Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Men of the New Testament: "Timothy" by Caden Hammer - Part 5

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Men of the New Testament: "Timothy" by Caden Hammer - Part 5 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Yep, I got it. Can y'all hear me all right?
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Is it on? All right.
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Good evening, everybody. A couple months ago now,
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I got a text in a group chat from Neil,
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and the text said, please pick your character and
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your week. And it had an attachment with it with several different New Testament
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characters. I guess Hiram hadn't had a chance yet to
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ask me to do this class before Neil got to send the text,
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so I didn't know if I was supposed to be included or not.
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So I called my dad because he was also in the group
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chat, and I asked him if he knew whether or not I was supposed to
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be in it. He said he didn't know, but he figured that they probably
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did mean to include me. So, you know, we're We're
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sitting there on the phone talking about all the characters and what weeks would work
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for us and just about teaching a class. And then he asked me which character
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I would pick. So I'm looking through all of them, reading some off.
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You know, Peter was in there, Paul, James.
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And then I saw Barnabas and I started to think that I
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think I'd pick Barnabas. And I'm giving him my reasoning.
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You know, there's a lot you can say about encouragement and stuff.
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And while I'm explaining why I think I would pick Barnabas, I get a text
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in the group chat that's from my dad that says,
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I'll take Barnabas. So I didn't
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get to pick Barnabas, but I did get Timothy. So that's who we're talking
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about tonight. When we think about Timothy,
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what is usually the first thing that we think about?
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Yep, yep, he was young. That's what I had down.
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Usually that leads us to discuss, you know, the importance of
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young people in the church, and we are going to talk about that a little
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bit tonight, but there's a lot more to the life of
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Timothy and a lot of lessons to be learned from him.
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I've got 4 main points I want to talk about tonight,
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the first one being Timothy's upbringing and the value
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of training young people. Are young people important
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to the church? Are they necessary for Christianity to
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continue? Obviously, they are incredibly important
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to the church, and the church would quickly come to an end
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if we lost all our young people. Now, let's ask
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ourselves, do you think that young people know
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how important they really are? Do we make it a point
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to tell them that they are important to us?
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When we look at the life of Timothy, I think we often overlook maybe the
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most important thing that we can learn about him, and that is how he
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was able to accomplish so much at such
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a young age. Timothy was probably in his 20s when
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he began to work with Paul. He was mentioned 24
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times and in 12 different books of the Bible, and indirectly mentioned
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many other times. Timothy played a huge part
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in the success of the early church. So, what was it that
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enabled him to be so successful? It started with a
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good foundation. So, in Acts
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16:1, it's the first time we read about Timothy.
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If you would, go ahead and turn over there to Acts 16.
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Verse 1,
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it says, Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra.
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A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who
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was a believer, but his father was a Greek.
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So, in Acts 16, we're introduced to Timothy, and in his
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introduction to the New Testament, we're told that his mother was a believer,
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but his father was not. Then in 2 Timothy 1:5,
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we find out that his grandmother was also a believer.
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I'll read that real quick, 2 Timothy 1:5.
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Whoops,
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that's 1 Timothy.
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2 Timothy 1:5, I am reminded of your sincere faith,
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a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois,
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and your mother Eunice, and now, I'm sure, dwells in you
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as well. Turn over to 2 Timothy
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3 real quick, 2 Timothy chapter
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3. I believe the reason that his mother
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and grandmother are mentioned here and described as believers
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is to show us how important a good spiritual upbringing
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can be. Let's read, 2 Timothy
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3:14-15, But as for you,
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continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from
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whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted
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with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through
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faith in Christ Jesus.
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They taught him the scriptures from a young age, and they
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also taught him about how to be saved. They taught him
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about all of the stories of God's faithfulness, all of God's promises.
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How important must that have been for Timothy's faith?
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So, when Paul shows up to Lystra and he's looking for someone
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to travel with him, Timothy was ready because someone
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had already invested in him spiritually.
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Timothy saw the sincere faith of Eunice and Lois and
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decided to embrace the things that they had taught him.
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This foundation is the reason that we still read about Timothy today.
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There was a study done less than a year ago by Pew Research that
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was trying to figure out why people left the religion that they were
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raised to believe in. They asked people 4 questions about
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the overall religiousness of their household.
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The first one, how often did you attend a religious service?
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How often did your parents talk about religion?
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How often did you attend religious activities?
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And then what they would say about the religiousness of their
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household. They found that 82%
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of people who grew up in what they called a highly religious
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household remained in that religion.
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77% of those in a medium to high level
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religious household remained with that religion.
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62% of medium to low level religious
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households remained with that religion. And 47%
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of people in low level religious households remained
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with that religion. Now, I know this study isn't necessarily
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specific to just Christianity, But I still think there's
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a lot we can take away from it. Clearly, the way that parents
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raise their kids in their religion has a huge impact on whether
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their kids decide to stay or leave. We all
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know that there's only so much that parents can do for their kids,
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because even if you look at the study, not all of even the
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highly religious households retained 100%.
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But a child's spiritual foundation is incredibly important,
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and it's the best way to build a child's spiritual foundation
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is in the home. Eunice and Lois accepted the
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challenge of teaching Timothy about the faith,
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and it led to him being one of Paul's closest companions and
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one of God's greatest servants. So, as parents,
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grandparents, and other family members in general, We are
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all responsible for building a good spiritual foundation for children.
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Now, Eunice and Lois weren't the only people that had an impact on
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Timothy's faith. Um, Paul took a
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great interest in him, and he made it a point to take him under his
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wing and to mentor him. He clearly
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thought that it would be worth his time and effort to bring Timothy along with
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him on his journey and to train him. Let's read
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Titus 2:1-8.
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Titus 2:1-8,
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But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.
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Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified,
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self-controlled, sound in faith, in love,
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and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent
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in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.
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They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love
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their husbands and children, to be self-controlled,
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pure, working at home, kind, and submissive
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to their own husbands, that the word— that the word of God may
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not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.
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Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works,
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and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,
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and sound speech that cannot be condemned,
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so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to
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say about us.
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Paul showed Timothy all of the attributes that we just read about in
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Titus 2, He showed him how to be a Christian.
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Our responsibility as Christians is to help those
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younger Christians. The next thing I want to talk
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about is Timothy's personality. What do we know about
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Timothy's personality?
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He was timid, yep, yep. He's known for having a
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more timid, shy personality.
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And the reason we know that, there's a couple of passages that I'm going to
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read real quick that kind of let us in on this fact. The first
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is 1 Corinthians 16:10-11,
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when Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he
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is doing the word— the work of the Lord as I am. So let
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no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace,
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that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the
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brothers. And then in 1 Timothy,
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chapter 4, 1 Timothy
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4, verse 12, Paul says, let no one
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despise you for your youth, but set the believers an
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example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith,
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in purity. And then in 2 Timothy 1:6-7,
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for this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which
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is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave
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us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.
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All of these verses, when we read them, they lead us to believe that Timothy
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was a very a pretty timid, shy person and that he maybe even
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lacked some confidence. But I think this might be the most
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impressive thing about Timothy. He didn't let these traits
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and confidence issues stop him from doing what needed to be done.
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What are some things today that we let hold us back from serving
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God? Fear.
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Confidence. Yep. What about— are
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we ever worried about criticism from other people?
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Do we ever doubt our abilities to do something?
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Are we ever intimidated by older Christians?
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Timothy had to deal with all of that, and it's the same stuff
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that we can deal with today. So how did he
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overcome these things? First,
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he accepted the mentorship from Paul.
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We just talked about the importance of us mentoring younger Christians,
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but there's a flip side to that. We need to accept
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mentorship from other Christians. Timothy allowed Paul
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to teach him and help him grow in his faith.
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Timothy listened to what Paul had to say, and let it actually change
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him? How often do we think we have everything figured
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out or that we know better than the person that's trying to teach us something?
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Let's read Proverbs 1:2-7.
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Proverbs 1:2-7.
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To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight,
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to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness,
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justice, and equity, to give prudence to the simple,
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knowledge and discretion to the youth. Let the wise hear and
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increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.
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To understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles,
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools
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despise wisdom and instruction.
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Timothy listened to Paul, and it helped him overcome
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his lack of confidence.
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Another way that he overcame was being faithful
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and obedient. Now, who are some other Bible characters that
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you can think of other than Timothy that struggled with confidence
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issues? Moses.
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That's who I had written down. Anybody else you can think
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of? Yep.
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Elijah. Yep. Yep. I wrote
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down Moses. Moses kind of
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reminded me a lot of Timothy in how he was approached to do
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something. When we read about Moses and God approaches him in the burning
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bush, God asked him to go back into Egypt
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to lead the people out. And what does
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Moses say? He didn't want—
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He felt like he couldn't speak well.
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Yep. Yep. He didn't think he could speak well enough.
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Moses eventually obeyed, and he went back to
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lead the people out of Egypt, but he wasn't excited about it.
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And he even resisted it at first. But Timothy didn't do
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that when Paul approached him. Paul came to Lystra,
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and when he asked Timothy to come with him, he didn't have any excuses ready
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for why he couldn't do it or why he wouldn't
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be the best choice for Paul to take. He didn't
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groan or complain or try to get out of doing something.
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It just says that Paul took him, And they went.
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He was obedient, and it led to his success.
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Timothy teaches us that you don't have to be the most outgoing,
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extroverted person to make a difference.
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I'm sure Timothy was never the loudest person in any room or the
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life of the party anywhere, but he was still effective in spreading the
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gospel. He teaches us that being confident doesn't always
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come easy to everyone, But it doesn't have to hinder us
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from doing what we're supposed to do.
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The next thing I want to talk about is Timothy's reputation,
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and his reputation is something that I don't think we talk enough about.
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When I turned 16, Mom and Dad, they bought me a truck,
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and Dad made me get a giant Hammer Homes logo put right on the back
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glass, of that truck. The first reason being was because
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it was technically a company truck, but he also told
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me that he hoped it would keep me in check and remind me to
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not do something stupid when I drove around because there might
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be someone who knew who I was, and also it
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could hurt his company's reputation. I tell that
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story to say our reputations are very important.
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The choices that we make tell people who we
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are. Before Paul even invited
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Timothy to come along with him, Timothy already had a great reputation
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in the local church and community. Turn back over
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to Acts chapter 16,
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Acts chapter 16,
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and let's read verses 2 and 3 again.
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He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.
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Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised
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him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew
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that his father was a Greek.
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He was well spoken of by the brothers there.
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When Paul came to Lystra seeking someone, the people
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there thought of Timothy first and they recommended Timothy to
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Paul. They probably knew about his timid,
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shy personality like we just talked about. They probably
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knew that he might have struggled with his confidence some,
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but they still recommended him to Paul. Now,
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why do you think the people there recommended Timothy?
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Mm-hmm. Yep.
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Anybody else? Why do you think the people there recommended
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Timothy? Well, they were familiar with his character, and so they could recommend
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him and know that he would be able to do what
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Paul needed. Yep, that's right. Yep, I had, because they knew
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his character and his devotion to God, they trusted him They
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respected the way he conducted himself. And to
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me, that says more about Timothy probably than anything else.
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When I read verse 2, when Paul— when it says
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he was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium,
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it made me think, would the people here think about me
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the same way the people of Lystra and Iconium thought about Timothy?
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I think we could all ask ourselves that. We should
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all be trying to achieve that type of reputation within
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our church and within our community.
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His reputation wasn't built overnight though. It took
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him making good choices day after day to build that kind of
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reputation. Let's read Philippians 2:19-22.
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Philippians 2:19-22,
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Paul says, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon,
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so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I
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have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your
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welfare, for they all seek their own interests, not those of
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Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth, How,
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as a son with a father, he has served with me in the gospel.
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Can you imagine getting that kind of compliment from Paul?
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He had no one else like Timothy.
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Timothy didn't have a great reputation for being the greatest preacher
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ever or for doing tons of miracles; he
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had a great reputation because he genuinely cared about the people,
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He wasn't serving for attention. He loved
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Jesus and the gospel message. He was trustworthy.
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He was loyal. He was humble, and he was devoted.
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Are these things that we're capable of being today?
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Of course they are. Wouldn't you love for Paul to speak about
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you like that? Now, I don't think Paul's going to show
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up and ask around about everyone's reputation,
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but I do know that our fellow Christians and people we're around in
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our everyday lives, they know our reputation.
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Wouldn't we all like for our brothers and sisters in Christ to think
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of us like the people of Lystra and Iconium thought of Timothy?
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Now, can we think of some people in the Bible that had a bad reputation?
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Jezebel, yep. Saul,
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yep. Anybody else?
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Paul, yep,
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yep. One person I thought
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of was Zacchaeus.
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He had a bad reputation because he was a tax
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collector who cheated people out of money.
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He ultimately found Jesus and he repented of what
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he had done. And now when we think about Zacchaeus, we don't think
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about how bad of a person he was or how bad of a reputation he
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has. We think about how great of a redemption
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story it is because he turned away from the bad things he was doing.
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One other person I also thought about was Judas.
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Judas has basically the exact opposite character arc
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of Zacchaeus. He was always known as one
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of the people that was in Jesus' circle. He was one
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of the 12. But one decision ruined
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Judas' whole reputation forever. He will never
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be remembered as a guy that was a close companion to Jesus. He'll be
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remembered as the person who betrayed him.
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Judas shows us how important our decisions are to our reputations,
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and Timothy shows us how impactful a good reputation
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can be. The next thing
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I want to talk about are some traits that Timothy
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displayed that, that got him the kind of reputation that
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we just talked about. First, Timothy was dependable.
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I know we just read Philippians 2:19-22 when
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we were talking about his reputation, but I want to go just a little bit
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deeper into the passage to talk about his dependability.
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So Paul wrote the book of Philippians to the church at Philippi
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while he was imprisoned. Paul had a great relationship
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with the church there, and we can read about that in Philippians 4.
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If you'll turn over there, Philippians 4:14-17,
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Paul writes to them, yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.
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And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I
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left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and
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receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica,
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you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek
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the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
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He obviously had a very close relationship with the
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church there. So when Paul's in prison and he's unable to
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go see them, he sent the best man he had to go check on them,
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and that was Timothy. For I have no one like
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him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
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Paul had so much confidence in Timothy that he sent him to
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check on some of his favorite people.
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In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul entrusts Timothy again.
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1 Corinthians 4:14-17,
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he says, I do not write these things to make you ashamed,
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but to admonish you as my beloved children.
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For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers,
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for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
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I urge you then, be imitators of me. That is
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why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child
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in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach them
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everywhere in every church.
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Again, in 1 Thessalonians,
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Chapter 3, verses 1 and 2,
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Therefore, when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind
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at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker
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in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort
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you in your faith. And then once again in
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1 Timothy chapter 1,
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1 Timothy chapter 1,
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Verses 2 through 4, Paul says,
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To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace,
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mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
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Lord. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia,
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remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons
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not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves
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to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations
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rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.
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Paul trusted Timothy to handle things the way that they needed
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to be done. He didn't have to wonder if Timothy would actually go do
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the things that he was asked to do. He didn't have to wonder
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if Timothy would teach the right things. He didn't have
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to wonder if Timothy actually cared He cared about the people.
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He knew that Timothy would get things done.
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Just like we talked about with our reputations, being dependable doesn't
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just happen though. Paul said that Timothy had proven
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himself. Think about someone in your life that
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you find dependable. Did you decide that
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because of one thing they did or one promise that they
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kept? Probably not, or at least I hope not,
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because it takes more than just one action to be considered
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dependable. Another trait Timothy showed
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was his devotion to God. We talked just
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a little bit about his faith when we discussed how he overcame his confidence issues,
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but I want to really look into his faith and how devoted he
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was. If we go back and look at 2 Timothy,
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3:14-15 and 2 Timothy 1:5 again,
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it tells us that Timothy had been studying and learning the Scriptures from
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a young age, and he had a sincere faith.
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His walk with God didn't begin when Paul showed up
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and asked him to come with him, and it didn't end when Paul was in
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prison and could no longer be with Timothy.
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He understood the importance of being faithful and devoted when he
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was young, and he understood the importance of continuing to learn and
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study to grow his faith.
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I think sometimes as Christians, we can fall into one
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of two traps when it comes to our faith.
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The first being when you're young or when you're a newer Christian,
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we tell ourselves that, you know, we don't know enough yet.
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We tell ourselves and others that we can't
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help out with anything because we don't know enough Bible or
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we don't understand everything in it completely. We start turning
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down opportunities to serve and to be a part of the Christian community.
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Now, the other trap is when we get a little older and have been a
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Christian for a while, we can start to think that we know everything.
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We start to think that we've read enough Bible or been to enough
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classes or heard enough sermons, and so we don't need to
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read our Bibles anymore or study or continue to
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try to grow our faith. Both of these traps
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can lead us to have a stagnant, unmotivated faith and devotion
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to God. Let's read 1 Timothy
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4. 12 through 16.
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1 Timothy 4:12
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through 16, Let no
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one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech,
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in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
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Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture,
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to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect
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the gift you have, which was given to you by prophecy when the council
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of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things,
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immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a
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close watch on yourself and on that teaching. Persist in this,
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for by doing so you will save both yourself and your
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hearers. Timothy devoted his
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whole life to God. It wasn't a
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small part of his life that you could only see if you were really close
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to him. It was what his whole life revolved
30:01
around. I'm going to assume that pretty much everyone in
30:05
here knows who Michael Jordan is. He's a 6-time
30:09
NBA champion, a 6-time NBA Finals MVP,
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a 5-time NBA MVP, a 2-time
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Olympic gold medal winner, and arguably the greatest basketball player
30:21
ever. He didn't accomplish all that out
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of sheer luck. He devoted himself to basketball,
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and look what he achieved because of that. Now,
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just for the record, I don't think if anyone here went out and started
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training your hardest to be a basketball player that you'd become the next Michael Jordan,
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because on top of his devotion He was a gifted athlete.
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But let me ask you, what would happen if all of
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us became as devoted to God and being a Christian as Michael
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Jordan was to basketball? What,
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what do you think would happen in our community? What if
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we all looked at Timothy's devotion and said, I want to live my life like
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that? That Jordan will always be remembered
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as a basketball player. Timothy will always be remembered
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as one of God's greatest servants. The next
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trait I want to discuss about Timothy is his selflessness.
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I want to start back in Acts 16 where we meet Timothy,
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and I want to read verse 3 again. Acts 16:3,
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Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took
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him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places,
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for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
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Now, I'm not sure if Paul told Timothy when he first
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met him that he was going to have to be circumcised,
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or if he told him later, But either way, Timothy agreed
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to it. Now, remember, Timothy's dad was a Greek,
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so while every other Jewish boy had already been circumcised,
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Timothy wasn't, and it was probably because of his dad's beliefs.
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He was willing to go through that painful operation just
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to have a better chance at converting the Jews in the area.
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Now, we're not going to be asked to do anything like that today, But we
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do have to make sacrifices in order to be faithful Christians.
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What are some things today that we might have to sacrifice
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in order to be considered a true faithful Christian?
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Family, our friends. Mm-hmm.
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Yep. Time. Time.
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Yep, yep,
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yep. Timothy not only endured that painful procedure,
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but he also gave up some of those things. He left
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the comfort of his home and his family. He was already respected
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in his community and in the church there. He could
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have just stayed where he was and lived a quiet life, but he left
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and chose to help spread the gospel.
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Timothy made it his life's mission to teach people about
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Jesus and the great sacrifice he made for everyone, and he
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was successful because he embodied the sacrificial spirit that
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Jesus had. He had heard all the stories about
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Jesus, and he had heard about his death, and he said,
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I want to live like Jesus.
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Does anybody have any questions or comments on that?
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Okay, in the last few minutes, I want to go
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back over some of the things that we already talked about.
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First, it is our job as parents,
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grandparents, and other members of a family to
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give a child the best spiritual foundation we possibly
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can. What all goes into that
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as family members? How are ways— what are some ways that we can
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build up our children's spiritual foundation?
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Make sure they're at church.
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Yep. Need to see it in us. Yep. Yeah, it says the sincere faith that
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Eunice and Lois had. Any other ways
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that we can build up children's spiritual foundation?
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What? Reading Scripture.
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Yep. Yep. Sacrifice,
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sports, stuff.
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Again to do it themselves. Yep.
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Yep. Anything else?
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Yeah. As Timothy learned from his mother and grandmother,
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it wasn't just that they brought him to services,
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if you will. They— he learned those things from
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them directly. And so I think we have to be engaged not
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just in bringing our kids to services, engaging in
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Bible study at home.
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Yep. That's kind of what I was going to say. A good example.
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What kids see is what kids are going to do.
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And I think the example we set is going to follow them all the days
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of their lives. Yep. You talk a lot about
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devotion. When I think of devotion, I think of another— and
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numerous times through both letters, 1 and 2 Timothy,
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Paul kind of almost
36:07
commands him to commit what's committed
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to him. Over in chapter 2,
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or 2 Timothy 2, not only those things
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were committed to him, he was to commit those to others. He was mentored by
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Paul. And in chapter 2, verse 2, the things you've
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heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men. That chain needs
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to keep going. Yep. Paul knew it, and I know Timothy knew it. It doesn't
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stop with Timothy. Continue. Yep.
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I think in our society now, we— I mean, young people,
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they need to be involved in Lads to Leaders and go to camp.
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They need to be with like-minded other kids.
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Help them be involved in those
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type of things. Yep, keeping them around the right type of people,
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the right things, and giving them opportunities to
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expand their talents.
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Yep, yep. So we got attend worship services,
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uh, even if it means missing an event like sports,
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or maybe it's just hanging out with friends.
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That's huge for kids to see that. Going to different
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church events, like you just said.
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And it also— it doesn't just show the kids that church is
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important going to those events. It also shows them that there's a great community
37:34
to be a part of. And then just
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talk about your faith. I think a couple of people mentioned it, but make
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an effort to talk about something spiritual. Even if
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it's at dinner or on a car ride,
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make it known that you have faith.
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Sometimes in, in a family setting, you, you don't think that you need to bring
37:59
that up because, you know, you go to church and you believe the same things,
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but it's important to, to let your kids know
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that you have faith. It's also our
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job as Christians to be a good mentor to younger or newer
38:15
Christians. Now, what are some ways that
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we can help those newer Christians or just young people in general?
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How can we help bring them along and grow their faith?
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Expectation. And so, challenge.
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Yep. Yep.
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Any other ways we can help younger Christians?
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Helping them that they need to recognize good of the kingdom.
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Yeah, Paul told Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God.
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Yeah, Paul did in Timothy, you know. I mean, he had really
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got Timothy in small ways,
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you know, like we even do singing sometimes with the young kids here, or if
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you're involved in a, you know, in a leaf project, you're sweeping.
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I know, yeah, it doesn't take much. It doesn't—
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you know, you're not asking them to be a pulpit preacher when they're 6.
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Right, yeah. But little things, little steps.
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Yeah. Anything else? I think the first thing that we could do that's
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easy is just speak to them. You know, how many times
39:25
on a Sunday morning and Wednesday night do we walk past a 6-year-old and say
39:29
nothing, don't even think about it? You know, I've started recently talking
39:33
to Kara. Every time I see her, I make a point to talk
39:37
to her, ask her how her week was, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.
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And I think at the very least we can just— Yeah,
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yeah. I was going to say too, like,
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we're thinking youth in the sense of a young person,
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but it's also youth in the sense of a new Christian, right? Because like Like,
39:56
whenever I became Christian, I had 2 boys
40:00
at the same time. So I was growing in my faith
40:05
as a father at the same time that my boys were young.
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So it was— they're seeing me grow at
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the same pace at what, like, a younger person would be. So if you see
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a younger father who is new in the faith,
40:20
help be a mentor to not only him but also
40:24
his children, because he's not really probably at the place where, you know,
40:28
his kids are gonna not have maybe the same mentorship as someone else
40:33
who is more mature in the faith. It's gonna
40:37
be a kind of like a void there, so that the good mentorship
40:41
in that aspect is very helpful as well. Yep,
40:46
yep. Just talk to them. Let them know
40:49
that you see them. Don't let them feel invisible,
40:54
especially not just the younger kids because they get attention sometimes,
40:59
but new Christians especially. Don't let them go unnoticed.
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Encourage them. Try to get to know them. Make them feel
41:07
like they have somebody that they can rely on to tell
41:11
them the truth and just to be there for them.
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Next, we can't let our personalities stop us from
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doing God's work. There's always places for people to
41:24
work and jobs to be done. You don't have to be the most
41:28
outgoing person to be a good servant.
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I would encourage you, though, to step outside of your comfort zone sometimes.
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You know, I'm sure Timothy wasn't comfortable doing everything that
41:41
Paul was asking him to do. Especially the first couple times
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that Paul asked him to go somewhere and teach somebody something or, you know,
41:48
discipline a church, it probably wasn't comfortable.
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But he still made an effort to try. You know, along that line,
41:57
it just kind of spoke to me here. I'm just going to mention it because
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everybody's familiar with this verse in Timothy. But of course,
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Paul had the thorn in the flesh. It says in
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the classic in 5:22, Paul to Timothy,
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no longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's
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sake and your frequent infirmities.
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So it shows Timothy didn't have a— it
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wasn't always easy. Right. Yep. He had health issues too
42:27
that he had to deal with even as a young man.
42:31
Yeah, it wasn't just his confidence issues. He had some other problems.
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Yeah. Don't forget
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about how important your reputation is.
42:45
You know, when we're going through life, try to imagine that
42:48
you have a big sign on the back of— on your back that
42:52
says, I'm a Christian, kind of like I had a big Hammer Home sign on
42:56
the back of my first truck, because our actions reflect
43:00
back on the church. And they reflect back on God. When somebody sees you
43:05
just in your everyday life and they see your actions,
43:09
that's how your reputation gets built.
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Be dependable and trustworthy. Don't be the person
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that no one asks anything of because they just don't
43:20
think you're dependable. Be a person that people can rely on to get the
43:24
job done the right way. Be faithful and
43:28
devoted. When you're a brand-new Christian or you've been a Christian almost
43:33
your whole life, don't stop learning. Don't stop studying God's
43:37
Word and building your relationship with him. Don't let
43:41
Christianity just revolve around your life. Try to make your life
43:45
revolve around Christianity. And finally,
43:49
we need to be selfless.
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Timothy had such a strong faith in Jesus that the
43:56
cost to him to follow him looked small. He didn't
44:00
see it as a huge burden all the time. He saw
44:03
it as a gift to be able to serve others.
44:07
Timothy teaches us a lot, but he learned it from his mother
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and from his grandmother and from Paul, and they learned it
44:15
from Jesus. Really quick, let's read Matthew 16:24.
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To close, Matthew 16:24 says,
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then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him
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deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
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And I think Timothy was a great example of
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how to do that. Thanks for a good class,