentor of a young preacher, I
49:16
Speaker 1: would say, keep studying. Don't go online and buy somebody
49:21
Speaker 1: else's sermon and then deliver it as though it's yours.
49:24
Speaker 1: That's a cheap sermon. You dig into the text and
49:28
Speaker 1: you get the message for yourself. Keep studying, keep coming
49:32
Speaker 1: up with original ideas, build your library. Stir up the gift.
49:36
Speaker 1: That's the idea. So he says to Timothy. I'm locked
49:39
Speaker 1: up in the dungeon, but you're out there ministering. Timothy,
49:43
Speaker 1: don't hold back, kindle afresh the gift that is in you.
49:49
Speaker 1: And in case Timothy wondered if he had the stuff
49:51
Speaker 1: it took to do so. Verse seven, he said, Timothy,
49:55
Speaker 1: God has not given us a spirit of timidity. Remember
49:58
Speaker 1: we learned last time that Timothy is timid, retiring. We
50:02
Speaker 1: would even use the word shy. Paul tells Timothy that
50:06
Speaker 1: doesn't come from the Lord. Timothy, you've cultivated that over
50:10
Speaker 1: your life for some reason and not revealed. But that's
50:14
Speaker 1: not from the Lord. What has the Lord given you?
50:16
Speaker 1: He's given you a spirit of power and love and discipline,
50:22
Speaker 1: not cowardice, but courage. So don't be hesitant about it,
50:27
Speaker 1: but minister with power and unlest you think it's all power,
50:31
Speaker 1: which would be a bullying kind of leadership. Remember the
50:34
Speaker 1: value of love and self control. How do I wrap
50:37
Speaker 1: this up? How do I make this applicable to people
50:42
Speaker 1: like you and me in our day and age. I
50:45
Speaker 1: want to go in three areas quickly, and I want
50:47
Speaker 1: you to see yourself in all three roles. Okay, why
50:50
Speaker 1: don't you write them down? The first role is the
50:53
Speaker 1: role of an intercessor. That's a person who prays for others,
50:57
Speaker 1: an intercessor. Second is the role of a mentor, that
51:03
Speaker 1: is one who trains others, doesn't just teach them, but
51:06
Speaker 1: trains them, rubs shoulders with them, spends time with them,
51:10
Speaker 1: a mentor. And the third is an encourager. An encourager,
51:17
Speaker 1: I want to apply this passage and I can do
51:19
Speaker 1: so very very quickly and simply. First of all, I
51:23
Speaker 1: urge you to be an intercessor on behalf of many.
51:28
Speaker 1: Put together a prayer list that has a line in
51:31
Speaker 1: the middle with the name of the individual on the
51:34
Speaker 1: left side, and then the need of the individual on
51:37
Speaker 1: the right side. And keep it specific, this person's name
51:44
Speaker 1: and in brief the need you want to remember. If
51:47
Speaker 1: you want to date it, that will help. Then you
51:49
Speaker 1: can check off the need as God answers the prayer.
51:52
Speaker 1: But that makes you an intercessor. You then spend your time,
51:56
Speaker 1: rather than sitting in front of a television or fiddling
51:59
Speaker 1: around with that plague in computer all day and all
52:02
Speaker 1: night and all day and all night and all day
52:03
Speaker 1: and all night and all day and all night called
52:05
Speaker 1: an addiction, you spend some time in prayer. In case
52:08
Speaker 1: you wonder how I felt about it, I just thought
52:10
Speaker 1: I would go into a little bit, make an intercessor
52:13
Speaker 1: out of your life, a praying person for another individual.
52:17
Speaker 1: That's one The second area of your life that you
52:20
Speaker 1: may have let go too early is your role as
52:22
Speaker 1: a mentor. All of us are older than someone, which
52:29
Speaker 1: is sort of a new way to look at it,
52:30
Speaker 1: isn't it. Someone is younger than you, someone knows less
52:34
Speaker 1: than you about a particular area, someone longs to have
52:39
Speaker 1: your touch, your hand on or in his or her life.
52:44
Speaker 1: That's called a mentor. So think about who might benefit
52:49
Speaker 1: from your touch or your training, or your encouragement, your presence,
52:56
Speaker 1: and gather around you two or three individuals, not more
53:00
Speaker 1: than five, and have them become, if you will, your disciples.
53:06
Speaker 1: When I was in the military, we had a Bible
53:08
Speaker 1: study and we broke our large Bible study up into groups,
53:11
Speaker 1: and we had three or four, never more than five
53:14
Speaker 1: in a group, and there was usually one who became
53:17
Speaker 1: the leader, and the rest of us were a part
53:19
Speaker 1: of that group. And I've seen it happen at schools
53:22
Speaker 1: and churches as well. We become mentors to those and
53:26
Speaker 1: we stay in touch with them, we enter into their world,
53:31
Speaker 1: and finally, an encourager. Encouragement happens when we lift the
53:39
Speaker 1: spirit of another. May I give you a project. Why
53:43
Speaker 1: don't you begin to be committed to an encouragement once
53:47
Speaker 1: a day. Now, don't do too much or they'll faint.
53:51
Speaker 1: Just do one a day. Okay, somebody that you're in
53:55
Speaker 1: touch with, give it at least a sentence of encouragement.
54:01
Speaker 1: All right. If you don't know what else to say,
54:02
Speaker 1: you could say nice tie, that's a good start. Or
54:09
Speaker 1: you know what, I notice you are here regularly and
54:12
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for your faithfulness, or thank
54:16
Speaker 1: you for something that you did for me that you
54:19
Speaker 1: may have forgotten about, and you mentioned it. One person
54:22
Speaker 1: a day for the rest of your life. One person
54:27
Speaker 1: a day you encourage, an intercessor, a mentor, and encouragement.
54:36
Speaker 1: One man wrote this, the physical presence of other Christians
54:41
Speaker 1: is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.
54:49
Speaker 1: The believer feels no shame when he yearns for the
54:53
Speaker 1: physical presence of other Christians. Written in prison by Dietrich
55:01
Speaker 1: Bonhoeffer and a hundred others that I could read to
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Speaker 1: you now bye with me in prayer, will you? The
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Speaker 1: good news is that our heavenly Father is all three,
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Speaker 1: he and his Son, his Spirit, intercessors, mentors, encouragers. You know.
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Speaker 1: It just may be that some of you hearing these
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Speaker 1: words today are hearing about faith and about Christ, and
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Speaker 1: about the work of Christ and the life of the
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus for the first time, or maybe for the
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Speaker 1: first time you've really paid attention. It just may be
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Speaker 1: that you have never in your life trusted in the
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus. Just acknowledge that you are by nature sinful
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Speaker 1: and knowing that God is holy, that there's a distance
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Speaker 1: between the two of you, and to thank Him for
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Speaker 1: his love for you in spite of your life, and
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Speaker 1: for his faithfulness to you. And you would like right
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Speaker 1: now to exchange the emptiness for his righteousness. You would
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Speaker 1: like to give up the guilt and shame of your
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Speaker 1: past for the magnificence and the beauty and wealth, grace,
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Speaker 1: mercy and peace of the future He's planned for you.
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Speaker 1: Just a simple prayer, Heavenly Father, I trust in Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: Right now I turn to Him by faith. I accept him.
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Speaker 1: If you have done that, would love you to get
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Speaker 1: a hold of us, because we exist to help you
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Speaker 1: in your journey from Earth to Heaven. Now that it's begun,
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Speaker 1: we want to help you on the way. Father, Thank
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Speaker 1: you for the joy of time of worship, for the
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Speaker 1: pleasure of ministry together, for the memorable passages of Scripture
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Speaker 1: that are unfolded before us. These opening words of an
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Speaker 1: aging apostle written to a young, pressured, young pastor hundreds
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Speaker 1: of miles away. I pray that this journey that we
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Speaker 1: have had together verbally will find its place in the
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Speaker 1: heart and lives of a few who've heard these words,
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Speaker 1: that you would bring encouragement to them and spur them
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Speaker 1: to be that to others. Thank you for the tenderness
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Speaker 1: of this aging apostle's words, that bitterness never found its
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Speaker 1: way into his life. May that rub off on us now?
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Speaker 1: This week we opened before you and we asked that
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Speaker 1: you would use us as encouragement to others. May it
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Speaker 1: open doors of further opportunity to tell them of the
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Speaker 1: Savior and of the joy of knowing him in a
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Speaker 1: personal way. This we ask in the name of our
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, and for his sake alone. And everyone said amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, Tender Words from a Mentor, was copyrighted
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Speaker 2: in two thousand and nine and twenty fifteen, and the
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Speaker 2: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
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Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.